What are my chances?

[johnglenn]

Hello everyone,

I am a senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in chemistry and Spanish. I transferred here sophomore year from Northwestern University, which I found to be incredibly overrated and lame (and extremely expensive).

Recently I have decided that I would like to attend graduate school and pursue a PhD in chemistry. I will be graduating this semester with a BS in chemistry but have two Spanish courses left to take next fall for the BA.

My research experience/industry work with chemistry includes 6 months of work in a display and graphics lab at 3M as a technical aide, as well as 6 months in an academic lab working with organic reactions.

I quit my position at 3M to work in the organic lab on campus. The professor under whom I worked is very well known and the position was an incredible learning experience. Unfortunately, the graduate student with whom I directly worked was a complete jerk. He made my life in the lab utterly miserable and so this semester I decided to leave the lab.

My resignation was discussed with the professor and I left on good terms (he told me he would definitely write me a recommendation letter). I worry now, however, about my chances at graduate school admission. All aspiring grad students in my classes are still very much involved with their lab work and some even have a publication. Now that I’m not in a lab I feel that I am lacking in this critically important area. I don’t want to join another research lab this semester, though, because my course load is heavy (polymers lab, green chemistry lecture, inorganic lecture and a Spanish lecture).

I certainly don’t have the raw intelligence of many of my chemistry peers but I am an extremely hard worker–my cumulative GPA from Minnesota and general GRE scores are 3.986 and 680 V/790 Q/4.5 AW, respectively. My Northwestern GPA (which I will definitely have to send to grad schools) was a 3.970. I have not yet taken the chemistry GRE, something I will do next Fall when I apply to schools (I’m taking a year off to live in Latin America for Spring semester 2012 and hope to enroll in grad school Fall 2013).

Despite my GPA and GRE, is my lack of research experience going to screw me over? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[mod]

Hi and welcome to Admissions Boards!

I would encourage you to repost this on the Ask AdmissionsConsultants thread for a better and more complete explanation.

Best of luck!

[Author]

Posts