Decisions regarding graduate study

[tNa]

Hi everyone, I am currently trying to decide where to spend the next 4-6 years of life and I thought it would be a good idea to get as much advice / information as possible before making a decision.

I'm holding offers for Oxford, Imperial, Caltech and Princeton for high energy / particle theory. I'm interested in strings, string phenomenology, formal aspects and to a lesser extent, AdS/CFT. There are people at all four who seem to be leaders in these fields so I'm having trouble picking between them.

I'm currently leaning towards Oxford (my undergrad uni) as there are some great people in the department and there seems to be good collaboration with the Maths department. However I am very aware I might be subconsciously preferring it due to less life stresses from already knowing the town.

A worrying number of professors (oddly no students who are dissuading me) have told me I'd be daft not to go to the US, especially Princeton which I've been told is a step above Oxford for particle theory.

Any useful advice / opinions? Any information on what life in Princeton is like? I've heard it is a very small town.

Thanks very much!

 

[tNa]

Also I've just realized this should really be in career guidance, would someone be kind and move it?

 

[jtbell]

This thread is in the correct location because graduate school is still "academic."

 

[LAHLH]

I would go for Princeton or Caltech, I think personally I would have found the structure of the US PhD more beneficial. Having two years of courses on advanced topics from the usual trials of Jackson (which despite probably being more or less familiar with by now after four years at a UK undergrad would still be nice revision) to maybe a couple of QFT courses all the way to string theory lecture courses, would have been helpful to me. I doubt you will find any PhD in the UK offering lectures on Strings, although lots will give you extra QFT/Advanced GR/Black Holes

I just think that maybe the more relaxed attitude in the sense of allowing the PhD length to be anything from typically 5 years to sometimes 8 years, maybe helpful in theory where in the UK it can sometimes feel there is so much to learn in so little time, and often you are out on your own learning a topic (although of course this is the way it has to be in the end, you can't have everything spoon fed via lecs forever, nevertheless it often comes as a shock after undergrad life). Maybe you prefer to get down to research straight away though and hit the ground running and just learn what you need from books, seminars and conversations with your advisor, in which case maybe the UK style is more suited.

You may want to bear in mind that you may have to teach in the US though (depending on if you have a fellowship or what), maybe that will impact on your studies (typically in the UK teaching is entirely upto you if you want to earn some money on the side, not compulsory).

You really can't go very wrong with the four choices you have there, and I'm very envious, I do think Princeton (Polyakov, Verlinde and IAS nearby with Witten, Adler, Maldacena would be amazing for a would be string theorist...these are names you just read about when you start learning this stuff and you will be working in contact with them perhaps) , and also Caltech is a great school, the lifestyle in somewhere like Pasadena would be (in my opinion vastly superior than southern England, Sunshine!, Hiking, Beaches, Palm trees, Los Angeles (OK not everyone's cup of tea, but still...), the rest of beautiful California at your doorstep. I think it would be a great life experience, beside the Physics, but the fact you also have a fantastic Physics dept is even more of a bonus.

Is it the Oxford Maths Inst, or Oxford Physics dept? also if you don't mind me asking are you from the US living in UK at the moment or born in the UK? I only ask since if you were born in the UK, you must have an absolutely stellar record and have aced the GRE to get into somewhere like Princeton, I haven't heard of many UK nationals getting in. US gradschool seem to be all the more competitive for internationals.

 

[tNa]

Hi, thanks very much for the reply. Any help at this stage is very useful.

I think it would be very interesting to spend some real time on courses before starting research, especially with more advanced mechanics / E&M which I doubt I will ever come back to again. Oxford and Imperial both have pretty good lecture courses in the first year. Imperial has it's own MSc course which I can attend while Oxford has a reasonably thorough set of lectures (including two series of string lectures, given by Philip Candelas) so I think the US and UK are pretty equal in courses available.

The length of the US PhDs are a definite advantage. Nearly every Professor I have spoken to has said the UK PhDs are not long enough and the extra years give you a big advantage later on. However I do also like the idea of getting down to research early.

Regarding teaching, I think I would want to try my hand at it no matter where I end up so I'm pretty chilled on that.

I'm leaning towards Oxford and Princeton at the moment. I've had some advice from people who are at / have once attended the schools and these seem to be the two which stand out for me. I'd be very interested to hear about the workload at somewhere like Princeton. I like the idea of working hard, however I've heard that places like this work you to death, to the point that hobbies and relationships are almost impossible. Is there any truth to this?

To answer your question, it is the Oxford Physics department. I think it is pretty usual for the physicists to apply to physics and the mathematicians to maths. The string theory group is spread between maths and physics and it seems normal to be supervised from someone outside your department, so I don't think they care too much.

Yes am British, born in the UK. I've heard that it is uncommon for the US schools to admit UK students, I imagine I got very lucky with whoever read my application. I think I've got a pretty decent record (4th in year, 990 on GRE) but I know plenty of people who scare the hell out of me intellectually. Again, I'm just happy that someone thinks I deserve a PhD somewhere!

Thanks very much!

 

[LAHLH]

I think you should go to Princeton if for no other reason than to experience somewhere different, the old Feynman quote springs to mind:

Slater's concern for the well being of others is well illustrated by the following dialog that Richard Feynman relates. It took place at the end of his undergraduate days at MIT, when he wanted to stay on to do a Ph.D.[79]"When I went to Professor Slater and told him of my intentions he said: 'We will not have you here'. I said 'What?' Slater said 'Why do you think you should go to graduate school at MIT?' 'Because it is the best school for science in the country' ... 'That is why you should go to some other school. You should find out how the rest of the world is.' So I went to Princeton. ... Slater was right. And I often advise my students the same way. Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worth while."