Grad Definition and 1000 Threads

I'm a senior undergrad and will be applying to grad school soon. The field I'm interested in is experimental high-energy physics. There are already about six schools I'm looking at applying to, but I'm wondering if anyone has any advice about possible safety schools. My overall GPA is about...

Hi, I am currently applying to graduate school. My list right now contains all of the top schools for condensed matter and a few "safer" schools but I am wondering if I should try to expand my list further. In undergrad, I attended a middle ranked university, and graduated dual Physics and...

I started Physics grad school this Fall, but I have recently started considering dropping out, either to join an existing company or to start my own business. I am concerned about how this would look to future employers, both startups and non-startups. I know that getting an MS degree but no phD...

MS Engineering. Odds? I am currently in the process of applying for the U of Mn ME grad program. I am wondering if anyone has experience applying to this school or a similar school and what there experience was. I have looked online at there requirements and meet them all but I know that this...

Hi, I'm a senior undergrad preparing for graduate studies. But I have this problem where I don't really know what field of physics I want to go in. I really have no clue. And I feel like that is a big part in deciding what schools to apply/attend. Then again, I feel like no one really...

I'm a 3rd year undergraduate in Spain contemplating continuing my studies upon graduating next year. I was initially considering doing my 4th final year via Erasmus exchange at Imperial College London so I could take some electives that my university doesn't offer. Unfortunately today I found...

Hi guys, I wanted some feedback from people more experienced than I. First some background, my current research area is in physics/theoretical neurosci. I'm fairly solid with maths however, I probably didn't take as many undergrad courses as I should have especially the more 'pure' stuff...

So I am a final year math student and there are two questions here, 1) I am a math student but all of my research has been in CS. If I do pursue a CS degree it will be in something mathematical like cryptography, but I really have no clue. Should I be applying to Math or CS departments? Does...

Welp, I dropped out of grad school for the third (yes, third) time today. I wil be driving back home again and looking for a job. This is the same grad school that I have dropped out of 3 times. The first time I was just sick of school. When I came back I got depressed and had to leave...

I'm currently a grad student studying Electrical Engineering and I'm kind of interested in working and living in the Los Angeles metro-area. I'm originally from NorCal (Silicon Valley, to be precise), and proud of it. In fact, I went to UCLA and got into plenty of playful NorCal vs. SoCal...

I'm doing chemistry undergrad research right now, and I'm pretty shocked at the hours that grad students are required to work. A lot of the groups I have seen require 6 days a week of work with 10 hour plus days, they come in on every holiday but like Thanksgiving and maybe like a few days at...

I'm a third year physics student interested in grad school. My marks are ok (85% average), and I should be able to get a letter of reference for grad school based on a 4th year Honours project. How important is a summer research position to a grad school application? I can probably get a...

If the gradients of the two functions f and g are proportional everywhere in Rn, does that mean there is some differentiable function F of two variables such that F(f(x),g(x)) = 0 everywhere? The converse is obviously true by the chain rule, so I was just wondering if this was true, too.

Hello, I'm stuck on the decision of having my undergrad degree be an ME or my grad degree be ME. I'm currently listed as Astronautical Engineering (which is what I really want to get into) but I know that it's essentially specialized ME. I don't want to limit my job sphere, so I'm pondering...

2 Q's: overseas worth it & "how to" CV for grad school Hello, I'm doing my last undergraduate year this year in my country of birth (Central-Europe) and I've made up my mind about doing my graduate (in theoretical physics) abroad: desire for a more vibrant, stimulating scientific environment...

Is not going to grad school, right after undergrad, going to hurt one's chances at getting into any graduate program at some other point in the future? I think I would want to go (maths/physics/stats) but I would like to teach for a few years first.

Homework Statement If scalar s=x^3 + 2xy + yz^2 and vector v = (xy^3, 2y + z, z^2) find: (a) grad (s) (b) div v (c) curl v Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I'm entirely lost at how to do this. I think that grad s is the derivative of the scalar. I think that div is...

Hello, I am thinking of going to grad school for EE or Applied Math, and I wanted to ask about personal experiences. What made you choose the grad school you chose? Are you happy there? Did the weather affect you? If you could choose a grad school over again, would you use a different...

I'm an undergraduate at a quality (though not highly ranked) private school in the US, but I think I'd like to go to grad school in Canada for the experience. My grades are decent (~3.70) and will have a couple of years of research by the time I graduate. I'm thinking of applying for a masters...

So, five years ago, at a pretty prestigious North American univ, I was accused of cheating on a take home exam. I hadn't cheated, but unluckily, I made careless mistakes that were similar to where I was supposed to be cheating from (and this was on a predominantly maths based paper) and so I...

Another Can I get into " " for Grad school? I couldn't find a good enough anwser. Topic I'll explain my situation, I'm dual major in Math & Physics attempting to get my Graduate degree in physics(Nonlinear systems :Optics, Q&M and Particle Physic). I know my 3.4 GPA is probably not good...

I have a bachelors in economics and am playing with the idea of returning to school for applied math or statistics. What would I have to do to get into graduate school? Would I have to return to school as an undergrad and get a second bachelors? Or is it possible to just take a few upper...

hi - does it matter if you do research or not in astronomy as an undergrad? is it ok to just do undergrad physics research for astronomy grad school? does it look any better to do astronomy research versus physics research as an undergrad, or any physics will do? I'm asking as a matter of...

We just started back at school on Monday and I am taking a graduate algebra course. I have taken undergrad Algebra I and Algebra II. Of course I expected that the graduate Algebra I would be much more in depth than the undergrad course, given that it is meant to prepare a student for the comps...

