<p>So, I applied to quite a few schools this year for a PhD in chemical engineering but got rejected from all but one. I applied to 9 schools (6 top-10, 2 top-20, 1 top-30). However, the school I got into was my "back-up" and I guess now that it's come down to actually consider going to it, I find myself to be hesitant because I feel like I can do better. I've posted my stats below (and those aren't changing significantly if at all) but I'm strongly considering doing research for another year. My question is, is that going to help? Are my stats too low for it to matter that I would have another year of research under my belt or would it actually add something significant to my application? I don't want to sell myself short by going to a school that I'm really not that inclined to go to but I'd also rather not waste a year for nothing.</p>
<p>Undergraduate Institution: Top 10 in ChemE
Overall GPA: 3.5/40
Major GPA: 3.68/4.0
Last 2 years GPA: 3.71/4.0
GRE: 690V/760Q/4.5A</p>
<p>By the time I had applied for this year, I'd been researching for 6 months. If I choose to apply again, I'd have 1.5 years of research. But again, would that make any difference at all? And even though I am going to try my best, I'm not sure if a publication is something that I'll be able to get by December.</p>
<p>Also, I'm an international student that went to a US university.</p>
<p>“Also, I’m an international student that went to a US university.”</p>
<p>How much OPT time do you have left? Don’t STEM majors have a few more months than other majors? Would the team that you are working with now be able to pay you at all if you decide to stay in that lab until your OPT runs out? It may make sense to defer enrollment at University X, and reconsider your options in six months.</p>
<p>Sit down with your major advisor and/or PI, and talk this through with them. They may have some insight into your admissions chances if you wait another year. They also may advise you to take the offer that you have right now and not wait around.</p>
<p>My OPT starts this summer so I’ll have an entire year for that. I’m actually considering switching labs and using this year to get exposure to more areas in ChE since I only started researching last summer. I’m not sure about my PI yet (I’m meeting him tomorrow) but I have been talking to a couple of other professors about hiring me next year and it seems that I shouldn’t have a problem getting hired/paid.</p>
<p>Your faculty and faculty advisors will be able to answer these questions better than anyone on this board. They know you, have opinions of what you are capable, and know faculty at the graduate schools to which you applied. Follow their judgment.</p>
<p>I’ve seen people do this often in econ and life sciences but it’s a lot more unusual in engineering. But anyway, it’s not about how long you can say you’ve been doing research; it’s about what you accomplished. I don’t mean you have to produce results, but it has to be significant to your lab somehow (more than monkey work). If you can’t get a publication, you’re not changing much unless you think your letters of recommendation from PIs are going to be dramatically better.</p>
<p>Going 1 for 9 warrants serious changes. The main reason to wait and reapply would be to apply to a different selection of schools i.e. don’t apply to the same high-ranked places thinking you were owed a spot and just got unlucky. Keep a few ambitious schools but on the whole, you should aim lower. Your GPA and math GRE are low for top 10 (at least by EE standards, don’t know about ChemE), so retake the GRE if you have the money but it’s not a priority.</p>
<p>Also, EVERY single program you apply to should be a place you’re willing to go to; else don’t apply. This should be obvious, but it’s not to many people who are applying for the first time because in their minds they’re dreaming of going to one of their top choices and don’t give serious consideration to the possibility of ending up at a safety.</p>
<p>I personally recommend just taking your safety and applying again the year before you finish the MS so that you can do your PhD at a more suitable school. Plenty of people do this, but most don’t “move up” much because (a) schools are biased against applicants who already have an MS (b) these applicants are usually not as good as they think they (after all, they weren’t good enough to get into those higher schools the first time they tried). But if you know what you’re doing and can get publications or impress profs at your MS school, this is a viable path to a higher ranked program. It has the benefit of not wasting a year… 1/60th of your remaining life isn’t trivial, especially if that part is taken from your 20’s.</p>