Chances for Chemistry PhD. Program

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>I'm very nervous about applying for a PhD. program in Chemistry. I graduated from UC Davis two years ago with a 3.2 GPA cumulative and a 3.2 (roughly) chemistry GPA. I'm fairly upset about my GPA and it is mostly a product of partying and fraternity life in the first two years of school. However, my GPA especially in chemistry rose in my last two years and in my senior year I got two 4.0 quarters and a 3.7 quarter taking high level chemistry courses (including graduate level school courses).</p>

<p>My main focus for my applications is going to be my research experience for sure. I worked under a synthetic organic professor for 2.5 years at UCD and was able to co-author 3 papers including some collaborations with UCSF. After I graduated, I joined a start-up company and in this time I've been managing a chemical engineering project both in the lab and office space. From this job I've patented two processes (currently on Scifinder) and I have 3 provisional patents floating around in law-law land.</p>

<p>I have not taken the GRE yet (although I have been regularly been getting 162 v / 163 q consistently on Kaplan practice tests). I did, however, get a 720 (53rd percentile) on the chemistry GRE.</p>

<p>My question is this to those who have graduate admissions experience: Do you think I would be competitive for mid-level top 50 schools? I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I'm competitive for top 10 or even top 15 graduate programs, but I would like to compete for top 30 schools with a couple of 30-50 schools as backups. I'm not sure if I want to re-take the chemistry GRE (which is coming up). I would like to think that my research experience would be able to make up for my dismal GPA and I'm going to have a couple of great LOR's from my undergraduate adviser at UCD and two of my mentors at my job.</p>

<p>Is a top 30 graduate program out of reach for me?</p>

2

<p>While you wait for more informed answers, I’ll just say that the situation doesn’t look so dismal to me. You can advertise you major gpa or your last 60 unit gpa, which should have more importance. The research and pubs are huge for you, of course. Sorry I know nothing about the weight of that subject gre, the regular one is not a big deal and sounds like you will be fine for that anyway.</p>

<p>I don’t understand your LOR. You aren’t going to get one from the professors you worked for or is that the same person as your adviser? No other prof LOR? Are you sure the job rec’s are appropriate, and two of them?</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the response.</p>

<p>To clarify: I am getting a letter of recommendation from the professor I worked for at UC Davis. I essentially have to get LOR’s from my work experience because I didn’t get close to any other professor at UC Davis and I’m sure none of my professors would remember me.</p>

<p>I was reading some admission requirements stating that you need three letters of recommendation with at least one being from an academic source. From this I’m picking up that I can use letters of rec from my work experience. Two of my letter of recs are coming from people who came from very top notch labs and I think that should carry some weight.</p>

4

<p>Chemistry is not my field. My only experience with graduate admissions is my own round (in public health).</p>

<p>A 3.2 GPA is not so dismally low that you’d get locked out of PhD admissions, especially if your GPA rose in the last two years and if your major GPA is higher than that, and you’ve shown success in graduate courses. Research experience is the most important thing and yours is very strong. If you do achieve scores akin to that on the GRE, I think you would be fine.</p>

<p>I think you ARE competitive for top chemistry programs. Remember that admissions views your application holistically. You aren’t just a number; the committee doesn’t just see “3.2” but they see your entire transcript, including the fact that you got a false start in freshman year (which is very very common!) and that your GPA rose a lot in your last years, indicating that you got serious and did better. You’ve been successful in more than one graduate course which proves that you can do the work, and you did 2.5 years of research experience at a high enough level that you were able to co-author papers. Undergraduates only uncommonly gain authorship on papers. Furthermore, you stayed involved in research after you graduated, which indicates your commitment to the field. And if these experiences were great, then likely you have three strong letters of recommendation. If you have identified a solid area of research and can articulately describe that in a statement of purpose, then you have an outstanding application.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I’m in a top 5 program and my undergrad GPA was a 3.4. But like you, I had strong letters, 2.5 years of research experience, higher major grades and a clearly identified area of research that I was able to concretely talk about in my statement.</p>

<p>My advice? Shoot high. Go for highly ranked (top 25) programs that are a good fit for you, and also apply to some still excellent (25-50) programs that are also excellent fits. Apply widely - you may need to apply a little bit more widely because of your GPA, so I would say around 7-12 doctoral institutions is probably good.</p>

<p>As for the recommendation letters, for a PhD program, it’s not “at least one needs to be from an academic source.” All three of your letters of recommendation need to be from someone with a PhD who fits at least one of the following:</p>

<p>1) has taught you in at least one academic class and can speak to your ability to successfully complete the academic requirements of a PhD program, and/or
2) has supervised you in research or some research-related activity and can speak to your ability to perform research at a high level and have a successful research career.</p>

<p>If your current supervisor has a PhD, then they would make a great reference. But academics want to see recommendations from PhD holders because only another PhD holder will know what it’s like to do a PhD program, and thus can reliably comment on whether they think another person has what it takes. If your current supervisor does not, I would find another academic reference and then submit your current supervisor as a fourth recommendation. Most programs only require three but will accept a fourth recommendation that can give a different perspective on your research work, and in your case I think it would be warranted.</p>