Graduated...+1 yr...now what?

[Moose Muscles]

I graduated in May 09' from a smaller, accredited university (Francis Marion University, Florence SC) and have been working a little to pay back some student loans. I am looking to get into University of South Carolina, Dartmouth, and a few other options including Georgia Institute of Technology. So I began preparing for my GRE and PGRE.

My question is not necessarily GRE/PGRE based, it is gear more towards the mention of research. As an undergrad we did not do much out of class research so I don't have much under my belt.

Do you think my professors from my undergrad, also where I work (@FMU) can offer me research opportunities with them where I can locally get research experience while preparing for the exams this coming fall?

Any advice would help.

p.s. My gpa is very sub-par in my opinion. I am the first to go to a university and I worked 3 part time jobs while obtaining my B.S. in computational physics. Ultimately I know this will effect whether I get in or not, so I really need a 900+ PGRE

[HappyQuark]

I graduated in May 09' from a smaller, accredited university (Francis Marion University, Florence SC) and have been working a little to pay back some student loans. I am looking to get into University of South Carolina, Dartmouth, and a few other options including Georgia Institute of Technology. So I began preparing for my GRE and PGRE.

My question is not necessarily GRE/PGRE based, it is gear more towards the mention of research. As an undergrad we did not do much out of class research so I don't have much under my belt.

Do you think my professors from my undergrad, also where I work (@FMU) can offer me research opportunities with them where I can locally get research experience while preparing for the exams this coming fall?

Any advice would help.

p.s. My gpa is very sub-par in my opinion. I am the first to go to a university and I worked 3 part time jobs while obtaining my B.S. in computational physics. Ultimately I know this will effect whether I get in or not, so I really need a 900+ PGRE

For what it's worth, I'm in a very similar situation. I graduated May 09' from a liberal arts college (A very good school and relatively well known but no physics reputation to speak of). There were very few research opportunities at my school and as luck (bad luck that is) had it, the professors research specialties perfectly matched with 2 or 3 students who weren't me. The majority of the physics majors were in a similar situation. It was for this reason that the majority of my professors added in a research project component to every class they offered (which ultimately amounted to a lot of extra work but I would argue was worth it). In any case, I graduated without the ability to say that I was a part of a research team/group and now I'm stuck competing with people who have and, in many cases, can claim to have been published in one form or another. Also like you, my grades are not as good as I feel that they could be or should be. Here is what I am doing to try to improve my chances of going to a good program

1. In lieu of research experience, I have been building up the most impressive resume I can possibly muster in science/research related jobs. I got a job working as an engineer in Aerospace R&D for a Deparment of Defense contractor, Worked a temp job as a lab analyst at a microbiology lab and tutored about 3 years of undergraduate Math and Physics at my university. In the mean time, I'm going to speak to my professors and see if they can help me get involved in some research, but even if they can't I will likely be able to fall back on my work related experience.

2. With my current employer I get tuition reimbursement for any job relevant college courses I want to take. I'm going to use this to retake a couple of the classes that I could have done better in to improve my GPA and better prepare myself for the PGRE.

3. I intend to study my ass off for the PGRE.

For you I would recommend following a similar plan of action. Try your best to get involved with some sort of research program and, if you can't, try to get a job in some sort of science related field. Even if it is at a bio/chem/pharm lab, it is better than nothing. If possible, consider retaking classes that you got poor grades in. When you say your GPA is "sub-par", I don't know how low it is, but what is most important is your GPA in your major. If you have a bunch of B's or C's on any physics or math related courses, the admissions committee will likely conclude that you aren't up to the task of taking graduate level coursework. Alternatively, if you got mostly A's and your GPA is low because of non-major courses, then I wouldn't worry so much about it.

[msccc]

I'm Rimpi Banik..i'm a 1st year mecanical engineering student.from kolkata..please can any of u give me some information about GRE...wht's the subject's are,and how to prepare,name of some good books...i don't know anything ...can u help me..

[HappyQuark]

I'm Rimpi Banik..i'm a 1st year mecanical engineering student.from kolkata..please can any of u give me some information about GRE...wht's the subject's are,and how to prepare,name of some good books...i don't know anything ...can u help me..

This question is not related to the threads topic so it might be wise, in the future, for you to start your own thread when you have a question. Or, better yet, search the forum to see if your question has already been asked and answered. For example, here:

http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2910

Edit: I just realized that you copied and pasted the exact same thing in the very thread I recommended to you. It really is not in your best interest to spam the forum with the same question in multiple places.

[suineglooc]

M studyin in your city in 2nd year Electrical, gues u need 2 figure out wt u want to study 4 masters first. If u r lukin 4 a masters in Mech engg den you can make do with the general GRE with Eglish and Math knowledge(If u hv heard of CAT, dis would 12 times easier dan dat)
But if u r lukin 4 higher study n research in Physics or any physics related sub, u hv to study 4 general as well as subject GRE. Dis is a forum for physics GRE, for official info, check out http://www.ets.org . Dere you would find more details.
BTW, m lukin 4 people studing 4 physics, if interested, contact me thru this forum.

[HappyQuark]

M studyin in your city in 2nd year Electrical, gues u need 2 figure out wt u want to study 4 masters first. If u r lukin 4 a masters in Mech engg den you can make do with the general GRE with Eglish and Math knowledge(If u hv heard of CAT, dis would 12 times easier dan dat)
But if u r lukin 4 higher study n research in Physics or any physics related sub, u hv to study 4 general as well as subject GRE. Dis is a forum for physics GRE, for official info, check out http://www.ets.org . Dere you would find more details.
BTW, m lukin 4 people studing 4 physics, if interested, contact me thru this forum.

Good god man! I had to actively search through your paragraph to make sure you spelled at least one word correctly. You did, but just barely.

[blackcat007]

Good god man! I had to actively search through your paragraph to make sure you spelled at least one word correctly. You did, but just barely.

yeah so many infact.. 1. would 2. city 3. your

I highly doubt typing in this bizarre manner actually expedites the replying process. I tried this out during my coffee break.. and by god! it took me 5 mins to type a single line

[kroner]

He/she probably has some practice. Not that I'm advocating typing that way...