Chemistry Applications Fall 2015

[TheNewDoctor]

The October Chem GRE scores were just posted, anyone else take them? I'm swooning, got a 770 (69%) on them!

[Queue]

I'm pretty disappointed with my score.. I got 720 with 54%

[UniversalSolvent]

I'm pretty disappointed with my score.. I got 720 with 54%

I got the exact same score. Hoping that admissions decisions don't weigh this too heavily, but my lack of undergraduate chemistry courses coupled with the low score will probably be a red flag on my app. Hoping for the best. 

[Hijojo]

I don't know, from the admissions officers I've asked, being in the top 50% means a score is competitive, so I think you're both fine. It might not be a shining part of your application, but it's solid and I doubt it'll be a red flag or anything like that.

 

...Meanwhile, I've got three applications and all my fee waiver forms submitted now, so I'm feeling good about that. Let's hope I can get a couple more done by the end of the week. Some schools start reviewing applications soon, which is both exciting and terrifying!

[ChemiKyle]

Well, I had my visit weekend; I think it went pretty well.
Pertinent to you all, part of it included a visit with the director of admissions (keep in mind the attitude varies by institution). It's fairly old news for most of us, but it's somewhat official now. I'll cover some of the biggest messages that I took from it.

 

Letters of rec and SoP are the most important things that we still have in our control; the only important thing out of our control is our research experience. GRE and cGRE are pretty much unimportant, they think they're a worse indicator than GPA and you're probably only in trouble if your GREs and GPA are both low. Multiple grad students shared the careless attitude toward the GRE; one senior grad student told me the smartest person he knew got ~30% on the physics GRE, and he'd scored higher himself.

With respect to letters of rec: they've received generic, 1 paragraph letters before saying "so-and-so got an A in my class, he'll probably do great in grad school," and even ones where the professor said the student wasn't cut out for it. Know your letter writers and make sure they know you.

Regarding GPA: as they've had 3.0's be wildly successful and 3.9+'s fail out, GPA doesn't mean much either. You'll need to look better in every other area the lower it is, but if you're an oddball with multiple first author publications and a 3.2 you can probably relax.

More than anything, it's important that you show that you can be a competent researcher and your letter writers back you up on that. They don't expect you to know exactly what you want to do, but you need a rough idea and the professors that you mention need to have a clear indicator as to why you put them down (e.g. if you're talking about nothing but inorganic chemistry and say you wanna work for E.J. Corey they're going to notice that and it's going to look bad - on that note, double-check before you submit, don't send UChicago an essay that says how much you're interested in PChem at Berkeley). They take note of who you mention, and the adcoms have an idea of who is going to be accepting students, so if you're applying to Caltech and refuse to work for anyone but James Heath, you might want to send him an email.
At the school I visited, professors get to see (and have a part in the decision on) your app if you list them.

 

I also heard a story of someone who had been accepted to a school and insulted some professors during the visit weekend; not only did that school rescind his application, but the people he insulted called their friends and he got quite a few other acceptances pulled. While it's best to treat everyone with some common human decency no matter who they are, don't go putting down any Ph.D.'s who are in the room with you!

[ghostar]

Would it hurt to report a chemistry GRE of 730 (58%) to schools that strongly recommend it (some even says looked favorably)?

[ChemiKyle]

Would it hurt to report a chemistry GRE of 730 (58%) to schools that strongly recommend it (some even says looked favorably)?

If you're not international then 50% or better is considered good, so it would probably be a good idea!

However, it's not going to make you stand out and is probably only used as a criteria for fellowships, so if the cost would mean not applying to some other school then just don't send it.

[metallocene2015]

If you're not international then 50% or better is considered good, so it would probably be a good idea!

However, it's not going to make you stand out and is probably only used as a criteria for fellowships, so if the cost would mean not applying to some other school then just don't send it.

So what is the minimum percentile that international students need to get on the GRE chemistry test to be competitive when applying to top 10 schools ? I personally got a 810 (79%), which I find rather unsettling considering that I got a 970 on the practice test...

[ChemiKyle]

So what is the minimum percentile that international students need to get on the GRE chemistry test to be competitive when applying to top 10 schools ? I personally got a 810 (79%), which I find rather unsettling considering that I got a 970 on the practice test...

While I'm extremely far from being an authority, I've heard that people maybe look for 90%+ at the top 10s. I know nothing of a minimum, but 80% is extremely high anyway.

