- #1
Sturk200
- 168
- 17
I graduated from a liberal arts school two years ago with a bachelor of arts in philosophy. I worked for a year, preparing to apply to grad school in philosophy. Then I had a revelation and suddenly knew that philosophy was a load of bull and that I needed to study science. Then I spent a year and two summers taking physics courses (non-degree) at a fairly high ranked university.
The result is a transcript with nine courses and a gpa of slightly higher than 4.0. (My undergrad gpa in philosophy was about 3.7). The courses are eight physics courses, constituting the core of an undergrad physics education, including two semesters of quantum, statistical physics, math methods, mechanics, e&m, optics, and one of those dumb intro courses where you study out of Halliday. The ninth class was ODE. Apart from high school, these courses are the entirety of my formal education in the sciences (I took some philosophy of science when I was studying in the humanities, but that probably doesn't count). Of course, doing well in these classes required a good deal of outside study and catch-up work while I was taking them.
I took the physics GRE in September and expect to get in the 800 or maybe 900 range, unless I screwed up so bad that I don't even know how bad I screwed up, which is a distinct possibility. I've also been putting in some hours doing research in a lab, though to date I don't have a whole lot to show for it as far as a finished product is concerned. However, I have learned some basic machining and CAD, as well as use of basic electronics equipment (oscilloscopes, lock-ins).
I'm wondering what you all think of my prospects for admission into a graduate program. Do you think I could get into one of the top schools or is that too long of a reach? What's a realistic range? I'm taking a graduate quantum class now and am actually understanding the material (mainly Feynman and Landau), so I feel like I am intellectually prepared to study physics on a graduate level. The only trouble is my background is kind of thin compared to other likely applicants, particularly in formal math training. Do you think my chances would significantly improve if I put off application another year to take math classes or more physics classes? Math classes are just kind of boring though...
Thanks for your input.
The result is a transcript with nine courses and a gpa of slightly higher than 4.0. (My undergrad gpa in philosophy was about 3.7). The courses are eight physics courses, constituting the core of an undergrad physics education, including two semesters of quantum, statistical physics, math methods, mechanics, e&m, optics, and one of those dumb intro courses where you study out of Halliday. The ninth class was ODE. Apart from high school, these courses are the entirety of my formal education in the sciences (I took some philosophy of science when I was studying in the humanities, but that probably doesn't count). Of course, doing well in these classes required a good deal of outside study and catch-up work while I was taking them.
I took the physics GRE in September and expect to get in the 800 or maybe 900 range, unless I screwed up so bad that I don't even know how bad I screwed up, which is a distinct possibility. I've also been putting in some hours doing research in a lab, though to date I don't have a whole lot to show for it as far as a finished product is concerned. However, I have learned some basic machining and CAD, as well as use of basic electronics equipment (oscilloscopes, lock-ins).
I'm wondering what you all think of my prospects for admission into a graduate program. Do you think I could get into one of the top schools or is that too long of a reach? What's a realistic range? I'm taking a graduate quantum class now and am actually understanding the material (mainly Feynman and Landau), so I feel like I am intellectually prepared to study physics on a graduate level. The only trouble is my background is kind of thin compared to other likely applicants, particularly in formal math training. Do you think my chances would significantly improve if I put off application another year to take math classes or more physics classes? Math classes are just kind of boring though...
Thanks for your input.