Chemistry Application Fall 2016

[ConcertedMechanism]

9 hours ago, BioChemie said:

Do you know when the visit weekend is? 

March 18-19

[rbs345]

Have you heard anything from Yale? I am still waiting

[dells_of_bittersweet]

2 hours ago, rbs345 said:

Have you heard anything from Yale? I am still waiting

I am also still waiting. Thier website says that notifications are generally made in March. I find this frustrating. 

CU Boulder is also taking waaaaaaaaay too long to get back to me. 

[BioChemie]

Well I guess that's the end for Brown 

[ConcertedMechanism]

FINALLY heard back from Duke today. Got accepted. I know I've seen a few others were wondering about Duke too. 

There wasn't any info on stipend amount or visit weekend in the letter though. 

[benzaldehyde212]

23 hours ago, rbs345 said:

Have you heard anything from Yale? I am still waiting

I'm also still waiting.  At least now I know it's not just me! 

[ClemChem]

I know I have seen a Vandy or NYU in here does anyone know if they are done accepting I haven't heard a thing from either school and I submitted their applications back in the beginning of December

[BioChemie]

4 minutes ago, ClemChem said:

I know I have seen a Vandy or NYU in here does anyone know if they are done accepting I haven't heard a thing from either school and I submitted their applications back in the beginning of December

I sent Vanderbilt an email asking what was going on, but no one got back to me! If you hear anything, let me know. Vandy really needs to respond soon since the visit weekend is coming up ..

[Chester88]

1 hour ago, ClemChem said:

I know I have seen a Vandy or NYU in here does anyone know if they are done accepting I haven't heard a thing from either school and I submitted their applications back in the beginning of December

No word from Vandy for me either.  Hopefully we hear something soon.

[BioChemie]

PSA: If you are waiting on UVA, they are still sending out acceptances. If you were accepted and don't plan to take the offer, please turn it down. 

[hikaru87]

Does anyone think UCLA or UCSD are still sending out acceptances? Emailed the departments and haven't heard anything

[phenol]

So I finally heard back from MIT, and it wasn't a possibility I was really prepared for. I received an email from one of my POIs, with my other POI and the graduate chemistry administrator cc'ed.

"I'm writing in regards to your application for the Graduate Program in Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Your application was received in December and reviewed favorably earlier this calendar year. The applicant pool to MIT chemistry for Fall 2016 was extremely strong with many more exceptional applicants than we were permitted to admit. You have not yet received an official notification from MIT Chemistry because your application is one of a select twelve applications that we have on hold. We are very enthusiastic about your application and the prospect of having you join us at MIT for your graduate studies, and are evaluating whether we can increase our class size for the upcoming academic year. We will notify you as soon as possible regarding the final admissions status of your application.

On behalf of the Admissions Committee, I apologize for the delayed correspondence. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding your application."

[ibnbattuta]

I urge those of you who were given offers of admission to input the stipend information at http://www.phdstipends.com/ .  Knowledge is power.

[madcafe]

Haven't heard from CalTech yet. Any hope? 

[FTY720]

On 2/27/2016 at 1:02 PM, madcafe said:

Haven't heard from CalTech yet. Any hope? 

I'm in the same boat! I honestly doubt I will be accepted at this point. But I guess you never know! Good luck! 

[ConcertedMechanism]

It's March 1st.. does that mean all hope is lost for any schools we haven't heard from?

[BioChemie]

20 minutes ago, ConcertedMechanism said:

It's March 1st.. does that mean all hope is lost for any schools we haven't heard from?

Depends on the deadline. UVA won't have final decisions for another week or two and their deadline was January 15th. I would absolutely email the schools you haven't heard from to ask your status. Where are you waiting to hear from

[ConcertedMechanism]

1 hour ago, BioChemie said:

Depends on the deadline. UVA won't have final decisions for another week or two and their deadline was January 15th. I would absolutely email the schools you haven't heard from to ask your status. Where are you waiting to hear from

I guess that is true, although I don't remember all the deadlines  (I submitted all of mine at the same time). I am still waiting on UNC, Rice, and UC Irvine, all of which I know have already sent out rejections so I am very confused. Guess I'll be emailing them, good idea. 

