Great Research+LoR, bad GPA+PGRE, no hope for physics grad?

[one0225]

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[ol]

I have a friend with similar stats and was admitted to Pittsburgh for cosmology. He seems to like it there a lot. I would also look at USC and RPI since I know people who go to those places as well and are happy. Maryland, UCSD, Michigan are probably reaches for you. Ohio State - I would apply to their astro department instead of the physics department. Not that there is anything wrong with their physics department, but the astro dept doesn't weight the PGRE as much, and it has produced several Hubble fellows in recent years. Someone transferred into the astro phd program there from my school and it was a good fit for him.

[one0225]

I have a friend with similar stats and was admitted to Pittsburgh for cosmology. He seems to like it there a lot. I would also look at USC and RPI since I know people who go to those places as well and are happy. Maryland, UCSD, Michigan are probably reaches for you. Ohio State - I would apply to their astro department instead of the physics department. Not that there is anything wrong with their physics department, but the astro dept doesn't weight the PGRE as much, and it has produced several Hubble fellows in recent years. Someone transferred into the astro phd program there from my school and it was a good fit for him.

Thank you for your reply!
I'll be happy if I'll get accepted from RPI and USC.
The reason why I didn't think about Ohio astro is because their astro program is one of top-ranked, so I was considering their physics grad just for better chance (Surely their physics is very good for me. Don't get me wrong )
I'm glad to hear that, at least, my chance to get in grad is not abysmal.

[bfollinprm]

UC Davis and Pittsburgh should both be on your list, unless that big public school in CA you're currently going to is Davis, in which case...hello!

Another great under-the-radar option for astro/cosmology is Case Western University. John Ruhl and Glenn Starkman are established stars, and Claudia Rham is an up-and-comer. Their particle group is also very astro-oriented.

Outside of the States is also an option, where UBC and McGill in Canada have great cosmology groups.

[one0225]

UC Davis and Pittsburgh should both be on your list, unless that big public school in CA you're currently going to is Davis, in which case...hello!

Another great under-the-radar option for astro/cosmology is Case Western University. John Ruhl and Glenn Starkman are established stars, and Claudia Rham is an up-and-comer. Their particle group is also very astro-oriented.

Outside of the States is also an option, where UBC and McGill in Canada have great cosmology groups.

Thank you for the info! (im not a UC-Davis undergrad, but hello! )
I was considering UC-Davis, but I found their average PGRE distribution is very high (I saw the distribution graph somewhere in this forum), so I hesitated little.
Pittsburgh and Case Western will be great. I'll surely do more research on them

Do you guys think UCSC, NYU, CMU, SUNY-Stony Brook are going to be too difficult for me? or maybe I can try some of these as my reach or some for mid-range?

[bfollinprm]

UC Davis and Pittsburgh should both be on your list, unless that big public school in CA you're currently going to is Davis, in which case...hello!

Another great under-the-radar option for astro/cosmology is Case Western University. John Ruhl and Glenn Starkman are established stars, and Claudia Rham is an up-and-comer. Their particle group is also very astro-oriented.

Outside of the States is also an option, where UBC and McGill in Canada have great cosmology groups.

Thank you for the info! (im not a UC-Davis undergrad, but hello! )
I was considering UC-Davis, but I found their average PGRE distribution is very high (I saw the distribution graph somewhere in this forum), so I hesitated little.
Pittsburgh and Case Western will be great. I'll surely do more research on them

Do you guys think UCSC, NYU, CMU, SUNY-Stony Brook are going to be too difficult for me? or maybe I can try some of these as my reach or some for mid-range?

It's hard to tell, especially since we don't have all the information. You'll have to make some decisions on your own. I can say my impression on limited info is you have a GPA on the low-end, a find PGRE for schools ranked below 20, but an exceptional research background. I found NYU and CMU to be surprisingly hard to get into. I think they both have name recognition that makes them pull above their weight in admissions.

[one0225]

UC Davis and Pittsburgh should both be on your list, unless that big public school in CA you're currently going to is Davis, in which case...hello!

Another great under-the-radar option for astro/cosmology is Case Western University. John Ruhl and Glenn Starkman are established stars, and Claudia Rham is an up-and-comer. Their particle group is also very astro-oriented.

Outside of the States is also an option, where UBC and McGill in Canada have great cosmology groups.

Thank you for the info! (im not a UC-Davis undergrad, but hello! )
I was considering UC-Davis, but I found their average PGRE distribution is very high (I saw the distribution graph somewhere in this forum), so I hesitated little.
Pittsburgh and Case Western will be great. I'll surely do more research on them

Do you guys think UCSC, NYU, CMU, SUNY-Stony Brook are going to be too difficult for me? or maybe I can try some of these as my reach or some for mid-range?

It's hard to tell, especially since we don't have all the information. You'll have to make some decisions on your own. I can say my impression on limited info is you have a GPA on the low-end, a find PGRE for schools ranked below 20, but an exceptional research background. I found NYU and CMU to be surprisingly hard to get into. I think they both have name recognition that makes them pull above their weight in admissions.

Thank you for the info abt NYU and CMU!