Grad school guidance (getting accepted)

[Joshua Stewart]

I'm in desperate need of someone with experience in getting accepted to graduate school. I have questions that my local advisors can't answer and was hoping someone on here could help?

 

[Choppy]

What questions do you have?

 

[Joshua Stewart]

Well the biggest thing I'm scratching my head over is the physics gre, I have every intention of going to grad school but all the good ones seem to require the subject test. Which is fine but I have to have my apps in by Feb 1 2018. This means I would have had to take the subject test before taking quantum mech, optics, classical and thermal, which are my classes for senior year. How does this add up? Am I expected to take a semester off between graduating and applying for grad school just for the subject gre?

 

[Dishsoap]

You are taking those four classes in the last semester of your senior year? Have you not had a single semester of quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, or thermal physics previously?

 

[Joshua Stewart]

Nope. My university offers 2 upper division classes every semester and every other year so my junior year I took electronics, modern, physics literature, and electricity and magnetism. I am in optics and thermal now. Classical and quantum for the spring. That's why I'm confused.

 

[Dishsoap]

Modern physics covers a bit of thermo, as well as quantum, right?

Also, unfortunately it's not uncommon for smaller physics departments to do that - it makes studying for the pGRE a much more lengthy process (since I had not yet taken thermal physics or classical mechanics by the pGRE time, I studied for about 8 months prior to taking it, so I could learn enough of those subjects). I would be wary of taking a gap semester - a lot of universities do not accept grad students in the spring.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

You need to take the PGRE in a timely manner. If lack of coursework impacts your score and your applications do not get you into your preferred grad school options, you can take it again after your coursework is more complete. Depending on the outcome of the second try, a "gap year" (or semester) may be advisable where you reapply to your preferred schools with a significantly higher PGRE score.

 

[Crass_Oscillator]

Consider engineering departments, quite a bit of applied physics is done there and a PGRE is not required. You can sometimes get in without an engineering degree.

Also, you seem too obsessed with rankings. I've never really seen any compelling evidence that they make much difference. It depends on what kind of research you want to do though. If you want to do applied physics/engineering, you can go to Louisiana State University over Caltech and the effect on your life will be minimal.

If you want to do foofy fancy physics, well, I hope you are prepared to get into Princeton and be top of the class.

 

[Dishsoap]

Also, you seem too obsessed with rankings. I've never really seen any compelling evidence that they make much difference. It depends on what kind of research you want to do though. If you want to do applied physics/engineering, you can go to Louisiana State University over Caltech and the effect on your life will be minimal.

Most schools, never mind about good schools, require (or highly recommend) the physics GRE. It doesn't make OP "obsessed with rankings". Also, I agree that rankings are meaningless in many contexts - if you want to do AMO physics and you choose Cornell over the University of Nebraska because Cornell is ranked higher, I believe you made a mistake.

But saying that there is no advantage to going to a higher ranked school is just silly. Highly-ranked universities attract world-class researchers and more funding (which may follow from the former). The fact that many students choose a university based on "prestige" raises the competitiveness of admissions into highly-ranked schools, so the advantage of being higher-ranked is self-reinforcing, at least in my opinion.

 

[Crass_Oscillator]

Most schools, never mind about good schools, require (or highly recommend) the physics GRE. It doesn't make OP "obsessed with rankings". Also, I agree that rankings are meaningless in many contexts - if you want to do AMO physics and you choose Cornell over the University of Nebraska because Cornell is ranked higher, I believe you made a mistake.

But saying that there is no advantage to going to a higher ranked school is just silly. Highly-ranked universities attract world-class researchers and more funding (which may follow from the former). The fact that many students choose a university based on "prestige" raises the competitiveness of admissions into highly-ranked schools, so the advantage of being higher-ranked is self-reinforcing, at least in my opinion.

The physics GRE barely matters at lower ranked schools provided you've convinced a researcher there that you're worth working with, and at engineering schools only the general GRE matters. I'm not advocating not being excellent and getting a good score, I'm advocating realizing that it matters far less than people think.

Again, there is hardly any evidence that going to a fancy school really matters much; it's a very small, albeit not irrelevant, variable in the equation. Other factors, like you pointed out, matter more. I also think the bonuses are more exponential when it comes to prestige; if I'm going to theorize, I'd say that only the top students at Princeton are going to gain a lot from prestige, since, after all, getting a good GPA, letters, and PGRE score is a matter of dotting your i's and crossing your t's.

Anybody motivated enough can do it, talent is another matter.