[ClemChem]

I emailed the universities I am waiting on and NYU emailed me back saying that some applications are difficult to reach decisions on, so they are placed back into the pool to be looked at again later. Not sure if this is the case for y'all, but I wouldn't give up hope just yet

Edited March 2, 2016 by ClemChem

[Orgo for days]

FYI official offers from Scripps are rolling out from most recent interview weekend!

[sat0ri]

I thought you guys would be the best people to ask. I've been accepted to a few international master's programs, and currently all funding decisions are still pending. Would it be worth it to study for a ~1 year masters (at Oxford or Cambridge, et al.) if the tuition comes out to be ~30K USD up to 45K USD? I've heard it is a "funding or bust" type of situation most of the time, but the places I've seen this written has been the soft sciences.

The Fulbright award I applied for does necessarily pay for everything, but I was wondering if I were fortunate enough to get a partial scholarship (and no other funding), would it be worth it?

Just some extra info: I applied to international masters because travel/cultural exchange is important to me; my goal is to apply combined MD-PhD (chemical biology), or maybe do MD followed by post-doc, or PhD then to MD.

Also, I'm fairly new to how this site works, sorry if this out of place or whatnot

[Hottotrot]

It is my understanding that the MSTP  (medical science training program i.e. MD/PhD program) as it is called in the US,  is paid for; however, it takes a long time to complete-- 6-8 years. On top of that, it doesn't include time for residency and or fellowships. That being said, getting a masters and then enrolling in a MSTP program would take a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, paying for a degree to eventually get another degree seems like a round about way to do things. It seems to me that the MSTP program expedites the PhD work so that it can be completed in as little as 3-4 years. If it were me I would go directly to your program of interest. Medical school is typically very expensive (here in the US)  and paying for another degree when there may be other (possibly large) costs in your future seems foolish. Of course these are just my opinions...

Edited March 10, 2016 by Hottotrot

[sat0ri]

On 3/10/2016 at 10:51 AM, Hottotrot said:

It is my understanding that the MSTP  (medical science training program i.e. MD/PhD program) as it is called in the US,  is paid for; however, it takes a long time to complete-- 6-8 years. On top of that, it doesn't include time for residency and or fellowships. That being said, getting a masters and then enrolling in a MSTP program would take a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, paying for a degree to eventually get another degree seems like a round about way to do things. It seems to me that the MSTP program expedites the PhD work so that it can be completed in as little as 3-4 years. If it were me I would go directly to your program of interest. Medical school is typically very expensive (here in the US)  and paying for another degree when there may be other (possibly large) costs in your future seems foolish. Of course these are just my opinions...

Fair enough. Thanks for your input.

Everything you said about MD-PhD was right, but just to clear a few things up. MSTP is a funding scheme for MD-PhD degrees, and though it's the most common, there are other funding schemes (both internal and external). So, it is synonymous but not coterminous. You are correct that the dual degrees are expedited (to fill the need for benchtop to bedside researchers) but are still very long degrees, which is compounded by the need for residencies (after MD) and post-doc position (after PhD) which only occasionally can be done concurrently. Also, though the degrees pay for both the PhD and MD degree (the later of which can be as expensive as a quarter million dollars in debt), the time spent out of the field not making MD salary (150-400K / yr) tends to cancel out the benefit (conversely, financial solvency after MD/PhD is not without its perks).

I think it might be futile but I'm not sure I would say foolish, because while 50K is a lot of money, it would not necessarily be the end of the world on a physician's salary (but that could be a gamble, because 50K with no med school admission could be devastating debt). As far as the length of the degree, you're absolutely right, and as is, I'm already feeling my age and realizing just how much further I would need to go. Fortunately, I've never been too concerned with making a lot of money/status, so being in my 30's and still in school wouldn't be the end of the world for me.

 

Edited March 12, 2016 by sat0ri

[BioChemie]

Anyone else still waiting to hear back from places?

[metallocene2015]

14 hours ago, BioChemie said:

Anyone else still waiting to hear back from places?

Me- still nothing from Wisconsin yet