2024 Applicant Profile and Admission Results

[SarkanC]

This is the most useful resource PhysicsGRE has to offer. If you have used this information in the past or are currently using it to help decide upon schools, I highly suggest you help out and post your own profile once you have applied to schools. Future members of this forum will find it very useful! Don't be shy!

Copy and paste the template below in your reply to keep the formatting.

Note from moderator: Profile threads are best when they only have profiles. Please avoid making other posts on this thread. If you wish to discuss profiles, it is helpful to have a separate "profile discussion thread", as was done in some past years. Thanks.

______________________________________________
Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Physics?)
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: (Are you graduating after 3, 4, or 5 years?)
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores: If you have them


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...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

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)
School - Department - Research Interest (Feb. 14: ACCEPTED for Ph.D via website/

[najinkya1313]

.

[pepega]

Undergrad Institution: Oxbridge
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: doesn't matter for top school (no it really doesn't matter, I had a UK grade of 2.2)
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: 3 years
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Asian

GRE Scores: lol if you think PGRE or GPA is still relevant at this day for hep-th

Research Experience: Some papers in hep-th, a couple of JHEPs, and some in PRL.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I didn't put any awards with monetary value <10k in my CV

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: probably not

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Show them you're good at research, not just a robot good at taking exams (which kinda describes majority of Oxbridge undergrads). Having published papers is not that important as many thinks, what's crucial is to show your own understanding and vision in research.

Also for future UK applicants, stay away from Oxbridge 1-year masters, I don’t find them useful at all (for applications). I highly recommend the program at Imperial (2-years) and QMUL (2-years).

Applying to Where:
All PhDs with 1st choice sub-field being hep-th formal theory

The list is not finalised, will update after the deadline late Dec:

Princeton - Interview Jan 18 Rejected Feb 16
Harvard - Interview Jan 22 Accepted Feb 8
Berkeley - Accepted Feb 16
Stanford - Rejected Feb 2
MIT - Rejected Feb 15
Caltech - Interview Jan 16 Withdrawn
Imperial College London - Interview early Jan Accepted early Jan (Presidential Scholarship) Withdrawn
NYU - Withdrawn
Oxford - Withdrawn due to toxic culture among students

[danm]

Undergrad Institution: Medium sized state school, good reputation overall in STEM, but not Physics specifically
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.42
Overall GPA: 3.53
Length of Degree: Graduated in 4 years
Position in Class: Not provided
Type of Student: Domestic, male

GRE Scores: Not taken


TOEFL: N/A


Research Experience: No research experience, unfortunately. If I could I would go back and change this and get as involved as possible.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing major, won a small merit scholarship from my school, and received Dean's list during 3 semesters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored introductory physics (plus a little math) for the University for 2 years. Taught high school physics for a year - I doubt that will get much consideration.

Served as the undergraduate representative for a tenure review process.

Myself and a few other undergraduates assisted in providing feedback to hire a new lecturer, and a couple of research faculty.

Applying to Where: All Ph.D. programs, all experimental, no super reach schools here, but given my background they're probably all reaches
Maybe if I can get into at least one I can put a future applicant's mind at ease if they don't have the research experience or the high GPA of everyone else on here. Good luck to me, I suppose!

- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics)
- Boston College (Experimental) Rejected 2/23 via portal
- NC State (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics) Rejected 4/1 via email to check portal
- Kansas State University (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics) waitlisted 2/9
- West Virginia University (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics) ACCEPTED 2/21 via email!!!
- University of Connecticut (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics)
- University of Iowa (Condensed Matter Physics)
- Binghamton University (Condensed Matter Physics) Rejected 3/27 via email to check portal
- University of Oklahoma (AMO; Condensed Matter Physics)
- University of Nebraska Lincoln (AMOP; Condensed Matter Physics)

[penguinaugustus]

Undergrad Institution: big state, prestigious reputation in Physics
Major(s): astrophysics and mathematics
Minor(s): computer science
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0/4.0
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: International, asian, female

GRE Scores: nan

TOEFL: nan

Research Experience:
1yr in hep-ph
1yr in computational cognitive sci. the forth author on a preprint paper
1yr in biophys computation (gene regulation). poster in local conference; poster submitted for 24 APS march meeting; one reference letter
1yr in biophys computation (microbial ecosystem) one reference letter
0.5 yr in soft matter computation. a second author paper in prep; one reference letter

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)
deans list

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
two semester tutor for college level quantum and thermal
one semester tutor for calculus

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: nan

Special Bonus Points:
female
have taken 5 grad classes. (seem to be useless because 4 of them are in hept and astro)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
2 yr biophysics experience in high school mentioned in my CV

Applying to Where (all biophysics/soft matter theory/computation):
Harvard- applied physics - Feb 9 rej via email
stanford - biophysics
princeton - biophysics - Jan 16 interview request via email - Feb 8 interviewed
MIT - physics - Feb 15ish rej via email
UPenn - physics
UChi - PME - Jan 17ish rej via email
UChi- biophysics
UChi - physics - Jan 23 rej via email
JHU - physics
yale - physics - Jan 26 interview request via email - Jan 30 interviewed - Feb 12 Accepted via Portal!!! 49.5K for twelve months per year. SO EXCITED!! - Will attend
UCSB - physics
UCSD - physics - Jan 08 interview request via email - Jan 12 interviewed
umich - physics - Feb 15ish rej via email
rice - physics - Feb 6 Accepted via Portal! ! 37K for twelve months per year, normally for a period of six years
NYU - physics - Feb 12 Accepted via Portal!!! MacCracken Fellowship Package

