Fall 2018 Cycle

[ahmed.samy]

Let's start this topic to discuss admission news and offers for fall 2018.

[ahmed.samy]

i will start first and want your view about my possibilities of admission.

- bachelor of Pharmacy in 2016 ( percentage 90% ) ( Gpa : 4 )

- 1 year teaching assistant in Chemistry and Biomedical science 

- english : ielts (7)

- GRE : 320 (quantitative : 164 , verbal : 156) , AW : 2.5

- national chemistry Olympiad Winner in 2010 , participated in international chemistry Olympiad in 2011

- research experience : 1) Material science project on nanoparticles used for anticancer treatment ( 8 months and still working)

                                        2) Drug design 2-month project on Discovery studio and MOE 

- many activities in college : student union scientific committee Co-head and other positions.

 

School applying to : 

1) Rochester

2) Emory

3) Missouri

4) Iowa state

5) Utah

6) Oregon State

7) UMass Amherst

8) Wayne State

 

thinking about applying to : 

1) Illinois Chicago

2) maryland college park 

3) Rutgers

4) Purdue pulse program

 

Your advices and ideas please ? 

[Titanocene]

Thanks for starting this thread. 

Here is an old copy & paste profile format to make things a bit easier

Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?))
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 
Overall GPA: 
Position in Class: 
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 
V: 
W: 
S: 


Research Experience: 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest

[raul.carmo]

Undergrad Institution: Federal University of Viçosa (Brazil) - 2015

Master's Institution: Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) - 2017
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.4
Overall GPA: 3.0

Master's GPA: 3.7
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: International

TOEFL IBT: 113/120

GRE Scores (revised):
Q: 154 (55%)
V: 160 (86%)
W: 3.0 (18%)
S: To be reported


Research Experience: 3 years of undergraduate research + 2 years of research as MSc.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

-Science Without Borders Scholarship (1 year in the US sponsorship)

-ACS BOOST (1 week in Panama City to receive training on scientific writing and ethics, awarded by the american chemical society)

-Undergraduate research grant (awarded 2 times, within institution)

-Sybilla Merian Scholarship (University of Groningen)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

-1 year as Biochemistry TA. 

-6 months at a Food/Microbiology startup as product development intern.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Prepared and ministered a practical course about soap production using recycled vegetable oil for low-income families in Viçosa-Brazil.

-Research Assistantship for the Master's (2years)

Special Bonus Points: 

- 2 posters presented on brazilian scientific meetings

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (All in the field of Organometallic Catalysis and Synthetic Methodologies)

New York University

The University of Iowa

University of Illinois - Chicago

Pittsburgh University

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of South Carolina

University of Pennsylvania

University of Southern California

Oregon State University

Iowa State University

University of Utah

Michigan State University

Princeton University (who knows? haha)

(all programs are within the Chemistry Department of the respective institutions)

[apc68]

Undergrad Institution: Small, private liberal arts college
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): French, Mathematics and Astronomy
GPA in Major: ~3.4, although my school doesn't calculate this
Overall GPA: 3.6
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores:
Q: 163 (85%)
V: 163 (93%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
S: Chemistry to be reported


Research Experience: 2 years research on metallic nanoparticles and their catalytic activity under an organic professor(I have no interest in organic, but my school has one chem research advisor and one biochem, so I had no choice), selected to present at a poster session at the national ACS conference in San Francisco last April.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Member of my school's honors college (rigorous Great Books program), member of Sigma Zeta Honors Society, Quaker Chemical Research Scholar, Summer research scholar at my own school. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lab prep assistant freshman year, Gen Chem TA the past two years, chemistry tutor, president of my school's ACS Student Chapter for 3 years.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I think it's all been covered. 

Special Bonus Points: Some connections? I've been in contact (back and forth email) with a professor from UPenn whose research I am very interested in; my advisor is close friends with the associate dean of the college of science at Temple and we will likely meet within the next few weeks. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Two very solid rec letters from Chemistry professors (one was my research advisor and the other I TA'ed for), one good rec letter from a physics professor who likes me but we are less familiar. 

