Phd Definition and 1000 Threads

Hi all! I'm currently a 4th year student in Combined Physics and CPCS in a top 3 university in Canada and trying to apply for grad school in top schools in US. I did very well in my undergrad, got a fellowship to work at a National Lab from which I got 2 publications in PRC (but is n-th author...

Dear Forum member, I want to pursue research in Liquid Crystal Physics / Engineering, are you aware of any laboratories or university departments actively researching in this field in Canada or Germany? I will be very if you are aware of active groups and share their names. Thanks

Hello everyone. Currently, I am an undergraduate sophomore planning to study physics and in the process of transferring from community college to University. I am seeking advice on deciding between pursuing a mechanical engineering degree (BS) or a PhD in physics. My journey so far has taken...

Dear all , I'm interested in applying for PhD programs in physics this summer. I'm mostly interested in high energy theory. There are two things that concerns me : 1- I didn't take any physics / math course during my undergraduate years "In fact I graduated from medical school" but I studied...

Hello! I am not going to give details about the situation (for obvious reasons) but here it is: I got accepted for PhD to a very good American university, in experimental particle physics and I met a famous professor here who is willing to be my mentor. I talked to some of his old students and...

Hello! If someone does his PhD working with a large group (CMS or Atlas for example, but even groups with ~ 500 peoples), where your name is far from the top on the author list, no matter how much work you put in that paper, how will they stand out compared to others, when applying for post...

Hi all, It's a few short months before grad school applications are due, and I find myself in a bit of a dilemma. Prior to my junior year, I knew what I wanted to do is physics research for my career, and I'm particularly interested in biological and condensed matter physics. My skills are more...

Hello! What can a first year PhD student (in an American university) do, research related, in the field of Theoretical (mainly high-energy) physics? I know in the USA you need to start research from the first semester of PhD (even if you formally choose a definite field of research at the end of...

Hello all,Next year, January I will start my PhD in Cosmology. Salary is fair and I don't have to pay the tuition fee. I always loved the idea of doing a thesis about Cosmology. My master's degree was about computational physics where I had to learn how to program in C/C++, Fortran, Matlab...

I am the second year Master student and I'm planning to apply for PhD this fall. My goal are top schools in the USA and my chances l seem to be pretty good overall (6 published articles, 4 of which are in decent international physics journals like PRB/APL; excellent pGRE and GRE scores, four+...

Hello there. I just finished my Bsc. in Engineering Physics+M.eng and I'm about to enter my Msc in Physics (no direct PhD in my country), so I'm choosing which electives to take on my first semester (as my professors suggested me to skip most of the basics). While I entered with the idea to...

I am almost finished the final drafts of my dissertation, and now I am wondering what to do next. It seems that all jobs at universities want someone to "establish a thriving research program" or the like. That's not me, so a job at a university is out. I very much want to teach, but much...

I just graduated with a bachelor's in physics and I am having trouble getting accepted to a PhD program. I transferred to the university from a community college where my GPA was something like a 2.1 (I went back and took some classes and it is not a 2.5) and I spent my first year in chemistry...

Hello. I am a Physicist with MSc in Experimental Particle Physics and for the last 3 years I work in the field of Science Education as a teacher trainer, and developer of inquiry based, ICT enhanced educational content in the field of Physics for K12 students in the RnD department of a school in...

I'm currently doing a biomedical physics major because it's the best choice to follow the med school track in something physics related, and is a really good fallback plan as my advisor described it. Now my true passion is in physics and I really want to get a PhD later on, so if I didn't make...

Hey guys. I currently work at a research institution as a junior level research scientist. I plan to earn a PhD (I have a B.S.), at the local university. The institution works closely with the local university and I have many adjunct professors within my lab. My plan would be to apply to a PhD...

Hi everyone. I am looking for some advice on how to go about writing grad school applications next year. My freshman year (Fall 2011) I developed a brain disorder that, while untreated, dramatically reduced my cognitive ability. I took two years off of school starting in 2013 came back in 2015...

Hi everyone! I'm an physics italian student, and I was looking for a phd in the UK. I hope that someone of you can help me to understand the procedure to follow. I expect to graduate in July-September 2019, and I would to know if i have to had already the title for apply for a phd which start on...

Hi there, TL/DR - I have a community college job with a sufficient salary. Should I be happy with that + freetime or should I try to get a job which really uses my PhD? If I go with happy freetime option, are any of the projects I propose interesting AND feasible? If I am too lazy to follow...

I am planning to do a PhD degree in physics since I have recently completed my masters degree, my research field was mainly on cosmology but I am getting interested in some fundamental aspects of physics, like GR and QG. I have tried to apply to some universities in Germany and failed to be...

Hello PF, So in my country (Lebanon), we have this French system of education where masters come after Bsc. and then you can consider the Ph.D. position. Apparently, this is not the case in the US and one can get into a graduate program with just the Bsc. I know they are equivalent but if...

I wanted a recent first hand answer from people. Why would you do a phd? I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

<Moderator note: Moved from academic guidance to career guidance on Scott92's request. Reason: The question primarily addresses job opportunities in dependence of PhD subject.> Hey everyone, I'm a student who is currently undertaking a Master of Physics (coursework & research) at the...

Let's say I'm getting a PhD in an area of gravitational physics. Upon getting that diploma, what is expected of me in terms of knowledge of GR? I hope my question can be useful to other students in other concentrations, so substitute QFT, or condensed matter, or whatever. For example, is it...

I need some advice with a tough choice between two great programs. On the one hand, I have University College London, a 1 year program in Astrophysics which covers 6 courses and an original research project. On the other hand, I have Leiden University, a 2 year program in Astronomy with ~12...

