Grad school Definition and 1000 Threads

I'm about to apply grad school and I'm trying to get an idea of the field I would like to go into within physics. I'm pretty good with theory but I really prefer hands on work. I would also like to specialize in a topic in which it is easy to find research work that is not related to defense...

Hi all, If anyone could give me some advice, I'd appreciate it. I graduated in May with a B.A. in math and B.S. from the stat./operations research department at my school. I'm interested in going to grad school (I'd like to be a professor), and I've been trying to research programs, but...

So, I was wondering if I could get some ballpark idea of how good I might look to grad schools. I have a 3.55 overall GPA at a top 10 physics school (don't know what my major GPA is right now). I have half a year of research experience, and I've worked with a theorist too. I haven't taken...

Hi, I will be applying for graduate school soon. I plan to make the move in 2011. My interests are still a bit broad. I am interested in eventually learning plasma physics for advanced spacecraft propulsion. I haven't found a graduate level program yet though that is working on soemthing...

UCL grad school -- astrophysics plus engineering Hi, I am thinking about applying to the UCL grad school in something combining astrophysics/instrumentation/planetary. Is UCL any good? I am an non EU European, and I see that UCL has better studentships than Oxbridge --- around 15k compared...

So yes I was wondering is it better to apply for transfer to another PhD program in physics right away or after acquiring a Masters?

Hello everyone, I graduated with a BA a couple years ago. I traveled in Asia for a year, then worked for a year, and got into some math on my own in the process. I returned to school last year to load up on as many tough courses as possible. I've taken/will have taken linear algebra, abstract...

Hi, What is the absolute best grad schools in the US or Europe for String Theory, M-Theory and LQG? I tend to learn better in a classroom environment, so I'm sort of looking for a grad school which actually has relevant courses, and not just a European-style research university where I...

So I'm in my first year of Grad school, where there is a crap load of groups I would like to join. Things like plasma physics (fluid dynamics has always interested me and I'm taking a class on it now), single-molecule detectors, one-way nanopores, and a crapload of things from the engineering...

Hi, I'm currently working on Mathematics (3rd year) and doing Physics alongside. My Universities Math department is ranked well among other top 30 (50?) Universities in US but the Physics department sucks, it really does. I'll have to stick with this university for my remaining undergrad...

Hey everyone. I've been looking into top universities for astrophys in the EU or Australia (English speaking - of course) but haven't found many choices. I still have quite some time before college (undergrad) but want to get all the information I can before I do something I regret. If anyone...

How crucial is it to have a strong extracurricular background when applying for graduate school at an Ivy or similar university? I'm involved in a few environmental conservation projects and will soon volunteer for a week-long paleontological excavation project led by my university and the city...

Hello all. I am wondering what my chances are of getting into grad school. I realize there are other posts on the topic, but everyone is in a different situation so I think this is warranted. I have what the university calls a combined honors mathematics and physics BSc degree from the...

Here is my deal. I went to college once and graduated with a BS in chemistry. I worked for a couple of years and decided to finish a physics BS. I want to go to grad school for physics. I would like to study AMO physics. Bose-Einstein Condensates in particular. However, I am open to many areas...

What are my Grad school prospects?!? Ok so i kind of have a unique story. I have bachelors in Mech eng and Math from university of illinois champaign and a bachelors physics from loyola chicago all in 4 years. I would have went phd physics but i thought i wanted the money and went...

Hi all, I just started signing up for my GREs, and when they started asking for institutions to which my scores should be sent, I froze up and realized that I hadn't really nailed down my grad school choices yet. Eek! Some amount of Google-time later, this forum seems like it would be a good...

I'm applying for graduate schools (3 of them) and obviously I need to send my undergrad transcripts. But they do say all post secondary education. I took dual credit classes in High School that I got Longview community college credit and UMKC credit for. Do I need to list this these colleges in...

Hello, I know this has been asked many times... but I am greatly worried about the verbal GRE session. English is not my first language but I've been around long enough to be considered a fluent speaker. Realistically speaking, I'll probably get around Verbal: ~450 (what if I completely bomb...

Hey all, I'm applying to grad school this fall, and I'm starting to think about my application essay. I'm going for biomedical engineering (specifically imaging), and most of the essay topics are similar (Why is this program right for you? Why do you want to study it? etc.) I just bought...

At the moment I am planning to pursue a bachelors with the end goal of obtaining a masters and potentially a PhD in either the areas of Geophysics, Planetary science, or maybe even Astrobiology. The University I would be attending for the BS degree does offer a BS in Geology and Geophysics, but...

I had a couple of questions about getting ready for grad school, mainly about taking the GRE(physics & general). I'm starting my 4th year this fall and will be applying to grad school next fall, since it's taking me 4 and a half years to graduate. As far as the GRE, I was planning on taking it...

My first two years of attending the university i basically flunked out. I was in a bad personal situation that just messed me up. I shouldn't have been going to school at all. But, I did. I had may be a .75 gpa or something. Needless to say, I was academically dismissed from the school...

I'm talking about engineering grad school (MS). When I say entrepreneur I'm talking R&D for new products/technology/small start-up. Would it be more useful to: A. Keep an existing full time job while going to school part time (paid for by the company with 3 years service after degree)...

Hey all, I just graduated from a small-ish northeastern private liberal arts university known more for it's law and communications departments than it's science education. It's a fairly respectable school but a small physics department, about 50 students in total. I plan on taking a year...

