Admissions Do I have a REAL chance to study a MSc in astrophysics in Europe, USA?

AI Thread Summary
A student from Chile, nearing completion of a bachelor's degree in Astronomy, seeks fully funded MSc/PhD opportunities in physics or astrophysics in the USA or Europe, particularly Germany, due to financial constraints. They have a GPA of 3.3-3.4, have developed cosmological observational methods in Python, and have proposed a new cosmological model for their thesis. Concerns were raised about the student's GPA being below the typical 3.5 threshold favored by US programs and the potential negative perception of their university's ranking. The student has a TOEFL score of 105, which may qualify them for teaching assistantships, but further details about their Physics GRE score are needed. The discussion emphasizes the importance of a strong academic background and the credibility of publication venues in the application process.
Dorian Araya
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Good afternoon and peace to you, i am from Chile in a university that is NOT top 10 in my country and i currently in my last semester(ending in December) of bachelor degree in Astronomy and i want to study a MSc/Phd in physics or astrophysics in USA or Europe (preferably Germany) next year, the real problem is that i am poor in Chile (I have a scholarship to study for free in Chile) so i really need a really good funded scholarship, if not, is impossible to me. My CV is like this:
- 3.3-3.4 GPA

-I programmed 5 cosmological observational methods in Python to test cosmological models (Cosmic Chronometers, Strong Lensing System, BAO, SNIa and CMB) using samples of each one.

- For my thesis i proposed a new cosmological model similar to interactive dark energy models and this model will be tested using the data of the samples mentioned above which i will send to a journal in October or November.

- In November of this year probably i will present this new cosmological model in the most important congress of Astronomy in Chile.

- I presented in a international workshop of cosmology a cosmological model similar to Wcdm with the samples mentioned above, I sent this model to the journal dark universe physics (Q1) and it is now under review.

- I traveled to Mexico 1 month to do a investigation on the Randall Sundrum model( 5D universe) with observational data (the mentioned above), i will send this work to the journal JCAP (Q1) by the end of this month.

Thanks for reading and your time.
 
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I have good news and bad news. I can only speak to the US. First the good:
Dorian Araya said:
i really need a really good funded scholarship
In the US virtually all graduate programs come with assistantships. What is your TOEFL?

Now the bad:
Dorian Araya said:
3-3.4 GPA
Low. The US wants to see above 3.5.
Dorian Araya said:
a university that is NOT top 10 in my country
That is a problem. There are 160 or so PhD-granting programs in the US. Every single one of these is far, far above the #11 university in Chile.

The admissions committee will look at this and conclude "went to a not very good school and did not very well there". That will be a problem. What is your PGRE score?

Dorian Araya said:
I sent this model to the journal dark universe physics (Q1)
This is problematic in so many ways...
  • Q1 is meaningless, when most Q2-4 are predatory
  • Sending to a journal is not the same as being published
  • There is no journal "Dark Universe Physics". Either it is predatory or you meant "Physics of the Dark Universe". If the former, it won't help. If the latter, it will seriously hurt you: at the very best, getting the journal name is wrong is sloppy. Who wants a sloppy student? And other explanations are even worse.
 
My TOEFL is 105, the CV I wrote was to have a general idea about my situation, it is not the formal or definitive CV and yes, I was referring to physics of the dark universe, sorry for my mistake.
Thank you very much for the advice!
 
A score of 105 will make you eligible for a TA at most, but not all, universities.

And the PGRE?
 
Hey, I am Andreas from Germany. I am currently 35 years old and I want to relearn math and physics. This is not one of these regular questions when it comes to this matter. So... I am very realistic about it. I know that there are severe contraints when it comes to selfstudy compared to a regular school and/or university (structure, peers, teachers, learning groups, tests, access to papers and so on) . I will never get a job in this field and I will never be taken serious by "real"...
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