Phd Definition and 1000 Threads

I want to do my Phd on foundations of quantum mechanics, but I don't find researchers in the U.S.A that work on that. Is there a good way to search other than to go to each university and go over the PI's? Thanks

Faculty looking for tips of designing PhD studentship interviews. Can there be more than 1 interview for each candidate, which is more common a practice in industry? How to determine the timescale: when enough applicants in the market have reached out to us for us to start interviewing? How to...

The paper is reasonably old and was written as a phd thesis by (I believe) a man from china. It was basically the first paper on the subject and in it he effectively (from what I understand) dropped particles into a black hole, counting the information added, and saw that the black hole changed...

What should a PI look for in a physical sciences PhD candidate when hiring? Among diligence, knowledge about the field and cleverness, willingness to follow their boss, complementary skillsets if they are from another discipline, what's your favorite? What else?

I have two paths I can take in my graduate studies. I'm currently an MSc student studying hybrid PET-MR systems in a medical physics program. My advisor is adjunct to the department of biomedical engineering, as well as the medical physics department. We were discussing doctoral work and it came...

I'm a recently graduated MS in EE, I'm considering continuing onto a PhD. I'm wondering, what impact would starting a PhD and dropping out have on my career? Basically I'm considering giving it an honest shot for ~1 year and if I hate the experience leave. One year isn't a huge personal...

I am currently writing my thesis and basically the conclusion is, in part, a statement about how this work can be built upon. I received a post-doc that is almost a natural extension of my thesis. One of the reasons I accepted it was so I could work on some ideas that I have had that I never...

Hello! I am planning on applying to physics PhD programs in the fall. My first two years of undergrad I averaged Bs in my lower division classes. Last two years I got a majority of As and A-s in my upper division courses. Those first two years I had some extremely personal extenuating...

I was about to start my PhD in physics at UZH (Universität Zürich, not to be confused with ETH Zürich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in April when the Coronavirus lock down trapped me in my country (not Switzerland nor USA) a few days before my plane was supposed to lift of. So now...

Hi I am planning to do phd in computational astrophysics or planetary science or scientific computing simulation (least preferred in case i am not allowed to the other two). Right now I have bachelors in computer science and planning to do masters in the same. My query is should i join...

Hi there, Last June 2019 I graduated with a First class honors in Theoretical physics from one of the Top Unis in the UK. Then I started working for a company (of good prestige) as a software engineer full time. However, a few months in, I decided to apply for Masters and start a side project...

Hello everyone! So, just out of curiosity, how does one learn to come up with their own questions to answer and come up with ideas for new experiment/science as a graduate student? I ask because in my experience, graduate students get assigned a project from their professor (which hopefully the...

What to do after PhD Physics application rejection? ====================================================== Thanks for your response to my threads. My son will be graduating in May 2020 with Physics Major & astronomy minor from Maryland . My son applied for PhD program...

I heard that it is hard for non-EU students to apply for PhD fundings so self-funding is needed. Does anyone know how hard is it to get full funding for a non-EU student?

Hello everyone! So I recently finalized attending UIUC for my PhD in Astronomy. Before beginning my undergraduate studies, after learning about what I needed to do in order to get into a successful PhD program, I made the following and laser focused on them: -Maintaining a 4.0 cumulative GPA...

Hello I am trying to choose a school and am interested in quantum computing theory in the physics department. I haven't decided whether or not I want to stay in academia so I would like the option to go into industry maybe at Google, IBM or a startup. Ideally I'd like the reputation/research to...

Hello, this is my first post. So sorry for the long read in advance. I will graduate from Part II mathematical tripos this year, and I'm currently having a hard time deciding where to go for my Master: For now, I'm definite that I want to do theoretical physics PhD (gravity, cosmology, or...

Hi everyone, I have an interview with a potential PhD supervisor scheduled for Friday, but I am not sure I will attend the college even if I get in. However, I want to attend the interview for the sake of experience (because I believe it'll help me identify the areas I need to improve myself in...

If I haven't heard back as of yet, does that mean that I haven't been shortlisted? When are interviews usually held and when do people usually find out? My feeling is that if I haven't heard back from the universities as of yet, I haven't been shortlisted but I'm hoping someone more...

Hello guys (and girls), I'm from Europe and I was wondering whether any of you know how hard it is to get into the top US CS PhD programs as compared to getting into physics. I think I've once read on Quora that getting into engineering is way harder since this area of research does not receive...

Hi, I am new here and I am pursuing a BS in radiation therapy and I am planning on becoming a Dosimetrist hopefully sometime in the future and I am wondering if a dosimetrist can become a medical physicist? has it been done before and how would the process look like? hard/easy? any alternative...

How would you respond to postdoc applicants if they hold a PhD in another field (physical oceanography) and then complete an MRes in astrophysics? Just interested because I don't qualify for funding for any of the astronomy and cosmology PhD positions I'v found in the UK (even though I am...

When I was studying the bachelor in physics, I was happy and got good marks (not the best, but good). I always liked the more theoretical and mathematical subjects. Then I did a masters in Theoretical Physics in Spain. At the beginning I was happy: all subjects were hard but interesting. I spent...

Hi all. I'm having some trouble formulating my thoughts and what I should consider for my future going forwards. I'm a Mphys graduate and my masters project was in Astrophysics.(FYI I am in the uk and can't leave Leeds for a few years because of family issues) So I graduated from uni back in...

