Chemistry Grad School Chances

[AbnormallyLarge]

I’m going to be applying to graduate schools this Fall. I’m interested in Physical Chemistry. I’m trying to stay in the Pittsburgh or Columbus area for family reasons. I’m applying to Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University, and Ohio State University. I have a preference for Carnegie Mellon and OSU. I want to hear from people who applied to these schools and people who applied to any graduate school with grades similar to mine with the results.

I have a math minor completed. This Fall I’m going to betaking Inorganic Chemistry, Quantum Chemistry (graduate level), and Partial Differential Equations.

My overall GPA is a 3.6.

Math GPA - 3.6.

Chem GPA – 3.7

Phys GPA – 3.5

All Science – 3.64

Right now, I’m concerned mainly about my grades. I’ve never gotten a C, but I’ve gotten a lot of B’s in important classes. Fortunately, I did well in Physical Chemistry both semesters. I got a B in Differential Equations, Calculus III, Calculus Based Physics I, Organic Chemistry I,II, and Analytical Chemistry.

I currently don’t have research experience, but I’m going to get experience this Summer and continue in the Fall. I’m wondering if I should have started earlier, but I just didn’t have time with classes and I only want to do synthetic work if I absolutely have to. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything I wanted without physical chemistry.

I haven’t taken the GRE, but it isn’t something I’m concerned about because I’ll be above the threshold and it’s not something schools really care about.

[so47]

I didn't apply specifically to those schools, but my grades were pretty similar to yours. I can tell you straight out that GPA on it's own is very hard to judge. I had similar grades, but I also have 3+ years of industrial and academic research experience. Having this experience with people who knew what my work was like also gave me really strong letters of recommendation. The research experience and recommendations are hands down what got me into the schools I did. Let me tell you, there are plenty of kids with 4.0's applying to grad school, so if you are like me and did NOT have that, you need to make sure there are other ways you stand out.

So since you didn't do research yet, the biggest problem I see is not your experience as much as who will write your letters of recommendation? It's fairly obvious to an Ad Comm the difference between someone who just had you in class versus someone who really knows you and what your work ethic and potential are. Do you have any other sort of mentors? Keep in mind you usually have to have at least 2 of your recommendations from people in the field.

Also, make sure you have well researched and well written SOP's. You need to show that you have put the time in to learn about their faculty and department. Name specific people you are interested in, and why you find their work interesting. And describe your research interests, and why their department has what you want in a graduate school.

GRE's don't mean much, especially the Chem GRE. I did terrible on it and still got into top 20 rank schools for chemistry.

It's hard to give specific advice on which schools you have the best chance at. I can tell you I am pretty damn sure you will get into at least a few of the schools you mentioned. You have a healthy range of "rankings", which is good, but it also doesn't mean much. I got accepted at a rank 9 for chemistry and rejected from a rank 73! The past year and probably the next few to come have been really competitive because of the economy, so it's hard to say which schools you will def get into.

Good luck and I hope I said something helpful amidst all this rambling

[KevinM]

The grades matter but not as much as research and letters of rec. You need to commit a lot of your time to research and convince some people that you are a great candidate for graduate school. Chemistry graduate school is about the research and I think that schools looking at your application need to know that you have the ability and desire to do graduate level research. The way that they are going to know that is through your letters of rec and your statement of purpose.

This is just coming from someone who is finishing up the application season. I would just drill it into you...research, research, research...get to it. In synthetic research it would be difficult to make much of an impact in 1 semester and I would imagine the same has to be true for pchem research. It is good that you are getting into research this summer for sure.

[prolixity]

The grades matter but not as much as research and letters of rec. You need to commit a lot of your time to research and convince some people that you are a great candidate for graduate school. Chemistry graduate school is about the research and I think that schools looking at your application need to know that you have the ability and desire to do graduate level research. The way that they are going to know that is through your letters of rec and your statement of purpose.

This is just coming from someone who is finishing up the application season. I would just drill it into you...research, research, research...get to it. In synthetic research it would be difficult to make much of an impact in 1 semester and I would imagine the same has to be true for pchem research. It is good that you are getting into research this summer for sure.

What he said.

My GPA was high, my GRE's mediocre, but I had extensive industry experience and two years of research in an academic setting. Really build up a relationship with your advisors and do solid work for them and you shouldn't have any problems. Your stats are fine.. I got a B- in PDEs and I still got into great institutions for Chemical Physics!

[chemdoc]

On 5/10/2010 at 8:34 PM, AbnormallyLarge said:

I’m going to be applying to graduate schools this Fall. I’m interested in Physical Chemistry. I’m trying to stay in the Pittsburgh or Columbus area for family reasons. I’m applying to Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University, and Ohio State University. I have a preference for Carnegie Mellon and OSU. I want to hear from people who applied to these schools and people who applied to any graduate school with grades similar to mine with the results.

I have a math minor completed. This Fall I’m going to betaking Inorganic Chemistry, Quantum Chemistry (graduate level), and Partial Differential Equations.

My overall GPA is a 3.6.

Math GPA - 3.6.

Chem GPA – 3.7

Phys GPA – 3.5

All Science – 3.64

Right now, I’m concerned mainly about my grades. I’ve never gotten a C, but I’ve gotten a lot of B’s in important classes. Fortunately, I did well in Physical Chemistry both semesters. I got a B in Differential Equations, Calculus III, Calculus Based Physics I, Organic Chemistry I,II, and Analytical Chemistry.

I currently don’t have research experience, but I’m going to get experience this Summer and continue in the Fall. I’m wondering if I should have started earlier, but I just didn’t have time with classes and I only want to do synthetic work if I absolutely have to. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything I wanted without physical chemistry.

I haven’t taken the GRE, but it isn’t something I’m concerned about because I’ll be above the threshold and it’s not something schools really care about.

I had a 3.67 Chemistry Major GPA, 1270 GRE, and 2 semesters of research under my belt and I heard back within 2 weeks of the application deadline at OSU. Oh, I applied under Organic Chemistry.