Transferring to US to do PHD from UK Bsc Physics

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a student from Asia pursuing a BSc in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London, contemplating a PhD in the USA. The student faces a dilemma between applying for US programs and potentially missing out on a UK MSc opportunity. Concerns about securing funding for US universities are highlighted, particularly for top institutions like UC Berkeley. Participants emphasize the importance of GRE preparation and the competitive nature of admissions and funding in the US. Ultimately, the student decides to complete their MSc in the UK before considering a move to the US for further studies.
jimmytesco
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Hi,everyone. I'm from asia, doing a BSC degree Theoretical physics in Imperial college London, currently finished my second year and got approximately 75% .. As an international student, I understand that very high academic achievement is needed to get any source of funding e.g. scholarship from any university institution in UK, for example, Imperial runs a programme which provides full funding for student apart from UK, however there are only 50 places over the whole college. Therefore, I 'm thinking of doing my Phd in USA, I wonder if anyone has similar background or experience before?

I haven't yet started preparing GRE general test and subject test, I'm facing a two-side dilemma , if I apply for USA phd , I risk losing my chance to do my Msc in UK since I 'm trying to apply the one which starts in Feb 2016, I'm graduating in June 2015, I imagine I will have to confirm my UK offer in Sep, and I would not have heard any result back from US university until then.What can I do?

Lastly,I would like to know how good do I need to be to secure funding from USA university? I'm applying for the top 50 US schools, and University California Berkeley is probably the level of university I'm going to, as I want to work in a strong research group with enthusiatic people. Thank you in advance, I saw many interesting dicussions going on in this forum , this is the first time of me Posting lol .
 
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I don't know much about schools in the UK, but if your school is on the level of UC Berkeley, you're at one of the best and should certainly get into a top 50 us grad school without too much trouble. I believe Berkeley generally ranks in the top 10. Rankings are all subjective. It's in my top 10.

For the US, people take the physics gre at the beginning of their senior year. I took my regular gre over summer before senior year. If you are graduating in a year, you should maybe be thinking about taking them soon.

It sounds like you need to decide if you want to stay in the Uk or come here to the US. That's a personal decision, I'm sure the Uk is great too.
 
if your school is on the level of UC Berkeley

Whichever ranking table you want to believe, IC is in the top 20 world-wide. If you want to claim it's in the top 10 world wide in physics, you can find a ranking table to support that.

IC is generally considered to be #3 in the UK, behind Oxford and Cambridge. Unlike Oxbridge, it is focused only on science and technology, as its full name implies.
 
RE:F=qE and AlephZero, thanks for clarifying, IC is top 10 uni in the world, I'm applying for UCB because my friend is living there, lol you guys didn't give me good advices but it's alright. I decided not to go to USA until I finish my Msc.
 
jimmytesco said:
lol you guys didn't give me good advices but it's alright..
You could have said thank you both for bothering to read my OP and write something nice instead of saying you guys didn't give me good advice, but it's ok.

I tried to give you some insight into what and when you'd need to take the gre's for us grad schools. I won't be bothering to read any more threads you make in the future.
 
F=qE said:
You could have said thank you both for bothering to read my OP and write something nice instead of saying you guys didn't give me good advice, but it's ok.

I tried to give you some insight into what and when you'd need to take the gre's for us grad schools. I won't be bothering to read any more threads you make in the future.

It's true that you didn't give any helpful advice, what are you making fuss about? I didn't blame you for not making contribution, I was just stating "facts", I 'm trying to change the topic and avoid arguments over comparing imperial and ucb. All i know they are both good unis .
 
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"...
Yesterday, 9/5/2025, when I was surfing, I found an article The Schwarzschild solution contains three problems, which can be easily solved - Journal of King Saud University - Science ABUNDANCE ESTIMATION IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT https://jksus.org/the-schwarzschild-solution-contains-three-problems-which-can-be-easily-solved/ that has the derivation of a line element as a corrected version of the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein’s field equation. This article's date received is 2022-11-15...

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