Phd Definition and 1000 Threads

What advice would you give to students who aspire to study physics at the PhD level? Do you think there is an oversupply of PhDs? Do you feel a conflict between pursuing what you like and being realistic (about getting a job)?

The way that my undergraduate career went, I had the opportunity to finish a MS at the same time as my BS within 4 years and now believe I will now have an opportunity to continue my MS to a PhD. I've heard that this typically isn't very good for employment opportunities, but would this be the...

Hi everyone, I'm currently researching graduate schools in mathematics. I would like to go for a PhD. My question is, do I apply directly to the PhD program? Or do I apply to the Master's program and apply for the PhD afterwards? What do people normally do?

Hello physicists,so i am debasish continuing my 5 year integrated MSc in applied physics from cet,bbsr,india and very much interested to pursue my doctorate from Harvard university,some of my seniors are advising me must to complete my MS degree before i join to Harvard university through gre...

Hello, I'm new to the Physics Forums website. I am in my 5th (and last) year of undergraduate Electrical Engineering, and am planning on applying for a PhD in some computational field. I'm not sure, however, what specific field I want to go into, and I was hoping someone could give me some...

Hi all again, I started a post earlier and it was buried somewhere by now. I really need more input and information and hope you all can help. How are admission process different, CM vs MS&E? CM belongs to Physics department while MS&E is usually on the engineering side. I got my Physics...

Hello everyone, I am a 4th year graduate student in nuclear engineering at a top university. I am about a year out from graduation and am beginning to think about what to do when I grow up. I have seen many friends (and read plenty of threads) about PhD's not being able to find a job after...

I'm currently still in high school (no rush!) and am thinking about my future. Physics interests me, and I was wondering how far one would have to get on the step-ladder or titles to be qualified for a research or lab position as my job. I'd like to do what scientists did back then, but I'm not...

Hello, My friend is looking for universities offering Phd. in Midwifery. Can you people share some universities if you guys know? Thank you!

I have a master's in physics. I'm looking at PhD programs, but I really don't want to take the same courses over and take comprehensive exams (or the damn GRE). I managed to squeeze in a few math classes before I finished. I would like to do research in physics, but from a more math-heavy...

Hi everyone, Long time lurker here coming out to make my first post. I just finished my B.Sc. in Physics and I am getting ready to apply to graduate schools in the Fall of 2015. I did some undergraduate research in experimental biophysics (understanding the statistics of the transport of...

Hi all, thank you for your attention I graduated with a B.S. in Physics just 2 months ago. I went to an American public school with good reputation in Physics. I sent in my applications for the Fall, 2015 Ph.D application cycle last fall. However, I failed to get into any PhD programs, mainly...

iam studying UG Bachelor of Electronics & Communication III year, i wish to end my bachelors and start my private research. my life ambition is to become a physicist, i have published 6 research papers till now in various streams. is there any scope of becoming a physicist without a degree if so...

Well, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia almost three years ago during my Masters degree when I was homeless since I was too paranoid to live in a house/apartment. Since then I have been on heavy anti-psychotics, completed my thesis and now am at the end of my second year of PhD of a top...

I'm just finishing my sophomore year of high school so I have a lot of time to think about it, but I'm pretty confident that I am going to want to go for a PhD in physics. Ideally I would get a job as a theoretical physicist, but I understand how low the chances of that happening are even with a...

I'm a graduating a senior at a major American university.I applied to five PhD programs in physics and got rejected from all five of them. I had a 710 on my physics GRE and a 159 on the math section for my regular GRE. I did not study for both of those exams. My GPA was 3.63. I had a REU and...

So they say a PhD program is 4-6 years long, with 6 core classes during your first year (in quarters), then electives for the second year, and research after that. Is it at all normal to take graduate courses every year of your PhD? There two many courses that I want to take in the math and...

Hi, I'm currently thinking about what area I want my physics PhD (which i want to do anyway) to be in. I'm interested in condensed matter physics, although I'm not stuck on that idea. (I'm an experimentalist by the way.) What area is best to do a physics PhD in, in order to have a good chance...

Hi friends I am a high school student and I'll be going into college next year. I will likely be attending Grinnell College, with the initial intent of majoring in physics. (I do not need the talk of possibly changing interests, I realize that; I am planning for all possible outcomes) It is of...

I am a Canadian citizen planning on obtaining an MS or PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering. Unfortunately I am locked out of 99.9% jobs in the US due to ITAR issues, except the NASA Postdoctoral Program, which I know 1 person working in right now. Is there any way I can obtain Permanent...

Hi, I am a new user :oldbiggrin: My name is Nicole and I am interested in the astrophysics PhD program. I have a bachelor's degree in biology (final GPA 3.68) and I'm currently doing my masters degree in biotechnology in Puerto Rico. I don't have research experience so far, but I have recently...

I have a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and I am interested in CFD. I have an admit offer for MS in Nuclear Engineering at UIUC with RA and MS in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford without any assistantship. Which one is a better option to choose considering the fact that I am not a...

Hello everyone, I'm a physics student and have got a matter that has been bothering me, therefore I would like to hear your opinion and perhaps your experiences. So now I have been doing my master thesis and I plan to find a PhD position after graduation. The problem is I want to take a topic...

So I am currently a freshman undergraduate engineering student at the Cooper Union and one of the things that I am interested in is a PhD in Physics (Cosmology/Relativity and/or Quantum/String Theory). I am either going to pursue Chemical Engineering or Electrical Engineering. Will either one of...

Hi! I have the following problem: A have a friend who is finishing her PhD and I wanted to give her a present. Altough I know her for more than 6 years, I have absolutely no idea what to give her. Here are a few things which could help to find an idea: - she will work outside physics, so...

