COVID-19 and Physics Graduate Admissions

[undefined314]

Several universities say that taking courses pass/no-pass or credit/no-credit during terms disrupted by COVID-19 will not necessarily harm those applying to their graduate program. There are also more open-ended invitations for applicants to discuss how the pandemic has impacted their lives.

In terms of physics departments, specifically, some have made the Physics GRE optional, and others are not accepting scores at all. (Granted, even before the pandemic, there were many arguments that such exams are not an effective predictor of success as a graduate student.)However, I haven't seen as many institutions post about possible funding-related impacts on admissions for PhD students. Several universities (including my own) have imposed a hiring freeze for new postdocs and faculty until further notice, but have not been clear about any cuts on graduate student recruitment. Is it likely that the next application cycle (and more) will be particularly competitive due to the general decrease in available university funds, or do available spots tend to be limited by the number of advisors more so than funding? I realize this is partially speculative, but I'd like to hear any insight people have to offer.

At least in the U.S., it is fairly unusual for prospective Physics PhD students to be given an offer of admission without a stipend around $20K-$30K/year. I would hate to see the practice of unfunded acceptances normalized.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The two factors that matter most in setting the size of the incoming class is a) the number of students graduating with PhDs and b) the number of TAs able to be supported. Neither of these is well-understood.

Dropping the GRE entirely, no matter what the faculty says, puts people from smaller and/or less well-known students at a disadvantage. Universities that are not considering it will end up reducing risk by effectively favoring the Princetons of the world over LACs.

 

[undefined314]

The two factors that matter most in setting the size of the incoming class is a) the number of students graduating with PhDs and b) the number of TAs able to be supported. Neither of these is well-understood.

Can I ask what you mean by "well-understood"? Just that applicants can't really know? Some suggest asking potential advisors if they plan on taking students for the next cycle, knowing that sometimes they'll give a straightforward (and hopefully honest) answer, other times not.

Dropping the GRE entirely, no matter what the faculty says, puts people from smaller and/or less well-known students at a disadvantage. Universities that are not considering it will end up reducing risk by effectively favoring the Princetons of the world over LACs.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, standardized exams (in principle) do provide an opportunity for students from lesser-known institutions to show they have a competitive level of understanding to those from a well-known institution that people might assume has more rigorous coursework. On the other hand, the exam itself may already favor students from Princetons vs. LACs. Smaller departments don't always have the resources to offer a review course for their undergraduates or other forms of support. Sure, self-studying is always encouraged, but additional structured review may give some students a considerable advantage.

At some smaller programs, major-oriented courses are only offered every other semester (or even every other year), so students may need to take the Physics GRE before they are introduced to some of the topics in their coursework. Students at 'big-name' institutions can usually schedule more courses on special topics and the like before the fall of their final year. Even though intro material composes much of the exam, picking up a few points on the later material can be helpful.Other aspects of application review seem to strongly favor 'big name' places too. (I'm not sure much I hear from various faculty is generalizable vs. personal opinions or positions of our department.)

• A GPA from a 'more reputable' institution may be favored over a similar one from an institution that is not as well-esteemed.
• Big-name schools can offer additional access to research advisors/instructors whose letters of recommendation might carry more weight.
  • I'm not sure how successful REUs and the like are at bringing opportunities to students from smaller institutions with more limited openings for undergraduate research assistants. It frequently seems that students at the top-tier summer programs are overwhelmingly from top-tier schools.
• Students at LACs are less likely to work regularly with graduate students and postdocs to get more insight on what graduate student life is like.
• Undergraduates at a big research institution may have access to graduate courses and likely have more options with undergraduate-oriented 'special topics' courses to get a taste of various subfields before they apply.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Can I ask what you mean by "well-understood"?

You're asking us to predict the future. If you're calling up a professor, you're asking her to predict the future.

 

[radium]

The situation is still rapidly evolving, but I suspect that many universities may want to admit a smaller class size this year due to uncertainty in funding and also because a significant fraction of the current students may likely take longer to graduate because of the shutdowns. Many people doing lab work will likely have lost 4-6 months of productivity by the fall. Labs are reopened, but a lot of them are only operating at 25% capacity which means people are only going in on a very strict schedule 2-3 days a week. I have also heard some grad programs will be welcoming the newest class in the spring rather than in the fall.

I think many schools eventually decided to go test optional not only in response to the pandemic, but also because they believe that removing this (expensive) barrier to entry may encourage more students from underrepresented groups to apply.

 

[undefined314]

The situation is still rapidly evolving, but I suspect that many universities may want to admit a smaller class size this year due to uncertainty in funding and also because a significant fraction of the current students may likely take longer to graduate because of the shutdowns. Many people doing lab work will likely have lost 4-6 months of productivity by the fall. Labs are reopened, but a lot of them are only operating at 25% capacity which means people are only going in on a very strict schedule 2-3 days a week. I have also heard some grad programs will be welcoming the newest class in the spring rather than in the fall.

