What is graduate study in black holes at UCSB like?

[tien_bui]

Hi everybody,

I am thinking of applying to the grad school at UCSB. I am interested in the theoretical studies of black holes and I’ve heard UCSB is very active in that area. Could someone give me an advice of how it is like? Also, I am a bit worried because of the rumour that it's extremely difficult for international students to get admitted. Is it true?

By the way, do you know any other institutes that are active in theoretical research of black holes? I have little clue apart from UCSB. I guess it's safer to apply to more places. I don't much mind where. Would really appreciate if someone could give me a suggestion.

 

[Choppy]

That's a pretty specific request. You might want to try contacting people within the department itself if you don't get the answers you're looking for here. Normally departments will post the contact info of people in the program. You can always try contacting a few current graduate students to ask them directly about their experiences.

I wouldn't worry about how hard admission is for international students. Assume that it's going to be a very competitive process for everyone, regardless of your background. You can contact the department to find out some of the typical admission statistics if those aren't already posted. And this is one of those pieces of information that a lot of people tend to fret over, but aside from making the decision on whether or not to apply, there isn't much that you can do differently once you have it. Assume that you'll need to put your best foot forward.

Rather than getting suggestions about places that are active in black hole research, why not try reading up on the research that's being done yourself? Start browsing some journals and try to figure out what people are doing in the field right now (or at least in recent years). What kinds of projects look interesting to you? Once you've identified a few places that look interesting, follow the byline information and check out their graduate programs.

 

[romsofia]

Are you interested in computational general relativity, or quantum gravity? I've never heard of just studying black holes.