Grad school Definition and 1000 Threads

Im debating between Berkeley and UCSD and I am not sure what to do, I plan to go to grad school, and I am worried that it might be difficult to get a lot of research done at UCB whereas I've heard its easier to get into research at UCSD. Furthermore I'd start a semester late at UCB because I...

Hey guys,So I'm an undergraduate, currently in junior year, majoring in mathematics with double minor in physics and computer science. I have only a 3.2 GPA, but I have extensive research experience. I received several grants for my work in operations research/mathematics, and presented at...

Well this is my first time posting here, but I was hoping this could be a helpful resource for me. I am trying to plan out which graduate schools to apply to in the fall and was wondering if anyone knew which graduate schools would be a good match for me and which ones would be too big of a...

Hi all, I am going to graduate school for Aerospace Engineering. I am a bit nervous because of the fact the my undergrad was in physics. I was wondering if anyone was in the same boat or a similar one that may have some good advice for me before I begin my next big chapter in my education!

So some brief backstory about why I’m asking this question: I’m applying to grad schools next fall, and everything on my CV looks great (2 REUs, I know four professors I can get a great research letter from, I’m doing honors at a top 10 university for physics, etc.) except my gpa, which is...

I was curious if anyone knew of any schools that offered graduate degrees in planetary sciences, specifically studying other planets atmospheres. May be it the study of the atmosphere itself or remote sensing techniques for planetary atmospheres. I know how to find schools that offer the...

So I'm currently in my second year doing biomedical engineering. I want to study physics in grad school, but am at an impasse. I can't do a physics minor because there is no space in my schedule, and I can only petition one physics course to fulfill my engineering electives. So I am debating...

I am a physics sophomore. I have been told by some of the graduates that most of the courses can be self-studied through the books that are demanded. I want to know if a masters or Ph.D. program would accept me if I self-studied everything. It's going to save me a lot of money.

Hi everyone, I have a choice between Stony Brook and Cornell for my undergraduate education in physics and I am at a cross-roads. I want to show my father that I'm a grown man and willing to allow him and his wife to remain financially not-bankrupt so to speak (also not psyched about the student...

I am in my final semester of my undergraduate career so like many others in my position I applied to a handful of graduate programs for the fall semester. I figured I had a really good chance at getting in due to the fact that I've got a 4.0, I scored in the top 10 percent on the PGRE, I have...

Will having a 4-5 year gap between your undergrad and grad school hurt your chances of getting into a PhD program? I'm a physics major but I'm also doing ROTC and am planning on serving in the Air Force for 4 or 5 years after I graduate before applying to grad school. Are there any huge...

Hello, I am currently an undergraduate student on track to get a physics degree than try to pursue graduate school options. However I also am also athletic and was planning on joining the marines with officer candidate school (maybe/hopefully). The problem is that I was wondering if that ~4 year...

Hello all, This is my first post here. I will be transferring to University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) in the fall with two associates degrees in Art and Science. I was accepted into the School of Mechanical Engineering. My original plan was to finish my undergrad, then go to grad...

Hello. First post. I recently received an invitation to campus visit and interview for my top choice school. I'm an American student applying to an international university, so I will be traveling abroad. From what I have seen, the school admits about 70% of the interviewed applicants. My...

Hi guys. I'm relatively new to the Physics Forums, so forgive me if this question has been asked a bunch already. (I'm sure it has). I'm currently a junior in UCLA and majoring in Physics. I want to go to grad school (not sure which yet) so I'll obviously need to take both the general GRE and...

I applied to eight schools last october. My gpa is 3.04 I have good gre and good letters. I have about eighteen months of research experience altogether. So far I've been rejected by three schools. Am i being delusional in thinking ill get acceptwd,? I've met gead students before and i don't...

I'm a freshman who just finished their first semester at (insert elite university that I don't want to namedrop here), and I am an engineering physics major with a hope to one day do grad school in applied physics at a similar school. Anyway, due to the almost non-existence of a curve and the...

I'm here to get advice on my personal statement/statement of purpose for grad schools. However, my major is biology and I have a low overall GPA (but not physics GPA). In fact, I was academically dismissed earlier in college because of grades. However my previous two years were very good and...

Hello everyone. I'm currently a sophomore working toward a BS in physics (and a minor in astronomy) at a top private engineering school. With the semester finishing up, I'm a little worried about where I am now and where I will be after graduation and I have a few questions. A little...

Hi all, I am looking for advice on what physics graduate programs to apply to. My original list was: University of Maryland - College Park Harvard University Columbia University Caltech Pennsylvania State University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign Colorado University - Boulder UC-Barbara...

My questions are regarding admissions at top universities in Europe. Many of them are of a rather general nature, I hope that is okay. I am from Austria (EU) and I currently studying for a BSc in Physics from the University of Vienna. I will graduate in July 2017 after three years of full time...

Hi All. I was pretty idiotic and waited until last minute to prepare my NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Proposal. In under 2-weeks time, I 'slapped together' my application, figuring that even if I didn't win, I would at least obtain valuable feedback. I just submitted it. The problem is, I am...

Hi everybody! To be concise -My undergraduate majors are math and physics -I want to go on and do research in physics (probably theoretical/mathematical physics) and be a professor. -My GPA is a 3.98 and Real Analysis and Abstract Algebra will likely drag down my GPA (I'm currently in these...

Hello, I am currently an undergrad aiming for a B.S in Physics and a minor in Space and Planetary Sciences. I have only had the chance to take one astronomy class towards my minor and I am wondering how much a minor is considered in grad school admissions? My end game is to continue on through...

