Can someone please help me finalize my school list?

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IaMkizzz
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:22 am

Can someone please help me finalize my school list?

Post by IaMkizzz » Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:51 am

Hi all! I am a master's student (yea that's right I applied once for Ph.D. but the results were not so fantastic) at an ivy league school. My undergraduate background is in Mathematics and Physics, and my GPAs (general, majors) were in the range of 3.6- 3.7(not so good in a cal state school). My master's GPA is 3.8 (terrible I know). My interest is in Soft matter/fluid/Biophysics. My undergrad research is in nuclear physics. I personally don't like this experience. It almost got my interest in research destroyed. My master's research is in biophysics, which I have been doing for more than a year. Close to publish but not there yet. I made some discoveries in my research, thus I am expecting a good letter from my PI. Here is my list:

Super Reach:
UPenn
UChicago
UCLA

Almost Super Reach:
UCSD (my dream school, wonderful groups that I am pretty interested in there)
UIUC
UT Austin

Match
UC Merced (cold-emailed: positive feedback)
Utah (Mechanical Engineering) (pi has some connection)
Stony Brook
Brandeis

Safety(Maybe?)
Virginia tech (cold-emailed: invite me to attend a campus tour, virtual. Didn't make it. Forgot to register :oops: )
U Colorado Mines (got a couple of invitation through gradschoolshopper)


My question: should I include some more safety schools or delete some high reach schools? what's my chance of getting into one?

IaMkizzz
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:22 am

Re: Can someone please help me finalize my school list?

Post by IaMkizzz » Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:05 pm

IaMkizzz wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:51 am
Hi all! I am a master's student (yea that's right I applied once for Ph.D. but the results were not so fantastic) at an ivy league school. My undergraduate background is in Mathematics and Physics, and my GPAs (general, majors) were in the range of 3.6- 3.7(not so good in a cal state school). My master's GPA is 3.8 (terrible I know). My interest is in Soft matter/fluid/Biophysics. My undergrad research is in nuclear physics. I personally don't like this experience. It almost got my interest in research destroyed. My master's research is in biophysics, which I have been doing for more than a year. Close to publish but not there yet. I made some discoveries in my research, thus I am expecting a good letter from my PI. Here is my list:

Super Reach:
UPenn
UChicago
UCLA

Almost Super Reach:
UCSD (my dream school, wonderful groups that I am pretty interested in there)
UIUC
UT Austin

Match
UC Merced (cold-emailed: positive feedback)
Utah (Mechanical Engineering) (pi has some connection)
Stony Brook
Brandeis

Safety(Maybe?)
Virginia tech (cold-emailed: invite me to attend a campus tour, virtual. Didn't make it. Forgot to register :oops: )
U Colorado Mines (got a couple of invitation through gradschoolshopper)


My question: should I include some more safety schools or delete some high reach schools? what's my chance of getting into one?

I am applying for soft matter/ biophysics. Just to clarify



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