- #1
Shablong
- 20
- 1
Hello PF community, I've used this site for quite a while for references on self learning and just plain entertainment. I figured it was time for me to make my own cliche "Can I make it?" thread. Thanks in advance for any responses.
I'm going to skip the long part about my history with school, but I am now completely motivated and desperate to start school. (I'm 21 now) My current situation is that I couldn't afford going to my large state school for many reasons. (Mostly the cost of being married young) However I am now working a private university working in the chemical engineering laboratory. With my current benefits I will be be able to go to school tuition free.
The catch of the whole deal is that I am allowed only 9 credit hours per semester, if I can make it fit in my work schedule. Since it is a medium sized private research university, they offer close to no evening classes, but do have a good selection of summer classes.
Now to my question... Will I be able to get into a decent grad school (for physics) if I have little physics related research? Seeing as I have to work 40 hours a week to be able to get my tuition waiver, participating in a large amount to my university's physics related research is unlikely. I unfortunately am not interested at all in chemical (petroleum focused) engineering; however, I am currently participating in the research (as a technician and to some degree data analyzer) that is at the top of its respective field.
Fast forward 5-6 years and I'm hypothetically graduating after acing all of my courses and have a respectable GRE score, will my lack of physics related research work against me? Maybe the converse could be true, maybe having a good background in research of any kind would be a good thing?
I don't know! Sorry for the long road of text, but I am at the current crossroads between deciding on going to some sort of engineering or staying with my love that is physics. By the way I do understand the horrible job prospects post graduation, but I am not adverse to working in industry or programming.
I'm going to skip the long part about my history with school, but I am now completely motivated and desperate to start school. (I'm 21 now) My current situation is that I couldn't afford going to my large state school for many reasons. (Mostly the cost of being married young) However I am now working a private university working in the chemical engineering laboratory. With my current benefits I will be be able to go to school tuition free.
The catch of the whole deal is that I am allowed only 9 credit hours per semester, if I can make it fit in my work schedule. Since it is a medium sized private research university, they offer close to no evening classes, but do have a good selection of summer classes.
Now to my question... Will I be able to get into a decent grad school (for physics) if I have little physics related research? Seeing as I have to work 40 hours a week to be able to get my tuition waiver, participating in a large amount to my university's physics related research is unlikely. I unfortunately am not interested at all in chemical (petroleum focused) engineering; however, I am currently participating in the research (as a technician and to some degree data analyzer) that is at the top of its respective field.
Fast forward 5-6 years and I'm hypothetically graduating after acing all of my courses and have a respectable GRE score, will my lack of physics related research work against me? Maybe the converse could be true, maybe having a good background in research of any kind would be a good thing?
I don't know! Sorry for the long road of text, but I am at the current crossroads between deciding on going to some sort of engineering or staying with my love that is physics. By the way I do understand the horrible job prospects post graduation, but I am not adverse to working in industry or programming.
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