Materials Science Undergrad to Chemistry Grad School

bcc4994
Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:56:44 +0000

Hello all,

I am currently a rising junior undergraduate Materials Science and Engineering major and so obviously I’ve been thinking about the decision to go to grad school vs. trying to find a job. Right now, I’m leaning towards graduate and research work. I’m at a summer internship at a national lab and I’m enjoying the research environment a lot. However, I’m very hesitant to try and go for an advanced degree because the very practical side of me says “Just get a job.” So I’m already at a dilemma there…

But the main reason I’m posting is because if I did go to graduate school, I’m on the fence between going for a Master’s in Materials Science and Engineering or trying to go for a PhD. in physical chemistry. I met a postdoc at my lab working with theoretical modeling of nanoscale materials with applications to solar energy and I felt like that sort of encapsulated everything I wanted to study. He mentioned he was a physical chemist and so I started looking at the nanoscale materials and materials science divisions more closely and noticed that most of them had advanced degrees (and undergraduate degrees) in chemistry. I also researched a little bit about physical chemistry and I’m beginning to think that that sort of math intensive quantum chemistry is the kind of research I’d like to be a part of. (I’ve always been better at math/theory than my laboratory exercises.) So I had a couple questions:

I know I want to finish my materials science undergrad, so is it viable for me to switch from materials science to chemistry in graduate school? Will schools look poorly on the fact that I switched or decrease my chances of getting fellowships/grants?
Materials Science and Physical Chemistry have a few overlapping topics, but I was wondering if anyone might know what I would be missing from the chemistry perspective?
Does anyone have any advice for being admitted to a graduate chemistry program?

Ultimately, I really don’t think the degree matters, but I know that I want to be involved in research in alternative energy sources, especially solar. I’m just looking for the best path to get me there and also the subject in which I’ll be most successful.