I have the choice between doing a PhD in a topic which is very similar to my masters or starting on something slightly different, I find the topic very interesting at the moment but after doing something for one year already do you think it is a bad idea to do the same thing for another 3/4...

I had completed my b, tech and m.tech in EE in India and out of my own interest I had applied to git admitted in one of the u.s universities for studying m.s in physics . Due to some family issues I had faced a very tough time and failed in one of the subject and funally suspended from the...

Hey everyone, I'm a 24 year old junior working on a BS in Physics. (Like everyone else) my main interest is theoretical astrophysics/astronomy. I'm a good student (3.2) and work at the observatory at my school and do a couple of other various jobs in the Physics department. I am particularly...

I am a final year Masters student studying physics at IIT Roorkee, India. I have PhD admits in experimental high energy physics from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany and University of Illinois Chicago, USA. I have previously done an internship as an undergrad with a professor at...

I finished a Physics PhD in middle age, mostly just for the love of learning about Physics. The wisdom of that choice is questionable, but it's done now so no going back. I'd hoped to return to my previous career in software development, but at nearly age 50 I find that line of work is hard to...

Hi! I'm desperately trying to develop a list of prerequisites that will enable me to work on topics like quantum gravity, advanced QFT (on curved spacetime etc.) etc. I am currently in the second year of an undergrad theoretical physics degree in the UK, and am heavily unsatisfied with the way...

Hello I will defend in a couple of weeks and I have been asked to do experiments that are not directly adding to my thesis (I can force it and add If I wanted but not really critical). Normally PhD candidates in the final stage are given a time to work on their PhD thesis and in my situation...

Which research areas for a PhD in Physics may lead to good positions in the Industry's R&D? Please, excuse my English and thank you for any suggestion.

Hello I am a graduate student, with a masters degree in physics but with no impressive marks so far. I am looking for a PhD position in the UK, so far without success. My question is If Supervisors prefere students who are self funded or students who are funded by the university ? Can anyone...

I'm wondering weather it would be a good idea for me do do a PhD in Cosmology after my masters degree I plan to do in Physics. Although one of my friends said there may be a cost of around £3000 per year to do this. However, another friend said PhD's are funded and pay £16,000 per year. Which...

Hi everyone, Could you please tell me how would you rank these PhD for someone looking for a future career in the financial quant industry? (assuming I have math background and decent programming skills). Thank you in advanced! Between parenthesis are the specific research groups found in each...

Hello I'm currently in high school but I am teaching myself ALOT of math and physics. I'm planning to go to Princeton, MIT, or Stanford. I am curious, since I will already know all of it, if I will be able to acquire a Bachelors degree in physics in one or two years by testing out. If I do...

Background: Applied to PhD physics programs (7) , Master EE, MQF, MSMF I took a year off after undergrad, unwillingly, because I was rejected from most of the physics PhD programs I applied to. One offered an unfunded master's. I spent a lot of time figuring things out, including re-taking the...

I finished my Bachelors in Physics with second class. After that I did my Masters in Physics securing 4 out 6 (G.P.A) in 2011. From 2012 to 2014 I was a Junior Research Fellow at one of the top most theoretical physics groups in India and worked on a project in String Theory. I completed my...

I am in flux at the moment. On one hand I am concerned about the job prospects of a PhD in physics. On the other hand, one of these articles I've read about non-research jobs that can be done with a PhD in physics is science policy. 1. What skills, other than communication (both oral and...

My interests are mainly computational physics and theoretical soft matter physics. How good is the PhD program in (Computational) Physics at CMU (and the Physics Department in general)?

I recently moved back to the UK, but since I haven't been in the UK for the past 3 years, I will have to wait for 3 years to do an undergraduate degree. What's even more, my high school diploma, which is from Egypt, is not accepted to be equivalent to the British A-Levels, and so I am doing A...

I have received offers from multiple research groups for my PhD. I have a friend who has also applied to PhD programs in the same field, and he has not even been invited to an interview, and it looks like he may get rejected by every school he has applied to. He is actually a very smart guy...

I'm finding myself in a precarious career position. I'm working on a PhD in New Zealand in a very particular and odd foundations of mathematics theory. This theory is not widely regarded as being of much use and I was hoping to discover that it could actually be very useful. However, after a...

Ill keep this short and sweet: Everyone knows you don't go into a PhD program to get rich, that is silly. A PhD requires a sacrifice in earning power, my question is whether or not this is worth it in today's economy, especially in the USA (consider the student loan crisis). It seems to me...

Hello, I am currently a chemistry student and will be graduating this Spring. I have applied to a couple of schools and have been accepted to one school so far for a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. I am worried that a PhD is overkill. Long term I want to work in industry. I would like...

Hello everybody, About one month later I have PhD exam and urgently I need a book just including questions and answers of quantum mechanics. Can anyone guide me please? Hope to hear from you. <<Mentor note: Personal identifying information removed.>>

First, I would like to thank in advance to anybody who takes the time to read this and provide any feedback. Your help is greatly appreciated! I’m a first year undergrad and my passion is studying physics. I find myself 95% of the time looking up things that pertain to physics & science rather...

Hello folks, I am currently studying a Masters course in Theoretical Physics in Spain. Here are working Fernando Barbero and a couple of physicists like Guillermo Mena in Loop Quantum Cosmology. I am more interesting in quantization of gravity approach. Where can I apply for a PhD in this...

Hey all! I'm new to this forum. Anyway i have a burning question which i cannot seem to find among these forum posts (even after toiling through). Is it possible to pursue astrophysics or theoretical physics for that matter in your post grad studies, even though I got an Mechanical...