4/24/2023
Hello again! These past few months have been some of the busiest in my college career. They have involved traveling across the country and finalizing graduation requirements. Ultimately, I was able to find a school that I love with a chemistry program I think I can thrive in.
Narrowing Down the Decision
After applying to ten graduate programs, I was offered admission to most of the schools. This included University of Iowa, University of Oregon, University of Utah, University of North Carolina, and others. Included in these offers was the funding to bring me out to their school, but due to the amount of offers, I decided to narrow down this list to the ones that interested me the most. This semester, I was able to visit Dartmouth, University of Utah, and University of North Carolina.
University of Utah
The University of Utah visit was the first that really stood out to me. This was because of the immense support given to graduate students, different instruments available for research, and the scenery around campus. This program went all out during the visit, and I fell in love with the culture of the department. I was taken skiing during the trip, which I rarely do in Wisconsin. We were also given plenty of time to talk to graduate students and professors.
Skiing in Utah
Scenery Around Campus
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
This school was the last visit I went on and like Utah, the department culture in North Carolina was amazing. The research being done in their labs was impressive and I could easily imagine myself living in Chapel Hill. The highlight of this visit was the tour around the city where we were able to see the popular shops and living spaces. Although not a large factor in my ultimate decision, I learned that North Carolina rarely gets snowfall!
My decision
The offers from both Utah and North Carolina were similar in stipends and support, which made my decision very difficult. The organic programs in both places are renowned, although North Carolina takes the lead in this category purely based on rankings. Either school I chose would have been amazing, so this was a win-win situation. In the end, I made my decision based on the type of research primarily being done in the labs. Utah focuses a lot on computational organic, whereas North Carolina is more of raw synthetic research. I am more interested in purely synthetic, so I chose to accept North Carolina’s offer. I am extremely excited to start there in the fall and I have already started thinking about which professors I would like to work with!