2024 Applicant Profile and Admission Results

[aes]

Undergrad Institution: Small LAC
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.21
Overall GPA: 3.17
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Probably top 1/3
Type of Student: American Male (White/Asian)

Physics GRE: 870 (76th Percentile)

Research Experience: A lot

Applying to Where:
University of Oregon | Physics Ph.D. | hep-ex (ATLAS): Feb. 06: ACCEPTED for Ph.D via email
University of Tokyo | Physics M.S. + Ph.D. (GSGC) | hep-ex (Belle II): Jan. 26: Interview w/ Kavli IPMU Faculty, Mar. 03: ACCEPTED for M.S. + Ph.D (GSGC) via email, WILL ATTEND
University of Washington | Physics Ph.D. | hep-ex (ATLAS): Mar. 28: REJECTED for Ph.D. via email

[BeriPhysics]

Undergrad Institution: One of the top in Asia
Major(s): Physics, Data Analytics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA: 4.84/5.00
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Top 1 or 2
Type of Student: International Asian Male

GRE Scores: Physics - 960 (92%)
TOEFL: Didn't need


Research Experience: 1 year Theoretical/numerical relativity (1st Author paper), 1 year Mathematical Physics on foundations of QM, 1 year in quantum computing/quantum machine learning (1 presentation at national conference, and 1, maybe 2 manuscripts in preparation), 1 month paid postbac RA on Shor's algorithm by time of application.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Some Dean's Lists, some awards for top 2 GPA in my year, 1 award for topping an Experimental Physics class

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 year TA for an introductory programming course, liased with a professor to set up a class on string theory at my uni, some volunteering for outreach events in physics.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 1 grad class on QFT and path-integral, in addition to the class on string theory that we set up! Highlighted my proficiency with algorithms, machine learning and quantum computing in my SOP.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (theory/phenomenology at the intersection of Quantum Info and Quantum Gravity, also expressed interest in adjacent experimental groups like atom interferometry for precision tests of gravity and many-body quantum dynamics)

Berkeley - Rejected via email to check portal (22/3)
Caltech - Rejected via email(26/2)
CU Boulder - Rejected via email(2/3)
John Hopkins - Rejected via email to check portal (25/3)
Harvard - Rejected via email to check portal (21/2)
MIT - Rejected via email to check portal (15/2)
Northwestern
Princeton - Rejected via email to check portal (22/2)
Stanford - Rejected via email to check portal (2/2)
UChicago - Rejected via email to check portal (23/1)
UCSB
UW-Madison - Accepted (26/1), funding options: (50% 9-month TA ($29175), 50% 9-month RA ($29175), 50% 12-month RA ($38900) + one-time $10k Incoming Student Scholarship)
PSI (Perimeter's masters program) - Rejected via email(28/2)

And some in the UK:

Cambridge
Imperial - Rejected via email(13/3)
Oxford - ALP rejected via email(12/3)
UCL - Likely rejected from unofficial email from contacted PI (21/2)

[Stringyboi151]

Undergrad Institution: (US News Top 10)
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA in Major: Not tracked
Overall GPA: 3.93/4.00
Length of Degree: (Are you graduating after 3, 4, or 5 years?) 4
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)Not Tracked
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) DWM, FGLI from Rural Area

GRE Scores: Didn't Take


TOEFL: (R: , L: , S: , W: )


Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)
8 months working on thesis in String Theory, 3 months Summer Research in Applied Math/Stats (REU at my home institution), 3 months working on QEC project, Small Astro project that did not pan out. No publications. Weak research, not sure how anyone can get good HEP-TH research as an ugrad. No lab experience seems to be a problem.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) Named Merit Scholar at my University (Full Ride, very selective), Dean's List a few times

