Chemistry Applications Fall 2014

[M4ss5pec]

May as well join in...

 

Area of interest: Analytical Chemistry, Instrumentation/Mass Spec

Undergraduate institution: Small Public University

GPA: 3.97

Chem GPA: 4.00

• Biochemistry Major
• 2 full years of undergrad research experience in analytical chemistry, will be 3+ by graduation
• 2013 Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry at my institution
• 2 departmental awards for academic performance
• 1 publication (method development with GC/MS), a second in the works
• 2+ years as a quantitative analysis TA

 

GRE: Verbal 160, Quant. 163, Writing 4.5 (Chem GRE not taken)

 

Schools Applying to: U of Wash., Purdue, U of Arizona, Washington State, U of Michigan, Oregon State.

 

Just hoping to get in somewhere....guess I'll see...

[asaprocky]

May as well join in...

 

Area of interest: Analytical Chemistry, Instrumentation/Mass Spec

Undergraduate institution: Small Public University

GPA: 3.97

Chem GPA: 4.00

• Biochemistry Major
• 2 full years of undergrad research experience in analytical chemistry, will be 3+ by graduation
• 2013 Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry at my institution
• 2 departmental awards for academic performance
• 1 publication (method development with GC/MS), a second in the works
• 2+ years as a quantitative analysis TA

 

GRE: Verbal 160, Quant. 163, Writing 4.5 (Chem GRE not taken)

 

Schools Applying to: U of Wash., Purdue, U of Arizona, Washington State, U of Michigan, Oregon State.

 

Just hoping to get in somewhere....guess I'll see...

 

Good luck! you seem very qualified! May the odds be forever in your favor....just saw the new Hunger games movie. Don't judge haha

[Furan]

Hello everyone,

I am just finishing up a batch of applications for some chemistry graduate programs (Wisconsin, MIT, Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, UIUC…) and I feel like I need some advice. As I sit here trying to coordinate these applications, I find myself a little daunted by info I have heard pertaining to the expectations that programs have for a good applicant. Therefore, I have some questions to ask the community, but here is my background info first:

 

-Domestic Chemistry major (Physics minor) at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. -Area of interest: Organometallic synthesis/catalysis

 

-GPA: 3.9 Major GPA:3.9

 

-2.5 years undergrad research: 3 projects: one with organometallic synthesis and two with analytical separations/quantifications. Through these projects I have learned how to operate and troubleshoot instruments (HPLC, NMR, LC-MS) as well as interpret data. I have also learned how to work with air/light sensitive compounds. I presented 2 posters at university seminars since 2012

 

-ACS award in undergraduate analytical chemistry in 2012.

 

-Scholarships: (Chemistry department scholarship ("for proficient work in physical chemistry", and a University scholarship from the college of letters and science)

 

-Organic chemistry tutor/supplemental instructor since 2011

 

-Physical chemistry tutor since September 2013

 

- University chemistry club member, current club president

 

General GRE: 157Q , 150V, 4.0W Chemistry GRE: 790

 

So here's what I want to ask:

1) Are my credentials too low for admission to graduate programs? I am interested in UW-Madison as a first choice- do I appear below standards for admittance there?

2) I just took the general GRE on the 26th of November, and ETS takes its time to process and send the scores. Since many schools have a deadline on the 15th of December, will I be ineligible for admissions if the scores arrive a few days past the deadline? Many schools claim ALL supporting material must be in by the date, but from anyone's experience, is there any flexibility?

3) Are my general GRE scores a huge deterrent? I realize the quantitative section score is not as high as scores reported by other applicants. I do not have sufficient time to take the test again. Will the scores I got derail my plans?

4) Does anyone have any recommended programs for the field of organometallic chemistry?

If you have any input I greatly appreciate it!

Edited December 2, 2013 by Furan

[asaprocky]

1) Are my credentials too low for admission to graduate programs? I am interested in UW-Madison as a first choice- do I appear below standards for admittance there?