Applying to Where:

Princeton- Physical chem

UPenn-Physical chem

Temple- Physical chem

Drexel- Physical chem

USciences (maybe? I've heard weird things about USciences & their deadline is in march)- Physical chem

UDel- Physical chem

Staying in the Philadelphia tri-state area is more important to me than applying to the best schools.

 

Edited November 20, 2017 by apc68
Add info

[rwoodward]

I'm an international student applying for Organic! Will be watching this thread 

[someth1ngAus]

Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Australian University
Major(s): Chemistry, Environmental Studies
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: ~3.8 (Aus GPA), equiv. ~3.9+ (US GPA), First Class Honours
Overall GPA: ~2.6 (Aus GPA), equiv. ~3.6 (US GPA)
Position in Class: Top 20% in the Honours class, probably top ~5% in all of chemistry.
Type of Student: International, Male, Asian, Poor

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 169 (96%)
V: 152 (56%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
S: 880 (94%)


Research Experience: Two years full time in mechanistic and catalysis. As undergrad RA, ~6 months in drug discovery, one summer in environmental sciences, a semester in spectroscopy, and a semester in physics education research.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Chemistry prize for honours, two residential college scholarships, a council scholarship, RTP stipend ($27k/year), and CSIRO top-up scholarship ($7k/year)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Lab demonstrator for first and third year chemistry, total of two years teaching.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Two poster presentations at high-level conferences

Special Bonus Points: 

Australian accent for advertising purposes, if needed.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Went on exchange to UW-Madison for a semester

Applying to Where:

Princeton University

University of Cambridge (possibly)

[boulderboi]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Japanese
GPA in Major: 3.41
Overall GPA: 3.43
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic Male
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 159
V: 156
W: 4
S: Let's not talk about that


Research Experience: full time summer research student in homogeneous catalysis. Two semesters part time (10 hours a week) research on the same project. 1.5 years industry experience in medicinal chemistry (heavily research focused)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Chemistry department scholarship. Deans list.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for one semester. Currently a research associate in industry.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Two poster presentations at undergrad institution. One at the drug discovery chemistry conference

Special Bonus Points: Company started by professor at one of my top school choices. Recommender went to one of my top school choices. Neither of these probably matter too much.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

University of Colorado - Organic

Univerisity of Minnesota - Organic

Stanford - Organic

Scripps - Organic

Berkeley - Organic

[lemma]

15 hours ago, someth1ngAus said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Australian University
Major(s): Chemistry, Environmental Studies
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: ~3.8 (Aus GPA), equiv. ~3.9+ (US GPA), First Class Honours
Overall GPA: ~2.6 (Aus GPA), equiv. ~3.6 (US GPA)

That is not how the GPA conversion works at all. Your conversion is way too generous. I have looked at this extensively (particularly for UoM but a few other universities) as someone applying with an American degree to Australia, and no official university policies I have seen state this. To the contrary, the forms I have had to go through list 80 (barely a h1) as the equivalent wam for a 3.4 in the US, and I've heard that a 3.7 will net you a 85 minimum (from uom admissions office). 

I have no clue what your chances are, but a 2.6 (assuming between a credit and a distinction) will not give you a 3.6. Or near it. 

[lemma]

I should probably add that I took classes at a top three Australian university in high school, so I do have some context further than the GPA conversion forms. I had no issue scoring in the mid 90s with minimal work (no exam revision and skipping class) at the top ranked Australian university. I then went to a similar school to the ones you listed as your target schools, and I had to work much harder to get lower results (still 3.8+ but lower than what I would have scored in Australia). In short, I found it much easier to get a 95 at the top Australian school than to get A- grades in science at the ivy. Again, no clue what your chances are at Princeton, but just be realistic about your grades. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by lemma

[flamingalah]

16 hours ago, lemma said:

I should probably add that I took classes at a top three Australian university in high school, so I do have some context further than the GPA conversion forms. I had no issue scoring in the mid 90s with minimal work (no exam revision and skipping class) at the top ranked Australian university. I then went to a similar school to the ones you listed as your target schools, and I had to work much harder to get lower results (still 3.8+ but lower than what I would have scored in Australia). In short, I found it much easier to get a 95 at the top Australian school than to get A- grades in science at the ivy. Again, no clue what your chances are at Princeton, but just be realistic about your grades. 

