Where do I stand for grad school?

[krobben]

I'm curious as to where I should apply for grad school in that I don't want to waste my time on colleges out of my league. I'm looking to study density functional theory or alike so I guess physical chemistry or soft matter physics(can anyone really draw the line?). I should be graduating with a bachelors in physics, chemistry and math(possible masters in math depending on next year), 3.75 GPA, 4 decent papers published and honors at a large mid-western university. Yeah, of course I would like to go to MIT or Berkeley just as much as everyone else but more because I want to be surrounding by that dense environment of passion and straight geniuses where there's always someone to learn from. What kind of schools would I be competitive at?

 

[gravenewworld]

Pretty much anywhere. Try for 2-3 top choices, 2-4 2nd choices, and 3 low choices. I got rejected from lower choice programs, but somehow got into many top and mid choice schools on my list. No one knows what adcoms are thinking. Just try.

 

[Jorriss]

Are you just showing off? You can obviously apply anywhere, at all, and have a very, very high chance of acceptance.

 

[krobben]

This is a legitimate question and I'm extremely sorry if I came off like a d-bag. Nobody in my family has been anywhere near science academia, I have no experience in grad school apps, I don't know of anyway to compare myself with other competitive undergrads in this country and when I ask my advisers, they just always give these cookie cutter answers that go like "I can't say for sure but just apply and don't get your hopes up". I simply have no idea what everyone else is doing and that's all I'm asking.

 

[Jorriss]

This is a legitimate question and I'm extremely sorry if I came off like a d-bag. Nobody in my family has been anywhere near science academia, I have no experience in grad school apps, I don't know of anyway to compare myself with other competitive undergrads in this country and when I ask my advisers, they just always give these cookie cutter answers that go like "I can't say for sure but just apply and don't get your hopes up". I simply have no idea what everyone else is doing and that's all I'm asking.

Ahhh... in that case, you are extremely well suited to any university. If you apply for chemistry, I suspect you'd get in everywhere. I would actually be surprised, assuming your letters are good, if you got turned down anywhere. I was accepted to caltech, U. Chicago, etc with a much weaker application (no pubs, no double major let alone triple, same gpa).