2) I just took the general GRE on the 26th of November, and ETS takes its time to process and send the scores. Since many schools have a deadline on the 15th of December, will I be ineligible for admissions if the scores arrive a few days past the deadline? Many schools claim ALL supporting material must be in by the date, but from anyone's experience, is there any flexibility?

3) Are my general GRE scores a huge deterrent? I realize the quantitative section score is not as high as scores reported by other applicants. I do not have sufficient time to take the test again. Will the scores I got derail my plans?

4) Does anyone have any recommended programs for the field of organometallic chemistry?

If you have any input I greatly appreciate it!

 

 

1. Your GRE scores may be slightly low but your other credentials help balance that out. Good LOR's and solid SOP can make your scores less noticeable.

 

2. No you will be fine, if you reported your scores on the application and they match up to your actual sent scores, you won't have any issues. 

 

3. Just like I said in the first answer, they are low, but if your LOR and SOP are strong, you should be fine because you have good credentials otherwise.

 

4. caltech, berkeley, boston college, emory (huw davies specifically) has some good organometallic programs...this is only off the top of my head without doing much research. I'm sure there are more fantastic organometallic programs I haven't mentioned. 

[Reidp]

Hey everyone, just want to get some opinions on my situation. Not really sure where to place myself and what schools I have a reasonable shot at getting in. Looking at all of the stellar applicants on this website is quite demoralizing but on the other hand I've heard a lot of encouragement from people I meet at conferences and my professors about my chances.

 

GPA: 3.57 overall (split between two schools)

Major GPA: 3.30 (only of last two years)

GPA last two years: 3.43

 

GRE

Verbal: 158 (78%)

Quant: 159 (75%)

Writing: 5.0 (93%)

 

Research Experience:

3 semesters and 1 summer of REU in biochemistry at my school with focus on protein NMR

assigned 18kDa protein

working on publishing a paper (not in time for apps)

 

Conferences/Presentations

Only undergraduate to present oral presentation at SEMRC and student travel award

1st place poster at undergrad research symposium

 

Letter of Rec:

Two really good ones from my two research advisors and one decent one from a professor.

 

I'm interested in structural biology (NMR; crystallography) and so far I've applied to Wisconsin-Madison (my advisor went there so good LoR for me), UCSD, Colorado-Boulder, and UC Davis. I feel like these schools are a little out of reach for me, but my advisors/professors say I should have a chance. What are some mid-range schools that have good structural programs that I should be looking into? I don't want to be spending all this time/money applying to really good schools if I don't have a chance.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Reidp

[Furan]

Gah, I messed up typing in my Chem GRE score. I scored a 790 not a 490. How embarrassing. I edited the post. Sorry about that!

 

I dont imagine a 790 helps very much though

[M4ss5pec]

Good luck! you seem very qualified! May the odds be forever in your favor....just saw the new Hunger games movie. Don't judge haha

 

Much appreciated, you as well--and the addition of a Hunger Games quote works great here.

 

One issue that I do have with my app, though, is that one of my LORs is from my dept's lab manager, not a prof. Our chem dept is so small that I ran out of professors to ask because my ochem prof left (been too hard to contact him since to ask for LOR). Does that seem like something that could severely weaken my app? My manager at least has a PhD in chemistry, which my research advisor said was enough for him to be a decent reference.

[asaprocky]

Much appreciated, you as well--and the addition of a Hunger Games quote works great here.

 

One issue that I do have with my app, though, is that one of my LORs is from my dept's lab manager, not a prof. Our chem dept is so small that I ran out of professors to ask because my ochem prof left (been too hard to contact him since to ask for LOR). Does that seem like something that could severely weaken my app? My manager at least has a PhD in chemistry, which my research advisor said was enough for him to be a decent reference.

I think you'll be fine as long as he knows you well enough to write a good LOR

[asaprocky]

Gah, I messed up typing in my Chem GRE score. I scored a 790 not a 490. How embarrassing. I edited the post. Sorry about that!

