Fall 2018 Cycle

[NervousChemApplicant]

36 minutes ago, rwoodward said:

I have got to the stage now where I dread the weekend because no grad offers come out...

INO, has anyone organised a visit weekend yet? I was wondering how it works... do you organise it all and then the department pays you back? Or do the department make suggestions for places to stay etc? 

You  pay for flights then get reimbursed! Hotel is charged directly to the department.

[Ashok@513]

19 hours ago, NasrinGavidel said:

which Program did you apply?

 

Organic chemistry 

[pchem2018]

Undergrad Institution: Large Private University
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s):  Physics, Mathematics
GPA in Major:  3.93
Overall GPA:  3.94
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: American, White Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): 
Q:  166 (91%)
V:  166 (97%)
W:  6.0 (99%)
S (Chemistry):  880 (94%)

Research Experience:  2 years (including summers) in a physical/materials lab. 5 publications, 3 first author. All relatively good journals, but they aren't in JACS or something like that.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Not really anything notable, dean's list and such.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Just my research position.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: The publications and research experience are probably the strongest parts of my applications.

Special Bonus Points: My research advisor went to UC Berkeley and I think he is relatively well respected.

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

Applying to Where: Schools are in my signature, all for physical chemistry or physical materials PhDs in the chemistry departments.

Edited January 13, 2018 by pchem2018

[NasrinGavidel]

11 hours ago, Ashok@513 said:

Organic chemistry 

Good and best wishes for you!

I didnot hear anything ,I sent an email but they didnot answer yet! my status still awaiting!! 

[raul.carmo]

I feel bad now after looking the admissions board that many people with weaker CVs and scores than mine got into top programs like Berkeley and Chapel Hill. I didn't apply because I thought my chances would be essentially zero, now I feel like I could have been accepted to those as well if I tried. 

[euronymous_oystein]

56 minutes ago, raul.carmo said:

I feel bad now after looking the admissions board that many people with weaker CVs and scores than mine got into top programs like Berkeley and Chapel Hill. I didn't apply because I thought my chances would be essentially zero, now I feel like I could have been accepted to those as well if I tried. 

Noone knows how the committees select the students, so you cannot be sure whether you would be admitted or not.

 

In any case, don't worry about that, these universities aren't going to go anywhere and you can always apply for a post-doc there

[rwoodward]

58 minutes ago, raul.carmo said:

I feel bad now after looking the admissions board that many people with weaker CVs and scores than mine got into top programs like Berkeley and Chapel Hill. I didn't apply because I thought my chances would be essentially zero, now I feel like I could have been accepted to those as well if I tried. 

You are already applying to some great programs and as discussed earlier in this thread, Berkeley and Chapel Hill would have been harder to get into as an international student rather than a domestic student regardless of your CV and scores!

[NervousChemApplicant]

2 hours ago, raul.carmo said:

I feel bad now after looking the admissions board that many people with weaker CVs and scores than mine got into top programs like Berkeley and Chapel Hill. I didn't apply because I thought my chances would be essentially zero, now I feel like I could have been accepted to those as well if I tried. 

Also maybe consider that some people aren’t just numbers on a page or a list of publications. Potentially they come from a top ranked school/Ivy League school and worked for a well known professor and got a great recommendation, which certainly helps. Or maybe their extra curricular activities are of interest to admissions committees or they’re not  traditional applicants. (I.E. we are all more than a GRE score, GPA, and a JACS first authorship and a lot more than that goes into the decision!)

Edited January 14, 2018 by NervousChemApplicant

[periodicity]

I've been lucky enough to have received a few offers and was wondering how many visit weekends people plan on attending? How many is too many?

[raul.carmo]

7 hours ago, athan892 said:

Noone knows how the committees select the students, so you cannot be sure whether you would be admitted or not.

 

In any case, don't worry about that, these universities aren't going to go anywhere and you can always apply for a post-doc there

I agree, I just feel bad because I could have applied to those as well since they have faculty members doing outstanding research in my field. Who knows right?

[raul.carmo]

6 hours ago, NervousChemApplicant said:

Also maybe consider that some people aren’t just numbers on a page or a list of publications. Potentially they come from a top ranked school/Ivy League school and worked for a well known professor and got a great recommendation, which certainly helps. Or maybe their extra curricular activities are of interest to admissions committees or they’re not  traditional applicants. (I.E. we are all more than a GRE score, GPA, and a JACS first authorship and a lot more than that goes into the decision!)

Yes, there are many other factors other than scores and GPAs, I was talking about international students admitted with a similar background (at least from the information they posted there) and scores. Of course it is impossible to tell who's going to be admitted or not (I saw students being rejected with a 4.00 GPA and high GRE scores, publications etc). But at the same time I feel that going for a PhD in the US regardless of the institution is already a big accomplishment for me as a Brazilian student. Differently from other developing countries (China/India), Brazil doesn't have this mobility culture and you can see that by the small number of Brazilians in graduate programs abroad, even though Brazil is the 7th world economy people just stay here, so earning a PhD abroad will already be a huge plus to my CV.

[gg.rose]

When is it time to give up hope of being admitted this round ? I currently have no back up so want to work out if I need one.. 

