<p>I'm majoring in Chemistry right now and am trying to go into grad school for materials science (still deciding between masters and PhD) but my transcript looks pretty bad as of yet.</p>
<p>I'm a junior now but I've already gotten two F's, three D's, and a handful of C's throughout the semesters, and my cumulative GPA is about 2.5.</p>
<p>I technically have 2 semesters left before I have to apply, but could doing really well on the GRE and 4.0's for the next two semesters help my chances? Or am I at a total loss?</p>
<p>whoa! re-do/makeup those classes if you can! would those new grades replace the old? but if you do the math…changing those grades would REALLY make a difference. at the expense of even remaining an undergrad for another semester…I’d say, I’d go for it anyway :s</p>
<p>also, why DON’T you do the math yourself? what WOULD your pa did if you got 4.0s next semester? I honestly don’t think it can change THAT much though. like, don’t expect a 3.3+ lol</p>
<p>I did retake a few of those classes, but unfortunately my school doesn’t replace the grades on the transcripts; they just factor in the new grade for the GPA. I heard that grad schools recalculate the GPA anyway though, to include ALL the grades, i.e. if you’ve taken some classes more than once.</p>
<p>With 4.0s the next two semesters, I would still barely only be able to get a 3.0…</p>
<p>Can anyone suggest any schools where I might have some sort of chance?</p>
<p>if you could make it a 3.0…or close…try NYU-Poly. It is nice here in Brooklyn Heights, and its rep is on the rise.if you could make it a 3.0 in general though, this would ROCK.</p>
<p>I did really well in chemistry classes… but unfortunately those bad grades were in the intro math and physics courses, so that kind-of ruins my major GPA.</p>
<p>I have pretty minimal research experience. So far, just one summer and I’m looking for research for next semester.</p>
What does that even mean? You will get what you get, all you can do is prepare as well as you can.</p>
<p>I agree with those who say either stay an extra year and take classes that will get your GPA up, or even better get a masters and do very well in the classes, plus do some research. If a year or two from now you can point to excellent grades in a master’s program plus some research, the picture will be completely different for you.</p>
<p>Generally not too competitive. I would try schools like Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, etc. and talk with the department head at those schools. Be very honest, tell him what your goals are and what the problems were earlier and how you have addressed those. You might find a good place and wind up staying for a PhD.</p>
<p>Many people understand a student that partied too much or whatever was the problem and only later got it together. If they don’t then probably not the right place for you. But somewhere out there among the second tier schools there will be someone that wants to fill a slot if they believe you will make a positive contribution, especially if they think you have a decent chance of staying for a PhD.</p>
<p>*** are you asking? Do your best, garner research experience, develop an interest in the subfield you want to study, and apply to universities with programs that appeal to you. </p>
<p>I don’t even know what a tier 2 university is (by whose standards?)…</p>
<p>You’ll get into a graduate program if you can demonstrate the discipline and interest necessary to survive five years of studying boring molecular systems (such as desorption kinetics of 1,2 dichloroethenes at air-water interfaces on palladium surfaces… boring, but fascinating).</p>
<p>ixington - it is generally “accepted” that the USNWR rankings of grad schools is used to divide the schools into tiers, with tier 1 being top 25, tier 2 next 50, and tier 3 below that. Nothing scientific, just a convention that correlates to how hard it is to get into these schools, their quality as defined by peer assessment, student quality, etc. and similar parameters.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t really accept that. Killer research is going on at schools ranked in the 40’s by their standards. NSF funding reports are much more revealing…</p>
<p>Compare UC San Diego, which is 20 in Chemistry at USNWR and (using the 2007 report from NSF - 2008 data not available) , but has the eighth highest amount of R&D funding in chemistry among all US Universities. Or John’s Hopkins and UCSF which are USNWR “Tier 2” but in the top 25 by actual amount of chemistry research funding.</p>
<p>USNWR is kind of a popularity contest or branding game. As someone who studied his undergraduate in Orange County, I urge applicants to see past the superficial aspects of college ranking and to go for the meat.</p>
<p>I mean, if they don’t, they’ll end up botox’d out with bleached blonde hair, stuck in a plastic world, just like everyone else in materialistic, brand-crazy Orange County - and I’ll inform you, this is not a pleasant condition.</p>
<p>I don’t (mostly) disagree with ixington either, and have railed against USNWR rankings many times, although I could (but won’t) make an argument they make a lot more sense for grad school than undergrad. He also makes the assumption money equals quality, and that of course isn’t true. But in this case we are discussing the competitiveness of getting into schools for someone that dosn’t have top credentials, and it is absolutely harder to get accepted to the highest tier schools overall than the next tier, and easier for the next tier than for the one after that, and so on and so forth. I absolutely never said there wasn’t great research going on at tier 2 and tier 3 schools, of course there is. It is simply a discussion of where he has a good chance of getting accepted. So I have no idea what the funding points are about.</p>
<p>Having gone to a “top 5” grad school in chemistry and seeing how my peers did on getting accepted to various schools based on their credentials, as well as seeing how my grad school evaluated applications, I think I have some insight into this.</p>
And very true as well. One must look at ones own interest and fit.</p>