I think many schools eventually decided to go test optional not only in response to the pandemic, but also because they believe that removing this (expensive) barrier to entry may encourage more students from underrepresented groups to apply.

I applied during the last application cycle (11 programs, mostly reach, for condensed matter theory), but was not accepted anywhere. At the time, my plan was to take my B.S. in physics after completing my 3rd year by Spring 2020 if I got an offer. I hedged my bet with plans for adding a math minor and doing a traditional fourth undergraduate year (applying to a better spread of programs during Fall 2020) and by applying to REUs and other summer opportunities, but all of those have been canceled due to COVID-19.

Right now, I'm continuing research remotely with my PI and grad student, but given the current situation, I'm not sure if I'll be able to significantly improve my application beyond what I submitted last fall, which makes me wonder if it's worth the investment*: What did I change/improve since last time?

• My GPA was already at 3.9, so I can maintain it or improve it only marginally.
• Out of all the applications I sent out over the last year, I did get a small scholarship from the Society of Physics Students. I'm not sure if that carries weight on the application, but at least it'll reduce the financial burden of remaining an undergraduate for one more year.
• Some programs will still accept PGRE scores, so I've continued studying and plan to take the fall exams, assuming they're not cancelled.
• My grad student and I are both hoping to get a publication together by the end of the year, but there's nothing certain about that either.

Other than that, it seems to me that all I can do is get more graduate physics courses and math courses under my belt this fall (I'm aware grad courses don't transfer well, but I've exhausted undergrad physics at my school). Perhaps I can put a website together to do a better job of documenting/showing off programming projects and simulations I write in my spare time, rather than just referencing them in my statements/resume.

Outside of what I can do on my end, applying would roll the dice again with who has positions available in what subfields, but as you mentioned, there's a very good chance that there won't be as many spots opening up in the next cycle. Unless things change drastically for the better, this is probably going to be a rough year for most applicants.

*I qualified for most application fee waivers, the main expenses were for the GRE/PGRE exams and score reports, which I might not have to deal with this round. (Or at least I won't need as many score reports sent.)

 

[StatGuy2000]

The situation is still rapidly evolving, but I suspect that many universities may want to admit a smaller class size this year due to uncertainty in funding and also because a significant fraction of the current students may likely take longer to graduate because of the shutdowns. Many people doing lab work will likely have lost 4-6 months of productivity by the fall. Labs are reopened, but a lot of them are only operating at 25% capacity which means people are only going in on a very strict schedule 2-3 days a week. I have also heard some grad programs will be welcoming the newest class in the spring rather than in the fall.

I think many schools eventually decided to go test optional not only in response to the pandemic, but also because they believe that removing this (expensive) barrier to entry may encourage more students from underrepresented groups to apply.

Do you see the possibility that all universities in the US may be not only admitting a smaller class, but in fact keep all universities physically closed? And that research work in all areas outside of the biomedical area (related to COVID-19) may grind to a halt?

I'm posing these questions because from what I can tell, the COVID-19 pandemic in the US is essentially out of control, with widespread community transmission, thus endangering any new plans for re-opening the economy (including higher education).

 

[radium]

I think it’s definitely possible that there will be STEM graduate programs that choose not to admit any students at all next year, especially smaller programs. I have heard of at least one humanities program that has suspended graduate admissions this year. However, the physics programs I am most familiar with are still planning to go through with admissions this year, at least at this moment.

To be honest, I think suspending admissions, (or at least admitting a significantly smaller class) would be the most fair thing to do for the students already in the program. Many of them have had to deal with significant set backs both in research and in their personal lives and really need more support right now. It will be much harder for advisors, department chairs, administrators etc. to provide that support if they also have to think about bringing in new students. I also really worry about the students entering grad school this year (who were admitted this spring). The current environment will likely make it much harder for them to settle in and find a research group as we don't know when people will be able to return to their offices, have meetings in small groups etc. Having new students arrive in the spring may be a good option (I have heard of a program doing this), but we don’t know how much (if at all) things will have improved by then.

Reopening appears to be going smoothly in the Northeast, but of course only time will tell. I think the governors are all taking it very seriously and aren't afraid to pause things (like indoor dining in NYC and New Jersey for example) if they feel people are not following the rules. Based on current progress it sounds like university labs may get up to 50% capacity sometime within the next few weeks if things go well. I do think there is definitely a risk of another shutdown, especially for schools in the south and also for schools that are allowing all of the undergraduates to come back to campus.

