I went to grad school many years ago, but unless a lot has changed, I have to clarify some points raised in this forum. First, unless a lot has changed, the student does not enter the graduate program as a PhD candidate. The student becomes a doctoral candidate, usually after completing at...
It has been some time since I applied for graduate study. I applied to around a dozen schools at one time or another. I remember being asked to provide all universities I attended at least a few times. I do not remember it being universal, but it could be that every school asked and I did not...
Interesting you should suggest Newton might not care about the area under a curve. The area "under a curve" in Cartesian coordinates is similar to the area with in a region between two values of theta bounded by the corresponding radius vectors ( in polar coordinates). Newton was...
Quoting Vanadium
So if it takes 2 years to get, it hasn't actually saved you any time. The marginal value is relatively small.
That is one way to look at it. Another way is: So if it takes 2 years to get, it hasn't actually cost you any time. The marginal expenditure is relatively small.
It...
You say this is the hardest year of your life. This was my experience too. It is supposed to be that way. Looking back after 30 years or so, I now believe it to be the most enjoyable year of my life.
With coursework and quals behind you, the rest will be less structured. It will still be a...
Thank you CrysPhys, And I am sorry that your experiences (which I admit is more common) with other researchers that left their programs early for involuntary reasons, did not have the same (good) experiences I did when I returned to grad study. I am happy they had success in other fields...
It is not quite that bad, Crystal. I passed the quals and became a PhD candidate at one university (so I do not think this is "washing out") but I decided to enter the work force in the 1980's. I later entered the graduate physics program in another university with a much stronger physics...
My experience is much like MarcusL. A MS generally enters a professional career with at least a year maybe two improved salary. Unless the higher salary is useless, the MS is not useless. I actually graduated with one students who earned two masters degrees, one in physics and one in...
Your problem with ii is that the treatment is entirely classical, and consequently, you can't see if anything interesting can come from it.
Many papers by S Chandrasekhar involve beautiful mathematics and results, (e.g see Stochastic Problems in Physics and Astronomy, It is one of the most...
You may be thinking of Modified Newtonian Dynamics also known as MOND, rather than "modified theory of gravity". I think the term MOND or modified Newtonian dynamics, is higher regarded than modified theory of gravity. I do not know any textbooks on MOND off-hand, but there may be a few
Congratulations on your acceptances to Cincinnati and Connecticut. I think you will weigh these options very seriously. I was always excited whenever I got an acceptance.
I took a look at the department of Physics graduate study at each one and I think you can get a good graduate education...
I would not recommend Landau and Livshitz Mechanics or Arnold's Classical Methods for a upper undergraduate mechanics course. Especially for someone that had their last Mechanics course, out of Kleppner and Kolenkow, more than a year ago.
Landau and Livshitz vol 1 is good, but it is too...
Classical Mechanics by Goldstein is an excellent graduate level textbook. However, unless your background is unusually thorough for a upper undergraduate (i.e. Junior), you are better off with a good intermediate textbook. By the way, I prefer Goldstein 2nd edition to Goldstein third edition...
I can tell you what worked for me but this was almost 40 years ago. Especially keep in touch with any professors who can write letters of recommendation that you already established a relationship with. I would not worry too much about what they might say in the letters. You have no control...