<p>Nrets, </p>
<p>Comparing yourself to him may be somewhat arbitrary, since the grad admissions office probably doesnt care if you made a 780 or 790, it's probably about equal in their minds. I think what really matters most are more subjective information (Quality of research, LORs, personal statement, etc). </p>
<p>But yes, I am tempted to call Stanford again.</p>
<p>Nrets,</p>
<p>Seems like you are stressing pretty hard, which I totally understand. At this point--being mid-February--what do we assume is happening with our applications? For you, all of those school have definitely sent out acceptances, so do you assume (without an accompanying rejection), that you are going to be kept around for a little bit as a back-up option? This is a crummy scenario, but I can't figure much else about why we haven't heard from any schools. I applied to some that aren't ranked as high as the ones you applied to, and am wondering if they are just slower or have a different type of stretegy about dealing with applicants, or if they have already made cuts as well. Oh well, try not to stress over the weekend.</p>
<p>Also, Cornell definitely does not suck, and you should feel pretty honored to have gotten accepted there.. Keep that in the back of your head as you (like I will be doing as well, lol) check your email 100000x per day.</p>
<p>Keep the fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Any idea on who is the incharge of graduate admission at University of Texas at Austin ( Chemical Engineering)?</p>
<p>Santosh, </p>
<p>Check their website. It's probably in there somewhere, that's how I found out for other schools.</p>
<p>dabears,</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't know how they handle the applications but I just got rejected by Berkeley through snail mail. Hopefully the rest of you hear good news from them, if you applied there.</p>
<p>Nret: sorry about Berkley! U still have Cornell though. Keep your finger crossed for other schools.</p>
<p>I couldn't find the UT ChE Grad coordinator on their website, probably I don't know where to look. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>santosh1984</p>
<p>Issac Sanchez is in the graduate coordinator for Texas. The department pulled his name off their admission webpage halfway through the admission process, maybe he was harassed to much? By the way, I know their visiting weekend is at the end of this month, so if you didn't hear anything from them yet, I would ask. </p>
<p>A side topic about Cornell. It's a good ChE school, has prestige. In my humble opinion, it's a top school, but within that group of top schools, it stays low.</p>
<p>damsky, </p>
<p>Yes, I'm well aware of where Cornell stands on the list. Luckily though they are great for materials, which is what I would like to research. </p>
<p>I'm stilling hoping by some miracle that I'll hear good news from MIT, Stanford, or Caltech. I honestly will have to have someone look over my applications critically if I get rejected from those three schools. I honestly thought I stood on fairly high ground for those schools.</p>
<p>On a side note: If I don't get accepted to any other schools, I will likely not go to grad school next year. I hate not having a choice, so instead I'll get a well paying job for a year, and try again later. I also have other aspirations which include becoming an air force pilot, but the application process for that is much more competitive than any grad school. Plus there are some physical issues that could disqualify me, especially with my deteriorating vision.</p>
<p>Nrets, are you an international student?</p>
<p>Why would you discount Cornell? Do you think the application process will actually get easier later? I feel like the competition will even get stiffer with the suffering economy.</p>
<p>Nighthawk,</p>
<p>Not an international student, I just make a lot of typos while trying to multi-task, haha.</p>
<p>It's not so much that I'm discounting Cornell, it's just that I would like to get accepted to at least 2 schools and then be able to choose between the two after meeting their faculty and visiting their campuses. I'd be ok with only getting MIT and nothing else, because I really like the campus, the area, and the research, Cornell on the other hand was sort of added at the last minute as another school just to round out my list. </p>
<p>In retrospect, I should have applied to more schools, like UT Austin.</p>
<p>I am surprised you did not apply to more schools. UIUC, Minnesota, UT Austin all have very good materials research and would be easier to reach. Even those at top engineering schools did not receive news from some of the programs you applied to.