Interesting. I work at a top three university in Australia and the highest mark I gave to a student was around 86~ and there may have been only 2-4 other students who scored overall marks in the 80s. There was between 60-80 students in the course. Similar with another course of around 200; max 5-10 students with an overall mark in the 80s, I think there was one student with a 90. There's a strict departmental requirement for academics to justify their marks to avoid grade inflation, the ballpark figure is that on average the students should be achieving 65~ overall and higher than 68 becomes a flag for concern. 

I am assuming we are at different institutions as handing out 95s like candy is unheard of and the academics would be pulled in for a departmental review to justify why their students were being given such high marks. I'd say that you didn't attend my institution as these marks simply aren't handed out willy-nilly.

Edit: Of course - you may be a brilliant student, do not let me undermine you for that but at my institution, your experience would absolutely not be the norm. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by flamingalah

[scientific]

Undergrad Institution: Top 50 in the US, big state school
Major(s): environmental chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: ~3.15 the environmental classes were not my thing
Overall GPA: 3.22
Position in Class: 
Type of Student: domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 162
W: 5.0
S: N/A


Research Experience: 3.5+ years; two research pubs in ochem (second and third authors), one poster in analytical, one international conference presentation in inorganic. Currently in a physical chemistry lab

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: international scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'd introductory science class for nonscience majors, private tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Did both study and research abroad; speak 3 languages; lots of outreach activities for underprivileged communities

Special Bonus Points: I graduated in 2014, and have been working in an unrelated field, so hoping time away from school will make my GPA less of a big deal.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I signed up for classes at the local community college after graduating but before my full-time job got crazy,  and dropped one but forgot to drop the other so it's an F =/

Applying to Where: I got several fee waivers so it's a bit much to list, but it's a range of schools in the midwest/east coast from UIUC to University of Pittsburgh. All for physical chemistry.

Edited December 5, 2017 by scientific
details

[lemma]

12 hours ago, flamingalah said:

Interesting. I work at a top three university in Australia and the highest mark I gave to a student was around 86~ and there may have been only 2-4 other students who scored overall marks in the 80s. There was between 60-80 students in the course. Similar with another course of around 200; max 5-10 students with an overall mark in the 80s, I think there was one student with a 90. There's a strict departmental requirement for academics to justify their marks to avoid grade inflation, the ballpark figure is that on average the students should be achieving 65~ overall and higher than 68 becomes a flag for concern. 

I am assuming we are at different institutions as handing out 95s like candy is unheard of and the academics would be pulled in for a departmental review to justify why their students were being given such high marks. I'd say that you didn't attend my institution as these marks simply aren't handed out willy-nilly.

Edit: Of course - you may be a brilliant student, do not let me undermine you for that but at my institution, your experience would absolutely not be the norm. 

That may be true, and I'm not trying to say that they hand them out like candy, but that it is much easier to get an extremely high score in science in Australia than at a school like Princeton (which has less than a handful or Australians admitted annually, with almost all non-athletes having perfect ATARs - that is your baseline). It's not easy, but it is easier. I was saying this in the context that a 2.6 at uom or anu wouldn't be regarded on par with a 3.6 from MIT. A wam in the 80s is still cause for celebration. 

I have a lot of respect for Australian universities and the work done there, so I hope it didn't come across otherwise. 

