<p>Hello! I recently got accepted to a few chemistry PhD programs and I had an important question…</p>
<p>When I was applying, my interests were more along the lines of biochemistry. So I wrote my personal statement discussing this and professors whose research areas were in biochemistry. I know that part of admissions is based on this. </p>
<p>Well I’ve since kind of shifted to wanting to study physical chemistry, particularly interstellar chemistry which is an area of research for a different professor than the one I named in my statement.</p>
<p>How receptive will the program be with my change of focus? I just don’t want them to think I’m too indecisive or something. Does anyone have experience with something like this?</p>
<p>Were you accepted to a specific advisor’s lab or were you accepted by an admissions committee to the department? If it’s the latter you should be fine as long as you can get a professor in your new area of interest to agree to be your advisor.</p>
<p>Yes it was an acceptance by the committee to the program and not a specific lab. That’s good news. I visit the school I’m most interested in next week, so I’m pretty nervous! We’ll see how it goes.</p>
<p>I’m sure the visit will go fine. After all, you’ve already been accepted, so the visit will basically consist of the school trying to sell itself to you (and not the other way around). Have fun! :)</p>
<p>I guess the question should be about your background instead of your interests. </p>
<p>If your background is purely in make chemistry (synthesizing big complex molecules), your transition into measure chemistry may be very steep and may raise red flags.</p>
<p>If you have a solid undergraduate background in quantum, stat mech, and some spectroscopy, I don’t see how there would be any problems.</p>
<p>Like Aceflyer said - in the end, it’s probably all about the PI.</p>
<p>Yeah that may be the biggest problem. My background is more biochemistry-focused, but my interests lie in the physical/astrochemical realm. I’m constantly learning and educating myself in the area I’m more interested in, but I lack the credentials on paper which sucks.</p>
<p>In the end it’ll be all about the PI. I’m sure you’ll be able to pick up any skills you lack easily enough; as long as you can find a PI who’s willing to take you, you should be fine. Incidentally, this is something you should probably look into during your visit: how easy is it for students to get into a lab of their choice?</p>