I'm senior UCSB phys program that currently has 2.6 GPA not good at all this year I'm retaking some classes and working hard to improve my GPA and plan on boosting to 2.9. Right now I'm studying for physGRE, and getting research. Right now I'm looking at masters programs at CSUs and wondering...

And man has technology in the classroom advanced at breakneck speed. I've only been away for 5 years and I'm having trouble trying to learn it. Is it me, or has technology actually made learning worse? Why can't things be simple anymore? All I want is a lecture, an assignment, and test. Now...

hi all, i am a graduate student, i need to choose 1 subject from A>> Broadband networks:: which is somewhat theoretical and deals with Physics of wireless and optical communications. Broadband multiplexing and switching methods. Blocking and queuing analysis. Network optimization...

Hello, I'm a physics BS and I'm considering pursuing a graduate degree. Ideally I'd like to pursue a PhD in physics, and I'd like a reality check on my chances of admission. What's really putting a damper on things is my mediocre GPA - 2.81 . I'm well aware that this hurts me lots on graduate...

Why do first-year grad students take classical mechanics, besides those wanting to analyze mechanical systems? This would be a course along the lines of Goldstein, etc. Do some of the concepts/methods show up later in quantum mechanics, nuclear physics? If they skipped this mechanics...

I'm an undergrad at Carleton University (Canada) in EngPhys. I just finished my third year. My interest is in semiconductor physics. I have a A average grade, and two years research experience. I was wondering, is aiming for MSE at Berkeley or UIllinois or Michigan too high for me? What about...

Is there anything "wrong" with applying to two programs at the same school, in different departments? Is this looked down upon in any way? I'll be applying for grad schools in the next few months, and I'm quite interested in an interdisciplinary area of research. Maryland has a "Chaos Group,"...

What fields can I get into with these two degrees?

After years of diligence, my undergraduate program will be ending after this year. I have yet to decide on any graduate schools to apply to and don't really think it is worth applying to schools I am sure I won't be accepted to. My problems are as follows: -My GPA is at a 3.23 entering my...

Grad School or Career??! Hello all. I am currently an undergrad student majoring in math and physics. I am experiencing extreme ambivalence currently so hopefully someone can give me some advice. I am a quite good student, especially in physics. My GPA is >3.9. I am a senior and will be...

So I have a problem that really isn't a problem. At my school, I have 3 professors that I know very well and have done research with. They all could write me very glowing and personal recommendations, but I go to a liberal arts school and I'm applying to school for Geophysics. Right now I'm...

I'd like some advice. I go to university of illinois. My phys/math gpa is ~2.6. An in-depth explanation for my poor grades is out of place here, and they are reasons that I certainly cannot put in an application (various personal issues, mostly confidence problems and test anxiety, etc). I've...

Hi guys, I'm just about to start university however because of some weird thing with advanced credits because I did IB, I have to declare what I want to take this year. I did a bunch of deliberation and finally settled on an Honours Physics degree. I'm wondering: what kind of job...

I am a prospective physics student currently attending a 4-year university. As I began to work in a lab in preparation for graduate school, I have been hearing cases of people with physics degree switch their graduate major/concentration and go to physics-related mathematics or engineering...

Well after reading tons of posts and talking to my friends who are headed off to grad school here is what everyone says: PGRE is really important, GPA is really important, publications really important, leadership roles really important, multiple years of research experience really important...

I've started to look at graduate schools and I am really interested in doing solar physics, although I am very interested in more general astrophysics as well. Of course we all want to go to a great school but I want to be realistic about where I can get in ect. Location is a big deal to me as...

Hello, I'm looking to get into grad school for physics, but I've done very little research. I did a little bit of astrophysics research early in my college career and a little bit in the field I want to pursue (nanobiosensor stuff), but nothing substantial. However, after college, I did...

Hi everyone, So my question is, do grad schools care about the topic of your research when you're an undergrad? I'm interested in high energy/particle theory but obviously I'm not doing research in that since I'm an undergrad. I did a semester's worth of work with the high energy exp group...

I'm an undergrad at an Ivy League school with very good grades and a lot of research experience. I want to go to grad school in Europe: England (Oxford, Cambridge obviously), Italy(I speak Italian), or Scandinavia (or anywhere where english is spoken in the physics world). I know in the US...

Hello PF, I'm currently an undergrad electrical engineering student at a large state university. I am hoping very much to go to graduate school, either for further development of my EE skills, or for something different such as economics. My situation is this: I will be a fifth-year senior...

What is the general strategy in solving vector equations involving grad and the scalar product? In particular, I want to express \Lambda in terms from \mathbf U \cdot \nabla\Lambda = \Phi but it looks impossible, unless there is some vector identity I can use. Thanks in advance.

Are there any specific math classes that grad schools prefer you take beyond the requirements of the physics major? I hear physics majors taking things like real analysis and other things I see no point in taking because of how little application I see. I'm pretty good with math in general and...

I just finished my first year as a math/chem. major and have been toying with the idea of going to grad school right after undergrad to go for a PHD.(Not sure if I want to do applied math or physical chem, yet). My question is though if you go to grad school, will your undergraduate loans be put...

Do grad selections committees know... I am a Chinese student, going to apply for grad school in the US. I went on for exchange in a school that has quite good reputation in physics research, probably top 20 in the US. My experience: it is much harder for a student to get an A here than in...

Hey guys, So I'm a physics major who wants to go to grad school in theory. My current preference is high energy theory but I'm open to other fields of course. My question is, if I want to go into theoretical physics or any very mathematical field of physics is it better for my grad school...

Hello everyone, I am an undergrad double majoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics. I want to say, up front, that I cannot really see myself ever pursuing a degree in pure math. I expect (at least, for now this is the case -- who knows what the future actually holds), that I will stay...