Phd Definition and 1000 Threads

I'm currently a second-year university student considering applying to a PhD program in physics. I'm leaning towards theoretical physics, although I haven't really experienced enough to make a clear decision. I'm beginning to be involved in research with a theorist this semester, but I was...

Hi all, thank you for reading this post! I am applying to US grad schools this year. Currently I have two PRD publication, one 1st authored, one 2nd authored. I have another publication on some low-level journal. I have also one paper submitted to PRL, 1st authored However I have some bad...

Finishing up my B.S. in Computer Science, with a minor in physics. My GPA is only about 2.5 and very little academic research experience. Yea, I agree I messed up. But I'm fixing things now, reading up hard and practicing for GRE. I plan to attend George Mason's computational science M.S...

Hi guys, I'm about to finish my Bachelor's in Mathematics and Statistics and am currently applying to PhD programs in Applied Math/Scientific Computing. My research interests are in PDEs, Numerical Analysis, and Fluid Dynamics. However, I am a little hesitant about proceeding because I'm...

Hi guys, I am currently writing-up my PhD thesis, research topic is in the area 4G LTE and optical fibre communication integration, from not very well reputed university in UK. I have published about 8 papers, where 3 of it are IEEE journals. I have another 3 under review, with one of it is...

PHD in BioPhysics... To tell you guys a little bit about myself, I am an undergraduate student at an average university (like in your top 70 for undergraduate programs). By the time I will be 22, I will have graduated with 2 masters (one in math, one in physics), three majors (math, physics...

Hello everyone, I'm currently finishing my major in Physics and I'm contemplating to take a phd in theoretical physics. I don't really know how the process goes. I asked my supervisor (of my major thesis) and he suggested a bunch of professors and post-docs whose work might be of my interest...

I'm beginning my second year in my PhD program. I had to fight very hard to make it to the second year, as my program condenses the normal two year masters sequence that would make up the beginning of other programs into one year. They were also very eager to cut students using prelims, so the...

I am an undergraduate student in nuclear engineering, and I want to pursue a PhD in nuclear materials. I have research background in materials corrosion, but my undergraduate university doesn't have courses on materials science for nuclear engineering students. I have noticed that many...

Hello, I'm sure none of you have ever seen a recommendation request here before. :) I'm in a bit of an odd situation; I went to a good technical school a few years ago as an engineering major but left without finishing for personal reasons, mostly due to severe depression. My degree was...

Hey I'm currently an undergraduate Physics student in my third year. I wish to continue on with Physics and complete a Phd Preferably I'd like to avoid doing a masters, I've looked at a lot of threads on here and the general consensus is that with a three year bachelors (like the ones in...

Today I received my mgre subject test scores and had a complete panic attack. I knew they weren't going to be phenomenal, but they were definitely worse than expected. I have a severe problem taking standardized tests, and I knew this long before I took the exam. I know I am more capable than...

Call me crazy, but am I right in thinking that people with a Phd in Theoretical Physics could take up a position in a university as an experimentalist? Is it a strange thing for a theorist to do? Or is it not that black and white? Is it more of a blur? Would theorists be viewed just as capable...

I am looking for some academic career advice from someone more experienced than myself. I apologize for the length but I'm in a real bind. There was a school which I really wanted to attend for my mathematics PhD. Call it "A". Relevant: "A" is on the east coast. "A" was accepting spring...

I'm 1 year into my PhD, in HEP physics and without going into specifics, my time has been spent doing computer simulations. From the start of my PhD there was the option to do some actual hardware work, and while this did sound interesting, I never really got started on it. My simulation work...

For those of you who have experience with these programs, I have some questions. How competitive are they generally? They don't seem like they get a lot of applicants. Is it a bad idea to ONLY apply to chemical physics programs as a chemistry major? There are 5 schools I know of with chemical...

Hello everybody! I'm now in the second half of my PhD program, with 2 more years to go, and nothing to show for it. Sure, I've written two papers (which got zero citations), but the only good thing I can say about these papers, is that they are not the worst papers ever written...

I am just starting my phd. I am self funded so I chose my supervisor. He's working on a related area to what I want but not quite the same. I am trying to decide my phd direction right now. I want to work on something very new, very fundamental, probably unrealistic for a phd. But I want to try...

I want to get my undergraduate in Pure math (I've taken and will take some additional CS courses). My question is, would I still be a competitive candidate for a PhD program in computational biology? (mathematical modelling of biological/behavioral/social systems) or should I really get my...

Hi everyone, I'm finally finishing my Master's in theoretical physics. These past two years reminded me of how easily I become excited and lose interest. My thesis is on computer simulations which also helped further develop my programming skills (I do love programming). As super exciting as...

Applied math vs. statistics PhD -- job prospects I'm a math major considering pursuit of a PhD in applied math or stats when I graduate. I'm trying to ascertain the job prospects in these fields. Can anyone provide some information on how readily jobs are available in industry and academia in...

Hi, everyone! I am undergraduate student from China. I am applying to pursue a PhD degree in United States next year. I am interested in nuclear materials, but the problem is that my home school offers little course on materials science. I am affraid that students of materials science may be...

Hi, I am currently studying electronics engineering in India and I plan to start applying for the fall 2013 semester within the next 2-3 weeks. I am pursuing a Masters' and PhD in astronomy and I will apply for the same. However, if I do not get an admit for this course from the universities I...

Hello, I'm about to start a PhD and I know I want to do it because I really enjoy studying science, plus I'm going to stay in the school where I did got MSc, so I know the lab and know the people who work there and I know that if I work well I can publish quite bit and I know the research is...

