Recent content by Dr. Courtney

When your son puts "The Feynman Lectures in Physics" on his gift list.

I think a time or two I waited in cases where a journal's pre-print policy was unclear or when I did not want a version out there that did not incorporate the referee's comments. But if the journal allows posting to arXiv before publication and the co-authors were OK with a version on arXiv...

Most of my papers in theory have come after realizing that I had tools in my toolbox that could address an open question. It's 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration - meaning I've spent a lot of time slogging through details and learning/developing new tools and digging through large volumes of...

I would not in good conscience recommend less than two full semesters of quantum mechanics for ANY top 100 Physics PhD program in the US. The second semester is not really "Advanced Quantum Mechanics", it's simply the second semester of what is designed as a two semester sequence. You need all...

Take the ALEKS pre-calculus course until you complete 100% of the "pie." If you can do that, you are ready, and anything else you can do in preparation will be gravy. If you cannot complete the ALEKS pre-calculus pie by the time you start, you are in a tough spot, and anything else you do is...

Who says I've stopped? I'm happy with the big decisions 90+% of the time, but doubt creeps in once in a while. I think that's part of being human. There are two types of humans - those who occasionally doubt and those in denial. Self-doubt about past choices is rarely useful unless it better...

One student I mentored graduated with a 4.0 GPA in Physics from a fairly good undergraduate institution. He was first author on 5+ peer-reviewed journal articles, did a summer at BNL, and had excellent recommendation letters. He did not take the PGRE due to COVID, but the grad PhD programs he...

A GPA of 3.0/4.0 is pretty much a hard lower limit for those aspiring to PhD programs. For good PhD programs, ones GPA needs to be significantly higher than that.

It is hard to guide students to a good answer to that question unless they've at least seen some calculus on the math side and physics in a challenging algebra-based high school course. If you have not had those yet, keep your options open until you have had at least one semester each of...

"Weak" is an ambiguous term. I don't worry about the perceived importance in my papers or the papers of students I mentor. Many opportunities for student publication are in areas perceived as less important. I focus more on correctness - not just on technical correctness in the method and...

Worry more about the content of your papers than the IF of the journals. In Physics, the reputation of the journals is more important than the impact factors. But no one is going to hold journals with poor reputations against you for stuff you publish while a student. If you do good work...

Timing has been all over the map this year. After some back and forth, a student I mentor has received an offer from BNL.

I agree with gmax. Focus on useful classes. Putting together requirements for a minor or second major often leads to too heavy a course load and/or awkward scheduling. When applying to grad school, the courses you took matter and the grades you earned. Your research accomplishments and...

I would not read much into the lack of a reply. Some of the labs are waiting for paperwork to go through. In other cases, you may not have been a lab's top choice, but may be next in line if another student rejects their offer. Patience. At the same time, I recommend that students who have...

Do your math homework. All of it. Do all your chemistry and physics homework also.