[KentuckyFriedChemistry]

53 minutes ago, gg.rose said:

When is it time to give up hope of being admitted this round ? I currently have no back up so want to work out if I need one.. 

I wouldn’t t necessarily give up hope, depending on the levels of programs you applied to. But it can’t hurt to go ahead and start organizing a back up plan

[raul.carmo]

1 hour ago, gg.rose said:

When is it time to give up hope of being admitted this round ? I currently have no back up so want to work out if I need one.. 

To which programs have you applied? Many programs only send acceptances after Jan. 15 (today).

[gg.rose]

5 minutes ago, raul.carmo said:

To which programs have you applied? Many programs only send acceptances after Jan. 15 (today).

Ive applied to: Upenn, Cornell, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, University of Washington, Scripps

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by gg.rose

[raul.carmo]

3 minutes ago, gg.rose said:

 

Ive applied to: Upenn, Cornell, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, University of Washington, Scripps

 (cannot work out how to add a signature with it in)

Did you check on the admissions board to see if there are any acceptances for these institutions? I know Dartmouth will start sending their first round of offers this week and I've seen some people receiving offers from UW, Vanderbilt probably will follow the same calendar of Dartmouth...

[gg.rose]

4 minutes ago, raul.carmo said:

Did you check on the admissions board to see if there are any acceptances for these institutions? I know Dartmouth will start sending their first round of offers this week and I've seen some people receiving offers from UW, Vanderbilt probably will follow the same calendar of Dartmouth...

Yeah there are acceptances/interview offers for all but vanderbilt and dartmouth which i know had later closing dates.. which is what is making me a bit disheartened! maybe will hear from the other two this week though! 

[raul.carmo]

4 minutes ago, gg.rose said:

Yeah there are acceptances/interview offers for all but vanderbilt and dartmouth which i know had later closing dates.. which is what is making me a bit disheartened! maybe will hear from the other two this week though! 

Try looking for past terms to see until when people were accepted then you might have an idea. But don't freak out, most professors are just getting back on the track now after the holidays.

[rw16202]

9 hours ago, periodicity said:

I've been lucky enough to have received a few offers and was wondering how many visit weekends people plan on attending? How many is too many?

Initially I was considering going to as many as possible to milk this stupid process for all it's worth, but that seems like more stress lol. I applied to eight schools, four of which I am more into than the others. So I've decided that any of those four schools that give me offers (I've heard back from two of them already  ), I will go visit. I just decided that if I'm only meh about a school, I don't see the point in going to visit when I have offers that I'm more excited about. 

[labmember001]

7 hours ago, gg.rose said:

When is it time to give up hope of being admitted this round ? I currently have no back up so want to work out if I need one.. 

Many schools give out offers on a rolling basis, so don't get disheartened yet ! However, since visiting weekends are mostly organized in March, I'd say end of Feb. would be a good time to wait till. 

[WenChun]

On 1/13/2018 at 12:02 AM, rwoodward said:

I have got to the stage now where I dread the weekend because no grad offers come out...

INO, has anyone organised a visit weekend yet? I was wondering how it works... do you organise it all and then the department pays you back? Or do the department make suggestions for places to stay etc? 

Depends on the school, I have some where flights are billed to directly to the uni, some where the department is billed for part of the flights and I pay the rest on my card, and some where I pay upfront and get reimbursed.  Don't worry, they'll explain how they want it for you in the email.  Hotels are usually arranged by the department, but again, it'll be in the email.  I hate the weekends too; best of luck!

[Fiain]

Northwestern for Chem is sending out their last decisions this week, is what I've heard. That does include acceptances, so don't be disheartened yet about that.

 

I haven't heard anything from Cornell, Berkeley, or Stanford yet.. I honestly thought my really bad subject gre score (33rd percentile!) would knock me out of the running for all the schools and it hasn't so far, so... SoPs and recommendations really do help a ton.

 

As far as welcome visits I've been invited to two that I have the information for - one I get reimbursed for the flight, the other is arranged for me. Hotels/food is covered by them.

[javajunkie95]

So when y'all RSVP'd to your visitation weekend did you get any response back? I sent an email last week and it has been radio silence since then, I was thinking of calling tomorrow (the "due date" to RSVP) just to make sure they got my email.

[Flyera]

Who’s ready for the first round of offers from Stanford tomorrow?? Hah. Just kidding around.. but if they do the same thing as last year they sent a ton out the Tuesday after MLK Monday. I think last year most of the offers on 1/17/17 were for organic.

[someth1ngAus]

18 minutes ago, Flyera said:

Who’s ready for the first round of offers from Stanford tomorrow?? Hah. Just kidding around.. but if they do the same thing as last year they sent a ton out the Tuesday after MLK Monday. I think last year most of the offers on 1/17/17 were for organic.

Princeton does something similar - it seems to always be over the 1-3 days after MLK Day. If that's anything to go by, we should expect it out this week. Also seems to happen right before MLK day but I'm pretty sure that's not happening.

Apparently, according to an email, "Admission decisions will be emailed on a rolling basis to all applicants between February 1 and March 15". Not sure what to believe...

Edited January 16, 2018 by someth1ngAus