Chemistry Applications Fall 2015

[electron]

Which Caltech profs called you guys?

[SunnygirlDiana]

I was called by Professor Brian Stoltz and my friend who also got in was called by Theodor Agapie.

 

Organometallics, what is your top choice school? We got into some of the same programs...

[metallocene2015]

if it's any consolation to those who have been rejected by Princeton, Princeton has a considerably smaller graduate enrollment than just about any other schools.

Does that apply for all chemistrt divisions at Princeton ? I got rejected a few days ago

[tbqh]

Does that apply for all chemistrt divisions at Princeton ? I got rejected a few days ago

I see many Professors hiring only one student per year.

[UWChemE]

OK, so I'm starting to freak out. Maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but I'm severely discouraged by how many people have heard from schools I applied to.

I'm a fall graduate from UW Madison ' Chemical engineering program. I double majored in Chemistry (which was actually a significant amount of extra work)

As lame of an excuse as it is, chemical engineering significantly lowered my overall gpa (graduated with a 3.05). My chemistry gpa was a 3.6.

From freshman year until the end of sophomore year I worked in an organic synthesis lab. Summer of sophomore year I worked in a chemical engineering lab focused on drug delivery and bioengineering. My junior year I studied abroad and in the summer after I had an internship with a major pharmaceutical company.

I got LoR from the two PIs (Assistant Prof, and Prof leader in his field) as well as my intermediate organic Chem Prof (Assistant Prof). I believe these are all strong letters.

Basically, I'm worried about my gpa. I have a really great relationship with the organic lab PI and she said that this would be the biggest hurdle for me. I applied to

(Reach) MIT, UC Berkeley.

(Reasonable) Columbia, UCLA

(Confident) Colorado State, UNC Chapel Hill, and UC San Diego.

However, now I don't feel confident at all. Is there still a chance for me? Did I shoot myself I the foot and not apply to enough programs I could actually get into?

I see plenty of acceptance already so I'm worried that I won't have a place to be in the next few months.

[UWChemE]

Also wanted to ask if everyone who is getting calls also received emails?

I am currently in Germany looking for a job for the intermediate time, so I can't receive calls.

I never realized that Grad schools personally call to announce admissions.

[ucdude]

does anyone know when UCSB and UIUC admit the bulk of their applicants by? those are the two I am hoping to hear back from, soon!

[mapodoufu]

Also wanted to ask if everyone who is getting calls also received emails?

I am currently in Germany looking for a job for the intermediate time, so I can't receive calls.

I never realized that Grad schools personally call to announce admissions.

 

I got both calls and emails from Berkeley and Stanford, at an interval of maximum a week between them.

[Organometallics]

I was called by Professor Brian Stoltz and my friend who also got in was called by Theodor Agapie.

 

Organometallics, what is your top choice school? We got into some of the same programs...

I am not sure yet.  The only school I have not heard back from yet is Harvard.  If history repeats itself, Harvard should start sending out acceptances next week (EDIT: Acceptances might actually start on the Jan. 26th, I'm not sure).

 

However, of the schools that I've been accepted to I am most interested in Berkeley, Stanford, and Caltech.  I will definitely be visiting these three and Harvard if I am accepted.  If I can fit in another weekend, I would also like to visit Princeton, but I might not be able to.  At the moment I don't really have a 'top choice', just a handful of schools that I'm interested in but won't really be able to make an informed decision until I visit campus.  I've heard that the weekend visits are imperative in gauging how you would fit in with the specific department. 

 

I hope that answers your question.  Do you have a top choice?

Edited January 18, 2015 by Organometallics

[ChemPlasmonics]

Also wanted to ask if everyone who is getting calls also received emails?

I am currently in Germany looking for a job for the intermediate time, so I can't receive calls.

I never realized that Grad schools personally call to announce admissions.

A professor of mine mentioned that UNC CH has a GPA cutoff somewhere. I am not sure how true this is, but he was bitter that UNC was the only school he was rejected from (had a 3.25), but was accepted at places like Northwestern. It is also still rather early for these places to be done sending out ALL acceptances. I would worry more if February comes around and you haven't heard from anyone. In hindsight, it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to apply to a few more places. 

[Whisky-with-a-Y]

OK, so I'm starting to freak out. Maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but I'm severely discouraged by how many people have heard from schools I applied to.