[iamnameers]

Undergrad Institution: Top Indian institute for engineering. But weak hep-th group. In Mumbai.
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 9.03/10
Overall GPA: 9.03/10
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: 8 or 9/50
Type of Student: Indian male

Master's Institution: In Waltham. Good hep-th group focusing on quantum gravity and holography.
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.904/4
Overall GPA: 3.904/4
Length of Degree: 1 year
Position in Class: Not sure

GRE Scores: General= 321/340 TOEFL: 106 (this year I did not submit them)

Research Experience: Worked with 2 profs at my masters' institution on holography from the previous semester (ongoing). In undergrad, I have self-studied many reviews related to quantum gravity and holography. In undergrad, I also worked in other fields like cosmology, etc but couldn't find any prof to work in quantum gravity.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award (fully funded summer internship in Canada about cosmology)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Was a TA for a maths course during undergrad. Was involved in public outreach via Astro club during undergrad.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: No

Special Bonus Points:
Undergrad: Took many grad-level courses. 3 QFT courses. 1 RQM (relativistic quantum mechanics) course. 1 GR course. 1 group theory course.
Masters: Took String Theory and CFT courses at Harvard this semester. The professor who taught me string theory and under whom I did a course project gave me a LoR for PhD applications.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: No

Applying to Where: All for physics departments and all for hep-th PhDs. More specifically, for quantum gravity or string theory or holography.

Princeton - 23rd Feb Rejected
Harvard - 21st Feb Rejected
MIT - 15th Feb Rejected
Stanford - 2nd Feb Rejected
UC Berkeley - 21st Mar Rejected
Caltech - 26th Feb Rejected
Cornell - 22nd Feb Rejected
Brandeis - 3rd Feb Invited to offline Open House 8th Mar waitlisted 8th Apr rejected
UC Santa Barbara - 29th Apr Rejected
Perimeter - 23rd May Rejected
Illinois UC - 15th Mar Rejected
UPenn - 14th Apr Rejected
UCLA - 12th Mar Rejected
UTexas Austin - 22nd Apr Rejected
UBC - 20th Aug Rejected
UChicago - 23rd Jan Rejected
UMich - 15th Feb Rejected
Washington - 28th Mar Rejected
Northeastern - 30th Jan Invited to virtual Open House 9th Apr Rejected
UC Davis - 11th Apr Rejected
Rutgers - 14th Mar Rejected and 2nd time for some reason 12th Apr Rejected
McGill - 25th Apr Rejected

Hoping this time it will be better than last time. Last time was a disaster/nightmare for me.

Edit:

Weizmann -2nd May Applied 5th May Interview Time Slots Choice 8th May Interviewed 4th June Accepted

The above is a PhD position with dual advisors Prof. Ofer Aharony and Prof. Micha Berkooz. "Finally, inner peace" - Grand Master Oogway. I got a PhD. After miserably failing 2 times at US hep-th PhDs. For the Weizmann interview, I answered hep-th related questions well, but at the end, when they asked a simple quantum mechanics perturbation question, I couldn't properly answer because it's been a long time since I studied QM2.

From March, ever since I wasn't accepted at my master's institute, I started to apply to so many places, many that aren't even a good fit for me. I just kept applying to many places because I didn't want to go into the industry. Unlike US PhD admissions, which are specific to universities, these were for specific profs. I applied to the following profs: Manuela Kulaxizi, Miranda Cheng, Riccardo Rattazzi, Holger Gies, CaLiForNIA (this is for many mathematical physics profs, not for a single prof), Marius de Leeuw, Andrei Parnachev, Ben Page (hep-ph), Bo Sundborg, Susanne Reffert, IMPRS Lecturers (this is also not for a single prof, it is for all their profs including Dieter Lüst, Ralph Blumenhagen).

In my opinion, all the above 11 non-American applications are not as good as Weizmann's for hep-th (Even in the US, only like 5 places are better than Weizmann). Weirdly, all 11 of them rejected me except Weizmann. Outside US, people really see research fit a lot. If the research fit does not match highly, then they won't take you even if that PhD position is not competitive. In the US, they don't see research fit. They just take you if they think you have a good background. Now, the reason I think I did terribly in US applications was that I applied within 3 months after I started my master's. 3 months was not enough for the profs to understand my capabilities and write about them. But when I applied for Weizmann, my master's was basically just over. In 2 semesters, they know more about me.

Last year, I got the funded Weizmann master's. I didn't realize how good an option that was and came to an unfunded US master and wasted a lot of money. Also, this time, just in case I don't get their PhD, I also applied to their masters again (this interview is by random profs, not by hep-th) and got accepted with funding. But I rejected it after getting their PhD.

Weizmann funded masters- 21st April Applied 8th May Interviewed 15th May Accepted

You can see the CV that I used for PhD applications at https://ksr.onl/files/CV2023.pdf. In the final semester of my undergrad, I received rejections every day; I stopped meeting my batchmates, stopped attending classes, and was mostly in my room because I thought I was the only failure in my batch. Everyone was getting PhDs from famous universities in the US. None of them applied to hep-th (some of them originally wanted to do this but changed as there were very less prospects). But the rejections this time were even sad. Because this time, the people I know who were getting PhDs were all hep-th students, unlike last time, who were in other fields. In the greater Boston area, I know many undergrads who got PhDs without much experience. Being an American citizen helps a lot. I got 0/22 universities in North America for both years. 1/12 acceptances for non-American PhDs. In together I got 1/56 acceptances combined with both years.

