What to do when you have no idea how good you are

[debx]

I did the things that are generally recommended in picking graduate programs and looked for professors who are doing research I am interested in (polymers), and looked for schools where I could identify three or more researchers I would want to work for. I showed my list to a friend and he told me that pretty much all of the eight schools I liked might be too selective for me to get in. I am not so sure, but also not sure that he's wrong.

Long story short, please let me know what you think based on experiences you've had. I am interested in the following schools:

University of Washington

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

University of Maryland, College Park

Pennsylvania State University

Carnegie Mellon University

State University of New York, Stony Brook

and possibly University of Tennessee

I had a 3.68 total GPA, 3.79 Chemistry GPA (from a small to medium size non-research/PhD program)

550 verbal GRE, 650 quantitative GPA

5 semesters of research in one lab, 2 in another (both simultaneously for two semesters)

2 summers interning at a smallish local chemistry company

expereince on a fair number of instruments

[synorg]

do you know how previous chemistry students from your school have done in graduate admissions? i'd ask them or perhaps a few faculty members. i don't think you have any red flags, but knowing how you stack up to previous students from your school should be useful information.

[vonLipwig]

I'd also suggest asking some academics at your current university for advice. They'll have a much better sense of how strong these universities are than we will.