Jump to content

Chemistry Applications Fall 2015


ChemiKyle

Recommended Posts

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

Not only that, but Columbia didn't even (at least publicly) acknowledge that he did this. They mentioned it in a report that students were negatively impacted by not reproducing results, but they don't say anything about what they (Columbia) did about it.

It's just a crazy story overall. Sames gets tenure off fake work, then he removes the work without approval from the first author. She lied, but he approved it. "He got the credit, but none of the punishment"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dumb question, when we go to visitation weekends and are running around the campus on tours, are we supposed to wear suits the whole time? 

 

I ain't classy enough for that, might have to do some shopping!

Wait! We need to wear suits during visiting weekends?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, we don't need to wear suits - the impression I have from past discussions is that roughly business casual is totally acceptable. There's a good blogpost here that gives some advice for visiting weekends in chemistry: http://notthelab.blogspot.com/2013/01/tips-for-grad-school-recruiting-weekends.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure that most are fairly casual. Look nice for any fancy dinners they take you on or if you're going to a professor's home, but otherwise just don't dress super sloppy and you'll be fine. Even for Michigan chemical biology's interview weekend it was explicitly stated that the dress code is casual.

Edited by KineticIsotopeDefect
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank god. My friend is doing dental school interviews, and lectured me when I said I wanted to wear a cardigan haha!

Professional schools are a whole other world.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

 

I wonder what became of those two students who were dismissed. I really hoped they managed to find other labs to complete their degrees - it would be highly disappointing (and perhaps even more damaging to the school) if these two were forced to leave because of failed replications that weren't even their fault. I'm still surprised that Sezen still has her second PhD, but I guess the other school can't really do much as long as she didn't fabricate her data for that PhD. 

 

What astonishes me is that Sames was not only able to keep his tenure, but also did not receive any repercussions as a result of this. Sure, life as an assistant prof must be stressful since one needs to obtain tenure, but he should be the least bit suspicious of his researcher's results, especially in a field like C-H activation. I mean, it's amazing if a grad student was able to actually achieve something great in that field, but before publishing it, it wouldn't hurt to look at their notebooks to see how it was carried out and if it was carried out in a reasonable manner. I know profs have a busy schedule, but a couple of minutes at examining the student's experimental data could prevent incidents like this from occurring. (Sidenote - it reminds me of a story one of my chem profs told us about regarding how this one grad researcher managed to start off with an achiral compound and made it chiral. Long story short, he spiked his reagent bottle with the desired product so it would show up in the NMR spectrum) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Scripps applicants, have you received any further information after the first interview? In my first interview, the interviewer mentioned that there would be a second interview. Then, what could be the focus of the second interview?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Scripps applicants, have you received any further information after the first interview? In my first interview, the interviewer mentioned that there would be a second interview. Then, what could be the focus of the second interview?

Would you mind sharing with us the focus of your first interview?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Scripps applicants, have you received any further information after the first interview? In my first interview, the interviewer mentioned that there would be a second interview. Then, what could be the focus of the second interview?

 

I've only heard about one session of interviews, which is during the visiting weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Scripps applicants, have you received any further information after the first interview? In my first interview, the interviewer mentioned that there would be a second interview. Then, what could be the focus of the second interview?

 

What do you mean, first interview? I haven't had any yet. Talked to a prof from FL on the phone, but that was it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you mean, first interview? I haven't had any yet. Talked to a prof from FL on the phone, but that was it.

I think that we are talking about the same interview, but it's the Skype interview for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soooo if I still have not heard from Berkeley, is it safe to assume they rejected me? :(

There is always hope that they have a few more acceptances to send out (I myself am in a similar waiting period), but they seem to have sent out a great amount of acceptances already. Based on the results page of GC, they finished most of their acceptances the Friday before MLK day (this past Friday..) They did however issue a few more acceptances at the beginning of February before they sent out rejections. I am not sure about your LORs and SOP, but the rest of your application seems really solid and competitive.

 

TLDR: They are probably finished with the bulk, but there is always a chance until you receive a rejection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your response ChemPlasmonics!! Good luck to you. My LORs are pretty strong, hard to gauge the strength of my own SOP but overall I *~*think*~* I had a competitive application. I'm hoping that since I submitted it very close to the deadline (~mid December) I will just have a delayed response. But I'm really starting to lose hope all together, oh well!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your response ChemPlasmonics!! Good luck to you. My LORs are pretty strong, hard to gauge the strength of my own SOP but overall I *~*think*~* I had a competitive application. I'm hoping that since I submitted it very close to the deadline (~mid December) I will just have a delayed response. But I'm really starting to lose hope all together, oh well!!

I submitted mine on the deadline (21st) so maybe they are still going through applications and have been doing rolling admissions..That may be a bit naive and idealistic, but there could be some truth to it.

Did anyone apply near or on the deadline and already get accepted??

You got into Yale though! That is fun and rolls off the tongue pretty well. I am wishing I applied to a few more schools out of reach just to see. I didn't take the subject test so that severely limited the schools I could apply to. Wish I would have just thrown an app at MIT and Yale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I submitted mine on the deadline (21st) so maybe they are still going through applications and have been doing rolling admissions..That may be a bit naive and idealistic, but there could be some truth to it.

Did anyone apply near or on the deadline and already get accepted??

You got into Yale though! That is fun and rolls off the tongue pretty well. I am wishing I applied to a few more schools out of reach just to see. I didn't take the subject test so that severely limited the schools I could apply to. Wish I would have just thrown an app at MIT and Yale.

 

I've sent all my applications on the last day or a day before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am wishing I applied to a few more schools out of reach just to see. I didn't take the subject test so that severely limited the schools I could apply to. Wish I would have just thrown an app at MIT and Yale.

I'm feeling the same way. I discovered this website after submitting most of my applications... seeing all the posts on here makes me wish I applied to more reach schools (Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, etc..), my only two are MIT and Caltech.  But it definitely feels good getting acceptances! I think if I applied to all reach schools that would not be the case right now...

 

But the schools you've been accepted to are nothing to sneeze at either! Especially UT, UNC, A&M etc, all Top 20 or Top 10 among certain subfields

Edited by chemcece
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm feeling the same way. I discovered this website after submitting most of my applications... seeing all the posts on here makes me wish I applied to more reach schools (Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, etc..), my only two are MIT and Caltech.  But it definitely feels good getting acceptances! I think if I applied to all reach schools that would not be the case right now...

 

But the schools you've been accepted to are nothing to sneeze at either! Especially UT, UNC, A&M etc, all Top 20 or Top 10 among certain subfields

Yeah I definitely understand that! I would be okay with some rejections if that meant maybe just one acceptance from one of those caliber programs. And thanks! I certainly am looking forward to visiting UNC and UT. I am also hoping to hear back from illinois and Wisconsin this week, as my application has not even been reviewed yet (according to both administrators). Of all these, surely I will find a program that is a good fit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use