I am currently a us student in undergraduate math and physics, doing well in courses, having taken graduate courses in both areas, and have finished degree requirements for both math and physics during my second year in undergrad, but I stayed for one more year anyway. So, now, its my third...

I'm applying to graduate school in ME, and I am just curious, if I am not accepted to a PhD program right away, will any (most, all, none?) admissions councils pass on my application to the masters program, after which I may work towards becoming a PhD candidate?

Hi, I would use LaTeX template for PhD thesis http://openwetware.org/wiki/LaTeX_template_for_PhD_thesis but I can not convert it to b5 format :( could somebody help me ? Nina

I'm going to get a BS in chem e from a top 30 engineering school, and I really want to further my education in polymers in the SF bay area (eg. stanford or berkeley). However, I'm worried about my GPA - 3.50 (3.61 eng core), and GRE score (148V, 154Q practice test that I rushed through in 1/2...

Dear friends, I'm presently a junior math undergraduate, and my ultimate goal is to do my master's/PhD work in quantum mechanics, specifically exploring possibilities of temporal superposition for advanced quantum computing. The question is if it is doable to go from a bachelors in...

Hi all. Well, I was all prepared to apply to graduate school this year until I missed my subject test date due to unforeseen circumstances. Let me just say that my memory is not too great and this is definitely entirely my fault. A bit of background, I'm 25 now and it looks like by the time...

Hi, I am a student in theoretical/fundamental physics that finished his masters couple of weeks ago. I'm still looking for a PhD starting asap. I am quite interested in an opened position at a UK top 10-15 university, the project seems interesting enough to invest 3 years in it. But I have...

If you were getting a PhD in either pure math or physics, with the intention of becoming a professor, does one first need to get a masters degree before their PhD, is it different for the two fields?

I'm finishing my astrophysics PhD and looking for other career options. I do observational astrophysics, almost entirely based on Python coding on very large data sets. Lots of Numpy+SciPy, monte-carlo, modelling data doing non-linear fitting using maximum likelihood on computer clusters, stuff...

My spouse was offered permanent employment in the UK for a position that would start next year. I'm currently in a Physics PhD program here in the US. I already have my Masters degree, but only recently have begun research in earnest (up until now, I was taking the core courses required of...

Hi I'm not new to the forums and a long time lurker. I've currently been teaching College level Physics since graduating from my BSc in Physics 5 years ago. When an Uni, I was unsure of myself and what I wanted to do in the future, and with very little work and effort (with was all due to my...

I'm curious if anyone has any experience working for two advisers, particularly in two different fields. In my case, I'd focus on synthesizing materials in a chem lab (that focuses on synthesis) and then working in a EE/physics lab that would focus on characterizing said material, in particular...

I'm a graduate student at MSU getting my M.S. statistics right now. The department I'm in is the "Department of Statistics & Probability" and the majority of the courses I've taken have actually been probability related. I'm applying to PhD programs right now, and my interest is more in...

Hi everyone, I've just finished my bachelors degree and started grad school. I'm having a really hard time deciding if I want to head into Experimental Particle Physics oder Experimental Solid State Physics for my PhD. I've had a little practical experience in both fields, and I really...

Best college for PhD in A&A in India?? Hi All, I am planning to apply for my PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics in India. I have the following colleges as options. Can you help me in ordering the colleges based on their expertise in the field, Infrastructure etc.. My options are...

Hi all. I have a question about PhD application. I'm from Italy but I'd like to take a PhD abroad. In my country the physics degree is divided in 3 years + 2 years. At the end of the whole 5 years course we get a degree equivalent to a Master degree. My question is: I was looking, for...

I am currently a sophomore in college majoring in Physics. I was wondering after my undergraduate can I skip my Masters and move onto my PhD ,if so how much of a risk would it be? I honestly don't want to end up teaching as a career ,but rather be researching instead. All I really know right now...

Medical Physics: Masters or PhD?? I am currently a Nuclear Engineering Masters student planning to graduate in May 2013. I am now applying to both Masters and PhD Medical Physics programs, however I am not exactly sure which route to take. Is it worth going for the PhD if I plan to do clinical...

Masters before Phd in Mathematics --bad idea? Hi all, I am a senior at a regional campus of a large state university in the US. I have always thought that since I love math (and I do really love learning and doing math), that love of the subject would be enough to propel me through a PhD...

(Put in a lot of context, and post is long now. Question and TL;DR are at the bottom!) Recently finished my PhD in Physics: X-ray spectroscopy of transition-metal crystals, a lot of soft X-ray synchrotron and solid state science, vacuum science etc. I knew after a few months of starting the...

I know this may have some wiggle room in terms of personal opinions and anecdotal evidence for one thing or another, but I was wondering what people here thought about doing a PhD in another country as an American (United States) citizen. I have been trained in a decent American public...

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice/past experiences about applying to the MIT phD nuclear engineering program. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Like the title of this thread suggests, I am wondering which Phd programs are the best in terms of corrosion engineering.

Hello forum. I recently graduated with a masters in nuclear engineering and have been trying to apply to jobs with no success. I am starting to wonder if I should go back to school for an engineering/STEM Phd, and if I do, which industries are really hiring? Now I completely understand that...

Hi everyone, I'm currently in the midst of applying to graduate schools and I am looking for advice any where I can seem to find it. Could anyone suggest schools that I should be applying to on the basis of my interests and the strength of my application? Undergraduate School: Top 10...

Hi all, I am just looking for some help in applying for a medical physics Phd, preferably in the area of Radiation Therapy. A bit of background: I have a B.A. in Physics and a M.Sc. in Medical Physics from Trinity College Dublin. I also have two years experience as a part II clinical...