TL;DR, the main thing for hep-th PhD applications is that you need 1) Luck. Not sure how one can get that. Things like you are an American citizen fall under this 2) Strong (very positive) LoR from a professor who is well known in hep-th. Things like your grades, etc, will help you, but they are not that important. I have seen several good students not doing well and several not-so-good students doing well. So, it's somewhat random. Overall, hep-th has huge funding issues. You should only continue in this field if you don't want to do anything else. That is, you are someone who is obsessed with philosophical reductionism and understanding the final layer of reality and has no interest in emergent phenomena. The farther you move from hep-th, the more opportunities you get cosmo/astro/condensed matter theory << cosmo/astro/condensed matter experiments << Industry jobs in ML or Finance.

[electronics_lover]

Undergrad Institution: liberal arts college, reputation in physics is probably small but we have good professors
Major(s): Mathematics, Physics
Minor(s): German Studies
GPA in Major: 3.45
Overall GPA: 3.75
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: not sure tbh
Type of Student: Domestic, Southeast Asian Male, first-generation, low-income

GRE Scores: did not take

TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience: first research experience at my school in plasma physics (exp), then went to an REU program at Georgia Tech doing quantum materials research. presented at 2 conferences for my Georgia tech research, and 1 for my plasma physics one.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
National Awards: Goldwater Scholarship, Gilman Scholarship, QuestBridge College Match Scholarship (full-ride)
Conference Awards: Outstanding Presenter at Rice GCURS
Institutional Awards: Dean's List, Mathematics Department Awards (one for winning a competition, another for a merit scholarship), leadership awards,

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
tutor for math and physics at our quantitate reasoning center, was a learning assistant and grader for a good amount of classes
mentoring for multiple programs on campus
student leader in multiple groups such as our bridge program for underrepresented students, questbridge scholars network, asian student union, and work in the office of admission

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: held multiple leadership roles in various areas and jobs (such as creating new positions, expanding programs, etc.) lots of work in community building beyond science as a whole.

Special Bonus Points: first-generation college student. for upenn, I attended their graduate school fly in for STEM students (DEEPenn STEM)

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

Applying to Where (all CME/Material Sciences):

Rice University - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Dec 1- Accepted via Email!! Dec 19- Official Letter from portal, 3K per month, Mar 26- Offered 20K Dean's Award- WILL ATTEND!
University of Pennsylvania - Ph.D. Physics
UC Berkeley - Ph.D. Physics - Mar 21 - Rejected via portal
UC Irvine - Ph.D. Physics
UC Santa Barbara - Ph.D. Physics
MIT - Ph.D. Physics - Feb 15 - Rejected via portal
CalTech - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 22 - Rejected via email
Columbia - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 21- Interview Request, Feb 27- Interview
Harvard - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 28 - Rejected via portal
Stanford - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 7- Rejected via portal this is so lol core
Yale - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 16 - Rejected via portal
University of Michigan - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 14- Accepted via Email! , Mar 21- Offered Rackham Merit Fellowship Mar 26- Declined Offer
CU Boulder - Ph.D. Physics - Feb 12- Accepted via Portal! Mar 23- Declined Offer
Northwestern - Ph.D. Applied Physics - Feb 22 - Rejected via portal
Georgia Tech - Ph.D. Physics- Jan 31- Accepted via Portal! 35.5K per year + 5.5K Presidential Fellowship Feb 27- Declined Offer
----
Hertz Fellowship- 11/17: rejected
Soros Fellowship- 1/9: rejected
NSF-GRFP
Graduate Fellowship for STEM Diversity-

[tundra]

Undergrad Institution: Big state school, good reputation in physics
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
Minor(s): --
GPA in Major: 4.0 physics, ~3.98 mathematics
Overall GPA: 3.988
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Near top
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male

GRE Scores: Physics - 990 (97%)

Research Experience: 2 years hep-ex, 1.5 years CMT/QI at my undergrad institution; 1 paper in quant-ph

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergraduate thesis prize at my school, some other miscellaneous awards from my physics dept.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Did some volunteer tutoring in my university and also mentoring via SPS.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 3 physics grad classes in my undergrad. Also currently doing a master's degree at a respected university.

Applying to (all PhD, first choice CMT):

UChicago - Rejected 01/23
UMD - Accepted 02/27
Harvard - Rejected 02/21
Yale - Rejected 02/12
MIT - Interview 01/22, Rejected 02/15
UCLA - Accepted 02/09 via invite to open house, official letter 02/22; will attend, first year guaranteed $45k-48k.
UCSB - No response as of 04/16
Princeton - Rejected 02/23
NYU - Accepted 02/12
BU - Accepted 01/25
Oxford (Mathematics) - Interview 02/08, Accepted 02/22, funding offer 02/26
UWaterloo - No response as of 04/16
Perimeter (via Waterloo) - Interview (unofficial, with professor) 01/23, no response as of 04/16

Final edit: This was my second time applying to PhD programs; I previously applied last year and did significantly better this year. I think the biggest differences are: 1) I got a preprint done in my target field, and 2) I had a much clearer idea of my interests and was able to target my application to specific professors. Based on the professors that accepted or interviewed me, I did the best at places where my interests aligned very well with at least one professor. They didn't seem to care much about my GRE or the particular subject of my prior research, although the fact that I had some kind of relevant experience did matter. They also did not seem to really care about the fact that I'm currently doing a master's, but I can't say for sure how much that affected my application either way.