If your school is well recognized it probably won't matter; at some point I heard that the reason international students' cGRE scores are given weight is that there's often no way to know if their undergrad curriculum was robust enough. Also, a lot of them will take 1-2 years off and/or do a Master's degree while they study for the subject tests, which is another reason the results are so skewed.

Apply anyway, don't let ETS keep you from giving it a shot.

[Hijojo]

 

So what is the minimum percentile that international students need to get on the GRE chemistry test to be competitive when applying to top 10 schools ? I personally got a 810 (79%), which I find rather unsettling considering that I got a 970 on the practice test...

 

 

Have you tried asking the departments directly? I think they're more likely to be able to give you better information than us. If you can, I suggest calling the department, but if that's not feasible, emails work too.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Hijojo

[Maxtini]

So what is the minimum percentile that international students need to get on the GRE chemistry test to be competitive when applying to top 10 schools ? I personally got a 810 (79%), which I find rather unsettling considering that I got a 970 on the practice test...

Don't be too obsessed with top 10 schools~ there're a lot more schools you can go and still get top research experience. TAMU for example has quite respectable chemistry research despite being top 100 school (globally).

Hearing from my seniors' past interview experiences, most US universities won't really care about your extremely high score and GPA (of course you still need higher score than domestic applicants). The most decisive factors are your English speaking ability and research experience (publication etc... ); Having a TA experience will also boost your competitiveness considerably~ 9 out of 10 interviewers will always ask about this.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Maxtini

[ChemPlasmonics]

I missed the opportunity to sign up for the subject GRE test. I am a bit anxious as several of the programs I am applying to say, Not required, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I am a domestic student so I know I am not at as big of a disadvantage as I could be. Any ideas on how this can influence admission decisions? Can a high GPA at a respectable university overcome this? Thanks for any feedback. 

[Queue]

Does anyone know what happens if LOR and/or GRE scores are not received by the school's deadline?

I've got all my part done, but one of my professors still has not submitted his letter yet. As for GRE, I requested the score to be sent last week, but I was afraid schools won't get them on time.

[Maxtini]

I have just been contacted by TAMU Chemistry informing of my unofficial admission!
Never expected such early news~     
I bet my early submission really paid off.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Maxtini

[Whisky-with-a-Y]

Does anyone know what happens if LOR and/or GRE scores are not received by the school's deadline?

I've got all my part done, but one of my professors still has not submitted his letter yet. As for GRE, I requested the score to be sent last week, but I was afraid schools won't get them on time.

 

I imagine your application wont even be looked at. Why would a school bother with an applicant missing the most important parts of an application (The LOR probably being the most) when there a ton of students with everything submitted. It is most likely the same with the GRE. For most all graduate schools it is mandatory, meaning you must have a certain score to gain admission (even if it isn't a high score), at least having the test complete. Without that, even just having it submitted regardless of how you did, it is highly unlikely it would be looked at. What else is there in an application? GPA? The GRE takes like 2 days for the univeristy to get and maybe a week for them to upload into your file. If you sent it last week I wouldnt worry. As for the LOR, bug them.

[ghostar]

I imagine your application wont even be looked at. Why would a school bother with an applicant missing the most important parts of an application (The LOR probably being the most) when there a ton of students with everything submitted. It is most likely the same with the GRE. For most all graduate schools it is mandatory, meaning you must have a certain score to gain admission (even if it isn't a high score), at least having the test complete. Without that, even just having it submitted regardless of how you did, it is highly unlikely it would be looked at. What else is there in an application? GPA? The GRE takes like 2 days for the univeristy to get and maybe a week for them to upload into your file. If you sent it last week I wouldnt worry. As for the LOR, bug them.

This is not true at all. Call your programs and tell their coordinators that your official GRE score report will be arriving a tad bit late but soon in the near future. They're pretty understanding. This is also why most programs ask for unofficial/self-reported GRE scores.

[Cookie]

I imagine your application wont even be looked at. Why would a school bother with an applicant missing the most important parts of an application (The LOR probably being the most) when there a ton of students with everything submitted. It is most likely the same with the GRE. For most all graduate schools it is mandatory, meaning you must have a certain score to gain admission (even if it isn't a high score), at least having the test complete. Without that, even just having it submitted regardless of how you did, it is highly unlikely it would be looked at. What else is there in an application? GPA? The GRE takes like 2 days for the univeristy to get and maybe a week for them to upload into your file. If you sent it last week I wouldnt worry. As for the LOR, bug them.