It seems that you've made the best out of your undergraduate years, but you have to understand competition is fierce at these top programs. At my school, almost everyone has done 3+ years of research and quite a few of us have publications. I thought everyone in my class is incredibly talented, but so far Berkeley only accepted 4, Stanford 3, and MIT 2.</p>
<p>iamasleepydreamer,</p>
<p>I didn't apply to Minnesota simply because I cannot live there for 4 or 5 years, not a chance. I didn't apply to UT Austin because of either a deadline issue, or because I wanted to keep my list to 6 (it gets expensive sending all those scores, transcripts, and paying application fees).</p>
<p>My school is ranked in the 30's for engineering. But in my graduating class, I think I am either 1 or 2 in terms of qualifications. Probably 20% of my classmates are doing research, and the ones that are haven't been doing it as long as I have, nor do they have the experience abroad. I don't know if any of them have publications. Maybe a few. None of them are Goldwater scholars, and only a few have a higher GPA. </p>
<p>But as you point out, I am probably just ordinary when compared to a student at a top 10 program. I had the opportunity to transfer to Berkeley as an undergrad, but declined because of financial reasons. UC schools don't offer FA to out-of-state transfers.</p>
<p>Nrets,
I think your background is really strong. I also got rejected from berkeley.
Here is mine:
International
MS in US GPA 3.5
Under GPA 86/100
GRE 530V 800Q 3.5AW
2 paper, 6 conferences, 1 patent
research matches well
but little ChemE courses taken
I guess not from ChemE as a major is the biggest problem for me.
I am waiting for UCLA and stanford also. But I think chance is small since they are both as good as berkeley.</p>
<p>I am curious what kind of background will let you admitted by berkeley? or MIT stanford...</p>
<p>I'm new to this forum and found it when I started to get concerned I had not heard back from CalTech or MIT yet. I graduated from a top 5 Chem E program, ranking first in my major. I double majored- both major GPA's above 3.9. 2 years independent research experience. 8 departmental merit scholarships.
Here are my results so far-
Princeton - Accepted Jan 29
Berkeley - Accepted Dec 18
Stanford - Rejected Feb 18
Caltech - Waiting
MIT - Waiting</p>
<p>It seems as though there are answers out for Caltech, but not yet for MIT. Anyway just thought I would post my results and credentials since people were asking "what it takes" to get into those schools.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, GRE scores were 770Q/520V/5.5AW
770 on Chemistry GRE</p>
<p>OchemE, I am not sure what you have done in your research. Based on your academic background, you should have already swept the top 5 programs at this point. Maybe your research experience didn't make you stand out.</p>
<p>I did two years of research in Chemistry on elucidation of photochemical reaciton mechanisms. Some pretty complex stuff, but ties directly into my proposed specialty of kinetics/catalysis. Hey, people get rejected. I am guessing Stanford may have some issues right now where they just don't have many openings, who knows. Not to blow my own horn but I expected to get in everwhere I applied. Now, I'm not so sure! Thankful to have UCB on my accepted list though.</p>
<p>ahha, OchemE, nothing to be "thankful" about, you earn your position and you absolutely deserve it! I didn't apply to Berkeley, because I don't think I can handle that "extreme-left". (Just kidding)</p>
<p>By the way, to make my self relevant to this thread, I was already in at Wisconsin, Texas and Illinois (if you consider those schools as top 10). I was rejected from Stanford this morning as well (first rejection), and didn't hear from MIT yet. I am sure you will be very competitive at everywhere you apply to, including MIT, and plus MIT has a much bigger program than Stanford does. I am pretty much waiting for the rejection from MIT right now, and good luck to the rest of your applications, and the same to everyone else' applications.</p>
<p>Stanford can eat my socks as far as I am concerned. :-P They were not a top pick of mine, and their research focus is very narrow. I was hoping to have something to show for the $105 application fee though- good grief. If it makes you feel better about MIT, people were being admitted last year to Chem E there from Jan 31 all the way through mid March. And their website states they review applications throughout Feb and March. So I wouldn't lose hope there, especially since the department is bigger than either CalTech's or Stanford. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Good competion here! My department doesn't have a lot of merit scholarships...I was hoping the Goldwater was strong enough on it's own. </p>
<p>I also got rejected from Stanford this morning. Looks like their done making decisions. </p>
<p>Can't really type a lot now because i'm using my iPod and it's not exactly efficien.</p>