Just to clarify, I think the poster in reference has an awesome application and is obviously great at research. I think it's important to go in eyes wide open though, and as someone with more-than-average experience navigating between the two education systems, I wanted to comment on something that really didn't add up with my own experiences or all of the materials I've had to fill out. 

Edited December 5, 2017 by lemma

[supremethiophene]

Undergrad Institution: Top 40 Liberal Arts School
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.77
Overall GPA: 3.80
Position in Class: Top 5%
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161
V: 160
W: 5.5
S: 53%ile


Research Experience: 3 years of research in an inorganic/organometallic lab with a fairly known prof.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

-Full Science Scholarship

-Award given to junior for excellence in Science, Math, Computing.

-Placed 2nd in world's largest student rocket competition.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Research Assistant (3 yrs)

Teaching Assistant (1.5 years)

Tutor (3 months)

Chem Club, treasurer ( 3.5 years)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

1 pub, 2 more in submission. 4 poster presentations, with 1 presentation at ACS.

Applying to Where: UPenn, MIT, Harvard, Yale, UChicago, Columbia, Stanford, JHU, Brown, Duke, UChicago, Emory

Edited December 5, 2017 by supremethiophene

[Ilkovic]

Undergrad/Grad Institution: Top universities in my country (Southeast Asia)
Major(s): BSc Chemistry/MSc Chemistry
Minor(s): n/a
GPA in Major: 1.34 (BSc)/ 1.18 (MSc) on the scale of 1.00
Overall GPA:  1.37 (BSc)/ 1.60 (MSc)
Position in Class: rank 1 in my program, 8th out of 2,000 graduates (BSc)/ unknown (MSc)
Type of Student: International

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163 (84)
V: 153 (61)
W: 3.5 (42)
S: 850 (89)

*not the best scores, but it was the best I could get with my available time.*

Research Experience: 

4 different research projects in material science (Analytical/Physical Chemistry)

1 summer internship abroad

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

magna cum laude

merit based university scholarship

national agency research grantee

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

6 years full-time chemistry instructor for undergraduate courses

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

1 first author (out of 3) publication in an international peer-reviewed journal (IF~5)

2 conference proceedings

1 poster presentation in an international institution

1 oral presentation in a local conference

1 oral presentation in an international conference
 

Special Bonus Points: 

Co-founded a start-up that has been a big thing in its industry in my country

*I'm not sure how adcoms will see this*

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

First generation college graduate(?)
 

Applying to Where:
 

UNC Chapel Hill - PhD Analytical Chemistry

UCLA, MIT, Harvard - PhD Physical Chemistry

*Hahahaha! Yes, I'm overly ambitious.*

Good luck to all!

Edited December 5, 2017 by Ilkovic

[someth1ngAus]

On 12/4/2017 at 8:44 AM, lemma said:

That is not how the GPA conversion works at all. Your conversion is way too generous. I have looked at this extensively (particularly for UoM but a few other universities) as someone applying with an American degree to Australia, and no official university policies I have seen state this. To the contrary, the forms I have had to go through list 80 (barely a h1) as the equivalent wam for a 3.4 in the US, and I've heard that a 3.7 will net you a 85 minimum (from uom admissions office). 

I have no clue what your chances are, but a 2.6 (assuming between a credit and a distinction) will not give you a 3.6. Or near it. 

It's based on WES conversions, which is pretty standard. Obviously, difficulty depends on the person - most people that went on exchange to UC Berkeley, UPenn, and Cornell etc never got below a 3.8 GPA (around 80 averages in Australia). My average is around 77 but my chemistry is around 85. My honours mark is 88 which is around 90+ percentile in chemistry and around 80 percentile in honours. Also, I'm at Sydney - completely different model to Melbourne.

Edited December 5, 2017 by someth1ngAus

[flamingalah]

9 hours ago, lemma said:

That may be true, and I'm not trying to say that they hand them out like candy, but that it is much easier to get an extremely high score in science in Australia than at a school like Princeton (which has less than a handful or Australians admitted annually, with almost all non-athletes having perfect ATARs - that is your baseline). It's not easy, but it is easier. I was saying this in the context that a 2.6 at uom or anu wouldn't be regarded on par with a 3.6 from MIT. A wam in the 80s is still cause for celebration. 