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Tons of tutoring and grading. Graded Advanced Math Classes and Graded/Tutored for lower level math classes every semester and summer for 3 years. Other service to math department things, ran a club that did math.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) 11 grad courses including String Theory, QFT, Advanced QFT, GR ,QEC, Representation Theory. All recommenders are pretty well known. My thesis advisor is a well-known String Theorist, one proved a well-known result in Diff Geo, other is a founder of QEC. All know me well except the geometer's rec might have been pretty generic.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest Feb. 28: (WILL ATTEND for Ph.D. Accepted via website/email + $Xk Fellowship + $XXk/X month TA)
Yale-Math-Mathematical Physics/Rep Theory- Rejected Feb 1.
Northwestern-Math-Mathematical Physics/Mirror Symmetry-
UChicago--Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity- Rejected Jan. 23
MIT-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity- Rejected Feb. 15
Princeton-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Harvard-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Stanford-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity- Rejected Feb. 3
UCSB-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Caltech-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Michigan-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity- Interview 2/1
Berkeley-Physics-Mathematical Physics/Quantum Gravity-
Columbia-Math-Mathematical Physics/Rep Theory-
UNC-Math-Mathematical Physics/Algebraic Geometry-
UCLA-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Stony Brook-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Rutgers-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Cornell-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity-
Johns Hopkins-Physics-HEP-Th/Quantum Gravity

[boooega]

Undergrad Institution: top Indian engineering school
Major(s): Engineering Physics
Minor(s): EE
GPA in Major: 8.9/10
Type of Student: Indian male
TOEFL: 117/120

Research Experience:
2+ years of research at home institute on simulations and data analysis pipelines for a future high energy mission - resulted in a 3rd author pub and posters, summer internship at top US university on a hardware instrumentation project related to LIGO.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Manager of the astronomy club at my uni, TA'd two Physics courses.

Special Bonus Points:
Advisors are part of several big collaborations and well connected.

Applying to Where: Astronomy/astrophysics programs, aiming for groups building X-ray/radio instruments

UC Berkeley: Rejected 2/8
UArizona: Rejected 2/21
UC SD: Interview 1/18, Waitlisted 2/8
UToronto: Likely rejected, admits seem to be out
Caltech: Interview 1/25, Rejected 2/14
UPenn:
Stanford: Rejected 2/2
McGill MSc Physics:
Johns Hopkins: Likely rejected, admits seem to be out
Harvard: Rejected 2/2
UChicago: Rejected 2/1
UIUC:
Penn State: Rejected 2/16

UC SD seems like my only hope to get an admit in this cycle, and is one of my top choices too. If anyone with an admit there has better options, PLEASE help me out by turning it down ASAP!

[ultracoldatom]

Undergrad Institution: R1 state school, not huge reputation in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores:
PGRE: 880 (77%)

TOEFL:
None

Research Experience:
- 1 semester experience in experimental high energy physics
- 3 years experience in experimental AMO
- 2 published papers (both 4th author)
- 1 submitted paper (1st author)
- 1 paper in prep (3rd author)
- 4 research poster presentations at regional/national conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Goldwater Scholar
- A few university/department scholarships and two fellowships
- "Best in show" poster award at a math department symposium at my university

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- TA/grader for 1 semester
- Tutor for 2 years
- SPS Vice President for 2 years. Started a new upper-division tutoring program at my university.
- Volunteer for a physics outreach group for 4 years

Special Bonus Points:
- Taken ~5 physics grad classes; nothing too special.
- I think my recommenders wrote strong letters!

Applying to Where: all to physics - experimental AMO
MIT - interview request 1/25, interview 1/26, interview went very well. Accepted 2/15 via email to check portal!
Harvard - Accepted 2/8 via email! 6-year, 50k/12mo fellowship + 1k/yr stipend
Princeton - interview request 1/8, interview 1/11, interview went pretty well. Accepted 2/16 via email!
Caltech - interview request 1/12, interview 1/18, interview went ok. Accepted 2/20 via email to check portal! 47k/12mo fellowship/RA
University of Chicago - Accepted 1/22 via email to check portal! 42k/12mo TA/RA + 3k fellowship + 1k relocation stipend
CU Boulder - Accepted 1/30 via email to check portal! 26k/9mo TA/RA + ~13k summer TA/RA + 3k fellowship
UC Santa Barbara - Accepted 2/5 via email to check portal! 44k/12mo TA/RA + 1k stipend
UC Berkeley -
University of Maryland - Accepted 2/6 via email!
Northwestern - interview request 1/22, interview 1/23, interview went very well. Accepted 2/16 via email! 41-48k/12mo TA/RA
Colorado State University - Accepted 2/12 via email! 21k/9mo TA/RA

[SwordofAzeroth]

