Grad School Advice -- Physics MS or PhD?

[elephantorz]

I am going to be majoring in Engineering Physics at the School of Mines in Colorado.

I also want to major in CS, seeing as I am a female and already considered worth less than my male counterparts [salary-wise]. I might be thinking ahead, I am taking the required science still to get into a program at Mines [yes, I have a good gpa, not great but for Physics, I have a year of independent study in Modern Physics, and a year of an A and a B in college physics (damn electricity! Lol, kidding)] via transfer.

Now, I have had a lot of opinions thrown into the mix, and I thought "I should ask the physics forums folks". Should I just get my Master's at mines while getting a BS in CS? Or should I look into going anywhere else for it?

I am very very interested in Physical Modeling having to do with renewable energy/alternative energy, etc.

I don't WANT to be an engineer, in fact I don't think my degree is considered an engineering degree but I could be wrong. Eventually I want to get my PhD.

Advice? If any? Thanks :).

 

[DyslexicHobo]

I'll be applying to grad schools within the next month and need to decide which ones I should be aiming for as my "likely to get into" school.

I have a 3.46 GPA
450 verbal / 800 quant on GRE
No research experience or publications
A summer internship as a product development engineer

I will definitely be applying to Berkley even though I realize I have less than a 1% chance of admission, just because I've wanted to go there since high school.

Do I have a decent chance of admission of schools in the top 30-50 range? Are those the schools I should be applying to as my "likely to get into" schools?

I know I should be applying to a few schools that I'd love to get into but have a slim chance, a few that I have a decent chance to get into, and a couple safeties. I'm just unsure what schools I should be aiming for as my middle schools.

 

[CompEguy]

Hi, I am currently a Sophomore studying computer science at the University of Minnesota. I want to go straight into a masters degree program when I graduate, but I don't know very much about graduate school admissions. Right now my GPA isn't amazing (3.13/4.0 scale). I am really kicking *** this semester though, and I can honestly see myself having a higher GPA when I graduate. What factors do grad schools take into consideration for admission? Internship experience? Is there any kind of an ACT/SAT type test for computer science graduate school? Do I have a shot of getting into a top notch graduate school if I can increase my GPA over the next three years? What does it take to get into Stanford/Berkeley/MIT, how about a normal university?

Thanks!

 

[debajyoti]

Hi all,

I am a geology major doing my junior year at the University of Dhaka, BANGLADESH. I took the GRE general test just after my second year final exams with a 15 day preparation and got what follows:

Verbal:570 (80 Percentile)
Quantitative: 720 (75 Percentile)
A. W. : 3.5 (26 Percentile)

Are the mid-tier grad schools a possibility for me as an international student with such a disastrous score on the quant. I am very anxious about this. I think I could end up with a CGPA near 3.5(+0.2 to .05). I am trying to do some work on Earthquake Geology and Earthquake Physics. I want to apply for a Ph.D. in Exploration Geophysics next year for the Fall 2012.

I am not going to retake the test -- not even the revised one. Anyway, I will apply to the MIT and Columbia. Is this nothing but a waste of money, time and effort?

Please, HELP!

 

[brandonjisaac]

I'm currently double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Physics, and I have about 2 spots open for electives in whatever I want. As of right now I have every intention of going to grad school, hopefully a PhD if I can keep my grades up. I was wondering if taking an advanced differential equation and partial differential equation sequence would be beneficial if I want to go to grad school, as compared to taking other courses in physics or chemistry. I'm hoping to go into nuclear engineering and plasma physics, but seeing as how that a pretty small discipline, I'm also looking at some kind of materials program.

So my options for now are to take ODE next semester and PDE next fall, or taking a course in solid state physics, and something else in the future. Any advice?

 

[petie320]

Hey everyone, I'm a longtime lurker, first time poster.

I'm currently a second year undergrad student enrolled in BS.c of geophysics with a minor in physics. I'm interested in pursuing a career in geophysics, however, I'm not sure I'm going about it in the best way. The way I see it, I have two options:

1. continue with the BS.c geophysics with minor in physics OR
2. switch majors to experimental physics, and upon graduation specialize into geophysics

My concern with getting an undergrad in geophysics is that there is not as much focus on math and physics courses as there would be in a pure physics degree (I guess that's obvious). Anyone have any opinions on what i should do? I don't want to neglect the fundamental courses, however it seems logical to get a geophysics degree if my intention is to pursue a career in geophysics.

PS. i was originally in experimental physics and only recently switched to geophysics. Switching back would not be hard.

 

[JesseCoffey]

Hello,

First this may be pretty long and i apologize and appreciate any guidance.
I tend to give way to much information, so the straight to the point questions:

How important is it to take the non-required but recommended for graduate students courses as an undergrad? Namely Modern Optics.
Would taking 3 300 level physics and 1 400 level physics courses in a single semester be advisable? There would also be 1-2 other non physics courses in the same semester.