I have a lot of respect for Australian universities and the work done there, so I hope it didn't come across otherwise. 

Just to clarify, I think the poster in reference has an awesome application and is obviously great at research. I think it's important to go in eyes wide open though, and as someone with more-than-average experience navigating between the two education systems, I wanted to comment on something that really didn't add up with my own experiences or all of the materials I've had to fill out. 

No offence taken, of course, there is a lot to criticise as well as to praise!

Just pointing out that, at least, my institution has strict guidelines that see students generally fall into a middle ground of around 65~ so I suspect that we operate under a much different model to your university. 

[citrullination]

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.99
Overall GPA: 3.98
Position in Class: top 5% at least
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
S: N/A

Research Experience: 2.5 years so far in a biochem lab - full-time for three summers, part-time during school year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: several summer research grants from departments at my school, a couple academic honors, small merit-based scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: department peer advisor, VP of student chemistry organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: first author paper in preparation, conference poster presentation at international conference

Special Bonus Points: LGBTQ-identifying; I doubt this will have much of an impact

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: one great LOR, two decent LORs

Applying to Where: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Illinois, UCLA, UNC

Wishing the best of luck to everyone reading this and hope to start celebrating everyone's acceptances soon!

[someth1ngAus]

56 minutes ago, citrullination said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.99
Overall GPA: 3.98
Position in Class: top 5% at least
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
S: N/A

Research Experience: 2.5 years so far in a biochem lab - full-time for three summers, part-time during school year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: several summer research grants from departments at my school, a couple academic honors, small merit-based scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: department peer advisor, VP of student chemistry organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: first author paper in preparation, conference poster presentation at international conference

Special Bonus Points: LGBTQ-identifying; I doubt this will have much of an impact

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: one great LOR, two decent LORs

Applying to Where: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Illinois, UCLA, UNC

Wishing the best of luck to everyone reading this and hope to start celebrating everyone's acceptances soon!

Geeeeeez, lol.

[rwoodward]

12 hours ago, citrullination said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.99
Overall GPA: 3.98
Position in Class: top 5% at least
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
S: N/A

Research Experience: 2.5 years so far in a biochem lab - full-time for three summers, part-time during school year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: several summer research grants from departments at my school, a couple academic honors, small merit-based scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: department peer advisor, VP of student chemistry organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: first author paper in preparation, conference poster presentation at international conference

Special Bonus Points: LGBTQ-identifying; I doubt this will have much of an impact

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: one great LOR, two decent LORs

Applying to Where: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Illinois, UCLA, UNC

Wishing the best of luck to everyone reading this and hope to start celebrating everyone's acceptances soon!

My list of schools is very similar, which discipline are you applying for?

[pchem2018]

13 hours ago, citrullination said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.99
Overall GPA: 3.98
Position in Class: top 5% at least
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
S: N/A

Research Experience: 2.5 years so far in a biochem lab - full-time for three summers, part-time during school year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: several summer research grants from departments at my school, a couple academic honors, small merit-based scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: department peer advisor, VP of student chemistry organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: first author paper in preparation, conference poster presentation at international conference

Special Bonus Points: LGBTQ-identifying; I doubt this will have much of an impact

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: one great LOR, two decent LORs

Applying to Where: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Illinois, UCLA, UNC

Wishing the best of luck to everyone reading this and hope to start celebrating everyone's acceptances soon!

Did you not take the subject test? I thought it was required for at least Stanford and Caltech, and I think Harvard too.