Sorry, I just realized that this should be in the Career Guidance forum. I find the topic of my recent dissertation uninspiring, and I want to go into something completely different for my career. My dissertation was on very specialized and superficial analysis techniques, but I would much...

Hello PF. I have a bachelors in pure math. I've always gone back and forth between physics and math, but math always challenged me more. Not that physics isn't a challenge, just that math as an undergraduate challenged me more. So I always left the physics classes after the freshman ones...

Hello all, How does an internship compare to research experience for grad school? I ask this because I am trying to finalize my private loan plan. If I do an internship for next summer, I will probably end up having to figure in the summer's rent and utilities into my loan for the place I am...

So I'm currently a Physics/Math major with an interest in biophysics. Since biophysics is such an interdisciplinary field, some graduate schools have this area in their biology department, while others have it in their physics department. I looked at MIT's biology site and it says that they are...

I've taken all the usual undergrad math courses needed for undergrad physics: calc, diff eq, linear algebra, etc. However, when I read some of the discussions on this board, or when I look at more advanced books, I'm completely lost by the math! What math do I need to understand? I hear...

So I will be graduating spring 2010 with a degree in biomedical engineering and have decided that i definitely want to get into grad school. Currently as it sits i have a 2.8 at the University I am at right now and a 3.1 at the community college i went to before hand. It averages out to be about...

I've bolded the essentials of this topic. My background as an applicant to grad school is not very strong at all. Here are the main obstacles I'm facing: -No relationships with professors -No research experience -Mediocre grades at the first university I attended I am a transfer...

Would someone be so kind as to enlighten me here? My wife and I were discussing grad school application deadlines (which are still a way off, but it's fun to daydream) and she commented on how early they were at most of the schools we were just glancing at. January 31st was a common date, or...

i have a much better question, that doesn't often get asked: i have a high gpa, excell in my classes, could probably score very well on the gre and pgre, but i hate research so far. and yet i still feel like i should go to grad school. what am i to do?

From EE to Applied Physics...grad school app, undergraduate courses, no research Hi, I'm a senior undergraduate majoring in Electrical Engineering with a CGPA of 3.84/4.0 (normalized to a scale of 4 -- at my college its on a scale of 10). I'll be entering my final year in a few weeks from...

Say two students both express interest in becoming experimentalists of some sort. They both have research experience with experimentalists, comparable GPA's and GRE's, even similar letters of rec. However, one of them took two computer science courses, and the other didn't. Would admissions...

Hello all, I'm entering a graduate program in materials science and engineering in the fall, and I was wondering if anyone had any generic or specific advice (or heads up) about grad school based on your experiences. Thank you.

Hello all, My background is in physics, and I'm entering a graduate program for materials science and engineering this fall. I was wondering if anyone had any generic or specific advice before starting. Thank you.

I will complete my bachelors in physics next year, and plan to do a masters in either aerospace or mechanical engineering afterwards. But how do I go about selecting which schools to apply to? I’ve read advice such as applying to schools whose professors do research in a specific area...

Hello, I am interested in attending a graduate program in Ireland after completion of my BS in physics but am unsure of the lay of the land. A few questions I have are: 1. Is it possible to get into the Ph.D. program in the Ireland w/o a masters? If it is difficult is it possible to do the...

I am going into my last year at a small private college, which means that my pool for math classes is limited. I have been trying to establish a good base with classes such as Linear Algebra, Diff EQ, Topology, Number Theory, Probability, Modeling, Analysis, Abstract, NonEuclidean, a year long...

I have frequented these forums many times, but this is my first post. I am looking for advice, antidotes, or just suggestions on leaving graduate school in math (or any subject for that matter). Just a little about me: I majored in mathematics at an engineering school, but instead of taking...

Hello, I am looking for a few good books that talk about the details of applying to a PhD program. Soem of the questions that I would like answered are: How does one select the schools? How do admissions work? How is one evaluated? How can one maximize chances of admission? I've seen a...

Hey everyone, I have heard over and over again that GRE scores are used by most engineering grad schools as a cut off; everyone above a certain score makes the first cut, and everyone below a certain score doesn't. I want to go to engineering grad school (specialize in biomedical). I took...

This is something I had never seen before...a student applies for grad school and gets accepted to a university not where he did his undergrad. He was planning on enrolling for fall but decides to defer for a year. For the year that he deferred, in the meantime, could this person take a grad...

Hey everyone, I am a rising senior Elecrical engineering major at University of Delaware. I have done research in biomedical optics for 2 years and am highly motivated to go to graduate school. I have bought the book "Getting What You Came For", which is a guide to applying and living...

Background want to go to grad school and focus on chemistry. (studying for forensic science now) Working towards my degree involved taking almost all the chemistry courses that are done for a bachelor degree in chemistry. (already took: gen. chem 1 & 2, organic 1 & 2, instrumental 1 & 2...

I will be going into my senior year next year and intend on going to graduate school for physics. My field will be either particle physics or astrophysics most likely. Because of my interest in travelling, I have been considering looking for graduate schools in Europe in addition to the US. I...

Do Engineering graduate admission officers look if the student has a couple dropped classes during undergraduate course work?

I just wanted to get an idea of how much time people spend in physics graduate school on an average week. This includes anything you do necessary for your degree, including coursework, teaching, research, and so on. I'm passionate about pursuing physics, and I'm not expecting it to be easy or...

Hi. I am going into my senior year as an undergraduate physics major. My intent is to go to grad school and most likely get my PhD. I am truly interested in physics, but I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to a specific grad program. I have a good idea of what I enjoy: fundamental particle...