 

I dont imagine a 790 helps very much though

 

Definitely helps you more than a 490. Your GRE's don't look as bad now and it'll help show that you got a solid chemistry background coming from a non-R1 university 

Edited December 2, 2013 by asaprocky

[asaprocky]

I'm interested in structural biology (NMR; crystallography) and so far I've applied to Wisconsin-Madison (my advisor went there so good LoR for me), UCSD, Colorado-Boulder, and UC Davis. I feel like these schools are a little out of reach for me, but my advisors/professors say I should have a chance. What are some mid-range schools that have good structural programs that I should be looking into? I don't want to be spending all this time/money applying to really good schools if I don't have a chance.

 

You have a solid research background that'll help "off-set" any concerns you may have. I don't think your schools are stretches, although I do recommend you apply to more programs (3 or 4 more?). Unfortunately, I don't know about structural biology programs well enough to recommend other programs to you. 

Edited December 2, 2013 by asaprocky

[kroshkamue]

Area of interest: Chemical Biology/Natural Products Biosynthesis

Undergraduate institution: Large Public Research University (U of California system)

GPA: 3.52

Chem GPA: 3.62

• Chemistry major with Biochemistry concentration
• 3 years of undergraduate research experience in natural products chemistry/chemical biology/organic synthesis
• General Chemistry TA

 

GRE: Verbal 164, Quant. 154, Writing 4.0 

Chem GRE: 780

 

Applications: Princeton, Harvard Chemical Biology, UCSD (SIO), MIT, UPenn, Cornell, UIUC, Columbia, Yale, Berkeley 

[MassAppeal]

May as well join in...

 

Area of interest: Analytical Chemistry, Instrumentation/Mass Spec

Undergraduate institution: Small Public University

GPA: 3.97

Chem GPA: 4.00

• Biochemistry Major
• 2 full years of undergrad research experience in analytical chemistry, will be 3+ by graduation
• 2013 Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry at my institution
• 2 departmental awards for academic performance
• 1 publication (method development with GC/MS), a second in the works
• 2+ years as a quantitative analysis TA

 

GRE: Verbal 160, Quant. 163, Writing 4.5 (Chem GRE not taken)

 

Schools Applying to: U of Wash., Purdue, U of Arizona, Washington State, U of Michigan, Oregon State.

 

Just hoping to get in somewhere....guess I'll see...

 

Woo a fellow anal chemist interested in mass spectrometry! And even interested in instrument/method development! Hmm, same research interests, we're both biochem majors with 3 years undergrad research, similar GRE scores... you've got me beat on GPA by far though!   We're only applying to one similar school though, interestingly.

 

I just saw today that someone from my dream program (UW genome sciences) was checking out my LinkedIn...

 

[Alchemist921]

Ha! I tried hard not to get hooked to this site but here I am with an account and all. Stressing over the whole grad school application! Glad to know I'm not the only one though. Following on the format of the previous post here are some stats:

 

Area of interest: Inorganic/organometallic Chemistry

Undergraduate and Masters institution: City University of New York

GPA: 3.84

Chem GPA: 3.98

• BS in Chemistry with Honors, MS in Chemistry
• 2 years of undergraduate research + 3 years of masters research
• 2 publications (1 first author)
• i year of teaching General Chemistry Laboratory and Recitation

GRE: Verbal 153 (58%), Quant. 165 (91%), Writing 4.0 (54%)
GRE Chem: 890 (94%)

 

Applications: Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Upenn, NYU, Stony Brook, Rutgers, CUNY

 

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!!!

[MassAppeal]

The chair of FSU's chemistry graduate recruiting and admissions committee did a public interview ("Ask Me Anthing"/AMA) on Reddit.com today.

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/chemistry/comments/1rwwqf/i_am_the_chair_of_fsus_chemistry_graduate/

 

Thought it was pretty cool of him to do this. He answers a lot of good questions from general admissions to the chemistry PhD job market.