Undergrad Institution: Ivy, good physics reputation
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: no idea, probably around average
Type of Student: Female, Asian

GRE Scores: did not submit


TOEFL: n/a

Research Experience:
- REU for Neutrino Physics. Ended up publishing a paper but I did not include this when submitting my apps because it took a long time. I updated some programs once I knew it was published.
- 1 semester of experience in a Condensed Matter Lab
- 2 year of experience in Hep-Ex lab
- 1 semester of experience in experimental astrophysics lab
- 1 year of research related to outreach (1st author on paper out of 15, award at Conference)


Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- Grader for 1 semester
- TA for 1 semester
- Lab Assistant for 2 years

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
- Recruited athlete (this happened to come up in one of my interviews, it was a fun fact that made me stand out)

Applying to Where:
(mix of hep-th, hep-ph, and hep-ex)

Cal Tech - Rejected
Stanford - Rejected
Columbia- Rejected
UChicago - Rejected
UC Berkeley- Rejected
UCSB
Cornell - Rejected
Harvard - Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
MIT - Rejected
Yale - Rejected
UPenn- Rejected
Johns Hopkins- Rejected
Georgia Tech - Accepted with Presidential Fellowship
Duke - Waitlisted - Accepted
UCLA - Rejected
Brown - Rejected
UCSD - Rejected
Carnegie Mellon - Rejected
McGill - interviewed
Cambridge - Rejected
UW Madison - Accepted
UM--Ann Arbor - Rejected
Northwestern - Accepted - WILL ATTEND!!!
USC - Withdrawn
Virginia Tech - Withdrawn
NYU - Rejected
Rice - Accepted

[oneoverkbt]

Undergrad Institution: Large R1 university with a well reputed physics department but not extremely prestigious
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.95
Overall GPA: 3.91
Length of Degree: 4 + 1 year post-bac same institution
Position in Class: Not tracked
Type of Student: Domestic, non-binary, white

GRE Scores: did not submit


TOEFL: N/A


Research Experience: Attended coding/research summer school before undergrad. Helped build tabletop experiments and analyze data for 1.5 years for axionlike dark matter searches, leading to 1 co-author publication. Moved to biophysics/condensed matter theory in 3rd year, leading to an APS March Meeting talk, an invited talk at a short-talk series, and two first-author publications in PRE and PRL.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Physics department award on graduation, APS March Meeting travel award, full-tuition scholarship for undergrad

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for quantum mechanics for one year, tutor for data science department for one year, mentee then mentor in departmental mentorship program, member of my institution’s chapter of Society of Physics Students (pizza club).

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: I have some connections with a few other physics departments who reached out to me about one of my projects/papers. 7 grad classes. Lots of math classes. Pretty close with my mentor/first letter writer who is pretty well known in the biophysics theory world.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I listed myself primarily as biophysics theory but I expressed interest into a whole bunch of condensed matter/soft matter/stat mech theory topics. I generally tried to come up with a big theme I wanted to get at in grad school and then argued how my current research is already heading in that direction and qualifies me to continue working on similar projects. My research uses a lot of tools from spin glass/disordered systems theory, so I tried to emphasize that I had a good understanding of these methods which are a little obscure but very versatile.

Applying to Where:

Everywhere is physics unless otherwise specified

University of Chicago — Accepted 1/22
UC Berkeley — Accepted 2/16
MIT — Interview 1/18 — Accepted 2/15
Harvard Physics — Interview† 1/15 — Rejected* 2/21
Harvard Applied Math — Interview† 1/15 — Accepted* 2/1
University of Pennsylvania — Interview† 2/13 — Accepted 2/19
Princeton — Interview 1/17 — Accepted 2/16
Stanford — Rejected 2/2
Yale — Interview† 1/28 — Accepted 2/12
Northeastern — Accepted 1/31
Brandeis — Accepted 2/3
Columbia — Rejected 3/18

Hertz Fellowship — First-round interview 11/21 (13% of ~860 applicants) — Finalist interview 1/19 (~45 candidates of ~860) — Accepted!!! 3/28
NSF GRFP — no news yet…

*I was told by prospective PI, who is cross-listed in Physics and Applied Math, that the admissions committees would only accept me to one department so they could give more offers. I wish I had made the decision about which department I might join and not had it made for me.
† These interviews felt a bit more like recruiting than a test.