 

This is incorrect!  

If you miss one of the rec letters, some programs will even send you an email reminder! And self-reported scores are sufficient for most adcoms.

Queue, you should email them though to let them know your materials have been sent.

[Organometallics]

I have just been contacted by TAMU Chemistry informing of my unofficial admission!

Never expected such early news~     

I bet my early submission really paid off.

 

Awesome, congrats!  I know they have a great inorganic program.  That is super early too.  I think I'll end up anxiously waiting until mid January before I begin to hear back from most of my schools.

[Queue]

This is not true at all. Call your programs and tell their coordinators that your official GRE score report will be arriving a tad bit late but soon in the near future. They're pretty understanding. This is also why most programs ask for unofficial/self-reported GRE scores.

 

So I emailed the admission's office and checked if these problems matter.

For GRE scores, the administrator told me that this is not a problem and the admission's office will match the score to application whenever they arrive.

For LOR, she told me LORs are accepted after the deadline. I'm not sure if that would put me at disadvantage though.

 

I talked to my professor again and reminded him that the LOR needs to be submitted, but he told me not to worry too much about it, and he would call the admission's office if he needs to take any actions.

I guess that's better than what Whisky said, but it's giving me a hard time.. I really should have expected it because he has a history of submitting grades after the grade deadline..

Edited December 3, 2014 by Queue

[ghostar]

So I emailed the admission's office and checked if these problems matter.

For GRE scores, the administrator told me that this is not a problem and the admission's office will match the score to application whenever they arrive.

For LOR, she told me LORs are accepted after the deadline. I'm not sure if that would put me at disadvantage though.

 

I talked to my professor again and reminded him that the LOR needs to be submitted, but he told me not to worry too much about it, and he would call the admission's office if he needs to take any actions.

I guess that's better than what Whisky said, but it's giving me a hard time.. I really should have expected it because he has a history of submitting grades after the grade deadline..

I wouldn't worry about it. For some of my schools, the deadline for letter writers are actually 2 weeks later than the application deadline, so it's possible that your professor has a later deadline for his LOR. I really wouldn't stress too much.

[Quantum Buckyball]

I imagine your application wont even be looked at. Why would a school bother with an applicant missing the most important parts of an application (The LOR probably being the most) when there a ton of students with everything submitted. It is most likely the same with the GRE. For most all graduate schools it is mandatory, meaning you must have a certain score to gain admission (even if it isn't a high score), at least having the test complete. Without that, even just having it submitted regardless of how you did, it is highly unlikely it would be looked at. What else is there in an application? GPA? The GRE takes like 2 days for the univeristy to get and maybe a week for them to upload into your file. If you sent it last week I wouldnt worry. As for the LOR, bug them.

 

This is true, most incomplete applications won't be reviewed by the admission committee, at least it's the case at my school. Most schools now have the auto-cutoff system because they receive so many applications; more than the admission committee can handle. For instance, there is a total of 5 professors on the admission committee it's very hard to review 1000+ applications and go through 3000+ LORs in a such short amount of time. I would highly recommend that you submit your application early and have everything turn in ASAP. Unless there is a professor really wants to recruit you then they will most likely make an exception. 

Edited December 3, 2014 by Quantum Buckyball

[ghostar]

Update: I just received an email from TSRI confirming that my application is complete. This was with my official GRE score report delivered 2 days after the application deadline. So don't worry for TSRI if your GRE score report is delayed.

[Maxtini]

Finally got the official admission letter from TAMU~ (Tuition waive and US$24,000 TA)
Too bad my USC application was rejected... maybe the Professors I am interested to do not accept new students 

One early admission and One early rejection~ that's okay I think. At least I won't anxiously wait anymore 

Edited December 4, 2014 by Maxtini

[Vene]

Finally got the official admission letter from TAMU~ (Tuition waive and US$24,000 TA)

Too bad my USC application was rejected... maybe the Professors I am interested to do not accept new students 

One early admission and One early rejection~ that's okay I think. At least I won't anxiously wait anymore 

Hey, you got one, that's all you need. Congrats.

[fancyfeast]

Has anyone filled out the Michigan app yet? Trying to fill out the awards for which you have applied section and I can only do up to two awards? Seems... limiting.

 

Also the word "applied" is in bold, suggesting I can submit scholarships I applied for but didn't receive? I have a couple of those where it is kind of big deal to even get nominated, but I didn't get the award in the end.