- #1
~christina~
Gold Member
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Background
Problem
Thanks,
~christina~
- want to go to grad school and focus on chemistry. (studying for forensic science now)
- Working towards my degree involved taking almost all the chemistry courses that are done for a bachelor degree in chemistry. (already took: gen. chem 1 & 2, organic 1 & 2, instrumental 1 & 2, biochemistry, Physical chemistry w/o a lab, and quantitative analysis)
- I have just started undergrad research in chemistry and this should go on for another year (2 semesters left)
- I am in a city college in the U.S. and I am planning to apply to the graduate program in the same city college system. (not sure which of the schools in the system is best, at this moment)
Problem
- Did not do well in the two of the chemistry courses I took. (biochem and inst. 2)
a) I have what I thinik are valid reasons for not doing well in the two courses.
b) during biochem - concentration issues were caused by thyroid (found out later)
c) inst. 2 - many issues caused me to have 3 labs due all at the same time during last
week of lab, including: getting a new general unknown the week before it was due,
an instrument not working until the last week (unknown for that lab dissapearing at
the same time) This is in addition to another lab that was due.
- Can I still get into grad school and in a Ph.D. program or is my only option, masters?
a) I am not too confident in my chemistry knowledge if you compare me with
someone who is in an undergrad chemistry program, so I was initially planning on
applying for the masters program.
b) I am not planning on focusing on biochemistry, and I have done okay in the first
inst. class. (not the second due to the aforementioned challenging circumstances)
c) Does it help at all that I'm doing chemistry research right now?
- What is the process involved in applying for graduate school?
a) What is generally needed when applying?
- How early should I apply for grad school?
a) What does applying generally entail?
- If I wanted to visit the prospective grad schools, how would I go about doing this?
i.e. Do I ask the head of the department there? - I'm going to start studying for the GRE now. What type of advice do you give for
studying for the exam? - I was thinking of taking a inorganic chem course somewhere else, where I would try my best to do well in. Would it be a good thing if I did good in that class, to sort of offset the other classes that were not so good?
Thanks,
~christina~