2021 Chemistry PhD Admissions Results

[unorthodoxchemist22]

2 hours ago, quantummoon said:

I also got into Berkeley and didn't get an interview from Caltech. Guess they're looking for different things ?‍♀️I applied pchem and didn't submit GRE scores to either of them fwiw

Organic division here. Also got into Berkeley, but didn’t get an interview from Caltech ??‍♂️

[Fechef]

1 hour ago, ashortchemist said:

I’ll be honest- I’ve heard about the toxic environment from a lot of the top 5 schools which is a big reason I choose not to apply there. Northwestern was my dream school for years, and my undergrad PI told me she couldn’t send me there with a clear conscious because of the suicides. 
 

Don’t get me wrong- rejection sucks and getting into these schools is a HUGE accomplishment. But in some ways it may be better for your mental health 

I’ve heard a lot about this with Berkeley, which is why I decided not to apply there. I did apply to Stanford and haven’t heard back, but I heard they don’t really have this issue. Anyone heard different?

[loves_cdse_nanocrystals]

19 minutes ago, Fechef said:

I’ve heard a lot about this with Berkeley, which is why I decided not to apply there. I did apply to Stanford and haven’t heard back, but I heard they don’t really have this issue. Anyone heard different?

I am in a research lab at Berkeley and while it isn't a stress-free environment, all the graduate students I know are pretty happy and content. There are a few bad profs, but other than that, the environment is way better than what I had heard about Harvard and MIT. 

[Hb94]

6 hours ago, certain_sweet_ochem said:

Ive seen one post about Organic. I also know how to use the search bar..... 

I emailed the graduate program coordinator of the chemistry department at Caltech and she told me that they will be interviewing organic applicants next week.

[Hb94]

Has anyone heard about interviews for organic from Scripps??. Usually they are done with the process by this time.

Last when i contacted the graduate coordinator she said they will be sending out invites in the week on 10th Jan. Did anyone recieve any invites?

[CoordinationChem]

28 minutes ago, loves_cdse_nanocrystals said:

I am in a research lab at Berkeley and while it isn't a stress-free environment, all the graduate students I know are pretty happy and content. There are a few bad profs, but other than that, the environment is way better than what I had heard about Harvard and MIT. 

Would you happen to know something about the environment at Cornell and UCLA?

[notJonathanCheechoo]

Hi all, I'm probably not the only person in this boat so I wanted to share this to hopefully put some minds to ease.

I was asked to leave with a masters degree in my last PhD program in chemistry (against my PI's wishes, no less). Applying this current cycle I was of course worried that no other department would want to take me knowing this. But I just want to make it known that I got an accepted to another chemistry PhD program today. If you haven't heard back from your schools yet, I'm sorry and just want to acknowledge that I know how horrible that feels. However, I hope it gives you hope to know that there are opportunities out there!

[j5758]

Has any international applicants heard admissions from UT Austin or University of Michigan?? I applied to the theoretical field for both.

[fermidirac]

2 hours ago, notJonathanCheechoo said:

Hi all, I'm probably not the only person in this boat so I wanted to share this to hopefully put some minds to ease.

I was asked to leave with a masters degree in my last PhD program in chemistry (against my PI's wishes, no less). Applying this current cycle I was of course worried that no other department would want to take me knowing this. But I just want to make it known that I got an accepted to another chemistry PhD program today. If you haven't heard back from your schools yet, I'm sorry and just want to acknowledge that I know how horrible that feels. However, I hope it gives you hope to know that there are opportunities out there!

great, congrats. may i ask which university and track? did you have letter from your master's supervisor?

[lipward]

 

10 hours ago, CoordinationChem said:

Thank you, that does make me feel slightly better.

I've heard about the toxic environment and suicides, but I thought it only pertained to organic chemistry.