[astrorena]

Undergrad Institution: Top aerospace/STEM, small and private university
Major(s): Astronomy & Astrophysics, Computational Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.86
Overall GPA: 3.82
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Not tracked; graduated with Magna Cum Laude and Honors Program
Type of Student: Domestic, white, female, first-gen, disabled, veteran

GRE Scores: Did not submit

TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience: x1 REU in computational geophysics (subsurface and surface); x1 Internship, turned full-time research position at NASA GSFC as a planetary scientist doing atmospheric modeling; several AGU, AMS, AAS conference presentations (poster and oral); x2 published papers (second author and nth author) in planetary atmospheres and CFD for ocean waves; cryosphere research for US Navy

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Astrophysics student of the year, John Mather Nobel Scholar, Presidential scholarship full-ride for undergrad

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: President/Founder of Association of Women in Math chapter for university, Member of Physics and Math Honor Societies at university, TA for Classical Mechanics, TA for Scientific Computing in Fortran, TA for Numerical Solutions to Differential Equations coursework, Physics grader for 3 years, and Department Assistant for Physics Department for 2 years, University Bookstore Assistant Manager

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Officer in US Navy for 5+ years, led STEM outreach efforts for US Navy

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Looking to do research that meshes the fields of astronomy and the cryosphere. Auroral research, climate impacts on astronomical observations (ground and space based), neutrino detection at the Poles, etc.)

Applying to: PhDs in Earth & Planetary Science programs, Atmospheric programs, Astro programs.

Programs:
CU Boulder - Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences - rejected 2/9
CU Boulder - Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences -
Johns Hopkins - Earth and Planetary Sciences -
Johns Hopkins - Astronomy & Astrophysics -
Yale - Earth & Planetary Sciences - rejected 2/27
U of Washington - Earth and Space Science -
U Alaska Fairbanks - Oceanography - accepted 2/14

Fellowships:
Hertz Fellowship - rejected 11/17
Pat Tillman Fellowship - rejected 2/27
NDSEG Fellowship - applying next round

good luck to everyone this year...

[darkwake1729]

Undergrad Institution: One of the premiere Engineering school in India
Major(s): Engineering Physics
GPA in Major: 3.58/4.00 (8.39/10)
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: don't know (in the top 5)
Type of Student: International Male (Asian - Indian)

GRE Scores: General GRE (169 Quant, 155 Verbal, 4 - Essay)


TOEFL: 111/120 (R: 29 , L: 30 , S: 25 , W: 27 )


Research Experience: ~2 years in Particle Astro
3 1st author publications ( only 1 published in December (when applying))
1 1st author publication under review
1 n^th author publication under review (worked with a group spread worldwide)
1 conference poster presentation

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Research Excellence Award - 2023

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TAed one course for 2nd year undergrads (when applying)
Selected as TA for another course open to all


Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: None

Special Bonus Points: We take the same courses as M.S (M.Sc) Physics students in our 3rd and 4th years

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Core committee member of Institute Astro club



** Applied to PhD in Physics and HEP-X/Particle Astro as the first choice of preferred areas


Princeton : Rejected - asked to check website - 23 Feb
Johns Hopkins University: Rejected - asked to check website - 21 Mar
Yale : Rejected - asked to check website - 13 Feb
Maryland, College Park : Rejected - asked to check website - 16 Mar
Georgia Tech : Rejected - Unofficial mail saying all astro groups are full
Wisconsin, Madison : Rejected - via email - 26 Jan
Penn State : Accepted (12 March)

Dartmouth : Rejected - asked to check website - 22 Mar
Purdue : No response (as of now)
Duke : Rejected - asked to check website - 15 Feb
Boston : Rejected - asked to check website - 20 Feb
Virginia Tech : Rejected - asked to check website - 28 Feb - Reason: NonCompetitive
Delaware : No response (as of now)
Ohio state : Waitlisted 21st March
Michigan State: Rejected - via email - 19 Jan
Rice : No response (as of now)
U Southern California : Rejected - via unofficial email - Feb 28
Utah : No response (as of now)

Case Western Reserve: Waitlisted 8th March
Clemson : Interview - 18 Feb --> Rejected - asked to check website 26 Feb
Michigan Tech : Rejected - asked to check website 14 Feb

