Eh... I've thought about it, but honestly... I've never been that fond of chemistry. ;^^ I did the lower divs at community college.Ever thought about going into Physical Chemistry? Although I'm not sure how many chem courses you've taken or how many would be required.
Research programs aren't generally advertised. I do have a research project to work on in summer, although it's more of a bio project than a physics projects. I want to tie in physics and am thinking about bringing one of the Berkeley profs in on the project. This is a strong possibility. I probably wouldn't get paid because the grant is limited to equipment costs.The only other thing I could think of is if you could somehow land a summer research gig or two. Might make you look more appealing to the graduate programs. (If your academic adviser or professors have never advertised research programs to you, then they're not doing their job!)
The biggest reason I'm not so interested in the second-rate school is because it's out of state. Tuition is higher and it's be much more difficult to get home (I still have to take care of my family). I'm not ruling it out entirely -- I plan to visit in the beginning of next month. If I really like my adviser or the department, everything else is surmountable. But it'd have to be really good, since I wouldn't be able to do cross-department work. Based on my interactions with the alumnae at the launch last November, the physics and planetary science side are the oases of achievement due to how much the university invests in spacecraft projects.I have to say, I'm surprised that you'd chuck out the idea of graduate school just because you don't think the university that accepted you is "first rate".
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I feel like even the second rate doesn't care so much. I got half the "sign-on bonus" that many others did.*hugs*
Use this as a motivation to kick ass, earthy. Make the first rate schools regret they didn't take you by dominating the second rate school. Don't look at this as setback, look at this as motivation to show them why they should have taken you.
We'll see how the planetary sci programs react in a few weeks. I hope I get some positive news on that front.