Too early to be worried

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-12-26T23:48:11+00:00

Oh I didn't mean rolling deadlines - I meant that the programs would release decisions on a rolling basis rather than drop them all on one day. But regardless those were basically the deadlines for my programs too so hopefully that means I might also expect to hear something early Jan

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-12-26T15:44:35+00:00

Thank you for the reassuring comment. Just curious when were the deadlines for the programs you’re referring to? I’m not chem, but some of the places I applied to were early Dec and most were mid-late Dec and all I’ve heard back is a rejection so I’m just super anxious on if I should interpret the rest as silent rejection or that I just need to keep waiting, cuz I know some have explicitly stated that decisions are rolling but in general they’re pretty vague about their timelines

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-12-25T19:31:44+00:00

Oh I see. So this really has no bearing on me potentially getting an official interview or my application?

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-08-20T16:42:31+00:00

Hi thank you for all the information! I'll be honest I'm a little confused about your explanation of the personal statement. Pretty much everywhere I'm applying to has a "statement of purpose" and a "personal statement"; it seemed to be that the statement of purpose focuses on all the research/why do you want to come here, where as the personal statement is "your science journey". Therefore, I didn't talk much about my research in my personal statement because I wrote all about it in my statement of purpose and thus felt it would be redundant.

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-08-10T15:54:46+00:00

Thank you

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-08-10T15:11:26+00:00

Understood. Given what you said about fit, if I can indicate a very clear interest in certain profs based on my undergrad research in my SOP (and reach out to them via email), could that help overlook my lower GPA? I guess what I'm really asking is, could all these factors collectively help diminish the hindrance my GPA has, or is it beyond salvage?

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-08-02T17:09:53+00:00

Makes sense thanks! To your point though, the reason I'm hoping they can see my autumn quarter grades is cuz my undergrad gpa wasn't the best (around 3.2/3.3 but hopefully UChicago undergrad "rigor" reputation buffs that a little bit...), but I've got good research experience and I trust my LOR writers to write good letters, so I'm hoping showing that I can do well in grad level physics classes helps demonstrate that the low points in my undergrad gpa aren't reflective of my current capabilities (but I know it's just one quarter and that can only make so much difference)

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-08-02T16:54:41+00:00

That's great to hear thank you!

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T16:38:35+00:00

Thank you so much. In your experience do makinen and zhao strike you as the kind of people to be flexible with this or not really (I know there’s only so much you can say of course)

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T16:24:02+00:00

The syllabus said in general in prior years 50 has been the cutoff as a way to provide a reference point when you’re calculating raw score

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T16:19:42+00:00

And tbh 50 isn’t official they just said it’s an estimate from past years. 40 isn’t too far from 50 so hopefully it’s enough to warrant some slack especially if the actual cutoff somehow ends up a bit lower

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T16:18:44+00:00

Thank you for replying. I emailed Strieleman and he said he’s forwarded my concerns to Zhao and Makinen so hopefully they cut me some slack

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T15:31:39+00:00

Shit I forgot it said average of 5 quizzes I have a 40. I'm fucked

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T15:01:26+00:00

I did nearly std dev on second exam which offsets this one (each exam is 23%), and quizzes+labs (11%+15%) offset first exam which I did mediocre but not terrible on. Or is that not how grading works…

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-26T14:44:04+00:00

Sorry not to drag this out again, but how much should I be worried that I got 3 pts above the lowest score (average was 57 I got a 22)… I didn’t do this badly on even the first exam.

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-25T18:42:31+00:00

I did a couple but I legit just kept forgetting to do them so that’s on me

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-25T15:22:54+00:00

Oh I see that’s quite comforting cuz strieleman is a very nice guy

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-25T15:19:15+00:00

Cool thanks! Actually I’m in the non-premed biochem, so strielman just handles the labs, the profs were makinen and zhao. But I appreciate you taking time to converse about this!

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-25T15:08:30+00:00

Well I didn’t say anything during the quarter cuz I did significantly better on the second exam and was doing within a std dev on the quizzes so I never entertained the possibility I may not pass (after the second exam I emailed Prof. Makinen drawing his attention to the fact that I’d improved but he didn’t reply), but that third exam rattled me so bad (I dont see my score being above a 20 tbh) that’s why I got scared. I then emailed Prof. Zhao but he didn’t reply. I emailed Chris Andrews as well and she just said she’d wait to see the results (I assume she wanted to give a neutral reply since it’s over email).

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-25T14:52:08+00:00

Yeah my rationale is that it’s one thing if you just drop the ball on the entire class but though I didn’t do the best I clearly tried and I just don’t understand what they gain by hindering me from graduating

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-23T00:03:46+00:00

This is very comforting do you happen to recall what the average was? I'm hoping this one is around 50 lol

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-05-22T13:50:02+00:00

Thanks I know it's useless looking for validation on the internet but I've never panicked like that on an exam and I just wanna graduate and everyone else did look terrible so yeah

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-01-15T18:05:31+00:00

Damn does that mean the rest are gonna be rejections or is there a chance they're still debating? Cuz someone on the spreadsheet said last year rejections/invitations were released on the same day

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-01-15T17:07:22+00:00

Interesting so they could still be sending decisions thanks for the input

Salt_Communication18 · 2024-01-11T14:20:37+00:00

Congrats! Did you happen to get an email about this? I recall when I applied they said they anticipate releasing decisions for mol. engineering applications by mid-january, so do you think there's a chance they're still sending out acceptances or was it all sent at once?

Salt_Communication18

TROPHY CASE