I applied during the last application cycle (11 programs, mostly reach, for condensed matter theory), but was not accepted anywhere. At the time, my plan was to take my B.S. in physics after completing my 3rd year by Spring 2020 if I got an offer. I hedged my bet with plans for adding a math minor and doing a traditional fourth undergraduate year (applying to a better spread of programs during Fall 2020) and by applying to REUs and other summer opportunities, but all of those have been canceled due to COVID-19.

Right now, I'm continuing research remotely with my PI and grad student, but given the current situation, I'm not sure if I'll be able to significantly improve my application beyond what I submitted last fall, which makes me wonder if it's worth the investment*: What did I change/improve since last time?

• My GPA was already at 3.9, so I can maintain it or improve it only marginally.
• Out of all the applications I sent out over the last year, I did get a small scholarship from the Society of Physics Students. I'm not sure if that carries weight on the application, but at least it'll reduce the financial burden of remaining an undergraduate for one more year.
• Some programs will still accept PGRE scores, so I've continued studying and plan to take the fall exams, assuming they're not cancelled.
• My grad student and I are both hoping to get a publication together by the end of the year, but there's nothing certain about that either.

Other than that, it seems to me that all I can do is get more graduate physics courses and math courses under my belt this fall (I'm aware grad courses don't transfer well, but I've exhausted undergrad physics at my school). Perhaps I can put a website together to do a better job of documenting/showing off programming projects and simulations I write in my spare time, rather than just referencing them in my statements/resume.

Outside of what I can do on my end, applying would roll the dice again with who has positions available in what subfields, but as you mentioned, there's a very good chance that there won't be as many spots opening up in the next cycle. Unless things change drastically for the better, this is probably going to be a rough year for most applicants.

*I qualified for most application fee waivers, the main expenses were for the GRE/PGRE exams and score reports, which I might not have to deal with this round. (Or at least I won't need as many score reports sent.)

Two useful things to know would be the range of programs you applied to (all in the top 30 etc.) and if you did any interviews (I know at least some programs have started doing Skype interviews over the past few years). If you were invited to interview, it likely means that you were in at least the top third or quarter of applicants (depending on how many applicants they received). It is possible they were hesitant to admit someone who had only three years in undergrad. I do know of people who did this but they both went to top schools so that could have counterbalanced that.

 

[undefined314]

It is possible they were hesitant to admit someone who had only three years in undergrad. I do know of people who did this but they both went to top schools so that could have counterbalanced that.

I come from a school that is frequently in top 20-25 general lists for the U.S., but is not considered remarkable for physics (top ~60 for the subfields available, perhaps substantially better for quantum information theory). My advisor described our graduate physics program as a 'very, very good...second-tier program' and admitted that may still be generous.

Two useful things to know would be the range of programs you applied to (all in the top 30 etc.)...

I applied to 11 of the top ~20 for condensed matter. Applying to more reasonable schools was a bit of a catch-22. I could've applied to schools where my application would've been more competitive, but then I'd always wonder if taking out the loans for another undergraduate year would allow me to get into a better PhD program. At the time, I didn't want to pay for more applications and also land myself in the possible position of getting accepted to a good program, but not a great program. Then I'd have to decide whether to gamble another undergraduate year for a better one, knowing that the good program might not be willing/able to extend me the same offer after I declined during the previous cycle. (Plus turning it down would mean the time and money spent on that application was largely wasted.)

At times I felt as though my application would only be competitive with the qualifier 'good for a 3-year applicant'. I spoke with several of the faculty in my department before applying and got differing opinions. Some said unconventional academic journeys can be interesting from a diversity perspective. Others said their bar wouldn't go up or down for any reasonable number of years in undergrad. All of them still encouraged me to apply that round, but they disagreed on whether or not I should expand beyond dream schools. I ended up taking the position that a traditional fourth year as an undergraduate would be the fallback plan, and I could just apply to more schools then.

Two useful things to know would be...if you did any interviews (I know at least some programs have started doing Skype interviews over the past few years). If you were invited to interview, it likely means that you were in at least the top third or quarter of applicants (depending on how many applicants they received).

I was not invited for an interview at any of the institutions I applied to. For 5 of my applications, I received my rejection notices around the same time as others reporting theirs at places like PhysicsGre.com and TheGradCafe. Others of mine came later (mid-April to one in early May) than what others had reported. I'm not sure if that means I survived the successive thinning of the applicant pool for longer (perhaps even on an internal wait-list), or if I just happened to be later in the queue. I reached out to the committee chair or coordinator for a few programs (that didn't specify a policy against commenting on particular cases) to ask for feedback/suggestions on my application. However, all declined to comment or never got back to me.

Naturally, with the way things have turned out with COVID-19, I regret not applying to a better spread of schools. Perhaps it would've been a bad plan even without the pandemic, but there's nothing I can do about that now. I know that if I reapply to some of the same places this cycle, they will probably ask what I have done to change my application since last time: I'm trying my best to work around COVID-related cancellations, but I'm not sure if I'll have much to say.