Physics phd Definition and 176 Threads

TL;DR Summary: In summary. I have BSc in Chemistry with honours and want to make research in more theoritical physics oriented field. I don't afraid the studies and the hours needed but I want opinions for the best possible option (MSc or 2nd BSc), in terms of usefulness for my PhD application...

Hello everyone, This is my first time posting here. I'm currently a rising senior double majoring in physics and math at a top 10 (maybe top 15) research institution. I'm quite worried about my admissions prospects and I'm wondering whether my application is competitive or not. More exactly, I...

Hi everyone, Here is a little about my situation (from the United States). I want to apply to a physics PhD program in the future. I am currently serving in the military as an engineer with little over 2.5 years left before I plan to get out. I have a mechanical engineering degree with a 3.5...

Hello everyone, I am a Physics Masters student in USA (international student). I have completed a semester so far. Currently, I am working on a project under cosmology, which is related to Fischer analysis. Background: I have graduated with a BSc Mathematics with a physics minor. While...

Hello everyone, I finished my BSc im Electrical engineering in israel and currently doing my masters in cosmology in the same Uni. I'm a planning on doing PhD in the same subject as well. My masters thesis is about using machine learning for dark matter and structure formation, PhD would be in...

Hello everyone! I have a visit day for a school coming up that they booked my hotel and flight for. I was initially interested in the program, but my partner recently received a dream job offer in Boston. I have been offered a spot at two PhD programs there, so I'll likely pick one of those in...

Hi, I am a senior at a large research public university in the US (UC Davis). I really want to go to grad school but I am not sure if I should apply this year. I am only 19 years old (I graduated high school with an associates in physics) so this is only my second real year of college and I...

Hi all! It's been a decade since I graduated with a bachelor's in philosophy. I went to an ivy planning double major with physics, but I ultimately dropped the latter after my introductory courses and graduated with a poor GPA (2.7). To save you the sob story, I basically had no ability to cope...

Hi, this is my first time using the Physics Forums so please let me know if this question belongs somewhere else. I'm a senior undergraduate at a mid-size institution in the United States seeking to purse a PhD in High Energy Theoretical physics or Quantum Information/Computing. I'm aware these...

Hello, I am ready to apply to grad schools and would like to have a few insurance schools just in case. What are the easiest physics fields (biophysics,nuclear physics...etc) to get into a PhD for? Regards,

I have a 3.29 in the major, research experience in my last year and should be published in the spring. Good recommendations… I’m so stressed…. Kicking myself is an understatement. I just want to get into a respected school, doesn’t have to be a top tier school obviously… just something respected...

Hello All! I wanted to reach out for perspectives and advice on this "old-timer" wanting to do physics. At one point I was on that track, but quickly stumbled and lost my way for personal reasons. Now, I'm 35 years old and want to finally pursue a lifelong goal of a PhD in physics. My age at...

Hey all I'm finishing up my master's degree in medical physics this year, specifically working in PET-MR data analysis. I have a definite professional interest in medical imaging, and am planning on pursuing this. I have an interesting choice where I've been offered a position as a PhD student...

Hi there, Last June 2019 I graduated with a First class honors in Theoretical physics from one of the Top Unis in the UK. Then I started working for a company (of good prestige) as a software engineer full time. However, a few months in, I decided to apply for Masters and start a side project...

Hi everyone, I have an interview with a potential PhD supervisor scheduled for Friday, but I am not sure I will attend the college even if I get in. However, I want to attend the interview for the sake of experience (because I believe it'll help me identify the areas I need to improve myself in...

If I haven't heard back as of yet, does that mean that I haven't been shortlisted? When are interviews usually held and when do people usually find out? My feeling is that if I haven't heard back from the universities as of yet, I haven't been shortlisted but I'm hoping someone more...

When I was studying the bachelor in physics, I was happy and got good marks (not the best, but good). I always liked the more theoretical and mathematical subjects. Then I did a masters in Theoretical Physics in Spain. At the beginning I was happy: all subjects were hard but interesting. I spent...

Hi all. I'm having some trouble formulating my thoughts and what I should consider for my future going forwards. I'm a Mphys graduate and my masters project was in Astrophysics.(FYI I am in the uk and can't leave Leeds for a few years because of family issues) So I graduated from uni back in...

Greetings, guys! I'm trying to decide which PhD school I should apply so that my chances of acceptance will be higher. I just received my PGRE score - 910 (85th percentile). However, since I'm an international applicant, I don't know if that is a good score or not. I have a Bachelor's degree in...

Hello, Does anyone know if a Phd in physics can teach engineering courses at a university? Or do you need to have an engineering degree? Thanks you!

Hello! Fellowships: I'm going to be applying to grad schools by the end of this year and hope to start one beginning fall 2020. I've heard from people that having a fellowship prior to entering grad school not only is looked upon positively in your application, but also broadens the area in...

Are there any universities that offers a online PhD degree program in Physics? -thanks!

Hello everyone. Currently, I am an undergraduate sophomore planning to study physics and in the process of transferring from community college to University. I am seeking advice on deciding between pursuing a mechanical engineering degree (BS) or a PhD in physics. My journey so far has taken...

Dear all , I'm interested in applying for PhD programs in physics this summer. I'm mostly interested in high energy theory. There are two things that concerns me : 1- I didn't take any physics / math course during my undergraduate years "In fact I graduated from medical school" but I studied...

I'm soon going to be finishing my MSci in Astrophysics and am looking to apply for PhDs (in cosmology) for autumn 2019 entry. I'm on track to getting a first but I don't have much other good stuff to include on my application at the moment. If any successful PhD applicants could tell me some of...

