Chemical Engineering PhD programs

[hollygolightly]

Any other chemical engineering PhD applicants?

I was accepted at Northwestern, visiting at the end of Feb.

Anyone hear from MIT? Longshot for me, but I just want to know one way or the other!

[Caldwell]

I applied for PhD's in ChemE at most of the big schools: MIT, Wisconsin, Texas and few others. Haven't heard from anywhere yet, but I'm international (Sort of, I'm Canadian) so it might take longer. I probably borderline for MIT as well, but I really have no idea how I would compare to other applicants. Want to compare?

[iheartecoli]

I also applied to ChemE PhD. I was already admitted to Penn, UCSB and Northwestern (also visiting at the end of February). Still waiting to hear from MIT and Princeton.

[chemePhD2be]

Yea I applied too and only heard from UCSB. Still waiting on UT-Austin, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. Could have swore I would have heard something else this week. Hopefully next week will be more exciting.

[Caldwell]

I was hoping to hear from at least a few places this week too. No word for MIT, CMU, JHU, Wisconsin, UT-A or McGill. I was quite hopeful about getting accepted to some great ChemE grad programs, but I'm getting a little nervous. I thought I was a fairly competitive applicant, but I don't really know how high the bar is set at American schools. I have a 3.69 CGPA (3.86 in the last 2 years), a 1530 combined GRE, research experience in 1 ChemE lab, 1 BME lab and a government research lab and I've taken a bunch of extra grad courses in ChemE and BME. any idea how that stacks up?

[Caldwell]

Any news for anyonw yet? No Results for me yet. I wish I'd applied to Northwestern or one of the UC's so I could have some feedback!

[Gradmew]

I've gotten accepted to UCSB and Stanford and rejected by Berkeley so far. Still waiting on MIT with the rest of you...

[Caldwell]

I saw all the Berkley rejections on the results page, looks like your not alone. I wouldn't sweat it too much, especially if you have Stanford in hand. Good to know MIT's making everyone else sweat it out though. Is everyone else checking there email about 8 times a minute too?

[iheartecoli]

I saw all the Berkley rejections on the results page, looks like your not alone. I wouldn't sweat it too much, especially if you have Stanford in hand. Good to know MIT's making everyone else sweat it out though. Is everyone else checking there email about 8 times a minute too?

Yes! Right there with you about checking my e-mail 8 times a minute. I think we're not supposed to hear from MIT until mid/late February, though. Only thing I use to keep myself calm (sort of) about this is thinking about the fact that MIT admits roughly 30% of applicants to their PhD program, which may still be really competitive but is much higher than every other top school (as far as I know...)

Good luck guys/girls

Edited February 3, 2010 by iheartecoli

[Caldwell]

Interesting admission stat, I haven't seen any, and 30% sounds high. Sounds like good odds. What are the stats for other top programs?

There was actually a slight issue with my MIT application, one of my recomendation letters hadn't gotten to the department by the deadline (Hoping it's a good sign that they bothered to track it down?), and the person I was in touch with said I would hear from them at the end of February.

Also I like your user name iheartecoli! I spent the last summer growing ecoli in a bio-reactor and feeding them to T4 phage. it was a cool project.

[iheartecoli]

Interesting admission stat, I haven't seen any, and 30% sounds high. Sounds like good odds. What are the stats for other top programs?

There was actually a slight issue with my MIT application, one of my recomendation letters hadn't gotten to the department by the deadline (Hoping it's a good sign that they bothered to track it down?), and the person I was in touch with said I would hear from them at the end of February.

Also I like your user name iheartecoli! I spent the last summer growing ecoli in a bio-reactor and feeding them to T4 phage. it was a cool project.

E. coli is way cool! All my research has been on E. coli and I love it. So easy to work with! Also, I love those E. coli plush animals things, they're pretty great haha.

Anyway, I'm certain that the 30% stat was previously posted on their website, but I can't find it now. It was a little lower, more like 28%. Either way, my advisor also told me about this stat and I believe him since he participated in the admissions process at MIT until 2001. I think it has to do with the fact that there are so many faculty members in the department. I don't really know about other top schools (besides Princeton which admits around 9-10%), but I've heard they're not higher than 15-20%. This might be false, but whatever.

You will probably be fine. They called me asking me about one of my recs which was apparently missing, and then e-mailed me a day later telling me that they had found it. The lady told me that they have tons of papers and things all over the office and that some of the papers end up forgotten in the Graduate Admissions office for a while until someone sees them and sends them over to the department.

