<p>I am going to SUNY UB in the fall for Chemical Engineering and my ultimate goal is to attain a PhD in the field as careerwise I am most interested in research based positions. I was not always set on attaining a PhD but after being accepted into an accelerated PhD program at Drexel(and turning it down due to costs as well as advice from many others) I retained the desire to pursue this goal. Yet, I do not exactly know all the things to do to best prepare for grad school during my time at SUNY UB. My background is that I graduated number 6 out of a class of 390, have taken all honors and AP classes during high school, have earned 10 AP tests worth of credit(8 fives, 1 four, and 1 three), and I truly have a passion for science. Going into UB I still want to retain the high grades I did in high school, and I know that this is a massive undertaking. Regardless of grad school or not, I really want to participate in research as early as freshman year as I am immensely interested in physics, chem and bio. I know that high grades and reserach experience are important factors but what other things should I do to prepare myself more for grad school apps as I really want to enter more competitive schools come the time.</p>
<p>1) Build a good relationship with professors so they can write you good recommendation letters.</p>
<p>2) Take a class in useful programming languages just to make yourself more marketable.</p>