Dear Chem and Biochem majors,
If you are considering going on to graduate School, you should take a look
at this guide produced by the American Chemical Society.
If you have some interest, I encourage you to engage in undergraduate
research at an early stage in your time at GT. This will help you decide if
graduate school is a good choice for you and also help ensure that your
applictaion is competitive. Good graduate schools look for students with
considerable prior research experience and ideally publications/presentations
that have come out of their research, as this best indicator of a good outcome
in graduate school. As experimental research is not quick, it is important to
start relatively early in your time as an undergraduate.
Nationally only ~65% of students entering chemistry PhD programs leave with
a PhD. The most common reason for a student to leave graduate school without an
advanced degree is that the reality of graduate school is different from the
student's expectations. If you have spent a significant amount of time doing
undergraduate research at GT, you will already have a good picture of what life
in a high quality graduate program is like.
Best wishes, Angus Wilkinson
--
Angus P. Wilkinson
Professor and Associate Chair, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (Courtesy)
Georgia Institute of Technology
901 Atlantic Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