[docfox]

Hey Everyone! It's good to see a specific ChemE forum. I'm a domestic, white female from the Southern part of the States. I go to a school with an excellent engineering reputation, particularly in ChemE. Stats: 3.88 GPA, 780Q, 590V, 6.0AW. I also worked in an electrochemistry/polymers lab for 1.5 yrs, conducted research abroad at Imperial College London for a semester, and had a manufacturing internship with a company that is the butt of many 30 Rock corporate jokes. I currently work for a nanotech/biotech startup and love it. One of my reference providers is heavily recruited by MIT to join their faculty, so I'm hoping his approval counts for something.

I have been accepted at Berkeley, Stanford, UT-Austin, and Georgia Tech, but MIT is really making me sweat! Haven't heard from Caltech or Imperial yet either. I am watching my phone and email like it's a ticking time bomb, and keep checking to see when others hear from schools on the results page. My app was completed a little bit later than others since one of my recommenders completely dropped the ball. Caldwell, it's good to hear that you were in the same reference situation as me. Their staff is so helpful with issues like that! Katie did everything but hold my hand when I needed to get another reference fast. The 30% stat makes me feel a little better.

When/Where is everyone visiting?

[Caldwell]

Yeah docfox, my MIT applications was completed really late, Jan. 11. Not sure if my recommender dropped the ball, or the letter got misplaced by MIT, but everything's fine (I think). When/how did you hear from UT-Austin? It's a top choice for me, but I haven't heard anything yet. Are you visiting the campus? That being said, apparently my file didn't get top the admissions committee until Jan. 19th, because somehow my transcript got lost.

Still no results from anywhere, but I've applied to some jobs!

[hollygolightly]

Did anyone else apply to Princeton? I had that application in before Dec.1 and haven't heard anything. I did hear back from 3 other programs that were due Dec. 1 or Dec. 15, so either Princeton is taking forever or they're postponing the inevitable rejection...

[chemePhD2be]

Hey all,

I applied to Princeton as well, haven't heard anything either. I was hoping to hear from more programs this week but nothing has come in for me. From the past results it seems like princeton just emails out all of its decisions at once i dunno.

To the ones who got into UT-Austin and Stanford, what weekends are the visitation ones?

[docfox]

I heard from UT-Austin via email about 3 weeks ago and their visiting weekend is Feb 26-28. I heard from Stanford about 2 weeks ago and their visiting weekend is March 4-7.

[Caldwell]

Thanks for the info Docfox. I completed my application to UT-Austin late, because some how my transcripts went astray, even though I emailed them in. But it seems like I've got a while to wait before I give up.

Anybody apply to University of Wisconsin, Madison? I saw two rejections from there today, but I haven't heard anything yet. I thought I'd hear from them early because they seem on the ball.

Anybody lucky enough to hear from MIT yet?

[chemePhD2be]

Is it me or does it feel like it's taking a while for some schools to give out any decisions. Like when is Princeton going to start showing any life?

[iheartecoli]

I was accepted to Princeton ChemE today! Just got the e-mail! I don't like posting on the results page but I thought I'd let you guys know! Wow. I'm in shock. This is my top choice.

[chemePhD2be]

Man that is ironic. Congrats!

[hollygolightly]

Man that is ironic. Congrats!

ok chemePhD2be, post something about MIT showing signs of life and maybe at least one of us will hear something... I'm getting so impatient!

[docfox]

ok chemePhD2be, post something about MIT showing signs of life and maybe at least one of us will hear something... I'm getting so impatient!

Congrats on Princeton, iheartecoli!

I'm with you hollygolightly. I keep trying to send brainwaves to Boston saying...come on, let me in...Suzanne...just email me! It's the last school I have to hear from. I was rejected from Caltech last Friday which is neither here nor there. I know that three other guys at my school heard from MIT in mid-January and their stats are comparable to everyone else on the forum, which really has me freaking out. So glad that the Grad Cafe exists.

[Caldwell]

Congrats on Princeton iheartecoli! when ever I hear about someone getting in, I wish I'd applied there, if only for some news.

Docfox, did the guys from your school that heard from MIT get in? were they like 3.8 GPA research types? I've been thinking about e-mailing MIT to see if they have any news, but I'm too scared unfortunately! I';m glad grad cafe's here too, but sometimes I think that ignorance is bliss too.

[iheartecoli]

Thanks, guys!

I'm also still waiting on MIT. ChemePhD2be, can we try that again?

[chemePhD2be]

Man I wish that I could do the same for myself... I heard from UCSB on the 14th of Jan and had total confidence but since then I have heard nothing..... Now my confidence is gone and each day that passes seems to make things look worse. But I'll stay positive and hope that tomorrow will be "the day".