I'm a fall graduate from UW Madison ' Chemical engineering program. I double majored in Chemistry (which was actually a significant amount of extra work)

As lame of an excuse as it is, chemical engineering significantly lowered my overall gpa (graduated with a 3.05). My chemistry gpa was a 3.6.

From freshman year until the end of sophomore year I worked in an organic synthesis lab. Summer of sophomore year I worked in a chemical engineering lab focused on drug delivery and bioengineering. My junior year I studied abroad and in the summer after I had an internship with a major pharmaceutical company.

I got LoR from the two PIs (Assistant Prof, and Prof leader in his field) as well as my intermediate organic Chem Prof (Assistant Prof). I believe these are all strong letters.

Basically, I'm worried about my gpa. I have a really great relationship with the organic lab PI and she said that this would be the biggest hurdle for me. I applied to

(Reach) MIT, UC Berkeley.

(Reasonable) Columbia, UCLA

(Confident) Colorado State, UNC Chapel Hill, and UC San Diego.

However, now I don't feel confident at all. Is there still a chance for me? Did I shoot myself I the foot and not apply to enough programs I could actually get into?

I see plenty of acceptance already so I'm worried that I won't have a place to be in the next few months.

 

 Hey, I really wouldn't worry about it just yet. It is around that time where acceptances seem to be going out, but that doesn't mean it will stop today. Keep looking foward to the next few weeks and if it hits mid-February, maybe then start to worry. It is hard to go by the trends you read here, so don't take them to seriously.

I don't think you "shot yourself in the foot", although some of those schools are clearly top, top choices. Your backups (or confident, as you called them), are pretty good schools. UNC-Chapell Hill is a really hard school to guage. I have seen them deny outstanding candidates, without any reason. UC San Diego also gets a lot of popularity as its location and it has a pretty good reputation. Same goes with Colorado, so all those schools receive a ton of apps. I think you app kind of stands out as you have training as a chemical engineer. Curious, why didn't you go that route? I see a lot of chem students try and pursue that area, although it is very difficult from the lack of engineering classes and experience in that setting. I have no idea how much GPA actually matters. You will see varying accounts of that on this forum and I think it depends on the rest of the application, I think we can at least make that generalization. Assuming there wasn't a cuttoff and your application reached the review stage, it should be somewhat interesting. However, I am not sure if these schools have cutoffs and it might not have reached that phase. I imagine if the latter was the case you would receive a rejection, which it doesnt look like you have yet, so don't worry.

Lastly, if it reaches mid-Feb, send an email out. There is a chance of being wait-listed. Also, schools tend to send out applications in waves. So first they do an early round, which is what we are seeing right now and for the earlier months (can't say that for every school, but a few that I got accepted to told me that. Its why they like you to decline if you have no interest).

 

P.S. For the 20 students on here being accepted to these outstanding schools, there is probably 100 more that are reading these posts and wondering the same thing that you are. Someone posted a bit ago asking for the "normal" students because all we are reading are the top, top acceptances (congrats to everyone who got in, that is an outstanding accomplishement alone), but there a lot of people, a lot who are in the same position.

[SunnygirlDiana]

OK, so I'm starting to freak out. Maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but I'm severely discouraged by how many people have heard from schools I applied to.

I'm a fall graduate from UW Madison ' Chemical engineering program. I double majored in Chemistry (which was actually a significant amount of extra work)

As lame of an excuse as it is, chemical engineering significantly lowered my overall gpa (graduated with a 3.05). My chemistry gpa was a 3.6.

From freshman year until the end of sophomore year I worked in an organic synthesis lab. Summer of sophomore year I worked in a chemical engineering lab focused on drug delivery and bioengineering. My junior year I studied abroad and in the summer after I had an internship with a major pharmaceutical company.

I got LoR from the two PIs (Assistant Prof, and Prof leader in his field) as well as my intermediate organic Chem Prof (Assistant Prof). I believe these are all strong letters.

Basically, I'm worried about my gpa. I have a really great relationship with the organic lab PI and she said that this would be the biggest hurdle for me. I applied to

(Reach) MIT, UC Berkeley.

(Reasonable) Columbia, UCLA

(Confident) Colorado State, UNC Chapel Hill, and UC San Diego.

However, now I don't feel confident at all. Is there still a chance for me? Did I shoot myself I the foot and not apply to enough programs I could actually get into?

I see plenty of acceptance already so I'm worried that I won't have a place to be in the next few months.

 

Hi UWChemE. 

 

Stop worrying, it won't help -- and there's actually nothing to worry about too LOL.