[lettythekoala]

Undergrad Institution: mid-tier state university; very small physics department
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Astronomy, Japanese
GPA in Major: 3.60
Overall GPA: 3.76
Length of Degree: 6 years
Position in Class: no idea
Type of Student: Domestic hispanic female

GRE Scores: did not take

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

Research Experience: two years of experience part-time at a lab in my home university (condensed matter experiment); one summer physics REU (computational condensed matter theory); one semester of independent study with the Astrophysics professor at home university.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: two research grants from my home university, three physics scholarships from my home university, three study abroad grants/scholarships for my semester abroad

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: physics and math tutor for 3 years; SPS officer as of this semester

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: Taken three graduate courses; in a grad prep program

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have five letter writers; one from each research experience plus a professor I have taken 6 classes with (got only As) and a collaborator who works at national lab and is well established in condensed matter experiment. two manuscripts in revision; seven presentations (three APS regional meetings, two at the March Meeting, two smaller meetings at my home university)

Applying to Where:

Mega reach:
MIT - Condensed Matter Theory - Rejected via email to check portal (2/15)
Stanford - Experimental Condensed Matter - Rejected via email to check portal (2/2)
Cal-Tech - Cosmology Experiment - Interview (1/16) - Rejected via email (2/26)
UC Berkeley - Theoretical Astrophysics - Rejected via email to check portal (4/2)

Reach:
UC Santa Barbara - Condensed Matter Experiment
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - Cosmology/Astrophysics theory - Interview (1/31) - Rejected via email (2/15)
UCLA - Theoretical Condensed Matter - Rejected via email to check portal (3/5)
University of Washington, Seattle - Astrophysics - Rejected via email to check portal (3/28)
UC San Diego - Astronomy/Astrophysics/Cosmology Theoretical - Rejected via email to check portal (3/5)

Target:
UC Irvine - Condensed Matter Theoretical - Rejected via email to check portal (4/23)
Boston University - Condensed Matter Theory - Rejected via email (2/27)
UC Davis - Cosmology - Rejected via email to check portal (3/11)
UC Santa Cruz - Condensed Matter Experiment - Rejected via email to check portal (3/12)
UC Riverside - Experimental Cosmology, Gravity Waves, Dark Matter - Accepted!! via email to check portal (2/2) - 45k / yr - COMMITTED!! WILL ATTEND!! (4/15)

Safety (?)
University of Oregon, Eugene - Condensed Matter - Accepted! via email (1/31) - 30k / yr
Washington State University, Pullman - Condensed Matter - Interview (2/8) - Accepted! via email (2/12) - 22k / 9mo.
Oregon State University, Corvallis - Condensed Matter - Accepted! via email (2/3) - 22k / 9mo. - 39k fellowship 1st yr!
UC Merced - Condensed Matter Theory - Accepted! (informally) via email (1/29) - 30k / yr

Also applied to the NSF GRFP - Rejected via email (4/4)

[Nightzeit]

Undergrad Institution: unheard of US state school with an extremely small physics program
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: ~3.68 - 3.76 depending on how you calculate it
Overall GPA: 3.78
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: no clue

Master's Institution: US R1 research university
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.54*
Overall GPA: 3.54* (GPA not officially listed on transcript)
Length of Degree: 2 years
Position in Class: no clue

Type of Student: domestic

GRE Scores: N/A


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


Research Experience: about 11 months computational hep-th with paper in preparation, independent math research project

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Sigma Pi Sigma, graduated with Latin honors, Dean's list, a few scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: a few different things here and there but nothing particularly note-worthy

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: eh, I don't know

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I told a few schools that I'm part of a two-body problem, with the other person being in a related field. This will also make my decisions take longer and my personal rankings of schools not always obvious to the outside observer (you).

Applying to Where:
All for quantum gravity/cosmology theory/hep-th

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) - Mar 4: REJECTED via email
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) - Mar 25: REJECTED via email to check portal
Brandeis University - Mar 12: REJECTED via email to check portal
Harvard University - Feb 21: REJECTED via email to check portal
MIT - Feb 15: REJECTED via email to check portal
Northeastern University - April 9: REJECTED via email to check portal
Tufts University - Mar 6: REJECTED via email to check portal
University of Massachusetts, Amherst - April 8: REJECTED via email to check portal
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - Feb 15: REJECTED via email
Princeton University - Feb 23: REJECTED via email to check portal
Rutgers, New Brunswick - Mar 14: REJECTED via email to check portal (and then almost a month later again by email)
Cornell University - Feb 22: REJECTED via email
NYU - April 9: REJECTED via email to check portal
SUNY at Albany - Feb 9: ACCEPTED via email to check portal + $24k annual TA for 3-4 years + $24k Fellowship but this seems to replace TAing for the first year and isn't additional money
SUNY at Buffalo - unofficially told it's probably not gonna happen, Unofficially rejected by inquiry. I plan to withdraw before 4/15, although it probably doesn't make a difference. Apr 16: officially REJECTED via email to check portal
CUNY The Graduate Center - Feb 9: invited to INTERVIEW high on the WAITLIST by inquiry Apr 15: Likely to be rejected after further inquiring
Duke University - Feb 15: REJECTED via email to check portal
Lehigh University - high on the WAITLIST by inquiry and later by email April 13: REJECTED off the waitlist via email
Penn State University - Mar 19: REJECTED via email
Brown University - Feb 21: REJECTED via email to check portal
University of Virginia - Mar 22: REJECTED via email to check portal
Virginia Tech - Feb 28: REJECTED via email to check portal (and then days later again by a kind email from the string th group)

While I did not even apply to the Illinois School of Music, I have received a rejection from them on Mar 15.