[Physicist_Colombian]

Undergrad Institution: International University in Colombia (public), top 10 in the country, pretty well-known physics department.
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 4.07/5.0 (pretty good for Colombian universities)
Length of Degree: 5 years - standard in Colombia
Position in Class: dunno

Master's Institution: Mexico Research Center, very well-known for materials research
Major(s): Materials Science
GPA in master's: 9.7/10
Position in Class: top 5
Type of Student: International, female, latino


GRE Scores: nope


TOEFL: (R: , L: , S: , W: ) Nope, decided to take Duolingo (cheaper) got a 150/160


Research Experience:
1. Research assistant during my undergrad at my school (condensed matter theory), used DFT to study antiferromagnetic materials. Wrote a thesis about our findings and published a paper as well.
2. Carried out research at my master's research center, focused on CME, characterized thin films. Wrote another thesis about it and currently working on the paper.
3. Two poster presentations at two international congresses.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
1. Awarded a gov scholarship for undergrad tuition.
2. Awarded a gov scholarship for master's.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: nope.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: nope, pretty much it.

Special Bonus Points:
come from a low-income family, first gen, no connections to where I applied. Only one recommender is pretty well-known within the Raman Spectroscopy community.


Applying to Where:

Ohio State - Physics - CME - Accepted March 6th via portal.

Only applied to ohio state naively, was shocked to see how competitive it really is, glad I got in. I was getting very worried...

[zkr74397]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign (top 4 in Turkey) Overall Reputation in Physics?: Good in Turkey
Major(s):Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:3.44
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: near top
Type of Student: International, male
Doing Masters in U. S. with GPA 3.61 during the application

GRE Scores: GRE: V:145, Q:168, AW:2.5, PGRE: 870-76%


TOEFL: Waived


Research Experience: Minor part time research experience during undergrad(Different fields), full time research experience during masters around 2 years(Experimental Applied Physics). Publications: 2 first author, 1 second author. 2 conference talks: APS and SPIE photonics, 2 local university conference
(At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tuition waiver scholarship for Undergrad, Honor student most of the semesters during undergrad.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 semesters TA in undergrad physics labs,2.5 years RA for my master's degree

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Participated in couple of international physics olympiads during high school.

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Being from small underrepresented country in science

Applying to Where:

University of California, Riverside - Physics - Research Interest: CME
University of California, Irvine - Physics - Research Interest: CME
University of Southern California - Physics - Research Interest: CME (March 4: REJECTED via email )
University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Physics and Astronomy - Research Interest: CME (February 26: Interview; March 5: ACCEPTED via email + 24.5 k TAship)
Vanderbilt University - Physics - Research Interest: CME (February 23: REJECTED via email)
University of Kentucky - Physics and Astronomy - Research Interest: CME or CMT computational: (March 4: ACCEPTED via email + ~23 k TAship over 2 semesters + one time 2k fellowship when I join)
University of Louisville - Physics and Astronomy - Research interest:CME (March 13 : Interview request: Withdrew the application)
Case Western Reserve University - Physics - Research Interest: CME (February 12: REJECTED via email)
University Of Rochester - Physics - Research Interest: CME (February 1: REJECTED via website)
Rice University, Physics and Astronomy - Research Interest: CME (January 2: REJECTED via email)
University of Colorado, Boulder - Physics - Research Interest: CME
North Carolina State University - Physics - Research Interest: CME
Dartmouth College - Physics and Astronomy - Research Interest: CME
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Physics - Research Interest: CME (January 26: REJECTED via email )

[softcnd234]

______________________________________________
Undergrad Institution: Big State School
Major(s): Physics, A social science
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.865
Overall GPA: 3.81
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic Indian

GRE Scores: N/A


TOEFL: N/A


Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (
-1 yr Atmospheric Physics
-1 yr HEP Theory
-3 months Soft Condensed Matter
-3 months Living systems (Complexity)
-REU Mathematical Physics
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)
-Deans List

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
-TA 1 semester
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- Did Research in High school
Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
I am working with a professor who I would like to work with in grad school
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
N/A
Applying to Where:
UWASH-Physics-Nucl.th -
USC-Physics-Biophysics - REJECTED
UNC-Physics-Nucl.th - REJECTED
UMD-Physics-Nucl.th - REJECTED
Stanford-Physics-CMT - REJECTED
Penn State- Biophysics
MIT-Physics-Nucl.th - REJECTED

Colorado School of Mines-Physics-Quantum Theory
Harvard-Physics-HEP.th - REJECTED
Duke-Physics-Nucl.th - REJECTED
Dartmouth-Physics-CMT
CU Boulder-Physics-Biophysics -ACCEPTED!!!!!