 

I'm pretty similar to you in that I was also a Chemistry and Engineering double major and my GPA of course sucked because of engineering. When I applied this year and now I had a 3.3 overall GPA and a 3.7 chem GPA, which of course, is not stellar compared to pretty much everyone else on here. I had an F and two Withdrawals throughout my transcript and Cs every semester. One of my teachers thought it might be a problem but probably not because research is the most important factor in the end. I think especially if your GPA is above 3, you don't have to worry.

 

So far I got acceptances from Princeton and Caltech to name a few, so I don't think you should be worrying about GPA "shooting you in the foot" because its definitely not that important compared to your outstanding letters and good research experience, or else I couldn't have gotten in anywhere either lol!!

 

Schools are a bit weird with the timing of their acceptances I've noticed and a lot of times, the quality of the applicant does not correlate with the "lateness or earlyness" in which they hear back. And just because youre not one of the first to hear back, doesnt' necessarily mean they're less interested in you either. For example, I had a friend who applied to UC berkeley that I thought was highly qualified in terms of everything (even had 3 publications and a really high Chem GRE, american student), who just heard back Friday...and UC Berkeley had been accepting for a good 3 weeks already. I also have not heard anything from UC Berkeley but this doesn't mean I have been worrying and completely ruling out that they will ever accept me! lol!

 

Overall, I'm just saying that even if you experience a delay in receiving your admissions, don't worry about it - -these guys have hundreds and hundreds of applications to process to just their chem departments! and I'm sure they get a lot of qualified candidates like yourself and have to think a lot too. I think your credentials are very good, so just hang in there! Good things come to those who wait

[UWChemE]

Curious, why didn't you go that route? I see a lot of chem students try and pursue that area, although it is very difficult from the lack of engineering classes and experience in that setting. I have no idea how much GPA actually matters.

Lastly, if it reaches mid-Feb, send an email out.

To answer your first question, I went the "other" direction because Chemical Engineering really wasn't what I expected. It's a lot of process engineering : how can you make this, how much of it, how much money, how do you control this feed back process, how much input is required for this output. There's a lot of high level math and physics implied in all of the courses. And there's way too much thermo. Many of the students are in it for money, and it's great for that.

The reason I went for chemical engineering was because I loved chemistry. I thought with a more applied field I could more easily get products (specifically medicine) to people. In a sense this was true, but I really didn't enjoy the engineering. It's really far removed from the interesting science (at least what we learn in class)

Organic Chem though! That's my jam, I love working in the lab, synthesizing, working up the products, analyzing NMR, planning synthetic routes. The semesters I was doing research and learning ochem in class were the best years of college. So that's why I'm applying for graduate school in that field.

I really hope that the schools can look past the overall gpa, which I mentioned in my SoP. I love chemistry and actually performed better in that. I probably could /would have even had a higher Chem GPA if I wasn't taking so many chemE credits.

I guess at this point I just have to wait and see. Thank you for the objective, but affirmative words, really helps ease my mind.

Completely unrelated, does anyone know what is up with Danishefsky? Is he retired? Still taking students perhaps? I know he's quite old

[SunnygirlDiana]

BTW I just noticed from your (UWChemE) signature that you speak German!

 

That's so cool! You're a true chemist! ;P

[SunnygirlDiana]

I guess at this point I just have to wait and see. Thank you for the objective, but affirmative words, really helps ease my mind.

Completely unrelated, does anyone know what is up with Danishefsky? Is he retired? Still taking students perhaps? I know he's quite old

 

Hi again. No problem. i was never really someone that worried about things much...even if they weren't going so well...which is a lot of the reason why i'm not so great a student LOL, and why i like trying to console others. I can tell you are a good student though because you DO worry which has both positive aspects in regards to producitivity and focus, and negative aspects in terms of just feeling worried hahaha!

 

As for Danishefsky, he's probably emeritus now. He's in his 80s i think, and his name doesn't come up under faculty/research groups at columbias website. Of course, you can always e-mail him now and ask or e-mail the department after you get in...although in general, it might not be the best idea either to work for someone whose too old/extremely late in their career!

[mapodoufu]

Hi again. No problem. i was never really someone that worried about things much...even if they weren't going so well...which is a lot of the reason why i'm not so great a student LOL, and why i like trying to console others. I can tell you are a good student though because you DO worry which has both positive aspects in regards to producitivity and focus, and negative aspects in terms of just feeling worried hahaha!