Visited Albany (after acceptance), CUNY (during waitlist), and Lehigh (during waitlist).

Admission Stats:
-MIT received more than 1900 applicants for fewer than 50 spots. This is notably more than the 2023 or 2021 cycles.
-University of Michigan, Ann Arbor has had an all time record high number of applicants this year.
-Virginia Tech had 490 applicants with 101 interested in string theory. This is also abnormally high for them.
-nearly 1100 applicants to UIUC this year.
-over 800 Penn State applicants this year (300 more than last year).

Other Info:
Got invited to Northeastern's virtual open house, but it seems like every applicant gets invited to that.
Word on the street is that Brown is taking no hep-th applicants this year.


I'm so happy and so sad all at once.

[mbplanets]

deleted

[infinityyy]

Undergrad Institution: University of Delhi
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
Overall GPA: 7.3/10
Length of Degree: 3 year B.Sc.(Hons.) Physics
Position in Class: Near Top
Type of Student: International Indian Male

GRE Scores: 312, Not Submitted


IELTS: 7.0 (R: 7.5, L: 7.0, S: 7.5, W: 6.0)


Research Experience: 3 month Cosmology internship at one of the best colleges at my University, 10 weeks internship on FRB at a T10 school, several small projects at my institution.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Heavily involved with promoting STEM and innovation at my campus and home region, did some experimental projects on the side as well, starting undergrad thesis in HEP-Th.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: A lot of outreach and mentoring work, represented my country in an international theoretical physics competition.

Applying to Where(all cosmology/HEP theory):

Caltech - (Rejected on 27 Feb)
Princeton - (Rejected on 23 Feb)
MIT - (Rejected on 15 Feb)
Yale - (Rejected on 12 Feb)
Johns Hopkins - (Rejected on 25 Mar)
Rice University - (Rejected on 26 Mar)
Northwestern - (Rejected on 23 Mar) waiting for MS Decision
Purdue - (Rejected on 12 Apr)
University of Minnesota - (Rejected 31 Jan)
Brown University - (Rejected on 22 Feb for PhD) (ACCEPTED on 27 Mar for Sc.M., declined due to no funding)

Looks quite ambitious, but I hope to get in somewhere!

UPDATE:
After the early decisions, I also decided to apply to a few places in Europe(for MSc Physics):

Erasmus Mundus MASS program - (Rejected on 24 Apr)
University of Leeds - (ACCEPTED on 6 Mar, declined)
University of Sheffield - (ACCEPTED on 18 Mar, declined)
Cardiff University - (ACCEPTED on 12 Mar, declined)
University of Paris Saclay - (Rejected on 26 Apr)
Universität Hamburg -
University of Milano-Bicocca - (ACCEPTED on 29 Apr)
Université Côte d'Azur -

[radiofrequency]

Undergrad Institution: Small private liberal arts
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Studio Art
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Unknown, likely top/near top
Type of Student: domestic white nonbinary

GRE Scores: N/A
TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience: Summer internship at a national lab, continued working remotely this year while in school -- lots of FPGA programming through Python and antenna radiation simulation through MATLAB. Otherwise, I've done a handful of short-term (1-3 month) independent research projects at my university on antenna design, power electronics/plasma physics, and optics. Two poster presentations at my university (likely a third in spring), but no publications.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for 6 semesters, physics scholarship from my university last year. A few fine arts awards.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA/grader for an upper level physics course, SPS Vice President, SPIE Vice President + former Secretary, two summers teaching an elementary/middle school art + STEM program, current (remote) internship at a national lab.

Special Bonus Points: (Hopefully) strong letters of recommendation from professors who know me well and from my mentor at my internship. Recommenders have connections at UIUC and UChicago. My personal/diversity statements discuss being a transgender nonbinary person as well as teaching K-12 art in underprivileged schools.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I did a directed study course on advanced E&M and orbital angular momentum of light and have taken courses in quantum information science and quantum optics. My statement of purpose talks about how my skills from fine arts translate to my performance in the lab. Did not contact any professors ahead of time, but I mention them in statement of purpose (especially if their websites say they are looking for students).

