Help me narrow down my grad school list?
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 10:01 pm
I'm applying to PhD programs this fall for observational cosmology and galaxy evolution, and am also very interested in data science. I have 15 schools on my list right now (two of them are masters as safeties), and I'm having a hard time narrowing this down to something more feasible. Ideally I'd like to apply to maybe 10 PhD programs, plus the two MS programs. Here are my stats:
GPA: 3.63 (last two years cumulative GPA from a top school); 3.92 (first two years at a lesser-known public school before transferring to the top school)
Major: Physics
GRE: 162Q, 159V, ?AW (waiting on score)
PGRE: 650 (38th percentile, but a lot of schools don't require this)
Letters of rec: 4 from previous/current PIs; they should be fairly strong.
Research: Did research in theoretical astrophysics (creating models of interstellar dust extinction) throughout my 4th year, which resulted in a poster presentation at my school’s undergrad research day as well as at an astronomy conference. I also did two summers of research (summer before 4th year and summer before 5th year) in the Planetary & Space Sciences department, and this professor told me his letter of rec was strong. Since I graduated (Dec 2018), I’ve been doing a lot more research. From Jan-June I worked with a professor at my school in observational astrophysics. In July I started working full-time doing science and data analysis of data from a NASA-funded satellite which is run out of my school, and this is what I’m doing currently.
Additional coursework: I took a grad course at my school in cosmology/extragalactic astrophysics (the second one in the grad series, without taking the first one), and got an A. I’m also currently taking a machine learning in R class online (offered through my school), which I will get an A in.
Other: I was very involved with the Physics department (leadership positions in almost every astronomy/physics/women in physics club), and was also the manager of a student-run research project where I mentored younger undergrads.
My current grad school list:
1. UCLA — PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
2. UC Irvine — PhD in Physics
3. UC Santa Cruz — PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
4. UC San Diego -- PhD in Physics
5. University of British Columbia — Masters in Astronomy
6. University of Pittsburgh -- PhD in Physics
7. Penn State -- PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
8. University of Southern California — PhD in Physics w/ Masters in Computer Science (joint program)
9. UMass Amherst — PhD in Astronomy
10. University of Washington -- PhD in Astronomy
11. Wesleyan University — PhD in Physics
12. University of Chicago -- PhD in Astronomy
13. Columbia -- PhD in Physics/Astronomy
14. San Fransisco State — Masters in Physics w/ concentration in Astronomy
15. Cal State Northridge — Masters in Physics
Obviously I have a lot of reaches on my list (Chicago, Columbia, Washington, Penn; even the UCs I might consider a reach). I do think it's good to include some reaches, but I also want to be realistic because I want to get in somewhere! But it's hard for me to even imagine what a safety PhD program would be... I was thinking of adding Oregon to my list, but the research there is slightly less exciting to me than the other schools on my list and they appear to have a much smaller department.
What would you suggest removing from my list? Also please let me know if I'm overlooking any programs you might know of that could be a good match for me or more of a "safety". Also, for the schools that say the PGRE is optional, would you recommend reporting it or not in my case? Thanks!
GPA: 3.63 (last two years cumulative GPA from a top school); 3.92 (first two years at a lesser-known public school before transferring to the top school)
Major: Physics
GRE: 162Q, 159V, ?AW (waiting on score)
PGRE: 650 (38th percentile, but a lot of schools don't require this)
Letters of rec: 4 from previous/current PIs; they should be fairly strong.
Research: Did research in theoretical astrophysics (creating models of interstellar dust extinction) throughout my 4th year, which resulted in a poster presentation at my school’s undergrad research day as well as at an astronomy conference. I also did two summers of research (summer before 4th year and summer before 5th year) in the Planetary & Space Sciences department, and this professor told me his letter of rec was strong. Since I graduated (Dec 2018), I’ve been doing a lot more research. From Jan-June I worked with a professor at my school in observational astrophysics. In July I started working full-time doing science and data analysis of data from a NASA-funded satellite which is run out of my school, and this is what I’m doing currently.
Additional coursework: I took a grad course at my school in cosmology/extragalactic astrophysics (the second one in the grad series, without taking the first one), and got an A. I’m also currently taking a machine learning in R class online (offered through my school), which I will get an A in.
Other: I was very involved with the Physics department (leadership positions in almost every astronomy/physics/women in physics club), and was also the manager of a student-run research project where I mentored younger undergrads.
My current grad school list:
1. UCLA — PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
2. UC Irvine — PhD in Physics
3. UC Santa Cruz — PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
4. UC San Diego -- PhD in Physics
5. University of British Columbia — Masters in Astronomy
6. University of Pittsburgh -- PhD in Physics
7. Penn State -- PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics
8. University of Southern California — PhD in Physics w/ Masters in Computer Science (joint program)
9. UMass Amherst — PhD in Astronomy
10. University of Washington -- PhD in Astronomy
11. Wesleyan University — PhD in Physics
12. University of Chicago -- PhD in Astronomy
13. Columbia -- PhD in Physics/Astronomy
14. San Fransisco State — Masters in Physics w/ concentration in Astronomy
15. Cal State Northridge — Masters in Physics
Obviously I have a lot of reaches on my list (Chicago, Columbia, Washington, Penn; even the UCs I might consider a reach). I do think it's good to include some reaches, but I also want to be realistic because I want to get in somewhere! But it's hard for me to even imagine what a safety PhD program would be... I was thinking of adding Oregon to my list, but the research there is slightly less exciting to me than the other schools on my list and they appear to have a much smaller department.
What would you suggest removing from my list? Also please let me know if I'm overlooking any programs you might know of that could be a good match for me or more of a "safety". Also, for the schools that say the PGRE is optional, would you recommend reporting it or not in my case? Thanks!