Recent content by astrotemp

Yes, outside of your field. If your project is with CERN and you need to travel there for a short time to collect data then that's considered to be part of your degree, and you're given permission to travel outside of Cambridge for those dates. Other than that kind of fieldwork or data...

I think an important distinction here is between UK/EU self-funded and international self-funded though. My fees as an international, plus the expected living expenses, would have added up to $300,000 for a 3-year degree. You're not allowed to work in any significant capacity while a student, so...

It's just like if Americans were only funded by the NSF GRFP: loads of people apply but the final decision isn't in the hands of the department, it's a separate group making that decision, they only fund a small number, and that funding isn't always equal across fields. Cambridge accepts...

No, the majority simply don't attend. Depending on the actual degree, Cambridge usually accepts anywhere from 2x to 5x as many students as they actually expect to have. Funding is not controlled by departments, it's given out by colleges (the residency system; they're legally-separate entities)...

That information isn't available, although you may be able to request it through an FOI here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/university_of_cambridge And there's the overall funding statistics here: https://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/pfc_2020_timeline_v1a.pdf showing ~80% of PhDs...

No, it's still not likely. You still won't be eligible for the UK/EU funding as study doesn't count towards the residency requirements. You won't be any more competitive for college funds or for external scholarships either. The people who decide the majority of funding (the Trust), don't have...

I'm currently doing a funded PhD at Cambridge (Gates). The unfortunate reality is that it's incredibly difficult to get funding. There are 3 broad streams: 1. Internal Cambridge funding from departments and colleges 2. Funding from Research Councils (often UK/EU restricted) 3. External...

I don't entirely feel that this question is genuine... I mean, you say you're considering possible career paths and financial stability, but then you give a very long list of excuses as to why engineering doesn't fit or isn't good enough. And @Dale is right: a lot of these reasons are plain...

No, it won't disadvantage your application, especially if you complete Part III. It's true that students do fewer projects aside from their Masters thesis, but this is by their own choice. There are plenty of opportunities around, but you're expected to seek them out yourself and organise...

You should search through the faculty pages for physics (via DAMTP, Kavli, IoA, and Cavendish departments) and see what individual people are researching. If someone at Cambridge is researching it, you can safely assume they're especially good at it. The more faculty, postdocs, PhDs etc that...

I had one out of my first year, but no one asked about that. They were more interested in my (unpublished) Honours thesis. My current PI has only just now read that paper, 6 months into the PhD.

I had "only" 2 summers (8 weeks each) and my Honours thesis for research and managed acceptances to every program I applied to, including top programs. And I'm sure there were people who did research for longer who got rejected. There really isn't some long length of time you need to meet, it's...

It really depends for research careers... I'm doing my PhD now in a theoretical area of astrophysics (black holes, simulations, theory) and did my undergrad in math, and honestly most of the math I do each day is basic. Note that I did all of my "graduate coursework" in undergrad, and the...

Re your concerns about whether Part III will be accepted - I think any reasonable PhD program would know and respect Part III and accept it as equivalent to a Masters, but there is always the option for you to contact them right now and actually ask. You don't have to try to guess on this, you...

It can be very difficult! It's easy to come up with questions, actually: just read a paper, pick out a sentence at random, and ask "why?". Done. The hard part is formulating a full research project because while you can ask a million questions of one paper, most of those questions have very...