Graduate Definition and 1000 Threads

Hi all. This is strange question. Is publication of poetry during UGRADs helpful or will it hurt if I mention it while applying to graduate school in engineering, especially in extremely competitive programs like MIT? Thank You.

Hello all, I am a 33 year old pre-junior mechanical engineering major. This is my second degree and I am doing extremely well. Current GPA 3.88. Coming into the program I figured I would get my bachelors and that would be it, but since I have been doing so well and truly appreciate the...

I have been searching for the requirements for entry into physics graduate programs. I am seeing GRE + physics GRE + 3 LORs Is it understood that the student has a strong background in physics or mathematics or do they really not require it? I have signed up for higher mathematics...

My final quarter of school is a little over halfway through, and I'm finding it very difficult to stay motivated. I've been accepted to and am planning to attend a good graduate program next year, and, while I need to make sure I pass all of my classes, I don't have any reason to put much effort...

I'm in a rather weird scenario. My first four years of college, I wasn't interested in studying or macadamia in general. I was a finance major and realized that I was learning an extraordinary larger amount at work then I was in class. I'd go to work and learn how to analyze investments using...

Good evening, The biggest question for me right now is what to do now? I got a bad experience from high school and was never a hardworking student. I got admission to a top school for undergrad and as we all know college is somewhat different, I started to really learn as from Junior year. I...

Hi guys. I'm a freshman computer science major just finishing up discrete math and calculus I. I am strongly considering graduate school as an option, which I am sure is quite a bit more math-intensive than undergrad is (which obviously doesn't stress theory as much). Right now, my is to take...

I went to school for physics as an undergradute. I did well in my upper level physics courses, all A's and B's but I messed up very poorly in a math course and didn't put much effort into elective courses and the result is a GPA around 3.0. This combined with the fact that I bombed the...

Besides obtaining an outstanding GPA, what are the major things that graduate schools look for in candidates? Any input is greatly appreciated, but please do try to provide a bit more detail. Thanks!

Hello all, I am currently an undergraduate in physics and have a significant amount of room in my schedule for classes. This is because I took mostly maths and general classes my freshman year, when deciding my major, and now will have to stay an extra half or full year to complete the core...

I am finishing up my third year as an EECS major of a five year program at a highly reputable public university and I am strongly considering applying to doctoral programs in EECS (I figure I can leave with a terminal masters should I discover research at that level is not my cup of T). By...

Dear fellows, my undergrad was not in maths, but I have quite a chance of getting into a master's program in pure maths, later this year. Long story, not particularly interesting. My question is due to the fact that I am quite prepared to the examination (basic real analysis and linear...

Hello, I am a physics student of sophomore standing and I have been having average, sub-par grades during it. I have been very stressed the last few years of my life, due to loss of parents and taking care of a sibling, but thankfully financial aid has been helpful through it. Due to my poor...

Next year I'm doing the one year master program at Perimeter Institute, and I was surprised to realize that there is no grad-level electrodynamics class (level Jackson, I would suppose?). I then checked the Math Tripos III (applied math, aka theoretical physics) course list (where I also...

I haven't taken my graduate admission exam, but I'm not that worried about it. I really think I have the overall skills to do well. I was just curious: how hard it is to get into the grad schools for business after being a mathematics major with my emphasis in operations research? To be...

Hello. While I am not heading off to graduate school for a little bit, I am interested in persuing a phd in pure mathematics (Geometry is a broad interest of mine). I would also be interested in taking one or two mathematically inclined graduate courses from the Physics department (String...

Hello forum. I am a future M.S. Physics student (Fall 2012) that aspires to eventually obtain a PhD in some sort of materials science. Specifically, my interests lie in soft matter, thermodynamics and self assembled materials, but I am open minded to other directions. My M.S. school has the 2nd...

Hi. I will be starting undergraduate studies in mathematics in this autumn. Given the unemployable nature of the subject only with a bachelor's degree, I will most definitely pursue graduate studies. At this point, I am not wholly determined to go for a Ph.D., and I am not sure about my...

Hi, I was wondering what the scope is these days to do a PhD in theoretical physics, but without delving into string theory? Is the world of theoretical physics still very much dominanated by string theory, or can young physicists go down alternative routes? I seem to remember that some years...

I have been lurking on PF for a while, so I have done a bit of research on the subject but figure I should get some specific advice from those knowledgeable about my dilemma. Currently, I am a junior Economics major at a Big 10 school, recently admitted into the honors program for my subject...

Hi. Here is some (more or less) relevant information: So I'm majoring in Philosophy and Logic, and I recently found out that if I do about an extra year of undergrad work, I can get a second bachelor's degree (In Mathmatics!) So I'm thinking: Since graduate school in Philosophy is pretty hard...

Dear Gentlemen, I am a fresh graduate mechanical engineer and I live in Bahrain (middle east) and usually, the positions required in the companies are limited. I want to ask you which of the given positions is preferred for a fresh Mechanical Engineer, most applicable for what I studied, because...

Hi all, my college is jacobs university bremen, germany. and has 3 years bachelors. Does anyone know whether that program is accepted for doctorate in usa? Thank you.

When you're going for a master's/phd and you're choosing a thesis, does your adviser's research field have to be the same as the field you're studying, or does he/she just have to be familiar with it? Say you're aiming to go to a university but the professors there are unfamiliar with your...