Applying to Where: (All PhD programs. Experimental AMO or Quantum Information, CME if not available)
University of Chicago - Physics - rejected 1/23
University of Maryland - Physics - accepted via email 2/15
Cornell University - Applied Physics -
Michigan State University - Physics - accepted via email 1/26
Northwestern University - Physics - informal interview 1/24, accepted via email 2/19
University of Colorado Boulder - Physics - rejected 3/1
University of Michigan - Physics - rejected 2/15
University of Rochester - Physics - informal interview 1/15, accepted via email 1/23
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Physics - accepted via email 1/26
University of Chicago - Quantum Science and Engineering - official interview 1/17, accepted via email 1/24
University of Washington - Physics - rejected 3/28
Pennsylvania State University - Physics -
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Physics - rejected 3/10

[Phoenix22881]

Undergrad Institution: Big State Flagship R1, decent in physics
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics, and Astrophysics
Minor(s): Theatre (lol)
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.98
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Probably near top, maybe even top
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores: not a chance

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

Research Experience:
--At home institution: 1 year in gravitational waves, 1.5 years in theoretical cosmology (paper in prep by end of year), and about a year in math (differential geometry)
--Physics REU in computational cosmology at a pretty prestigious school
--No publications (only a first-author research note, Nth author research note, and aforementioned paper in prep)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
--Top merit scholarship at my university (basically full ride)
--Some minor awards from math/CS competitions

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
--SPS president for 2 years
--A couple of other leadership roles in clubs/organizations on campus focused on research

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Probably nothing major

Special Bonus Points:
--2 grad classes in mathematical physics, 1 grad class in machine learning, 1 grad class in differential geometry/geometric analysis
--Tried to contact profs from every school to varying degrees of success, had a few zoom calls with potential PIs in the fall
--Recommenders seem pretty well-connected

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
--Research interests are theoretical/computational cosmology with an emphasis on cosmological simulations

Applying to Where: Applied to a mix of physics and astro depts depending on where the computational cosmology people were.

Caltech (Physics) -- Rejected (02/26)
Columbia (Astro) -- Rejected (03/05)
Carnegie Mellon (Physics) -- Rejected (04/18)
Georgia Tech (Physics) -- Accepted (01/31) via email to check portal, $35.5k/yr + $5.5k/yr Presidential fellowship
Harvard (Astro) -- Rejected (02/02)
Northwestern (Physics) -- Waitlisted (03/14) via informal email
NYU (Physics) -- Rejected (04/09)
Penn (Physics) -- Rejected (04/14)
Princeton (Astro) -- Rejected (02/26)
Stanford (Physics) -- Accepted (02/02) via email to check portal, $51.6k/yr WILL ATTEND!
UC Berkeley (Physics) -- Accepted via informal email, $47k/yr + 1-time $3k (02/18)
UChicago (Astro) -- Rejected (02/01)
UMD (Astro) -- interview request (01/25) ... Application withdrawn
UT Austin (Astro) -- Waitlisted (02/23) via informal email

NSF GRFP -- Accepted (04/04) WILL ACCEPT AWARD!
DOE CSGF -- Rejected (04/01)

[depresso_espresso]

Undergrad Institution: Bigger boy R1 state university somewhat known for physics
Major(s): Physics, Astronomy
Minor(s): Materials science
GPA in Major: 3.92
Overall GPA: 3.71 (felt silly goofy during my freshman year )
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: idk
Type of Student: domestic white female

GRE Scores: i'm not dealing with that

Research Experience:
Two-ish years of experimental condensed matter (CME) research at my home institution. One REU in 2022 at home institution in CME and a second 2023 CME REU at well-known R1 materials science and condensed matter school. presented at the APS march meeting and a few poster presentations/oral presentations at smaller conferences. one work in prep

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Research scholars grant offered by school

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Astrophysics TA, SPS communications officer (2022-2023), SPS vice president (2023-2024), involved with physics DEI committee, paid student researcher

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: not really sure

Special Bonus Points:
i think i have pretty strong connections with my letter writers, two of them are research-based and one professor that i knew really well. also reached out to a professor at one of my top choices and had a very positive interaction about me joining her group (if admitted). recommenders seemed to know a lot of people at the schools i am applying for.
#womeninstem probably helps too

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
hopefully strong letter writers and a *somewhat* focused application having done CME for a while, wanting to do it in grad school, and being very specific in my statements about what groups/facilities i want to work with.
my gpa is a lot lower than my upper division but i've had straight A's since freshman year and i felt i reasonably explained some of the problems i had during my first year


Applying to Where (All are for Physics CME except UCSB):

UCSB (Materials): Accepted 1/20 via informal email! - WILL ATTEND!!!
Berkeley: Accepted 2/16 via unofficial email (screaming crying throwing up)
Duke: Accepted 1/29 via email to check portal!
CU Boulder: Accepted 1/30 via email to check portal!
University of Michigan: Rejected 2/15 via email
Princeton: Rejected 2/23 via email (womp^2)
Caltech: Rejected 2/26 via email (womp^3)
Penn State: Accepted 1/29 via email to check portal!
UIUC: Accepted 12/28 via email!
Georgia Tech: Accepted 1/31 via email to check portal!
Yale: Rejected 2/12 via email (womp womp)


NSF GRFP - Awarded 4/4!

[kou_ji]

Undergrad Institution: Top Canadian School.
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): No
GPA in Major: 3.82
Overall GPA: 3.73
Length of Degree: 5 years (I transferred and did twice the first years)
Position in Class: I don't really know, but the school's avg GPA is like 3.0 (of all undergrad programs)
Type of Student: International, Asian male

GRE Scores: No


TOEFL: N/A (CMU asked for, but that's after receiving an offer)


Research Experience: All research experience is at home institution. the first was earth science research but involved Linux and Python for a summer. Second was a HEP-ex research, 3 semesters long(fall, winter, summer) for a total of 1 year. had some results, did not have a publication, but hopefully soon. the third is directed study research about HEP (year-long, ongoing). It is a bunch of theoretical papers and readings.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for 4 years, a summer research award for my HEP-ex project(probably the most significant), some in-course awards

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: No

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: No

Special Bonus Points: All 3 letters from my research supervisors. the recommender of my directed study research project is famous in the field. Pretty strong letters from my HEP-ex project recommender. I think I have good connections with these two of my recommenders. Had Zoom meetings with intended profs from Upenn and Duke.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Strongly indicated my interests in machine learning and high energy physics. I bombed a very important 3rd-year physics course, and got a B-... but the rest of them are fine.