Hi, I am a junior astrophysics undergraduate student and enjoy physics, but after researching astrophysics PhD's, I am having second thoughts about graduate school. My impression of physics graduate school right now is that you are paid what amounts to minimum wage to work 60 hours a week for...

Hey everyone, I'm an American senior Physics major and I've been looking at New Zealand (and possibly Australia) for grad school. I wanted to ask if anyone could describe the system over there and answer a couple questions. First, is a bachelors good enough to start the PhD without doing a...

Hello all, So I am experiencing a major amount of doubt about going to my phd program. I am a recent MS physics graduate with a BS in physics as well. I recently accepted admissions to a very good medical physics program in the midwest and was granted a university fellowship for a year (or...

Hello! I am writing this to get some ideas for what to do with my future. This will be a long post so I should start by introducing myself… I am currently in the last year of my PhD studies and I will be starting my thesis soon (at least I hope so). My work is on classification theorems in...

So I have a PhD in physics specializing in experimental soft matter physics/optics, and I have been unsuccessfully trying to get a job now for 9 months. I've been applying to engineering positions all of which I was very experienced in, but I can't even get a single interview (not even with a...

Hi everyone! One of the perennial topics that show up on PF is what one can do with a physics PhD. So I thought this may be an opportunity to ask those PF members who have completed their physics PhD from 2001 and afterwards, to tell us a little about what they do for a living. A brief...

I am wondering if anyone has an idea of what typical acceptance rates to top nuclear engineering phd programs (e.g. MIT, Berkeley, U Wisconsin-Madison) are. I have looked and it seems that none of the departments release any numbers. If no one has any idea, does anyone have a perspective for...

Sorry guys going to be a long post. I joined the military right out of high school and was in Iraq about 7 months after graduation. This was in 2007, I suffered 3 Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and the military was not screening or concerned about the affects at this time. After I returned...

I am a physics PhD at a globally top 10 UK institution. I'm interested in moving to California for two reasons: - The weather. - I believe the US economy is higher growth than the rest of the modernised world. My subject area is not 'hot' so I doubt I'd be able to get a good postdoc. Are the...

I'm a Nuclear Physics student and I'm finishing the university in this period. I was searching for a PhD in Particle Physics but I don't know where to go, anyone knows some interesting school to make an application? Thanks

Hey everyone, I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of which physics PhD programs I should be looking at. I am a bit confused about which programs I would be competitive for. I have read things about how ranking and "minimum gpa" requirements are misleading when it comes to admissions...

General Tips on What to focus on, what to avoid? :woot: 3 Specific questions: Should I keep it in ONE page? I have been helping on a grant which has been approved by NIH, how much details of the project should I include in the resume: the detailed goal of the grant, grant number, etc? Should I...

Hello, I'm new so I couldn't find a spot to put this in. I was wondering what's the minimum GPA for a plasma physics grad program especially fusion, I don't want good schools, I just want something that is enough to take me further. The thing is I dropped the ball hard my first year of college...

Hi everyone! I wanted to pose this question to those who PF members who are current PhD students or postdocs in physics. What area of physics research are you involved with? I tried to list out all areas of physics research that I'm familiar with, but I also created an "Other" category for any...

Hello PF, I have searched this subject over the internet for a year now but still can't get a clear view on it since the ideas and specialisations of a PhD are far too wide. Next year i will get into university and i really want to do a major in physics to then go for a phd in the field that i...

I have a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from a good university in India. I studied physics in Senior Secondary(10+1,10+2). But I have no individual research experience in physics at bachelors level because in the engineering college we had no choice of major/minor subjects like they...

Hi PhysicsForums, I was hoping to get a little guidance on my chances for PhD programs. I am a second-semester junior. I feel like I'm going at this totally blind and am starting to get nervous, I'd mostly like to know how strong my credentials are so far, what kind of GRE score I might need...

I am thinking of doing a theoretical physics PhD but i am worried about my knowledge on the subject. I am predicted at a first class degree. But i must honestly say i am not one of these prodigy types. I have to read over things a lot of the time and more often than not i will forget simple...

Hello, I've seen lots of friendly people giving good advice here and wanted share my current graduate school situation with you guys and see what your opinions/advice are. I recently graduated with a Physics B.S. and loved it. I have a strong interest in atomic physics and radiation interaction...

What is the general reputation of Purdue University's Physics department (for PhD students) compared to other good schools in the US?

I am starting to do my PhD in a few months and I am curious as to what a PhD student actually looks like. It's not like I have never observed how a PhD student live their life as during my master I have been engaged in some research activities where I was required to work with some PhDs as a...

As we all know, Russia has many world renowned professors in theoretical physics. The research atmosphere is very different in Russia from the US. I am not familiar with the graduate schools in Russia or the US. Which is a better choice?

I know of infinites disadvantages of started a physics phd at my age. I tried, but do not take me by my age...Chile, sudamerica. I have a Msc physics an one publication about brane world. At Chile , in my opinion exist very discourse about non discrimination, but there is much discrimination...

Hi! I'm in a bit of an interesting situation. I am 24 years old and torn between a) starting medical school in fall 2016 (I have an acceptance) or b) going back to undergrad to get a physics B.S. and then ostensibly going to graduate school for a PhD in physics. My relevant, physics...

There is a place where i could to study a phd physics, where do not exist the need of stay physical at the place?I have 32 years old, i live in Bolivia, i have a master of physics (i studied out of Bolivia) , and one publication on physical review D. By reasons family, i do not want get out...