For the people like myself who like all the information, keep reading:

< long version>
I am a non-traditional student who transferred from business to physics in my last year of business. I am now a second year physics student who fully intends to pursue a PHD in physics and teach/research in the field. Either Condensed Matter of Quantum.

I am now in my second year of physics at Iowa State University. I have completed classical physics 1 and 2, currently enrolled in quantum 1 and thermal. I have all my math by partial diff equations done, and only 1 more course to complete a minor in mathematics.

My question is, how important is it that I complete Quantum Mechanics and Modern Optics as an undergrad. I planned on taking 4 years of physics even though most of my electives being taken care of because these courses are recommended for students preparing for graduate studies.

The reason for my change is that I will soon be getting married. My fiancée is active duty Navy and there are no Navy bases in the Midwest that she would be stationed at. I am not sure I can be away from her for that long. I can find a grad school close to her base and she can get a deferment to not get transferred for 12 months so that I can live with her during my grad studies.

I know you can take these classes in Grad school, but would that extend that portion of my schooling? And would it severely hurt my application and GRE scores?

I can get my schedule to fit the Quantum in but not the Modern Optics if I put in a rigerous senior year.

It would look something like this:
Fall:
Classical Mech
E&M 1
Quantum Mech
Random Lab - Independent or Electronic Instrumentation for Experimental Physics
3rd semester Spanish

Spring:
Intermediate Mech
E&M 2
Quantum Mech 2
Abstract Algebra
Mathematical Proofs

My advisor recommends 1 more year and possibly looking into taking a few math classes that could help me to fill in the empty spots of the additional year. I would only need 15 more math credits to get double major.He says my plan could work, but from his tone and hesitation worries me about how much time taking 4 physics courses in 1 semester would require. Currently with 2 courses and a lab I am spending 40-50 hours a week on homework. (Though I am an overachiever compared to classmates that only spend 4-5 hours on a lab write up).
</ long version>

Also, doing it this way would most likely prevent me from getting any undergraduate research experience outside of the classroom. Would this have an effect on my grad school application?

I know this is confusing and just my unorganized thoughts thrown in a post, but if anyone can give me some advice and guidance I would much appreciate it.

Also, would you take Technical Communication or Reports and Proposals are your senior level English course? Tech Comm is available in the summer so that is what I am leaning towards right now.

 

[aneesh.mulye]

I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering this year in June, and have been working full-time since July.

I'll be applying to a number of universities in the USA for an MS in CS, but I don't have any idea, being in India, of which places I should target given my profile. So I've come here asking for help, knowing that quite a few here have a good idea of what's going on in the academic scene.

The profile:

1) Academic Record: ~58% aggregate over 4 years. (I aced the practicals, the 'oral' examinations, and the internal evaluations, but I lost out in the written examinations due to my almost illegible handwriting. So the former three have an aggregate of ~90%, and the latter of ~50%, odd thought it may seem.) I don't really know how to convert this into a GPA, but a rough estimate would be a B+ average, consisting of A+ in the practicals, oral examinations, and internal evaluations, but B in the written examinations due to my handwriting.

2) GRE: 800/800/5.5

3) Subject GRE in Comp. Sci.: 850/900 (93rd percentile)

3b) This may not be relevant, but I had taken the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) this year, and an currently ranked 159th in the country (99.85th percentile overall among all exam-takers). This exam is conducted to serve as a basis for admission into Master's programs in engineering in India, but I had taken it merely to see where I stood in the competitive rankings. To be honest, I was a little surprised by the result - I had thought the competition would be tougher.
(In case you're wondering about the disparity between the percentile here and in the Subject GRE, that can probably be explained by the fact that I took it in a city ~500KM away from Pune when I had a mild fever and a cold, had gone there with effectively no preparation, had flown in a day before and gotten little sleep due to my cough, and had a university exam the day after that, for which I had to fly back to Pune a few hours after I finished the test.)

4) Final-year project: worked with the C-DAC (India's supercomputing centre) to develop an addition to their scheduling and resource management system. It's a bit of an involved project, so I'll provide the details later if required.

5) Miscellaneous: In the third year, I've given a seminar on evolutionary computation, and in the two semesters of that year, implemented two projects. The first was relatively small, and was a database (with a rudimentary GUI interface) designed to allow easy extraction and analysis of both historic and current statistical data relating to the Indian Premier League's cricket games. The other was a complete system to allow our (or any) college to organise their annual event; this was a pretty significant one.