[citrullination]

Oh yep for some reason I couldn't figure out what the S stood for lol - I got an 870 (93%)

[sky157]

Undergrad Institution: State university, ranked high for chem
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.70
Overall GPA: 3.82
Position in Class: Probably top?
Type of Student: Domestic, female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 164 (87%)
V: 163 (93%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
S: yikes

Research Experience: 3 years in a biophysical chemistry lab (including 3 summers full-time)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa (honor society), my school's honors program (I'll graduate with honors in chemistry and honors in the liberal arts), several merit-based scholarships and summer research grants from the chemistry department, 1 university-wide research fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Math tutor for 2.5 years, I've been involved in various science-related volunteer/outreach events over the years

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 1 first author paper in preparation (will hopefully be submitted by January), also 2 poster presentations at my school

Special Bonus Points: woman in STEM? lol

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: 1 excellent LoR and 2 good ones

Applying to Where:

Berkeley, Stanford, UChicago, Cornell, Princeton, Univ of Washington, Univ of Michigan, UC-Boulder, UC-Davis
All for biophysical chem or physical chem, depending on what each school offers

[Titanocene]

Undergrad Institution: Small & Public - you haven't heard of it
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.671828 
Type of Student: Domestick

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: 162 (81%)
V: 163 (93%)
W: 4.5 (83%)
S: 880 (94%)

Research Experience: Two solid years; two full time summers & a lot of time during the semester (maybe a bit too much time; see overall GPA). 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A good amount of departmental awards and some small national and statewide recognition; industry funded summer research at home institution. Was hoping for an REU but go shut out - kudos to those of you who got to do chemistry cross' country 
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Designed curricula and lead recitations for organic chemistry. Work as a lab assistant and got to do some cool things with the available instrumentation. 
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Submitted my NSF GRFP? This was a busy semester and if there is one thing I am proud of, its coming up with an NSF proposal from scratch. I learned a lot and it was great to really dig into something, come up with an idea, and figure out how to pursue it.

Presentations: Three national conferences, five regional. 
Misc. Points: Did very well on ACS standardized exams (>99th percentile). Have a clear focus on what field of research I want to pursue - made that very clear in the SOPs. 
Any Other Info: First author publication in submission (good lord, that was that a lot of work)
Applying to Where: Princeton, Caltech, Wisc. - Mad., UIUC, U Mich., Scripps (If I get in, I'm going) UCI, Columbia (Why did you have to move to Cornell, Lambert!)

Some days, I feel like I have a good shot. Other days, I'm bracing myself for the inevitable mass rejection. Anyone else feel like this? 

[someth1ngAus]

2 hours ago, Titanocene said:

Undergrad Institution: Small & Public - you haven't heard of it
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.671828 
Type of Student: Domestick

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: 162 (81%)
V: 163 (93%)
W: 4.5 (83%)
S: 880 (94%)

Research Experience: Two solid years; two full time summers & a lot of time during the semester (maybe a bit too much time; see overall GPA). 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A good amount of departmental awards and some small national and statewide recognition; industry funded summer research at home institution. Was hoping for an REU but go shut out - kudos to those of you who got to do chemistry cross' country 
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Designed curricula and lead recitations for organic chemistry. Work as a lab assistant and got to do some cool things with the available instrumentation. 
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Submitted my NSF GRFP? This was a busy semester and if there is one thing I am proud of, its coming up with an NSF proposal from scratch. I learned a lot and it was great to really dig into something, come up with an idea, and figure out how to pursue it.

Presentations: Three national conferences, five regional. 
Misc. Points: Did very well on ACS standardized exams (>99th percentile). Have a clear focus on what field of research I want to pursue - made that very clear in the SOPs. 
Any Other Info: First author publication in submission (good lord, that was that a lot of work)
Applying to Where: Princeton, Caltech, Wisc. - Mad., UIUC, U Mich., Scripps (If I get in, I'm going) UCI, Columbia (Why did you have to move to Cornell, Lambert!)

Some days, I feel like I have a good shot. Other days, I'm bracing myself for the inevitable mass rejection. Anyone else feel like this? 

I feel like your creds are enough to get into at least some schools. You surely have a good shot at schools like UCI and Michigan.