Extracurricular activities alone do not significantly impact chances of acceptance into a PhD program at Rutgers, particularly in the field of chemistry with a physics concentration. While good grades and extracurriculars are beneficial, the lack of research experience is a more critical factor. It is advisable to prioritize gaining relevant field experience over maintaining unrelated extracurricular activities, as professors typically value discipline-specific experience more highly.
PREREQUISITESUndergraduate students in the sciences, particularly those studying chemistry, who are considering applying to PhD programs and seeking to enhance their applications through relevant experience.
Flat said:What are you studying? By experience do you mean research experience?
intrepid_nerd said:I am at Rutgers in New Jersey. My grades are good, my extracurriculars are good but I have no real field experience and probably won't have anything before I graduate. Will this severely hurt my chances in being accepted into a pHD program? Is it recommended to drop other extracurriculars and force experience into my schedule?
Pengwuino said:Not severely. I can imagine by extra-curricular activities you mean things like student governments and clubs and so on and so forth?