Hi everyone, I am currently a math major with an emphasis in physics, and I will begin looking for the right graduate programs to apply to in the fall. I am a rather silly case however, and I was curious if anyone had any advice or potentially some reassurance on my potential to get into...

hello everyone. I'm planning to take a (beginning) graduate course in algebra. right now I'm taking a standard undergraduate course in algebra that covers rings, integral domains, fields, polynomial domains, unique factorization. The book we're using is hungerford Algebra, which I think the...

Hey everyone, I am currently a first-year grad student, and I'm having a little bit of trouble in quantum mechanics. I'm doing alright in E&M and Stat Mech. but on the quantum mechanics exams, I'm usually scoring about 10-15 points below the median. To study, I first make sure that I'm...

Hello, I'm a graduate with a B.Sc. in Nuclear Science from National University of Malaysia (UKM) with a CGPA of 3.23 and very much interested to further my studies in the field of Masters degree in Nuclear Engineering. But so far, there are no such programme offered locally in my home country...

I am in great physics PhD program in my first year, and classes aren't going all that well. Last semester I barely made it with a 3.0 gpa, which is the minimum required. I tried to study and work on the homework gradually, utilizing my classmates to bounce ideas off of. This was a big step...

Due to unforeseen circumstances (burnout, depression), I recently had to withdraw from all of my courses (5 courses) and this brings my total number of W's up to 11. Am I doomed? Even if I went back to school and continue to excel, would my graduate school application ever be given serious...

Hi, are there any pitfalls of switching subject area like this? I'm doing as much as I can to interact with engineers at the moment (such as student projects within the engineering dept. and generally trying to focus my physics towards what I understand to be engineering related as opposed to...

For those with a background in Civil; what do you think about graduate degrees in Civil Engineering for people with a different undergraduate background? I don't plan on doing traditional engineering work but a lot of what I do does relate to the water quality part of civil engineering. I'm...

I have taken quantum mechanics 3 times as an undergrad. The first time was Modern Physics 1. It covers the beginnings of quantum and basic quantum up to 3-D central force problem. The second was Quantum Chemistry (part 1 of physical chemistry), and we covered: basic quantum problems (particle...

What is the difference between classical EM at the undergrad and graduate levels? Is it just the math that's harder at graduate levels, or are there any new concepts that are not covered in undergrad, that's covered in graduate? Thanks.

Hello. I hope everyone is well. I was just wondering about experience for a recent graduate ...I am doing an MSc in Electronics, and will be spending about 8-9 months in our device fabrication lab on a part-time and then full time basis (full time over the summer). Could this be put...

I graduated a four year physics course at a quite highly rated British university in 2011, and am now 24 years old. I managed a to graduate with a 1st and am now into the first year of my PhD, but I sometimes question if I'm really that competent/knowledgeable. I feel as though I have forgotten...

I would like to know which choice is more beneficial, efficient, worth it, et cetera: Choice One-- Double Major in Both Physics and Education Studies, with a teacher licensure to be able to teach chemistry, physics, and/or mathematics at the secondary level. Choice Two-- Major just...

I'll be self-studying about chaos theory. I am looking for a comprehensive book on chaos theory which also touches upon the mathematical aspects involved in it from scratch .I'm no math graduate.. I hold an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.So, my knowledge in math is limited to...

Is it possible/okay to get your undergraduate degree in engineering physics and then go into graduate school and get your graduate degree in aerospace engineering> please help Thanks

When choosing a graduate program, how much weight should be given to its US News ranking? I've been accepted to two schools which fall within the top 10 for general math, but for my particular subarea in math, one of them ranks about 15 spots ahead of the other. Do people actually care about...

Hello everyone, Long long ago, I thought of being a physics major. When I came into into college, I had no experience with physics, problem sets, mathematics higher than trigonometry(very little trig), or much science(my school didn't really offer good science classes). I discovered physics...

I am looking forward to apply for Plasma Physics program in PPPL(Princeton) and Univ of Michigan. But I am not sure about what sort of recommendation letters I should send. I have one strong recomendation from my undergrad project supervisor(the project is plasma diagnostics in Hall Effect...

In another thread I found someone mention this program at Boston U (http://www.bu.edu/eng/academics/special-programs/leap/) for students with bachelors in non-engineering fields, like liberal arts + humanities, that can do the makeup coursework and then attain a masters in engineering. I'm...

To elaborate on said situation - I went to a top 50 US public university for a few years majoring in math and during this period of time I had no significant interest or motivation in school, much less any graduate school aspirations. I didn't do *horrible*, but my gpa was about a 3.1. I took...

Hello PF, I did a quick google and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so here it is: I am an undergrad graduating next year with a bachelors in Engineering Physics. So far my concentration has been in physics. I took one Intro to EE course which I liked, and I am taking a circuits...

I am in the last year of my physics degree and plan to go to McMaster or UOIT to do my graduate studies in nuclear engineering. Does anyone have experience with the two schools in regards to nuclear engineering? DM

I have heard multiple times that where you study and get you bachelor is not that important, at least relative to the importance of where you do your graduate studies. How much influence should the factor of a university having some prestige in the field of physics have on the decision making of...

Hi, I am a sophomore and I recently dropped Graduate Complex Analysis. I was just missing something. The solutions to the questions on the problem set were not capable of being formed by me. This being said, I am wondering if it is still possible for me to attend graduate school for...

So as the title stated, what kind of summer work would be good to put on one's resume, for helping an undergraduate to get into a good physics graduate program? It feels like awards such as REU and NSERC are usually rewarded to the top standing students, and hence are not overly easy to get, by...

Some of my TA are like 23 year old people who are graduate students. One of them said that when they applied for graduate school he had a hard time getting in because they were looking for foreign students but he got in. He said they gave him money just for like going to graduate school or...