Applying to Where: All in Experimental High Energy Physics Ph.D.

Cornell University -
University of Pennsylvania -
University of Toronto -
University of Maryland -
Carnegie Mellon University -
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign -
University of British Columbia (Master) -
Boston University -
University of Wisconsin–Madison -
Duke University -

Hope to get into at least one

[corgisforlife]

Undergrad Institution: Small USA liberal arts school, top 20. Good reputation in physics and astronomy.
Major(s): Astronomy/Physics
Minor(s): History
GPA in Major: 3.0
Overall GPA: 3.20
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores: Did not take


TOEFL: Did not take


Research Experience: Have been in three research groups at my university for two summers in astronomy. I am an author on three publications, and first author on one of those. I presented at a conference with results from one of my groups this semester. I have worked on projects observing and analyzing quasar flares and infrared spectroscopy observations of accreting brown dwarfs.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's Award one semester

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I was a TA for an upper-level astronomy course this semester.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I conducted my senior research project this semester in observational astronomy and produced original results (may be published next semester if I continue). I also took a master's course while abroad at the University of Cardiff in exoplanets last semester.

Special Bonus Points: Some connections at RIT and Penn State

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Low GPA due to severe illness my sophomore year. I think all my recommendation letters are strong and they know me personally.

Applying to Where:
(All Ph.D. Programs)

Penn State - Astronomy and Astrophysics - Observational Astronomy -
RIT - Physics and Astronomy - Active Galactic Nuclei (Observational Astronomy) -
University of Florida - Astronomy - High Energy Astrophysics -
University of Hawaii - Astronomy - Extragalactic Observational Astronomy -
University of Maryland - Astronomy - Extragalactic Observational Astronomy -
Northern Arizona University - Astronomy and Planetary Science - Exoplanets -
Vanderbilt University - Physics and Astronomy - Exoplanets -
UMass Amherst - Astronomy - Exoplanets -

[m1namin]

Undergrad Institution: US public school, generally t30? Physics rep seems decent but I don’t really know
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): No minor, but doing an AI Certificate
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.85
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: domestic Asian woman

Research Experience: In high school I worked at a smaller R1 university over a summer in a materials science lab regarding solar cells, which culminated in a symposium presentation. I also worked in an environmental engineering lab for two years where I got a lot of experience with chemical analysis. Currently working in a low temp lab (since about 1.5y ago) and have a paper under review with this group (mid author). Otherwise no pubs or talks, and I don’t know if my research experience being spread across multiple fields will help or hurt my chances :(

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean’s list and President’s Honor Roll a couple times, and a couple merit-based scholarships - nothing super remarkable

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Internship with Math Nation and volunteering/tutoring in high school (only mentioned in some applications). Nothing really significant here either to be honest LOL

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I was a big leader in a competitive a cappella group, which legit taught me some reeeally useful leadership and instructional skills. It’s not at all relevant to physics but I discussed it a lot in diversity/involvement/leadership statements. Again not sure if this will be any use :(

Special Bonus Points: female

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I made it pretty clear that I’m interested in CME (and for some schools I leaned a little toward QC) and honestly didn’t make myself sound super flexible in terms of interest in other fields

Applying to Where: (all PhD, CME)

University of Pennsylvania - Interview invite (1/24), Interview (1/28), Accepted via portal (4/11) + $41.8k/12mo
CMU
UW Madison - Accepted via email (1/26) + $38.9k/12mo + WILL ATTEND
Purdue - Accepted via email (2/13) + $22.8k/9mo
University of Maryland - Rejected via portal (3/16)
Georgia Tech - Accepted via email (1/31) + $35.5k/12mo
Penn State - Accepted via email (2/16) + $30.5k/12mo (TA) and $33.3k/12mo (RA)
Rutgers - Rejected via portal (4/13)
University of Florida - Accepted via email (2/1) + $20.2k/9mo

Update 2/2 - I'm surprised I'm hearing back already! I thought UW Madison was a bit of a reach. I think Penn still is, but fingers crossed the interview went better than it felt :( but my paper under review just got published (post applying) and I mentioned that during the interview which was good!

Update 4/14 - So I heard back from Penn literally days before the deadline and had to kind of scramble to make a final decision, but since applying I've discovered QC is definitely what I want to pursue. I met with a whole bunch of people everywhere and ultimately UW Madison just makes the most sense. Super pumped to get started - good luck to everyone making their final choices!