Hello everyone! I recently got an interview request from OSU's Astronomy Ph.D program and was wondering how I should prepare for it. Thanks

Does this happen? How much can it vary by? for example, I have a PhD offer in a pretty boring application of fluid dynamics, in the future woild I be able to take my research into a direction perhaps applying this to astrophysics or something? Also I very much enjoyed general relativity at...

Hi everyone. I've been working as a full time research assistant in an AMO lab for a couple of months and I've found it interesting so far. I'm considering pursuing a PhD in experimental AMO in about a year's time. However, I'm concerned about the non-academia career prospects for AMO PhDs. Is...

As a maths & Physics graduate. This seems to be the pattern I tend to be spotting but maybe it's just a coincident? Many thanks

Excuse me guys. I have been in some stress while choosing to pursue a career in Medical Physics. I would like to enroll for PhD course in Medical Physics concentrating on Radiology/ Oncology. However, I found it hard to choose between CAMPEP accredited institutions. I have a BSc in Physics with...

Hello everyone! I am an international student at a US university applying for PhD programs in Physics and Astronomy. I recently got my PGRE results back and I have an 800/990 (which put my at a 70 percentile). I have a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Physics and Math major, have 1 publication and 4 on the...

Hi, I'm graduating with a PhD in ChemE. I'm interested in a position in industry that is not purely technical and that will have some exposure to the business/leadership side. I have an offer at a F500 company to be a supply chain engineer. The job will entail working with Asian suppliers and...

Greetings, guys! I'm trying to decide which PhD school I should apply so that my chances of acceptance will be higher. I just received my PGRE score - 910 (85th percentile). However, since I'm an international applicant, I don't know if that is a good score or not. I have a Bachelor's degree in...

Hello, Does anyone know if a Phd in physics can teach engineering courses at a university? Or do you need to have an engineering degree? Thanks you!

I mean apart from the obvious that they'll select some research topic and learn about that.

Hello everyone, I am currently working on finding a PhD in Europe. I have nothing against America or Canada, but due to some personal life choices I also have to make along with this PhD, I prefer to move into a country close to my own(Serbia), which means anywhere in Europe. I have recently...

Hello, I am currently a high school physics teacher in Chicago. I am thinking about going back to school to get a PHD in Physics. I currently have a B.S. in Applied Physics and a secondary education license. I would like to find a way to go back and get a PHD. I cannot afford to quit my job...

I started my Ph.D program this year in material science and engineering at a reputed school in the US. After a month I realized that I am more interested in how electrical engineers approach nanotechnology/microelectronics. I liked the idea of applying science to optimize devices and make...

Hi everyone, I recently finished applying to a university for grad school. Previously, I had contacted a professor with whom I wanted to work with, and it seemed they were also interested in taking me as a PhD student. Ideally, would one follow up (by email) with the professor once they've...

Hi everyone, I am a final-year undergraduate in Physics. I actually created this account purely to ask for some advice. I have been considering pursuing a physics PhD ever since my first year, but my current experience in my final-year project (FYP) has been difficult and I'm wondering if this...

In many british universities, like the University of Cambridge, the UK bachelor (1st class), with a duration of 3 years, is the minimum accepted requirement to apply for a PhD. This is, some PhD students only hold a UK bachelor, without a Master's degree. I was wondering if a british bachelor...

Hi I need help. I have my masters in Nuclear physics from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Nigeria but am passionate about studying for medical physics in my PhD specializing in either Nuclear medicine or radiotherapy. Please any University that will admit on fully funded scholarship am open to...

I am torn between computational and experimental condensed matter physics for my PhD. My focus is on low dimensional systems (e.g. electron correlation/transport, broken symmetry at the boundaries). I'm currently in the process of applying for graduate schools, and so far, I've chosen all my...

Hello everyone! Apologies if this question has been asked and answered before, please feel free to direct me to that post and delete this one, if needed and if it has been asked before and this post is, hence, redundant. I looked up some of the earlier posts such as...

I am currently offered to enroll for an Msc degree in my home university (Somewhere in asia). The program is not "SUPER", but they are promising me a research year in DESY (germany) alongside the degree. The degree will take me 2 years. I want to complete a Phd as well, but I am not planning...

I am starting a PHD in Europe at a top institution very soon. In the time since I have accepted the offer I have developed the feeling that I am more interested in working with a different supervisor on a different research area. They are both in the same subfield, but the nature of the research...

I'm starting to write my statement of purpose for Physics and Astronomy graduate schools, but I'm not yet dead set on which field I want to specialize in. Considering this, is it ok for me to write something along the lines of, "I want to either do field 1 with professor I or do field 2 with...

Hello , So let me explain my situation and why I want to do this, I'm currently in a physics' master at CINVESTAV, Mexico , my bachelor's degree is in electronics engineering and I obtained it at URBE in Venezuela, I'm Venezuelan and when I decided to leave Venezuela I did it with the intention...

Hi PF! I'm about to buy a new laptop, and am leaning towards a 15". I currently use a macbook pro 2013 for my main computer, though I also have a PC rebooted for Ubuntu (it's my lab's, not mine). The new macbooks are very expensive, but very durable. To me, they feel very secure and well...

After I finished my EE degree (Major/Cumul GPA: 3.6, mostly A's in math and physics) in December 2015, I began work as a programmer at an electric company for a couple of years. I saved up a good amount of money and established myself to the point where I have the free time to even think about...

Hey all, So I'm about to be a senior at a US school, and likely want to do grad school. I'm posting here because my interests are really sort of disparate and don't really share a theme. I like dynamics, stat mech, doing stuff on computers, and doing stuff with my hands... Anyway, here's a...