<p>Can anyone enlighten me with respect to my chances at a top 10 chemical engineering graduate (Ph.D.) program? My stats are:</p>
<p>3.95 GPA (first in class)
Strong recommendations
Summer internships
1 year of research experience at time of application with no publications (2 yrs at graduation)
Small UG school (not highly ranked)
I am confident I can score highly on the GRE</p>
<p>I guess u have a great chance of acceptance in the top schools like stanford mit gatech uiuc.but know that admission is not just by gpa.the gpa is just a threshold to cut away some people so a gpa btw 3.5 and 4.0 is good but right now I guess u have applied and pretty much can’t change anything but I hope ur statement of purpose was great.this statement is expecteed to contain ur previous research experience and how u were able to achieve it and cope it and how u it has helped u shape ur future research interests that u want to pursue at their school.I also hoped u mentioned a number of professors dat u would like to work with and y their research interests match ur own.best of luck.I also have a question</p>
<p>I’m a nigerian who is considering graduate study at one of mit,stanford,georgia tech,uiuc,carnegie mellon,berkeley,cornell,michigan, in the field of electromagnetics and communication(engineering physics).I finished with a first class degree(the highest degree) of 4.62/5.00 and ranked amongst top 10 in my class and was also on mobil and etisalat scholarship thru my undergrad and I published papers in three international journals with my professor(I could av done better,but we lack research apparatus and opportunities in nigeria).I also have 3 very good letters of recommendation and a high gre.but my problem is this:in my 3rd year first semester,I had a few bad grades(2D’s in electronics and programming,three C’s in programming and civil engineering technolgy and statistics a few A’s and B’s) but I tried to make up for this by scoring all A’s through my 4th and 5th year and by taking classes in the areas I was deficient in and also in programming and I am now very good at it.I also took d mit open courseware so that I could have a knowledge about the area I want to specialize in and I also perfected three programming languages(python,c++,java). I mentioned these facts in my statement of purpose after discussing my research and research interests and the professors that I would like to work with.I would like to know my chances of acceptance esp. at mit,stanford,berkeley,uiuc and gatech.I need some reply.thanks</p>
<p>You have a decent chance at the top schools but you have to remember that everybody else that is applying has a great GPA and GRE scores. You have to work hard to separate yourself from the others, and you can do that in your personal statement and your letters of recommendations. Research experience is crucial when applying to these schools and publications help tremendously. I assume you’re not a senior since you have not taken the GRE and all of the deadlines for this year have passed. My advice is to work hard toward a publication and other ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the 3.95’s.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks cheme24. You were right. I am not a senior. I will be applying in fall 2012. I know that conference poster presentations are not the same as publications, but does anyone know how they are viewed by prospective graduate schools?</p>
<p>Ababio,</p>
<p>I don’t know much about admissions at graduate schools. That’s why I am asking questions myself. Your 3 publications are impressive, and it seems like you are good academically. I would think you would have a good chance, but like I said, I really have no idea. Also, if you had a good reason for why your grades dropped during your third year, I would include it.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that in chem e, GPA is used as a measure of dedication and consistency rather than a measure of academic excellence. My experiences in research in chem e have differed drastically from the things taught in the undergrad curriculum. Even in the industrial sense, I have a feeling the classes we take only builds our foundations to make our brains think a certain way before we graduate. Maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>In this sense, I think GPA would matter less, and research experience would matter a lot more. (I hope I’m right because my GPA is relatively mediocre at the moment, and I can only pull it up by so much at this point.)</p>
<hr>
<p>but then again, I the minimum GPA to get in to a good grad school seems to be 3.7 or so, judging by the stats posted by people in engineering in the past. I haven’t seen a lot from chem e’s.</p>
<p>I have graduated in MS of chemical Eng. 3 years ago my BS GPA: 3.1 MS GPA: 3.56 GRE Score: V:340 Q:740 A/W:3 . Toefl score : 577. I have 3 years industrial experience in my major. what university do you suggest me for PhD studies?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Try and retake the gre bcos those scores are not too impressive.most engineering applicants have perfect scores and decent verbal and AW scores.Apart from that I suggest u try uiuc,texas a&m(very good chem eng) gatech and stanford.write an excellent SoP(explain in detail ur research interests and experiences and why u think their school is the best match for you.List faculty that u wouls like to work with and why.get stellar recommendations dat describe how u r in research and how proactive and hardworking u are.then u should be fine.but retake the gre if it is not too late.If u found this info useful then just post a reply saying so.goodluck</p>
<p>Bearman, I am not knowledgeable enough to answer this. However, I believe the answer can be led to by taking 2 steps.</p>
<p>First: find out how many have gone to top programs from your school, since it isn’t itself a big name.</p>
<p>Second: if you can, ask a professor this question.</p>
<p>Letters can help, but must be from extremely credible sources to be terribly helpful. Credible need not equal famous.</p>
<p>cheme24, i believe you are emphasizing having a publication too much. Getting a publication as an undergrad is not hard if you are paired up with the right person. This is what the ME admission committee replied to me in an email “Scientific & technical writing publications are optional. We ask for these publications in order to assist the department in matching student and faculty interests during the application reviewing process. They are not a dominant factor in the admission decision for an applicant. If you have any writing samples you can submit these with your application. Due us receiving over 1300 applications we do not keep track of students who submit a publication to us.” I think this reply was a little exaggerated.</p>
<p>UIUC replied with “We do have applicants who have publications, it is not necessarily common because not many students publish articles while they are undergrads. I would say (offhand) that the ratio of admitted students who have publications to all admitted students is probably the same as the ratio of applications that have published articles to all applicants. Does that make sense? It actually isn’t a point of data that we track, so I’m just estimating. A publication or soon to be published article looks good on an application, but it certainly isn’t a requirement.” I think this is more reasonable, but the if that ratio is right, then perhaps pubs dont help as much as we think.</p>