So I'm currently a senior undergraduate nuclear engineer at a respected university and I've been considering getting my Ph.D for a while now. I'm having difficulty deciding on a specific research area, however. I'd like my research, optimally, to be applicable outside the nuclear sector as well...

Here's my situation. I have a high GPA at a very well known university, three research internships (including an REU and SULI,) a senior thesis, a potential publication, and strong recommendation letters. My physics GRE score for the September test? 510. BEYOND terrible. I'm taking it again but...

TL;DR: in over my head with study abroad program Hi. I have been doing a Physics + Computer Science Double Major at a college and right now I'm in the 2nd semester of my sophomore year. However, I'm wondering about this. One of the things I had wanted to do when at this college was to do a...

I'm currently an undergraduate sophomore at Rutgers double majoring in Physics and Mechanical Engineering. I've recently made the decision that I want to go for a master's degree in physics and then potentially a PhD. However, I'm doing research in mechanical engineering right now and I don't...

It's my first semester in the Manufacturing and Mechanical Systems Integration masters program at RIT. I've just learned that the program name is changing to Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology. I don't want a masters in engineering technology, and since I've found that I'm...

Hi, I just have a quick question regarding Chemistry grad school admissions. If a student attended community college before transferring to a UC to finish a BS in chemistry, would chemistry grad schools look at both GPA's when considering them for admission? Basically, would a GPA of around...

Up until this past summer, I thought I was going to go to Physics grad school following my undergraduate study. I worked at an REU program at UC Davis this summer, and decided that physics was not the route for me. Now I am trying to decide to which engineering discipline I should apply. I have...

The Physics group at my university is building an optical telescope (it will have a dome the size of an 8mX4m room and the mirror will have a diameter of about 65cm.) and we might also build a radio telescope or an array of telescopes which will work as one giant telescope. Also, I heard that we...

I've been out of school for a while and working as a programmer. I want to start taking some masters courses for applied math (PDEs, numerical analysis, etc) and need to become familiar again with the advanced math I used to use in undergrad. I took two semesters of real analysis as an...

hello, I am currently a sophomore pursuing a bachelor's in chemical engineering at Auburn University, Alabama. While chemical engineering is a great career, I just do not think that it is for me and I feel like I will enjoy Aerospace engineering a lot more (i really, really like physics and am...

Hi, I'm currently a final undergrad student and trying to apply for grad school. The thing is that on the application forms there is a section about "scholarships, prizes and distinctions" and last year I was nominated for the JYA programme at Cambridge by our university with a conditional...

My school has a 5 1/2 year masters program. You do a 4 year bachelors and you can a masters in 3 semesters instead of four. However, my school does not have many professors which specialize in what interests me, and there is another school nearby which has a lot of professors who specialize in...

In graduate school for physics, the competition in certain fields(for example High Energy Theory) is very intense. Does anyone know how the situation is in fields of mathematics. So, which areas of mathematics are the most difficult to get into for grad school ? I would be particularly...

Hello, I'm currently a college student that is a CS major. I'm thinking about doing a double major in applied math, because I really enjoy it. I also plan on going to grad school to get either a PhD or a Master's degree in applied math. Is this a good path? Or should I go to grad school for CS...

I will be graduating with a bachelors degree in physics in the next year. Most of my professors have advised me that if I am considering graduate school (which I am), to just go straight for a PhD instead of stopping at a MA. Unfortunately, my family is currently in a terrible place...

Hi there. I'm currently in my senior year for my physics degree. I was wondering whether it would be wiser to finish up my undergrad this year, or if I'd be better off taking a fifth year to complete it. My university does not grade with + or -, so a low B is represented exactly the same as a...

Hi Everyone, I have a double B.S. in physics and math from UMD. I graduated in 2012, and have since worked primarily in tech startups. I am considering going back to school to get a masters, likely in applied math or something computationally intensive. My concern is that I have no academic...

Hey, I'm an Electrical and Computer Engineering senior, studying at the American University of Beirut, one of the top schools in the region. I have recently realized that I really want to go to graduate school and study theoretical computer science, however, due to a general lack of motivation...

Background story: In high school, I fell in love with mathematics especially AP calculus (mostly because many other subjects in the sciences were not well taught in my school). I would often spend hours trying to learn the math in detail (often going more in detail then necessary on my own...

So i am currently going into my third year in the fall and this summer I'm taking a few courses and finally got my first opportunity to participate in some research. Problem is there is a good chance I will get a NP (not pass) in a GE class I am taking. I am going to a UC so an NP does not...

Hey everyone! I'm currently an undergraduate student double majoring in Mathematics and Biomedical Physics at a CSU. Lately I've been getting a lot of negative prospects on potential graduate school options because of the fact that I apparently am set up for failure for attending a CSU (based on...

Hey everyone! I know you probably see new messages like this pop up quite a bit, but I am legitimately curious on this one. I have seen a few threads on the subject as in how to get into the field. I was personally wondering: Why should one study plasma physics? What kind of questions does it...

So, I've heard that rankings do matter if you want to go to academia; however, I've also heard that a PhD from the University of Hawaii in observational astronomy will be more valuable than one from MIT. So, where can I find universities' rankings by program (for example, cosmology or...

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience in settling for a different field than what their first choice may have been? I am applying to physics grad school this fall, and am torn on which field to apply for. I have to choose between medical physics and high energy. On the one hand I...

I'm currently entering my second year in college so I'm kind of worried about declaring my major. Originally I was planning on doubling in astrophysics and physics but then I was wondering about combining astrophysics and mathematics. I thought this would be good because a) I like math and I...

I am currently high school Junior (soon to be senior) who plans to major in Chemical engineering. I know I want to go into research but I do not know what I want to specialize in. I plan to major in chemical engineering because it gives a good knowledge base for chemistry and physics both of...