 

As for Danishefsky, he's probably emeritus now. He's in his 80s i think, and his name doesn't come up under faculty/research groups at columbias website. Of course, you can always e-mail him now and ask or e-mail the department after you get in...although in general, it might not be the best idea either to work for someone whose too old/extremely late in their career!

 

Danishefsky is at Sloan-Kettering now and he is not taking students anymore.

[MrWizard454]

For anyone with experience in this, is it possible for you to lose funding/scholarship if you accept a school's offer too late? I just heard back from Stony Brook on Friday and was wondering if I'd be shooting myself in the foot by waiting to see how my other schools turn out. Granted, it's still early, but I want to make sure I take that into account. 

[Hijojo]

For anyone with experience in this, is it possible for you to lose funding/scholarship if you accept a school's offer too late? I just heard back from Stony Brook on Friday and was wondering if I'd be shooting myself in the foot by waiting to see how my other schools turn out. Granted, it's still early, but I want to make sure I take that into account. 

There's an agreement among most graduate schools that students have no obligation to respond to any financial offers before April 15th - ie, schools can't take away your money if you don't accept the offer before then. Stony Brooks is on that list of schools, so you have plenty of time. Though most acceptance letters I've seen have stated if you don't respond by April 15th, then you're in danger of losing your financial offers.

 

If you want more information: this is the agreement: http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution 

[MrWizard454]

There's an agreement among most graduate schools that students have no obligation to respond to any financial offers before April 15th - ie, schools can't take away your money if you don't accept the offer before then. Stony Brooks is on that list of schools, so you have plenty of time. Though most acceptance letters I've seen have stated if you don't respond by April 15th, then you're in danger of losing your financial offers.

 

If you want more information: this is the agreement: http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution 

 

Makes me feel more comfortable to hear, thank you for that.

 

I did hear something about an agreement, but I wasn't sure if it strictly applied to acceptances or if it also took funding into account. 

[UWChemE]

As for Danishefsky, he's probably emeritus now. He's in his 80s i think, and his name doesn't come up under faculty/research groups at columbias website. Of course, you can always e-mail him now and ask or e-mail the department after you get in...although in general, it might not be the best idea either to work for someone whose too old/extremely late in their career!

 

Turns out you're right (He's 78!)  The reason I asked is because I made a statement about him and the work that he did at Columbia, rereading my SoP I realized it kinda sounds like I want to be in his group. Funny enough the three professors I would like to work with Leighton, Lambert, and Sames are all previous students of his! 

 

Before doing all my research I didn't consider Columbia as a top choice(just knew it was well ranked), but now it's definitely my top! I want to go there so bad! I dont care that it's in NYC. Their dates for visiting are March 6th and 27th, so hopefully I'll hear before then. 

[Kinetic Isotope Defect]

Funny enough the three professors I would like to work with Leighton, Lambert, and Sames are all previous students of his! 

 

If you're in interesting in working with Sames, you should google "Sames and Sezen fraud".

[fancyfeast]

If you're in interesting in working with Sames, you should google "Sames and Sezen fraud".

Was curious so I googled. Holy moly! Sezen was/is clearly nuts and deserved what's she got, but I'm surprised Sames has been relatively unscathed by all this.

[UWChemE]

Seriously! Wow, I'm reading through this "ChemBark" series and it sounds like a Chem version of murder mystery.

It's crazy how much this woman lied, cheated, and blatantly disregarded the foundation of good science. Massaging data is one thing, but she literally made it up!

And I have to agree with you on this, it seems Sames had no repercussions for allowing all this to happen under his direction. I'm really sure if that makes Columbia a bad school, Sames a bad investigator, or the community at large bad at deciding who is credible. It's probably some grey area in between all this, but wow! So unexpected.

[Vene]

Seriously! Wow, I'm reading through this "ChemBark" series and it sounds like a Chem version of murder mystery.

It's crazy how much this woman lied, cheated, and blatantly disregarded the foundation of good science. Massaging data is one thing, but she literally made it up!

And I have to agree with you on this, it seems Sames had no repercussions for allowing all this to happen under his direction. I'm really sure if that makes Columbia a bad school, Sames a bad investigator, or the community at large bad at deciding who is credible. It's probably some grey area in between all this, but wow! So unexpected.

Dismissing other students in the lab who were unable to replicate Sezen's results is highly concerning to me.

[ghostar]

Apparently this lady is now an assistant prof.. http://www.gyte.edu.tr/en/personel/356/5411256/display.aspx