Attending a PhD program in boston area

[slepton20201]

I got admission to Northeastern university in Boston. I have two questions:

1) What are the advantages of doing physics in Boston given that MIT and Harvard awill be at a walking distance from me? In other words, will I be able to attend courses at Harvard and MIT and make connections there? Will I be able to work with professors at these schools? Is it possible to get them on my thesis committee?

2) How good is Northeastern University in theoretical particle physics?

[jabennett2194]

I'm HEP-th and admitted as well. I was accepted last year too, but did Fulbright research abroad for a year.
I have info from attending the open house last year.

1) You definitely can take courses at MIT. All Boston uni's are super open with one another. Brandeis HEP-th PhDs take courses at MIT/etc. for example.
I am not sure about actually working with profs there though. They have their own students whom they want (and ought to if you think about it — it's their job) to give priority to, you know?
But you can and should have at least one non-Northeastern prof on your committee. That is totally something another uni prof would do.

2) Shouldn't you know this before applied? :/ why did you apply if you don't know which profs there are good in your field/you're interested in? :'(

[slepton20201]

Thank you. I know that there are 3 good professors there. One of them is quite famous in the amplitudes program. However, I don't know more. What is it lke to work on amplitudes at Northeastern, for instance?

[slepton20201]

If you went to the open house there, what was your impression?

[jabennett2194]

Quite right, this celestial sphere amplitudes work seems awesome!
1) the campus was amazing, truly in the heart of the city while still having some "campus" area.
2) unfortunately, the 3 profs you mention were not at the open house so I didn't get to meet them, but I spoke with one of their PhD students about the group's work. One of my friends also joined me on the open house visit (she is HEP-ex) and she found her visit amazing.

[doxtor6]

I got admission as well for hep-th. I really like their research on string theory with machine learning since I did research on both. But I am quite worried about their graduate course. It seems like thery only provide one course on string theory and hep-th. Is it because students usually take courses in other unis like what jabennett said?

[jabennett2194]

I got admission as well for hep-th. I really like their research on string theory with machine learning since I did research on both. But I am quite worried about their graduate course. It seems like thery only provide one course on string theory and hep-th. Is it because students usually take courses in other unis like what jabennett said?

Precisely, you can ask at the open house, but I'm fairly certainly the HEP-th students can take higher level QFT/GR/String courses at MIT