I heard about toxic environment at Berkeley and Harvard from a graduate student at the MIT who mentored me recently ( was a UG at Berkeley). I also think this also related to specific PIs and labs, not so much to a specific program.  Healthy and toxic labs have some tell-tale signs. I would consider a lab with a diverse student body as a sign of a healthy lab. I would be skeptical about a chemistry lab at a major University that has all male students, all-female students, no minority students, no international students, no domestic students, no ethnic diversity, no healthy numbers of undergrad, graduate, and postdocs as those can be signs of some issues. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by lipward

[lipward]

15 hours ago, timothychem said:

Hi there! I applied to all of the same programs (organic) besides Rice. From following the results page, I think Caltech has finished their admissions process. I already heard back from Yale, Columbia, and UW-Madison. In the results section, a current Yale student said that the department will be sending a few more acceptances. I also saw on reddit that Columbia might be sending out a few more acceptances. I have no information on where UW-Madison is in their admissions process. I think Stanford has started to send some informal acceptances (based on the results page). No word from MIT.

Thank you! I contacted most of the programs yesterday as I am stressed out. In addition to graduate schools, I am trying to get my green card as my visa ends by the end of this year. Thus, I am spending my time here and checking my google scholar profile every day to count my citation numbers

UWM: PI I am in communication with told me to wait till March as they had already sent all the offers when I applied in January. So he can only give me an answer based on the rate of acceptance.

Stanford: PI told me that I should hear soon about admissions

MIT: I heard from the primary PI I am interested in working with that she had not yet gotten my file. I will wait a bit.  

Rice: I have not heard from the coordinator

NW: I have not heard from the coordinator, but they were not that responsive to me even when I asked them to accept my application late. Even though they eventually accepted it, I do not have high hope there.

Yale, Columbia, Cornell: Told me to be patience 

Caltech: I contacted four PIs, all of them replied to me. Two of them told me that they like to supervise me and like to discuss their project if I get an invitation to visitation. I do not know wherever this is positive or negative. I will wait a bit here too.  

Edited January 27, 2021 by lipward

[lipward]

4 hours ago, notJonathanCheechoo said:

Hi all, I'm probably not the only person in this boat so I wanted to share this to hopefully put some minds to ease.

I was asked to leave with a masters degree in my last PhD program in chemistry (against my PI's wishes, no less). Applying this current cycle I was of course worried that no other department would want to take me knowing this. But I just want to make it known that I got an accepted to another chemistry PhD program today. If you haven't heard back from your schools yet, I'm sorry and just want to acknowledge that I know how horrible that feels. However, I hope it gives you hope to know that there are opportunities out there!

Thank you and congrats! Another former Ph.D. student here. I mastered out as I had to teach, do research, take classes, do my missed seminar and candidacy exam all at once. I got sick in my first year and missed a semester. As an international student, I was alone and got exhausted.

 

[ilovechem123]

I was told from MIT that there are delays in the timetable for acceptance decisions due to COVID

[ARSack02554]

Hi, American Student here. So I was accepted at UW Madison and UMichigan Ann Arbor in early January.  I am still waiting to hear from Cornell and MIT.  I see that it seems MIT has yet to send out many decisions if any yet, I think most of us who applied to MIT are still waiting, but if anyone has any info on when to expect a decision from MIT please post. Also has anyone been rejected from Cornell? I am also wondering if anyone who has already been accepted at Cornell can tell me where they are in the process as far as visit weekend dates etc, I noticed a lot of acceptances went out in late December, so I have kind of started to assume I didn't get in, but I haven't received a rejection. If anyone knows if Cornell is still accepting people please post.  Thank you  

[kenzithecat]

14 minutes ago, ARSack02554 said:

Hi, American Student here. So I was accepted at UW Madison and UMichigan Ann Arbor in early January.  I am still waiting to hear from Cornell and MIT.  I see that it seems MIT has yet to send out many decisions if any yet, I think most of us who applied to MIT are still waiting, but if anyone has any info on when to expect a decision from MIT please post. Also has anyone been rejected from Cornell? I am also wondering if anyone who has already been accepted at Cornell can tell me where they are in the process as far as visit weekend dates etc, I noticed a lot of acceptances went out in late December, so I have kind of started to assume I didn't get in, but I haven't received a rejection. If anyone knows if Cornell is still accepting people please post.  Thank you  

Hi, international student here. I was accepted at Cornell on Dec 17th; visitation days will take place on Feb 20th and Mar 27th. I'm still waiting on UMich and MIT decisions!