Case Western-Physics-Biophysics - WAITLISTED

Caltech - Physics- HEP.th - REJECTED

Brutal out there.

[vincentvangone]

--

[FurinaWai77]

Undergrad Institution: Top school in China, also Physics
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.7
Overall GPA: 3.7
Length of Degree: 4 year undergraduate
Position in Class: Near top, maybe first class? No scholarships till now:)
Type of Student: International, Male

GRE Scores: None

TOEFL: <100

Research Experience: ~3 years in total, 2 years of experimental quantum computation, 0.5 years of theoretical quantum optics and quantum information, and 0.5 years of quantum compiling. No pub.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None, confident

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA at the moment, but entirely useless for application

Special Bonus Points: I don't think my connections help. Strong connections from researchers that aren't top can be regarded as NO connection. Also my duration in USA in total is less than 3 months.

Applying to Where: My field of interest is quantum optics and qiqc, more theoretical

(Added results in Europe and gathered every result together)
Yale, Physics——Rejected Feb. 12
CU Boulder, Physics——Rejected Mar. 1
Washington University in St.Louis (WUSTL), Physics——Rejected Feb. 22
University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign, Physics——Rejected Mar. 4
University of Texas at Austin(UT Austin), Physics——Rejected but no formal rejection letter, tradition of Austin
Rice, Physics——Rejected Mar. 26
ETH Zurich, Masters, Physics——Rejected Mar.11
ETH Zurich, Masters, Electrical engineering——Rejected Mar.11
ETH Zurich, Masters, Quantum Engineering——Rejected Mar.12
EPFL, Masters, Physics——Rejected Mar.27
WUSTL, Electrical engineering——Rejected Mar. 15
Yale, Applied physics——Rejected Feb. 16


I planned to apply MPI and I soon abandoned. I believe every effort I make is totally futile.

No offer, no interview and no open house in US. No confidence in domestic PhD's. I've got an offer from Hong Kong at the beginning in January, and I accepted it supposing I had no offer from US. I made the right choice. Not planning to gap or apply masters. The situation is even much more fierce than my worst predictions. I've done quite inadequate before applying, so I don't regret.

Physics in US and Europe is nearly over, guys. As an international student, without a 3.9+ GPA, strong enough connection and solid pubs, you may never get into physics department. The related engineering fields are far easier to apply. With similar conditions, you may obtain US top10 offer in ee/ece or even chemistry, but you may get no offer from US top100 if you choose PHYSICS.

[stargate112]

Undergrad Institution: Big public state school, good reputation for physics I guess
Major(s): Physics, Math
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.7
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Hispanic Domestic Male

GRE Scores: the GRE is a scam lol


TOEFL: (R: , L: , S: , W: )


Research Experience: 3 years of hep theory research at my home university, did an REU at a national lab in hadron beam production. No papers, but did lots of presentations at research fairs.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: McNair Scholar

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored at the physics resource center for about a year

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: President at my school's SPS chapter, did lots of outreach and department involvement.

Special Bonus Points: Took 4 grad classes, am Hispanic.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: My research interests are in theoretical nuclear physics

University of Illinois (UIUC) - Physics - Rejected Mar. 7th
University of Indiana-Bloomington - Physics - Waitlisted Mar. 19th
Old Dominion University - Physics - Accepted Feb. 7th ($26.5k + $2k scholarship)
Michigan State University - Physics -
Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) - Physics - Accepted Feb. Jan. 30th ($36k annual stipend) WILL ATTEND!!!

