[oxidation]

will be getting a masters in chem. i wanted to know what some of your experiences were like. workload, expectations, exams, etc., I take it the emphasis will be more on concepts than memorizing for exams? since you write a thesis? what's it like writing a thesis, or taking the cumulative exam option.

anyone have sample exams they could put up here? I'm curious as to how difficult these programs are because they require that students don't make any grade less than a B

[kriggy]

Hi, Im not from US so it might not be the answer you are looking for but since Im pursuing my MD I might be able to give you some answers:

a) how difficult was to get in? rather easy, we had a test at same level as were our finals and while some did poorly we all got accepted because the course could support that amount of students (its me and 4 mates so its rather family like atmosphere)

b) expectaions: Im not sure, its just a something I need to have to be accepted into phd program so I was expecting that I will improve my knowledge of ochem and lab practice and so far both worked nice, although my ochem knowledge could be better probably if I worked bit harder

c) exams: probably the biggest change, its no longer 60% to pass or something like that like was in undergra but rather its a starting point for further oral examination (ie. the better the test the easier is the oral exam but you can theoreticaly pass the oral when you have realy bad written exam)

d) workload: depends. last two months I was in a lab basicaly every day for 4-8 hrs. I also run into the lab in the pause between lectures because I needed to run a HPLC sample, or being in lab early so I can filter and dry my product to work with it later in the day.
We also have to have a short presentation in front of basicaly whole department and comitee about our work each semester to get one of the classes done. Im not sure but I think that two guys didnt pass because they didnt do much work in a lab

e) thesis, since we wrote a thesis in undergrad its basicaly the same but more in depth, some 25 pages of literature search and introduction to the topic for a reader and maybe 40 pages of experimental work are expected. But it depends on what exactly are you doing (ie. probably hard to fill 40 pages if you ran in-silico but you can be close to 100 if you do solid phase combinatorial chemistry for example).

[oxidation]

firstly, i greatly thank and appreciate you for taking time to reply.
second, i think we can both agree that the differences in school systems among our two countries will play a factor, but that doesn't mean that there won't be some similarities.

from your post, what i got, and hoping is the case, is that there will be some type of solidarity among my classmates and i because there won't be too many people and we're all doing the same program. that is good news! i actually prefer smaller schools rather than the big universities.

what is MD in your country? here in the states the MD degree is for medical doctor. care to clarify?

it sounds like at the masters level lab work is more intensive and heavier than undergrad. there's more if an emphasis on lab work (based on your post).  how are the labs structured like? do you get to design and run your own experiments and based on that you write your thesis? you also mentioned oral exams so i take it to mean presentations are another big factor?

we don't write thesis' here in the states at the undergrad level so i dont have that experience to take into the masters program with me. you sound like you basically drew upon the work of others and quoted / cited a lot of outside sources. so the thesis will require some intensive reading i presume?

okay so for your exams, were you given review sheets like in undergrad? were the questions more in-depth?

overall, it sounds like the masters can be done if the work is put in. what advice would you give an aspiring student like myself? anything you would do differently if you were to do your masters again? what can i do now that will make life at at masters level a little easier?

[kriggy]

haha I love talking to people so it sometimes gets into the state that i cant shut up :-D
first of all: MD in this case means masters degree

labwork:
Yes it is very intensive or maybe not as intensive but different. At my country, at bachelors level (ie undergrad) it doesnt matter if you dont get any real results because the chemistry for example didnt work and there is more focus on the literal research.
At masters level you should have some results (ie. compounds) OR realy good reason why you dont have them (ie. after 200 trials all failed) (ie. more stress). The lab work is like this: you select a topic for your thesis (every advisor has list of topics on website) and after a talk with him/her you start working on it. Its not like you have to design the experiments on your own or you do only what he/she tells you. Its something in the middle that the advisor gives you outline what you should do and some specifics.


The point is that you have a topic, he gives you some intro and consults with you the problems you have and guides you rather than telling you exactly what you need to do in a lab.

thesis: basicaly yes, you need to read some literature to have idea what compounds were already made and what have not. Also you need to somehow introduce the topic in the thesis, why are you doing it? how it can help? etc.. and you need to cite everything thats realy important. Its very similar to any research article: it starts with introduction and there is experimental part and results + discussion. I suggest reading as soon as possible - it saves time and gives you ideas what experiments you might run (my experience from undergrad: i didnt read basicaly anything and did only what my supervisor told me, then when I started reading and writing my thesis i got tons of ideas but didnt have time to run the experiments)

exams: usualy our exams have two parts: the first one is written test and the second one is talk with the professor about some topics covered in classes. Its probably because one can cheat at exam or just memorize the stuff without realy understanding it and that can be clearly seen when you have to talk about the topic.
We also need to present our progress at the end of each semester or we dont get credit for it and if you dont have it, you basicaly have to prolong the study for one more year.

Im not sure If I can give you any advice because the system here in Czech is different from US and also I didnt finish my masters yet so Im not sure what could I do differently. Maybe one thing: knowing undergrad stuff realy well makes it much easiser