- #1
omarhafs
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So I'm your overly ambitious first year Physics student at Imperial College. I am currently planning out possible life routes. The following is written by me in the future, hopefully (it's just easier):
So I finished my Physics degree with a first (hopefully), but I have since been abroad for around 6 years as a student preparing for and completing a degree in an entirely different subject and language (I have another love besides physics). I am returning to the UK this year and want to apply for the QFFF course at Imperial with a view to follow it up with a PhD and a career in research. Do I have a chance? I am 30 years old (finished A Levels at 18, took a gap year which I spent abroad learning another language, did the first year of uni, took another gap year as I got a well paid job teaching the language on a gap year program in the UK, and then went back to uni and graduated at 24 with an MPhys from Imperial College. Add 6 more years of being abroad, I'm now 30!)
My reasons:
- I want to quench my thirst and have a good grounding in another field that I am very interested in, so I can read about, study further, and teach in my own time.
- Physics is my primary interest, it is what I want to settle with and have a career in. If I do my PhD immediately after graduating and *then* go abroad for 6 years doing something completely unrelated, I'd assume it's much more difficult to be taken seriously as a physicist once I return.
- My thinking: so perhaps ace the undergrad, go abroad, come back and apply for a masters and then do a PhD and straight onto a career as a physicist?
Of course it's a given that I'd have to keep up my maths/physics in some way and make sure that it's more than up to scratch when applying.
Alternative route: apply and (if I get in) do the QFFF immediately after graduating, then go abroad, then come back and apply for PhD.
Alternative route 2: scrap QFFF, too unlikely, but other masters in physics likely?
I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts! Will my application for QFFF after 6 years away be taken seriously or will I still have a good chance? Are the alternatives more feasible? Any alternative suggestions that I have not thought of?
Thanks
Omar
So I finished my Physics degree with a first (hopefully), but I have since been abroad for around 6 years as a student preparing for and completing a degree in an entirely different subject and language (I have another love besides physics). I am returning to the UK this year and want to apply for the QFFF course at Imperial with a view to follow it up with a PhD and a career in research. Do I have a chance? I am 30 years old (finished A Levels at 18, took a gap year which I spent abroad learning another language, did the first year of uni, took another gap year as I got a well paid job teaching the language on a gap year program in the UK, and then went back to uni and graduated at 24 with an MPhys from Imperial College. Add 6 more years of being abroad, I'm now 30!)
My reasons:
- I want to quench my thirst and have a good grounding in another field that I am very interested in, so I can read about, study further, and teach in my own time.
- Physics is my primary interest, it is what I want to settle with and have a career in. If I do my PhD immediately after graduating and *then* go abroad for 6 years doing something completely unrelated, I'd assume it's much more difficult to be taken seriously as a physicist once I return.
- My thinking: so perhaps ace the undergrad, go abroad, come back and apply for a masters and then do a PhD and straight onto a career as a physicist?
Of course it's a given that I'd have to keep up my maths/physics in some way and make sure that it's more than up to scratch when applying.
Alternative route: apply and (if I get in) do the QFFF immediately after graduating, then go abroad, then come back and apply for PhD.
Alternative route 2: scrap QFFF, too unlikely, but other masters in physics likely?
I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts! Will my application for QFFF after 6 years away be taken seriously or will I still have a good chance? Are the alternatives more feasible? Any alternative suggestions that I have not thought of?
Thanks
Omar