[CoordinationChem]

1 hour ago, ARSack02554 said:

Hi, American Student here. So I was accepted at UW Madison and UMichigan Ann Arbor in early January.  I am still waiting to hear from Cornell and MIT.  I see that it seems MIT has yet to send out many decisions if any yet, I think most of us who applied to MIT are still waiting, but if anyone has any info on when to expect a decision from MIT please post. Also has anyone been rejected from Cornell? I am also wondering if anyone who has already been accepted at Cornell can tell me where they are in the process as far as visit weekend dates etc, I noticed a lot of acceptances went out in late December, so I have kind of started to assume I didn't get in, but I haven't received a rejection. If anyone knows if Cornell is still accepting people please post.  Thank you  

I don't know if they are still accepting people (if I had to venture a guess, I'd say they probably are), but I can tell you that the Virtual Open House events will be hosted on February 20 and March 27.

I have the same question to you regarding UW-Madison I applied there as well but still haven't heard back. Maybe, that has sth to do with the fact that I'm an international applicant, but it seems some other internationals have been accepted...

Edited January 27, 2021 by CoordinationChem

[fermidirac]

8 hours ago, lipward said:

Thank you and congrats! Another former Ph.D. student here. I mastered out as I had to teach, do research, take classes, do my missed seminar and candidacy exam all at once. I got sick in my first year and missed a semester. As an international student, I was alone and got exhausted.

 

Are you in organic track? does it matter which track someone has master out? and again is applying for PhD?

[ARSack02554]

31 minutes ago, CoordinationChem said:

I don't know if they are still accepting people (if I had to venture a guess, I'd say they probably are), but I can tell you that the Virtual Open House events will be hosted on February 20 and March 27.

I have the same question to you regarding UW-Madison I applied there as well but still haven't heard back. Maybe, that has sth to do with the fact that I'm an international applicant, but it seems some other internationals have been accepted...

As far as Wisconsin goes, they are having 2 visit weekends the first is 2/12-2/14 and the second is 3/12-3/14. I think they are probably mostly done with admissions as I have seen they have sent out rejection letters. But if you haven't gotten a rejection you may be on a wait list of some kind, they will probably admit a certain number of additional people once they get a better idea of how many of their offers are going to enroll.  

[ARSack02554]

1 hour ago, kenzithecat said:

Hi, international student here. I was accepted at Cornell on Dec 17th; visitation days will take place on Feb 20th and Mar 27th. I'm still waiting on UMich and MIT decisions!

Thank you, and congrats on Cornell, it was my top choice along with MIT, although I am very excited about the possibility of going to Michigan, at this point I am satisfied, I just want a decision from MIT and Cornell so I can figure out where I am going, this process is so long and drawn out.  Good luck with the waiting. I know Michigan has a visit weekend scheduled March 11-13, I am not sure if they are done with admissions yet.  

[CoordinationChem]

41 minutes ago, ARSack02554 said:

As far as Wisconsin goes, they are having 2 visit weekends the first is 2/12-2/14 and the second is 3/12-3/14. I think they are probably mostly done with admissions as I have seen they have sent out rejection letters. But if you haven't gotten a rejection you may be on a wait list of some kind, they will probably admit a certain number of additional people once they get a better idea of how many of their offers are going to enroll.  

Thx.

[kenzithecat]

26 minutes ago, ARSack02554 said:

Thank you, and congrats on Cornell, it was my top choice along with MIT, although I am very excited about the possibility of going to Michigan, at this point I am satisfied, I just want a decision from MIT and Cornell so I can figure out where I am going, this process is so long and drawn out.  Good luck with the waiting. I know Michigan has a visit weekend scheduled March 11-13, I am not sure if they are done with admissions yet.  

Thank you! Congrats on getting into Michigan! Fingers crossed for your Cornell and MIT acceptances. I assume you're focusing on physical chemistry?

[chembioapplicant_int]

Still waiting on Scripps here, but got into Caltech

[elle_chem]

does anyone know roughly what percentage of students invited to scripps’ interview weekend gets accepted? 

[spaghettios]

3 minutes ago, chembioapplicant_int said:

Still waiting on Scripps here, but got into Caltech

CONGRATS! Me too! I was so happy :~) Hopefully we'll hear from Scripps this week. This really has felt like it's been dragging on and on... 

[Fechef]

Seems like a slow day for chem today. Anyone agree?