Hey guys, does anyone have more or less current statistics for the average PhD graduation age in maths or physics? I wonder wether graduation at age 32 is still unproblematic, for jobs out of academia. Suppose I lost a few years for internships or stays abroad.

I'm soon going to be finishing my MSci in Astrophysics and am looking to apply for PhDs (in cosmology) for autumn 2019 entry. I'm on track to getting a first but I don't have much other good stuff to include on my application at the moment. If any successful PhD applicants could tell me some of...

Hello PF, I am currently pursuing my Masters in Physics with specialisation in material science. But I am interested in quantum mechanics and want to do PhD and then research in quantum mechanics. But in today's date is it good to go for theoretical physics rather than going for some...

I did research on theoretical formulations in general relativity during my MSc studies. I look forward to pursuing PhD and have searched many universities and some research institutes for suitable research themes, but haven't found many research groups undertaking research consistent with my...

First of all, I personally couldn't care less about rankings; however, a future employer might. For my PhD I am thinking of applying to schools with groups in silicon quantum computing, and the two places whose research I have read a lot about are Princeton (Petta) and UNSW (Morello, Simmons...

Before you read this I must make a request that you read the whole thing if you start because my thoughts may be disorganized or there may be at least one part you find you could respond to. thank you! I'm not too sure if this is the right place to post, but I'm proceeding regardless. I love...

I've completed a masters degree in physics and my research was on cosmological inflation, though knowing some basic GR (Hartle, Schutz, Ohanian) and cosmology (papers), I haven't had any formal course in QFT, I'm now halfway through QFT by Blundell so nothing profound there, now I wanted to get...

Hi, I am a junior astrophysics undergraduate student and enjoy physics, but after researching astrophysics PhD's, I am having second thoughts about graduate school. My impression of physics graduate school right now is that you are paid what amounts to minimum wage to work 60 hours a week for...

Hello! I am in my last year of undergraduate studies, as a physics and math major and I would like to continue to graduate school on theoretical physics. I got accepted to several program which are ok (ranked between 10th-20th) such as John Hopkins, Maryland, UC San Diego however I also got...

Is it ok to refer to a papers published by a different academic, or should i mainly be talking about my potential supervisor's published papers in my interview? thanks

My dissertation was basically a literature review of sean caroll lecture notes on general relativity. I got a first in this, and got offered phd interviews with the supervisors being aware of this so it must suffice? but I'm unsure how you explain the motives and conclusion of such a piece of...

Hello, I am having bit of a dilemma. I am about to finish a D.Sc in mechanical engineering. However, I've never liked engineering and now I am looking to get out of the field. I know that patent law, finance (IB) and consulting are popular among stem PhD holders and currently I am aiming for...

I'm currently completing a undergraduate BS Mathematics degree and want to go for a PhD in Astrophysics. I haven't decided on the precise area or topic yet, since there are so many fascinating areas of research, but I might have narrowed it down by the time I actually need to apply. A tutor...

Hi everyone, l have a situation and l thought you could help me. Actually, l live in the U.S. and want to apply for several phd programs, but I’m interested in both astrophysics and AMO physics, and l can’t decide which track l should pursue a phd in. I’ve talked to several professors from my...

Last December I applied for physics PhD positions in the US. In my personal statements, I mentioned my research interests as well as specific faculty I'd like to work with. What happens if I receive an offer of admission from a school but decide that I'd prefer to do research in a different...

I started my PhD in physics at a position associated with a project. In the project I'm the only one working in my field and the only one working full-time that knows how to program (a computer scientist is also working on the project but only 50% and has another supervisor in his field). I...

Hello all, Hope the holidays are treating everyone well. I am currently finishing up my first year in a top medical physics PhD program. I currently hold a BS and MS in physics and am starting to consider careers in industry. I am looking for careers in companies like Lockheed, Northrop G, and...

Alright so I'm a freshman in college studying physics with astronomy specialization. I want to eventually get a PhD and work for a space agency or maybe even become an astronaut. I've been told that having experience in the Air force looks much better when applying to work for a space agency...

Hi! I'm applying for some PhD programs and I would like to have some advices. I think I will use the same statement for personal and purpose, in different universities. They ask only for one and their prompt are similar. I'll change some particular details on research. Is that a bad idea? Here...

Hi everyone, I am working on a second bachelor's degree in Computer Science, and am hoping to enter a Phd program in fall of 2019. Recently, I have taken an interest in Chaos Theory and was wondering if it is possible to do research in the field in the Computer Science department, or if it is...

So I have a MS in Stats and a BS in Applied Math. For various reasons not related to raw ability, my GPA in Stats turned out to not be so good( 3.4) but my math GPA from undergrad is excellent ( 3.8). Should I even attempt continuing on in Stats or can I start over with a fresh plate in Applied...

I have been thinking whether or not I should I go for an MS or PHD in mathematics (pure) right after my BS. I will receive 2 BS 2 years from now. One is in mathematics (pure) and the other in physics. I am considering doing mathematical physics, mathematical modeling, or teaching once I enter...

Hi, I would like to ask you all if you can five me some guidence on how to procede in following situatio . First i will give some context for my situation. I have finnished my undergraduate and my masters degree in institution that is outside EU, during my masters degree i had done research in...

Hello. Is it hard to achieve a PhD in, for example, physics? What do you have to do/study beforehand, like in school? Is a PhD like a first published paper/research? How do you achieve a PhD is things like physics and mathematics, which are so theoretical? If I want a PhD in physics or...

I am on a quest for the most perfect spreadsheet designed to assist with choosing or applying to phd programs. If anyone is in possession of such an artifact, I implore you to bestow it upon me so I may bathe in the light of the knowledge garnered by those who came before. If your wondrous...