UnlikelyGrad Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I would rank them thus (based on many conversations with my dad, a chem prof): Illinois UCLA Michigan Washington Northwestern USC But, as my dad would no doubt say, it depends which sub-field you want to specialize in. Also, never apply to a school unless there's at least one professor you'd like to work for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmarch Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 lolchem: Top-notch Schools that aren't Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, Harvard, or Stanford: 1.) Northwestern 1.) WUSTL Very Good Schools 2.) Michigan 2.) UCLA Pretty Good Schools: 3.) Washington 4.) USC Of course, there are excellent people at all these schools, so it's just as important to "rank" prospective advisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemGradfrmphlly Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I don't know about you guys but Penn is killing me with the wait. I saw the earlier post about Penn and Yale, it isn't just you; Penn is KILLING me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I don't know about you guys but Penn is killing me with the wait. I saw the earlier post about Penn and Yale, it isn't just you; Penn is KILLING me. i actually emailed them today. this is the reply- lots of applicants, still reviewing, and we will let you know by mid march. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movie Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Hi, I also gained admission to the chemistry program of Texas A&M University. I was accepted on Dec. 18th last year. Nice to meet you here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I received an email from UPenn and saying that you can check your admission status on the website. I was already accepted a few months, however I think there are some people here still concerning about this. Good luck with everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemGradfrmphlly Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 You're a bit of an out-of-towner though, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I received an email from UPenn and saying that you can check your admission status on the website. I was already accepted a few months, however I think there are some people here still concerning about this. Good luck with everything what you said doesn't make sense. you mean you received the email a few months ago and got a accepted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Yes, it's true that I got an email a few months ago about my acceptance. However, I got another email from the graduate school admission today (at 5pm EST) saying that I can check my admission status online. This is exactly what it said in the email Hello: A decision has been reached regarding your application and is now available. Please go to: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=UPENN-G (sign in page) and provide your pin and password. Once you have accessed your application, You will be directed to a secure site where you can access and print your letter. If you have any questions, please contact me directly using the address above. This is from Patricia Rea. This is from the graduate school admission, not chemistry admission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Yes, it's true that I got an email a few months ago about my acceptance. However, I got another email from the graduate school admission today (at 5pm EST) saying that I can check my admission status online. This is exactly what it said in the email Hello: A decision has been reached regarding your application and is now available. Please go to: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=UPENN-G (sign in page) and provide your pin and password. Once you have accessed your application, You will be directed to a secure site where you can access and print your letter. If you have any questions, please contact me directly using the address above. This is from Patricia Rea. This is from the graduate school admission, not chemistry admission. i see. congrats! when are the visitation dates for penn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I think they have 2 visit days. I'm going to Philly on the 15th of March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I think they have 2 visit days. I'm going to Philly on the 15th of March. so my guess is if you haven't heard from a school by this time (since all the visitations are in March) you're probably rejected. what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Not sure about that. I have a friend who got accepted to Wisconsin last year in April. So as long as, you haven't received any thing offcial. There is still a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psi*psi Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 so my guess is if you haven't heard from a school by this time (since all the visitations are in March) you're probably rejected. what do you think? I was talking this over with a few other prospectives...maybe they wait for their first/second choice people to visit and accept or decline their offers, in order to see about how many first-years they'll have, and then email people who are a little further down on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 If you were me in this situation, what would you do? I have been accepted to Illinois, Northwestern and Cornell. Those are the three best programs for nanomaterials chemistry. I couldn't make up my mind, so I think I should ask for some advice. They both give me the same amount of money, although Cornell comes with a little more money over the summer. I all like them equally, so that is the hard part. I can see myself working with at least 4-5 people from each school as my potential advisors. Please give me your advice. It will all be appreciated. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnlikelyGrad Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I have been accepted to Illinois, Northwestern and Cornell. Those are the three best programs for nanomaterials chemistry. I couldn't make up my mind, so I think I should ask for some advice. They both give me the same amount of money, although Cornell comes with a little more money over the summer. I all like them equally, so that is the hard part. I can see myself working with at least 4-5 people from each school as my potential advisors. Please give me your advice. It will all be appreciated. Duncan, Have you visited any of them and talked with the potential advisors? To me this a big thing. I've never been a grad student before but my sisters have and they say MEET YOUR (potential) ADVISOR!!! Sometimes the research sounds good but the professor's personality is incredibly abrasive! Real life story: One of my sisters dropped out of a chem Ph.D. program, taking an MS, because her advisor was really annoying and after a while she couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the subject. I mentioned this to my PI, who is in the same field of chemistry, and he said, "Oh yeah! He's known for being a bit aggravating! Lots of people drop out of his group!"--Note that my sister's former PI also one of the best known people in the world in his subject...Needless to say, my sister says, don't just talk to advisors, talk to their GRAD STUDENTS as well...they will give you the best indication of what it's like to work in the group... I don't know nano materials well at all, so I refuse to give you advice on specific schools, so that is all I have to say. If you can't visit, call the professors and email their grad students. (Most group pages have grad student contact info.) Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncandam Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Thank you very much. I have visited Illinois, and I really liked it. I did talk to a lot of graduate students, and I got very good answers for many of my questions. I'm visiting Cornell and NWU at the end of March and early April. It's just that I have been to both of them before and I really liked them. It just makes this whole thing harder. Anyways, congrats on your acceptances at Montana and Davis (My advisor went there and worked with McQuarrie). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psi*psi Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 If you were me in this situation, what would you do? I have been accepted to Illinois, Northwestern and Cornell. Those are the three best programs for nanomaterials chemistry. I couldn't make up my mind, so I think I should ask for some advice. They both give me the same amount of money, although Cornell comes with a little more money over the summer. I all like them equally, so that is the hard part. I can see myself working with at least 4-5 people from each school as my potential advisors. Please give me your advice. It will all be appreciated. Thank you Meet with your potential advisors, meet with their grad students and try very hard to get honest answers out of them. Helps to know what sort of environment you work best in. Do you want an advisor who's fairly hands-on or one who is never in town? Cooperative or competitive environment? Small or large group size? Find out how many semesters of TAing are expected of you beyond the first year--in some groups, grad students don't TA much, but others aren't so lucky. Funding is really, really important. You don't want to be in the position of being unable to order solvents/glassware/chemicals you need for your research! Find out if the other grad students get along with each other. Ask about facilities available at the university and the support staff in charge of them. (Both are important--there's no use having badass diffractometers without a good crystallographer.) Talk to OTHER grad students in the department--ask them who not to work for. See if the profs in the department get along or if there's a lot of infighting. All other things equal, what sort of area do you want to live in? UIUC is in a really tiny college town, Northwestern is close to Chicago. (Don't know much about Ithaca.) Check the cost of living in these areas. Find out what there is to do in the cities on the rare occasion you're not in lab. If you won't have a car, check out public transportation. Find out if there's a good bus system and if the streets are bike-friendly. Remember, you're not attending the school just for the research. While that's extremely important, you also have to remember you'll be living there for around 5 years. You don't want to be doing amazing chemistry in an area you hate--it's easier to be productive if you're happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 has anyone been rejected at Penn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemGradfrmphlly Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Still waiting for Penn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psi*psi Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 i just turned down admission offers at michigan & georgia tech...hope this helps out someone on the wait list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnlikelyGrad Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 So where are you going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psi*psi Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Not telling for another three weeks--I still have a visit left. (Not Berkeley, though, they rejected me. :,( ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnlikelyGrad Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Not telling for another three weeks--I still have a visit left. I understand. I'm being fairly secretive about the process too. (Less so here, but most of my RL friends have no idea where I've been accepted.) I'm cramming visits to all 3 schools into 8 days, starting a week from today. I hope I don't get too overwhelmed! And I'm sorry about Berkeley. It can be a great place to go to grad school if you get the right advisor. Even my sister who got the wrong advisor admits this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salonga Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 i just turned down admission offers at michigan & georgia tech...hope this helps out someone on the wait list hey, did you visit UMichigan? if you did, how did it go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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