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Chemistry Application Fall 2016


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On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 5:21 PM, BioChemie said:

Anyone else still waiting to hear back from places?

Yes :( Even after sending out email inquiries. I think at this point I have given up on the ones I'm still waiting on and focusing my attention to my acceptances/visits.

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Congratulations to everyone who has been getting favorable replies! I received acceptance letters from Ohio State (OSU), SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Florida but I'm really confused which program would be the best. I'm not really considering Stony Brook since it was a backup option, but Ohio State and Florida seem equally good. Anyone who knows about either or both of the programs and can advise me about the pros and cons? 

P.S. I'm interested in bio-organic/biochem

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Notification of official rejections from Caltech and Berkeley are too late... even Berkeley stated that they would notify rejections by early March! What are they doing now??:(

Edited by harrysad
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/17/2016 at 0:02 PM, appchem said:

Congratulations to everyone who has been getting favorable replies! I received acceptance letters from Ohio State (OSU), SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Florida but I'm really confused which program would be the best. I'm not really considering Stony Brook since it was a backup option, but Ohio State and Florida seem equally good. Anyone who knows about either or both of the programs and can advise me about the pros and cons? 

P.S. I'm interested in bio-organic/biochem

Hey! I was admitted and visited. I didn't think I'd like OSU at all because I wanted to live somewhere more exciting but I actually really, really liked it.

I was interested in biochem, so I guess I can tell you a few things. The professors were amazing. A lot of them are pretty young, and very passionate, most seems to have openings in their labs. OSU campus is really nice, and the new chemistry building is shiny. The new facilities are amazing too. The department seems to have a lot of money, to be honest. Columbus is not too exciting by itself, but with OSU's size it isn't a problem. The support staff (admin, and coordinator) is very responsive, and seem to be willing to go out of their way to help you. I come from a small school and I really appreciated the personal attention.

Oh, and cost of living is so low! So the money was actually pretty good. And the school spirit is kinda crazy haha.

Also, to people still waiting, I just formally turned down 4 offers, so hopefully that will help you guys :)

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18 hours ago, tamaki said:

Hey! I was admitted and visited. I didn't think I'd like OSU at all because I wanted to live somewhere more exciting but I actually really, really liked it.

I was interested in biochem, so I guess I can tell you a few things. The professors were amazing. A lot of them are pretty young, and very passionate, most seems to have openings in their labs. OSU campus is really nice, and the new chemistry building is shiny. The new facilities are amazing too. The department seems to have a lot of money, to be honest. Columbus is not too exciting by itself, but with OSU's size it isn't a problem. The support staff (admin, and coordinator) is very responsive, and seem to be willing to go out of their way to help you. I come from a small school and I really appreciated the personal attention.

Oh, and cost of living is so low! So the money was actually pretty good. And the school spirit is kinda crazy haha.

Also, to people still waiting, I just formally turned down 4 offers, so hopefully that will help you guys :)

I had some problems with my previous ID (appchem) and this is my new one. Sorry to the person who replied to my post earlier - I couldn't reply from that ID weirdly.

Thanks for your input, tamaki. I'm completing my master's in India and couldn't travel that far to check out OSU so it really helps that you told me about your department visit! I'm not too worried about the city, Columbus seems nice and I'm sure there will be a lot to do in and around campus. Your reviews of the professors and department seem very reassuring. Did you speak to any of the current grads there and find out their opinion about the program? I've rejected my U Florida offer too if it helps someone.

The moment I was 95% sure about OSU, I got another offer. UBC Vancouver, Canada. The stipend is much lower and the city way more expensive. But I really loved the area and it's a much more reputed program than OSU ( maybe because I don't live in the States, but I'd never even heard of OSU till I applied). The faculty and research groups seem equally good in both universities so that's not a deciding factor. As an international student though I need to consider the future too - US has way more job and postdoc opportunities than Canada. I've written a looong post about this (Canada vs US for PhD chemistry) on the grad cafe forum if anyone knows anything about this! 

In short, I'm even more confused than I was before. UBC vs Ohio state. Anyone who can tell me about Canada vs US or either of the programs - help!!

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Hey @delhigirl. I am an international student too!

Anyway, OSU has one of the biggest chem departments in the country I believe, it is ranked quite high. In the US it is very well known because it's the biggest school in the US by student population (60k or something) and sports. 

I talked to a number of grad students. They loved it! They disliked grading, but that seems to be the same story everywhere I visited. Living costs are cheap and people are very friendly were some of the things grad students loved. Also, the campus healthcare is absolutely amazing since they do have a god hospital on campus, and it's all free :)

Personally yea, I definitely recommend OSU over UBC. I am familiar with both systems and I think you will have a lot more opportunities (postdocs/industry) coming out from OSU.

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On 4/6/2016 at 9:38 AM, tamaki said:

Hey @delhigirl. I am an international student too!

Anyway, OSU has one of the biggest chem departments in the country I believe, it is ranked quite high. In the US it is very well known because it's the biggest school in the US by student population (60k or something) and sports. 

I talked to a number of grad students. They loved it! They disliked grading, but that seems to be the same story everywhere I visited. Living costs are cheap and people are very friendly were some of the things grad students loved. Also, the campus healthcare is absolutely amazing since they do have a god hospital on campus, and it's all free :)

Personally yea, I definitely recommend OSU over UBC. I am familiar with both systems and I think you will have a lot more opportunities (postdocs/industry) coming out from OSU.

That sounds great! Thanks so much - can I PM you if I need more details?

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