6) Current work: right now, as a hobby, I'm just finishing up a small bunch of simulators for the theoretical constructs found in introductory courses on the theory of computation (DFAs, NFAs, PDAs, NPDAs, and TMs). I had noticed back when I studied the subject (and now that I see others study it) that the biggest hurdle to an intuitive understanding is the initial learning curve of knowing how to convert a mathematical abstraction - which is essentially a static one, consisting of a bunch of sets and a function - into a working mental model of a machine. The most difficult part of learning that subject is learning how to transition from static description to being able to run a visualisation of it in your head. This is something I've always thought would have been useful to me at that time, so I plan to finish it (and distribute it those of my juniors I know) in a week, so that it is usable before our University examinations in December. (Batteries - the most common examples used to teach ToC - included.)

This is in addition to my regular job, where I'm working on creating a custom Linux-PAM module for our customer's product.

7) Letters of Recommendation: These I can get from my teachers and project guides; they know me well enough to pass informed judgement.
Given this background, which universities would be appropriate for me to apply to? Any help would be highly appreciated, as right now I'm simply shooting in the dark.

 

[Simfish]

Okay so I'm a US student who's quite interested in New Zealand and maybe Australia. I know that the two countries don't have particularly high-ranking universities compared to the US or Canada, but it's possible that they might have individual departments/programs that are high-ranking in physics and astronomy (I'm especially interested in astrophysics). Anyways, does anyone know what the universities in those two countries look for in international applicants? What are their acceptance rates? Sure, I can look for the information on their webpages, but most webpages tend to hide much of the information.

 

[desertls1]

I graduated from one of our nation's fine service academies in '03 (won't say which one but it's one of these: West Point, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy)

I have a 3.37 undergrad GPA, B.S. in general engineering (no declared major)

Relevant courses I took were: Chem I and II, Engineering Physics I and II, Three Semesters Calc, including vector calc and diff eq, Probability and Statistics, Fluid Mechanics, Statics, Dynamics, Environmental Engineering design course, and a few other courses dealing with environmental engineering. Also took a basic programming class.

690 in math on GRE
490 in verbal on GRE
5.5 on analytical writing on GRE

I'm applying to USC and GA Tech for M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and I'm not asking for scholarship, tuition assistance, or research/teaching assistanceship

I'm applying to both schools as a distance (online) student.

Do I stand a chance of getting in?

thanks

 

[chill_factor]

Hi, it's me again. I have another question:

If I've taken the prerequisite math classes and plan to take some additional math and engineering classes, is it possible to apply to, be accepted and graduate from a chemical engineering or mechanical engineering M.S. program within 2 years? Will it depend on if it's thesis based or coursework only?

I am interested in working on gas liquefaction, cooling systems design and low temperature chemical processes (as an ideal) but I've not taken fluid mechanics, transport phenomenon or had thermodynamics training beyond physical chemistry, or any engineering training. I'm also not sure which is the correct department to apply to for training and/or research in this area; chemical or mechanical? I imagine that the career prospects would be good, but I've not done research beyond simple searches on careerbuilder.

 

[bjnartowt]

Hi all, would you please do me a favour and offer your opinion on how important the following factors are in choosing a grad school? That is, beyond comfort of living, etc.

a) diversity of upper level courses offered (e.g., condensed matter I, II, advanced solid state, beyond just quantum/electro/stat mech/classical core).

b) recent hire of young profs in my field: condensed matter theory

c) said young profs have high rate of publishing

d) overall finnancial endowment to physics department is high

e) finnantial endowment allotted to condensed matter physics theory is large percentage

f) ? other? ...other factors you suggest adding?

 

[pablo4429]

Ok so background on me quickly, 1300 GRE (770 quant, 530 Verbal), 3.82 combined GPA, physics major, math minor, 3.5 yrs at a national lab as an intern, 2 doing school research, a few other small things. I attend and will graduate from SDSU.

Now, I am applying to grad school as mechanical engineering or materials engineering, depending on the projects at each school. I plan to stay in renewable energy or a similar field (that is where my senior research was) but am unsure how to choose a "safe" school. I am going to apply to Stanford (long shot school), UCSB (another not as long shot), UCSD, UC Davis, CU Boulder, CO School of the Mines, and maybe the JDP between SDSU and UCSD. I am wondering if any of these schools should be considered safe schools. On paper I meet or exceed the averages of almost everything but I am just not sure how it really goes. Any insight someone could offer on chances at the schools, others to apply to, or the process in general would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[JasonR]

So I am a first year graduate student in my first semester at Columbia University. Due to the big culture shift from the liberal arts college I graduated from (Bard College), I feel like I've had trouble getting to the point where I could ask professors for recommendation letters (I can think of maybe one that MAYBE I could ask). Obviously this needs to be remedied in the long-term, but in the short-term, if you are a first semester graduate student and applying to jobs and internships that want rec letters, is it considered normal to use rec. letters from your undergrad professors, or would this seem weird?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[madameclaws]