School - Department - Research Interest Feb. 28: (WILL ATTEND for Ph.D. Accepted via website/email + $Xk Fellowship + $XXk/X month TA)
School - Department - Research Interest (Feb. 14: ACCEPTED for Ph.D via website/

[Lamxy]

[Undergrad Institution: Public university in Nigeria with good physics reputation
Major(s): physics with electronics
Minor(s): mathematics and electronics
GPA in Major: 4.45/5 (3.75/4)
Overall GPA:4.35/5 (3.67/4.0)
GPA last two years:4.6 (3.8/4.0)
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: third best graduating student in the department.
Type of Student: international African male

GRE Scores:
PGRE-480(6%) too bad not submitting.


TOEFL: (R: , L: , S: , W: ): N/A


Research Experience: undergrad research project on material growth and synthesis and characterization.
One and half year experience on nanotechnology at there institution. No publication but my undergrad report is on research gate.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deputy academic director and Academic director In my third year and fourth year respectively.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: assistant lecturer in a polytechnic in Nigeria, laboratory assistant, math and physics tutor, lesson teacher secondary school student


Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:overall best in higher level mathematics course

Special Bonus Points: 3 recommendation which I think two will be great.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where
All phd physics (CME).

University of Alberta-
Michigan technological University- rejected(msc instead) 2/12
Case Western reserve University-
University of South Carolina-
Wayne State University- rejected (msc instead) 8/2
University of sakskatechwan- rejected 2/12 ( applied for msc)

[maradonarealgoat]

Undergrad Institution: N1 private institution in Mexico, good physics reputation
Major(s): Engineering Physics
Minor(s): No minors in this university, although I had a lot of math courses
GPA in Major: 96.25/100
Overall GPA:96.25
Length of Degree: 9 semesters
Position in Class: top 5
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores: No


TOEFL: 103/120


Research Experience: A year with a professor on theoretical quantum optics, working on a paper with another one on something related to differential geometry

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honorable Mention (top 10 percent of my class and a grade above 90/100)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Spanish tutor/ English tutor, data science intern, currently a software engineer developing AI solutions

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 13 math courses (out of which 3 were graduate level courses, one in diferential geometry and the other in function spaces and mathematical analyis), 2 graduate level courses (one was taught by the grandson of Niels Bohr on Continuum Physics). Learnt A LOT of advanced graduate level quantum mechanics through research and was able to take a graduate level class in quantum information. Over all, 3 courses in analysis, 2 in algebra, 2 in geometry and curves, and the rest are your usual math courses for physics students.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: International experience abroad in DTU Denmark. Linux user.

Applying to Where:

USA
Northwestern U -Physics department - PhD in physics (theoretical HEP) Rejected Admitted to Masters, withdrawn
UT Austin -Physics department - PhD in physics (theoretical HEP) Rejected
Carnegie Melon -Physics department - PhD in physics (theoretical HEP) Rejected
University of Chicago -Physics department - PhD in physics (theoretical HEP) Rejected
University of Washington -Physics department - PhD in physics (theoretical HEP) Rejected

Honestly, not a good year for anyone trying to do theory in America


Canada
University of Waterloo - Physics Department- MSc Physics (Got an offer for direct entry PhD instead, so I will just take this dub)

Germany
University of Leipzig- Physics Department- MSc Physics
University of Leipzig- Physics Department - MSc Mathematical Physics (Appearently there was a problem with how my application was submitted, which is weird because the people at uni assist do that for you, so beware)
LMU- Physics Department- MSc Theoretical and Mathematical Physics
TU Dortmund - Physics Department- MSc Physics
University of Biefeld-MSc Mathematical Physics (they answered very quickly)
University of Hamburg- MSc Mathematical Physics

Denmark (2023 but what the hell):
University of Copenhaguen -MSc Physics (quantum)- Accepted with no scholarship, withdrawn

USA Phds massacred me, hopefully everywhere else it wont be that bad. I read somewhere that this year was really a bad year for anyone trying to do any kind of theory. Maybe they picked only experimentalists this year, I really don't know.

