<p>What sschoe2 says is almost entirely true. The American Chemical Society also says a sugarcoated version of the same thing about chemistry graduate school ([ACS</a> Issues Report: Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences](<a href=“http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2012/december/acs-issues-report-advancing-graduate-education-in-the-chemical-sciences.html]ACS”>ACS Issues Report: Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences - American Chemical Society)).</p>
<p>I am somewhat knowledgable on this issue and I can tell you going to graduate school for science is not something to take lightly, and the fact that you have to ask online and have not sought out research opportunities means you should do something else. Here are some things I know.</p>
<ol>
<li>The people who managed to be successful in graduate school:</li>
</ol>
<p>-Had an advisor with a multi-million dollar grant. (A vast amount of resources are needed to do novel research.)
-Had a national fellowship (NSF, Hertz). Believe it or not these people weren’t that much more knowledgable than everyone else, they just had more time to put into research and conferences.
-Have some attribute that makes the department want to invest in you. (National undergraduate award like the Goldwater, Graduate from top school, previous degree, triple major with 4.0.) The department I was in would have some explaining to do if someone like this did not graduate. I know of someone who was clueless, but got passed through because it’s a big deal to get rid of someone with a masters. Yes, I do know someone who had a triple major with a 4.0, from a school that has a reputation of being difficult, who won a Goldwater Scholarship twice, and was a Hertz fellow. Was he treated the same as any other grad student? Not even close. Is he going to get a good job? He’s not sure, but I think he is.
-Had a parent or family member in academia vouching for you. I know of someone who had a fast track to a good job because his dad was a professor. Someone whose parent is a professor at a pretty unknown SLAC who has a lot of control over who their successor is. I know several people from other countries who were essentially hired for a job, but they just needed a PhD.
-Had none of the above, were extremely driven and the only thing they wanted out of life is to be researcher and research is the only thing they want to do. These are the people who made it the farthest.</p>
<ol>
<li>The place you attend matters for a variety of reasons. </li>
</ol>
<p>-Many professors don’t change their research tremendously, and as time goes on, it essentially turns into going to the school graduated from decades in the past. It’s not as big of a deal if you’re working for a new professor because they’re still doing newer research.
-Some schools just have graduate programs to teach undergraduates. These programs typically have high dropout rates, long time to graduation, and treat their students with no respect. What do I mean by no respect? No one gets their first, second, third, fourth, or fifth choice for their advisor because their are so many students and so few professors. Their teaching responsibilities limit their ability to do anything related to graduating. Taken from the ACS report:</p>
<p>“A large undergraduate teaching need is not a sufficient justification for a large graduate program. Teaching needs that remain uncovered by graduate students in a healthy program should be addressed by faculty or other professionals hired and supervised by the department.”</p>
<p>I could expand the list, but these are the main things. The point is you need to be very careful going to graduate school, but you can mitigate the risks by going to a top school, working with a well known, innovative, productive advisor, with a track record for graduating students and putting them in good jobs, and having outside funding.</p>