This is my first topic post here, so here it goes. :)

I am hoping that someone out there can answer this question that I have about going to graduate school for Statistics or even for Mathematics in general.
I am starting to look at schools for graduate school, but I am starting to get nervous about my prospects. I have A's in Calc I, II, Probability and Statistics, but I have B's in Calc III and Mathematical Proofs making my subject GPA about a 3.6. My overall current GPA is 3.71. I am wondering if I should retake my Calc III and Mathematical Proofs classes in order to bring up my subject GPA to make me look more appealing to graduate schools.
Also, as I am looking at graduate schools, I am interested in possibly going to graduate school in a foreign country. I know that being an American, I may encounter some challenges as math is taught differently in many countries compared to the U.S. I am wondering if it is wise to pursue a foreign masters degree or if I should stick somewhere closer to home. I am looking at graduate schools in either Ireland, Germany, Portugal, France, or Brazil. I do speak French and Portuguese, and I found that the German graduate schools are all in English.
Any advise is greatly appreciated. :)

Thank you! :D

 

[Diracobama]

So I just finished up a masters in math (my undergrad was in physics) and I was considering applying for physics graduate school next year. However, I recently got accepted to a physics masters program. My question is whether I should accept the offer, or apply for a doctorate program next year? Some things to consider: 1) I really feel I should be paying back some of my student loans, which could be hard to do under another masters program. 2) My undergrad GPA was only a 3.65. Would doing well in a masters program make up for this?

 

[PsychonautQQ]

Hey PF!
I am going to be applying for graduate school soon. I plan on applying for some lower tier schools and schools that don't require the MGRE. I am interested in algebraic and topological area's. Does anyone know any schools that I might be interested in or any other advice in general? Thanks!

My background:
-Math Student at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with about a 3.8 GPA.
-I will have 2 or 3 published undergraduate research papers by the time i apply.
-I will be able to get strong letters of recommendation
-If I take the MGRE I will do terrible, I took calculus classes before i was really trying to learn the material
-I am going to JMM in San Diego in January to present a research project
-I have one semester tutoring physics
-I have tutored high school students in math for a year
-I have two different math tutoring jobs on campus
-I was the T.A. for my universities abstract algebra II classAny tips or anything? I'd appreciate advice/guidance/schools I might be interested in!

 

[Deep Patel]

Hello,
I am currently a Nuclear Engineering Junior at the University of New Mexico. I do undergraduate research in 2 areas: Plasma Physics and Materials Science. I am interested in going to grad school in an area that relates Nuclear Engineering to Plasma Physics or Nuclear fusion concepts. I know that Illinois has a plasma materials interaction group. I find that interesting. Can you guys suggest other programs?

 

[shja]

Hi everyone, I have a question; how hard is it to pursue a career in academia or a physical based research for exp. condensed matter or exp. AMO PhD students vs. other subfields like astronomy? I have a hard time deciding whether to apply for an astronomy instrumentation program, and I’m really worry about the future (I’ve double majored in computer science in addition to physics, so I might have a job) but the truth is that I like to work as a researcher (I don’t really care if I become a professor or not, though it’s important for me to be sure that I can use my degree after graduate school and after five to seven years of study to do a physical based research). And I know you would say that I should like my program and..., but I want to be involved in research. And, if either of these fields cannot build a promising path toward an academic or a research based position, what would be other opportunities outside the academia (I’ve also heard about national labs and independent research for both astronomy and CMP but I don’t know what exactly happens after graduate school). Thank you.

 

[yeshuamo]

I am a prospective grad student who has had the unbelievable fortune of receiving three fellowships: a government agency funded graduate research fellowship, a well-known award to get a master's by research in the U.K., and a named most-promising-incoming-PhD fellowship that covers the first two years of my doctoral work, internal to my PhD institution.

I am facing a choice. I can accept the U.K. award, thus deferring my PhD by a year. Accepting this award means losing the prestigious internal fellowship, which is special at the university level but not as widely known elsewhere as the UK award. Going to the UK would allow me to work on an exciting project for a year at an institute devoted to my subfield of interest. The downside is giving up the internal fellowship and having to use up the government agency fellowship in years 2-4, instead of 3-5, potentially leaving me exposed to a funding problem in the last two years of grad school.

Alternatively, I can go to my PhD right away, giving up the UK award. This guarantees external funding for the first five years of my PhD. At the end of six years I will have $38,000 more in savings if I save all of my bonuses. The government-sponsored fellowship would technically let me take a year to be a visiting student at the UK institute down the line. With this scenario, I would finish my degree a year sooner.

On the surface, it seems silly to give up a spot in the international program. In terms of starting a successful career in research, is there any advantage in going straight for the PhD with two generous fellowships instead the master's abroad route?