For anyone out there that is looking on getting into grad school to do or learn further theory and didn't get accepted in the US, maybe try applying for a masters somewhere you know you will get a scholarship. PhDs are jobs, and in this case we are just applying to see if there are any openings and if we are a good fit. I was at my lowest when I got my fifth rejection, and I just decided to take a longer road, maybe a masters, and as it turns out it was the right choice. Wishing everyone here the best of luck and hope this helps anyone in search of a theoretical career, especially if you are Mexican (and if you are an engineering physicist from my school haha try to ask for topics in mathematics, they help, A LOT)

[jodiek]

Undergrad Institution: Large R1 university with a well reputed physics department, top 5 public universities in US (2 years at university, transferred from a community college)
Major(s): Astrophysics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA: 3.83
Length of Degree: 4 years (2 community college, 2 university)
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic, female, asian

GRE Scores: N/A
TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience: Summer REU in space sciences resulting in conference poster presentation, 1 year of observational radio astro research at university including another REU and another conference poster presentation

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: undergrad research fellowship at university, highest honors in astrophysics, dean's list

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: math tutor, science education volunteer, undergrad physics mentor for 1 year

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I was able to get a lot done during my 1.25 years at university before grad apps were due, and was able to get an amazing letter of rec from my advisor explaining how difficult it is for transfer students and while I may not have as much experience as a 4 year student, the work I was able to get done was impressive under the circumstances.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Experience using the Common Astronomy Software Applications package

Applying to Where:

University of Wisconsin-Madison - Astro - Interview 01/11, Waitlisted 02/05, Accepted 4/11 - 38.9k offer -- WILL ATTEND!!!
Ohio State Univ - Astro - Waitlisted 2/16, Rejected 4/14
Boston Univ - Astro - Waitlisted 2/23, Rejected 3/21
Univ of Massachusetts-Amherst - Astro - Rejected 3/18
Northwestern Univ - Astro - Rejected 3/27
John Hopkins Univ - Astro - Waitlisted 3/22, Rejected 4/23
Univ of Minnesota - Astro - Waitlisted 2/23, Accepted 4/12 - 30.25k offer
Univ of Rochester - Physics program (astro research) - Accepted 01/23 - 32.5k offer
Indiana Univ - Astro - Waitlisted 01/31. Rejected 4/15
Univ of Virginia - Astro - Rejected 3/27
Univ of Illinois-Urbana Champaign - Astro - Rejected 4/12

Lowkey seems like Univ of Rochester will accept anyone if you're looking for a backup school, definitely look for those smaller private schools for safety schools as not as many people apply because they don't know they exist. Make sure to apply to a wide range of schools because to a certain extent it's just luck. Look for application fee waivers!! I got waivers for more than half the schools I applied to which allowed me to apply to more schools increasing my chances! Do not take the GRE, definitely not worth it. Try to get in outreach/mentoring experience, especially in astro they care about that! Hope this can help anyone in astro looking at schools to apply to.

[ChrisChoi314]

Undergrad Institution: Medium sized R1 university, top 30 in USNews for physics, decently prestigious
Major(s): Physics (Astrophysics track)
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.95
Overall GPA: 3.92
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Not tracked
Type of Student: Domestic, male, East Asian

GRE Scores: did not take any

TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience: did experimental particle physics under a fellowship for sophomore summer. for junior and senior year, switched into theoretical cosmology and gravitational wave physics. wrote a first author theory paper with the latter group, and presented it at AAS 243, a conference for astrophysics and cosmology. at the time I applied, the paper was still being reviewed but is now officially published in PRD.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: MCS Research Honors, SURF fellowship, AAS 243 travel funding

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TAA for physics I for engineers, TAA for basic experimental physics, and PATH tutor for the department.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: everywhere for either pure physics PhD or a physics and astronomy PhD

Columbia - Interview 3/12 went very well and thought I had a good chance of getting it, Rejected 3/18
Carnegie Mellon - Accepted 2/12, ~37k, will be attending here
Dartmouth - Rejected 3/22
Johns Hopkins - Rejected 3/25
Stanford - Rejected 4/2
University of Penn - Rejected 4/14
UCLA - Rejected 3/5
Princeton - Rejected 2/23
New York University - Rejected 4/14
University of Pittsburgh - Rejected 4/19
University of Washington - Rejected 3/28
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Interview 2/26 went fairly well, Rejected 3/7
University of Massachusetts Amherst - Rejected 4/5
Arizona State University - Accepted 2/23, 32k

overall, very very disappointed by this cycle, was expecting to get into a couple more places, especially NYU, JHU, and Penn, but no such luck. I am happy going to CMU, as my advisor is a perfect match. but i already went here for undergrad, so seeing that the only good place I could get into is my own institution, where I already have connections, is just really sad.