Recent content by CrysPhys

Your profile lists Israel as your country. Are you attending college there now? Are you planning to complete your master's at a university there? Are you planning to work there afterwards? "Research and development in the space industry" still covers a large scope of activities. You should...

You've listed 22 schools. That's a lot. Is this because of the current uncertainty in federal funding, or do you have some other reason?

At least this is a good start; i.e., you're motivated to major in EE by a specific, personal, concrete experience rather than by a vague, abstract vision of EE. Your concern is warranted: not everyone is suited for a particular field; diligence and hard work are necessary, but not sufficient...

Your best strategy would be to apply to ~6 programs of varying degrees of selectivity, ranging from top schools on your wish list to the lowest schools that you would consider worthwhile.

<<Emphasis added>> Yes, this is a key question for the OP to answer before we proceed. OP: What triggerred this epiphany?

The titles, scope, and levels of exams required in the US are not standardized and vary substantially with the school. For NIU (Northern Illinois University), here are the exam requirements: "Exam Requirements Students entering the program without a master's degree in physics are required to...

<<Emphasis added>> ??? I don't understand your distinction between (a) "quals" (which a master's exempts you from) and (b) "some PhD specific qualifying exam" (which apparently a master's does not exempt you from). I'm only familiar with (b). Can you give examples of US universities that have...

Having a master's from School A does not ensure that you'll breeze through the quals at School B (or even at School A).

OR PhD physics programs will become like many other graduate programs (e.g., med school, law school, business school, many master's programs, many non-science and non-engineering PhD programs ...): Students pay for the privilege of their graduate education. As long as universities tell...

[ETA: I read this wrong.] The report you cited states that enrollments have been declining in recent years. Still, under the category of first year graduate students for 2024, there are some universities with sizable enrollments, much greater than 40. The top four I found were: University...

A "discreet inquiry" would entail a personal connection. Student A at University A is considering applying to University B. Student A knows Professor A at University A. Professor A calls up his old buddy Professor B at University B: "Hey, how's life at University B these days? ..."

It is unethical in the sense that applicants need to pay an application fee. It would be odd for a dept to admit this publicly. So a discreet inquiry would be needed. I have to say though that I'm aware that companies have behaved similarly in their recruiting practices. That is, even if...

This is important (and sad) to hear. You brought up a specific instance of a small physics dept that normally admits only around 10 PhD students. Did you also reach out to large physics depts that normally admit around 100 PhD students? These physics depts are typically part of universities...

Yes, this is a good time to evaluate your future career goals, with the understanding that you will likely need to re-evaluate them several more times in the course of your career. Before I weigh in: (1) Are you planning on pursuing grad school in Canada or some other country (including the...

* In US universities, the typical path is to complete a BS physics and then continue to a PhD physics program (MS not required to apply for PhD program). In many universities in other countries, however, the typical path is to complete a BS physics, complete a MS physics, and then go on to a...