Recent content by CrysPhys

Sorry about the mix-up in countries. I did look at your profile, but wrote UK instead of Canada by mistake. Regardless, in Canada, if you have a PhD Physics from one university, can you apply for a MSc Physics at another? Even if you can, you should consider the impact on your resume...

<<Emphasis added>> Not as a first option. If your PhD is already in computational physics/ML applied to geophysics and you have the core foundational physics coursework, transitioning to computational plasma physics should not be a far stretch. Depends on what the competition out there for...

<<Emphasis added>> The regret you express here does not bode well for fulfilling your ultimate goal: The categories in which you have partitioned switching fields after a PhD also doesn't bode well for fulfilling your ultimate goal: You are making subjective judgments about the value of...

What are you considering for your next phase? A postdoc? A job in industry? Or ...?

Welcome to PF! <<Emphasis added>> If you're comfortable discussing it, what career did you pursue? A common question that pops up here is, "What careers does a degree in physics prepare me for?" Too often students have a narrow view of a "physics career". It would be valuable to hear...

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...