Physics GRE Discussion Forums

E.g. Brown actually asks you for your social media profiles - I wonder what they use that for.

And Berkeley allows you to write an additional essay.

What other schools have applications that ask for some particularly unusual information?

The diversity one for the UC system is strange.

When I applied to universities in Germany they all not only wanted copies of my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees but a copy of my high school diploma as well! I was rather amused to think of the presumption that someone could apply for a science PhD with physics degrees yet have never graduated high school.

Andromeda wrote:The diversity one for the UC system is strange.

When I applied to universities in Germany they all not only wanted copies of my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees but a copy of my high school diploma as well! I was rather amused to think of the presumption that someone could apply for a science PhD with physics degrees yet have never graduated high school.

I have a brother who has been studying in europe for 8 years now.. as far as he goes and my exp talking with the admissions people there, i think Germans/swiss etc want that because european high schools are way way specialized and tougher than here, so they seek the science scores of the applicants from high schools. they need to do it because all of their applicants are very specialized and have good records.. High school is a big thing in west europe.
they separate you as soon as 8th grade and put you to 'science' , business', journalism etc schools

InquilineKea wrote:E.g. Brown actually asks you for your social media profiles - I wonder what they use that for.

And Berkeley allows you to write an additional essay.

What other schools have applications that ask for some particularly unusual information?

I skipped all the schools that asked for an additional essay.

ONE EXTRA ESSAY?SERIOUSLY? jk

I don't know how abnormal this is in general, but of the schools I applied to, Arizona State was the only one that required rec letters via snail mail. I actually decided to withdraw my application rather than put my recommenders through the hassle. I was going to have to fill out my portion and sign the waiver mail it from Missouri to California/Michigan, they would have to write answers to the specific questions by hand and then mail it to Arizona. Is a simple upload option really that difficult?

lxhrk9 wrote:I don't know how abnormal this is in general, but of the schools I applied to, Arizona State was the only one that required rec letters via snail mail. I actually decided to withdraw my application rather than put my recommenders through the hassle. I was going to have to fill out my portion and sign the waiver mail it from Missouri to California/Michigan, they would have to write answers to the specific questions by hand and then mail it to Arizona. Is a simple upload option really that difficult?

Yea that's messed up. The only plausible explanation I can think of is that they deliberately make their app inconvenient to weed out people who aren't in love with them or who only want them as a safety. Actually, a similar thing happened with me... I was initially planning to apply to Maryland as a safety (in 2007-8), but when I realized their app was harder than everyone else's (I forget in what way), I said screw it.

It makes no sense to require snail mail unless they have some convoluted motive or they want to save a few pennies on paper at the expense of the applicants they want to recruit.

lxhrk9 wrote:I don't know how abnormal this is in general, but of the schools I applied to, Arizona State was the only one that required rec letters via snail mail. I actually decided to withdraw my application rather than put my recommenders through the hassle. I was going to have to fill out my portion and sign the waiver mail it from Missouri to California/Michigan, they would have to write answers to the specific questions by hand and then mail it to Arizona. Is a simple upload option really that difficult?

Their SESE program isn't like that, so they must have the ability to take emailed LORs and just choose not to.

lxhrk9 wrote:I don't know how abnormal this is in general, but of the schools I applied to, Arizona State was the only one that required rec letters via snail mail. I actually decided to withdraw my application rather than put my recommenders through the hassle. I was going to have to fill out my portion and sign the waiver mail it from Missouri to California/Michigan, they would have to write answers to the specific questions by hand and then mail it to Arizona. Is a simple upload option really that difficult?

For those who are planning to apply in the future, UHawaii Astro is like this too (including the annoying signing waiver first then mailing to a recommender in another city). However, they do have an option for letter writers to submit online, but you need to give your letter writer a login and password. BUT, this is only available after you have submitted your entire application, basically. Generally, I like to give my letter writers 1 month advance notice (with a reminder at 2 weeks and then 2 days before) but that is pretty hard when in general, I don't always have the full application ready until closer to the deadline.

Yeah, application fatigue really does set in towards the deadline.

I was originally planning to apply to 12-15 schools, but halved that list due to application fatigue during early January.

In particular, I ultimately didn't apply to schools that only ask for LORs once you've submitted your application (even though I did start on those apps).

And also, I didn't like the idea of applying to schools that want me to send an official transcript (and that would waste extra money).

So this meant that my application stalled at places like Arizona, Colorado, Penn State, Oregon State (their app was particularly user-unfriendly), and even Washington (I started on my app, sure, but was hesitant about paying the $$$ to send official transcripts). Interestingly, elite private schools seem to be a lot more lenient on the requirement to send official transcripts (though Chicago and MIT were the exceptions to that).

I am just confused where i apply for admission????????????

Someone once told me there is a school with a good physics department at Mars.

akrtutor wrote:I am just confused where i apply for admission????????????

For god's sake will someone please help this poor fellow out?????????!

Good physics department at Mars? You can only get a decent RA stint if your last name is Wong!! Otherwise, you've gone to the Wong place!

And since men are from Mars and women are from Venus, the gender ratio in the Mars program is just as bad as Earth's physics programs.

Except for the monkeys with the smart hats.

asdfuogh wrote:Except for the monkeys with the smart hats.

I'm not quite sure I'm getting your Futurama references... could you give one more?