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creepypasta13
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So I'm about to apply to grad schools in physics and applied math, but had a few questions about what to say in my application. I got my undergrad degrees in them last December, but took some engineering classes (in mechanical/aerospace engineering) the following semester, and have done some internships/temp jobs since then, until my employment with one of them ended in Sept. Since then, I have spent most of my time just studying for the physics GRE.
1. In February, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. As I had lots of trouble finding jobs, and I had some interest in AE, I decided to apply to just 1 graduate program, the AE grad program at my undergrad school. I did it as a backup plan. When I got offered a job in July, my company planned to pay me to get my MS, so I decided to accept the grad admission from my school. But since the employment ended unexpectedly, I have since decided I want to go back for a phD in physics.
My school mentioned that my grad admission acceptance will show up on my official transcript, but I can request to have it taken off. Should I? Will it look bad if they think I 'suddenly' switched interest from AE to physics? As for those engineering classes, I enrolled in them through my school's extension program, so my grades for them show up in a separate transcript. I did worse in them than my physics/math classes. Should I include them in my grad application? Or will it look even worse if they see 'gaps' in what I've done in my life since graduating?
2. My father got seriously ill towards the end of my undergrad. As a result, I felt pressured by my family to take fewer classes and graduate asap, before he passed. Thus, I finished the physics BA, not BS, and didn't get to take any physics electives, in particular solid-state physics. I did complete 2 research projects related to materials modeling, so that's why I'm mostly interested in doing condensed matter in grad school. Also, just after I graduated, I got accepted into the internship research program at Argonne National Lab, but I had to turn it down, as my father looked to be in his final days. Should I tell my LOR writers to mention these issues in their letters? I mentioned it to 2 of them before, when I had to tell them I rejected the Argonne offer, but they may not remember
I was thinking of mentioning these issues in my SOP or some other section. How should I word it so that it doesn't sound like I'm coming up with excuses for my less-than-great record? My GPA suffered some during this period. It was hit the hardest in my last semester, since I had to cram in everything to complete my units to graduate. My 3rd LOR may now be weaker because it will now have to come from a prof I took a class with as opposed to someone I could have done research with.
1. In February, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. As I had lots of trouble finding jobs, and I had some interest in AE, I decided to apply to just 1 graduate program, the AE grad program at my undergrad school. I did it as a backup plan. When I got offered a job in July, my company planned to pay me to get my MS, so I decided to accept the grad admission from my school. But since the employment ended unexpectedly, I have since decided I want to go back for a phD in physics.
My school mentioned that my grad admission acceptance will show up on my official transcript, but I can request to have it taken off. Should I? Will it look bad if they think I 'suddenly' switched interest from AE to physics? As for those engineering classes, I enrolled in them through my school's extension program, so my grades for them show up in a separate transcript. I did worse in them than my physics/math classes. Should I include them in my grad application? Or will it look even worse if they see 'gaps' in what I've done in my life since graduating?
2. My father got seriously ill towards the end of my undergrad. As a result, I felt pressured by my family to take fewer classes and graduate asap, before he passed. Thus, I finished the physics BA, not BS, and didn't get to take any physics electives, in particular solid-state physics. I did complete 2 research projects related to materials modeling, so that's why I'm mostly interested in doing condensed matter in grad school. Also, just after I graduated, I got accepted into the internship research program at Argonne National Lab, but I had to turn it down, as my father looked to be in his final days. Should I tell my LOR writers to mention these issues in their letters? I mentioned it to 2 of them before, when I had to tell them I rejected the Argonne offer, but they may not remember
I was thinking of mentioning these issues in my SOP or some other section. How should I word it so that it doesn't sound like I'm coming up with excuses for my less-than-great record? My GPA suffered some during this period. It was hit the hardest in my last semester, since I had to cram in everything to complete my units to graduate. My 3rd LOR may now be weaker because it will now have to come from a prof I took a class with as opposed to someone I could have done research with.
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