[lellies]

Hey everyone, I've been lurking this website since the beginning of my application process and have found many great bits of information here and there, so thank you all for that  I am applying to different schools for experimental physical/biophysical chemistry, and I have a question regarding "cutoffs" with respect to GRE scores. I'd rather not share where I am applying, but I am applying to one Top 10 school, a couple Top 15-30 schools, and one Top 50 school. On the general GRE, I scored 156 Quant. (65%), 157 Verbal (73%), and 4.0 Writing (55%). I took the Chemistry GRE and scored a 710 (51%). I am a domestic applicant.

 

My question is this: without regard to personal statement, research experience, and LoRs, are my GRE scores too low to even have my application considered at all of the generally ranked schools listed above? I realize I definitely could have done better on the quantitative section of the general GRE, but I figured that my score was good enough, since I know that I am being evaluated on my potential to do research, not my ability to score high on a standardized test. Sorry for the long-winded question, I haven't seen a lot of experimental physical chemistry applicants to compare myself to, but at  the same time I don't want to give myself away to anyone browsing the forum that may know me. Thanks for your time taken to read my question, good luck to all! I am anxious to know whether or not my GRE scores will even be considered   

Edited December 4, 2013 by lellies

[DropTheBase]

since I know that I am being evaluated on my potential to do research, not my ability to score high on a standardized test. 

 

It's basically what you wrote, based on my conversations with professors from a Top 1 school. I know people with much worse scores in Top 5 schools. Keep in mind, some professors have completely different opinions. Some greatly value the Verbal scores, since it partially indicates one's ability to write. In either case, a higher score is (obviously) always better than a lower score. But in my opinion, it'd be best to strongly emphasize your enthusiasm, commitment and competence for conducting research in your SOP.

 

The only schools you should look out for are ones that explicitly DO have a cutoff, which in my experience was more common in Top 30 schools. In that case, you'll want an additional letter from a professor to petition that rule. That's what usually is done for sub-minimum GPAs.

 

DTB

[Chemisto]

Great share @MassAppeal

I anyone knows why does MIT prefer IELTS over TOEFL??.. Their Material Science prog explicitly states "NO TOEFL"

[Chemisto]

Also any heads up about any upcoming decisions? Going by last year thread...some people had heard back from University of Maryland by now...Also someone had mentioned that UIUC had started reviewing applications.

[YaBoyAR]

Also any heads up about any upcoming decisions? Going by last year thread...some people had heard back from University of Maryland by now...Also someone had mentioned that UIUC had started reviewing applications.

I got an email from Emory on November 14th saying they have begun the review process on my application. A friend of mine got the same email. I imagine some of their applicants will hear before Christmas. A prof at MIT told me that they don't even begin the review process until after the Dec. 15 deadline. Those are the only schools I have any direct knowledge about though.

[Chemisto]

I got the same email on 15 Nov (international so that may explain date difference) My app got completed today though...recommendation letters were completed today....But in the admission data I don't see any decision by Emory before January....still fingers crossed!!!

[YaBoyAR]

I got the same email on 15 Nov (international so that may explain date difference) My app got completed today though...recommendation letters were completed today....But in the admission data I don't see any decision by Emory before January....still fingers crossed!!!

How do I locate this admission data source you speak of? Thanks in advance.

[HERDERRCHEMISTRY]

I received an offer from the University of Illinois today, so I guess they're already looking at applications!  I submitted it on Dec. 2.

Edited December 4, 2013 by MOchemist123

[asaprocky]

I received an offer from the University of Illinois today, so I guess they're already looking at applications!  I submitted it on Dec. 2.

 

CONGRATS! that is so awesome. Killin it. 

Edited December 4, 2013 by asaprocky

[Chemisto]

How do I locate this admission data source you speak of? Thanks in advance.

I was talking about gradcafe results http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php

[Chemisto]

I received an offer from the University of Illinois today, so I guess they're already looking at applications!  I submitted it on Dec. 2.

Congrats!!!