[ThomasBarbera221]

Undergrad Institution: US Private School (Top 20); R1 Institution
Major(s): Physics (Additional Concentrations in both Advanced Physics and Honors Physics)
Minor(s): French; Honors Program considered a minor as well
GPA in Major: 3.975
Overall GPA: 3.945
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top 10% in class; Top 5% in major
Type of Student: White Caucasian male

Research Experience: I have done experimental high-energy physics since my freshman year at my home institution. With this research, I have ~10 national presentations and 2 publications (a third in process). My summer research included an internship doing theoretical research at Fermilab in 2022. I spent the Spring and Summer of 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland doing a part-time (full-time during the summer) research internship in computational high-energy physics at CERN while taking classes at the University of Geneva.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I was a Goldwater nominee for my institution, won several physics- and research-related scholarships, applied for the NSF GFRP, and have been on Dean's List every semester.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: CERN internship in 2023 + Fermilab internship in 2022; I also worked as both a calculus tutor and a physics TA for >3 years in college (started freshman year with tutoring, sophomore year TAing).

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My letters of recommendation are likely quite strong. I have not read any of them, but they come from my home institution, a distinguished researcher at Fermilab and my CERN project advisor. Also, I took additional graduate math and physics courses my last two years and earned A's in all physics and math courses as an undergraduate (outside of an A- in Intermediate Mechanics).

Applying to Where: (all PhD; experimental and/or theoretical high-energy physics)

MIT- Rejected 2/15
Stanford- Rejected 2/2
CalTech
Harvard - Interview Request Received 1/17
Berkeley
Cornell
Columbia
Yale - Rejected 2/12
Michigan - Rejected 2/15
Rice
Stony Brook - Accepted 2/12
Duke
Vanderbilt - Accepted 1/13
RPI
BC
Tufts - Interview Request Received 2/12

[HEPkid]

Undergrad Institution: Large public university, well known for physics (top 15 school in physics according to USAnews).
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Scientific Computation
GPA in Major: 3.97
Overall GPA: 3.98 (graduated with high honors)
Length of Degree: Graduated in 3 years but transferred from another school where I studied for nearly a year and a half.
Position in Class: top 10% in college, above top 5% in department.
Type of Student: Domestic, caucasian (middle eastern), male

GRE Scores: n/a

Research Experience: Research in high-energy and medical physics, both under the same PI at my university. Started in April 2021 and have worked in this research nearly full time since. Co-authored three published papers and a few conference abstracts. Probably about ten public presentations.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors, Research Fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate teaching Assistant for a few semesters

Special Bonus Points: My research professor has a very great track record of getting his students into top schools from his own connections and prestige in high-energy physics.

Applying to Where:

* all research interests are experimental particle (low- and high- energy) physics with a focus on detector R&D *

MIT -
Yale -
Princeton -
Columbia -
University of Chicago -
Northwestern -
University of Michigan -
Stanford -

I did not give myself much of a break in terms of backups. I applied to my home institution as well (which I did not list), where my current research professor has essentially guaranteed I can stay. So that is my ultimate backup.

[adddrians]

Undergrad Institution: University of Warwick
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
Overall GPA: 71/100 (graduated with integrated master's degree)
Length of Degree: 4


Master Institution: King's College London
Majoy: Theoretical Physics
Overall GPA: 85/100
Length of Degree: 1

Type of Student: international male; Asian

GRE Scores: n/a

Research Experience: 1 yr in low Reynolds number hydrodynamics, 1 yr in solar plasma physics, 4 full months in Kac-Moody algebra and Supergravity

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: none


Special Bonus Points: none

Subfield: all hepth

Applying to Where:
KU Leuven -- Rejected
Case Western -- Rejected
Wisconsin-Madison -- Rejected
South Carolina -- 08/03 Interview 15/03 Offer
Utah -- 09/02 Interview
Florida --
Oklahoma --23/02 Offer 29900/yr TA
Rice --
Virginia Tech -- Rejected
UMA --
Pittsburgh -- Rejected
Minnesota --Rejected
CU Boulder -- Rejected
Swansea -- Rejected

[P_panni]

Undergrad Institution: Tier-1 Engineering Institute, not known for Physics
GPA in Major: don't know
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International female

GRE Scores: didn't take
TOEFL: >110

Research Experience: (CMT/E)
1. A couple of introductory projects that were computational.
2. A serious computational project is up on arXiv and under review in a journal, 1st author. Presented the same at a national conference.
3. One experimental summer internship abroad.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
My school doesn't award any for merit

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Tutor, TA (1 semester each)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
None

Special Bonus Points:
My advisor is not reputed in the field, but the letter will be strong. Other letters come from a summer intern advisor (famous) and a course professor, not expecting them to be super-strong as they haven't known me for a long time. Took a few graduate-level classes, but did not ace them.

Any Other InfoThat Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Grades aren't perfect for Physics courses outside my area of specialization.
I overall had a pretty focused research topic from the start to now, which might matter.

Applying to Where (all CME/T except Harvard):
Johns-Hopkins - CME - Accepted via formal email (12/2)
UChicago - CME - Accepted via portal (22/1)!
NYU - CMT - Accepted via portal (12/2)!
Yale - CME - Accepted via portal (12/2)
UCSB - CMT - Accepted via informal email from PI (13/2)!
Max-Planck - CMT - Interview invitation(28/12) - Accepted via informal email (19/2)
Brandeis - CMT - Interview invitation(21/1) - Open House Invitation (03/2)
Emory - CMT - Interview invitation(19/1) - Accepted via informal email (06/2)
RIT - Accepted via informal email from PI (17/2)
Syracuse - CME - Accepted via informal email (22/12)
CU Boulder - CME - Accepted via portal (27/2)
MIT - CMT - Rejected via portal (15/2)
Harvard - Applied Phy - Rejected via portal (9/2)

9/2: Might have had a fighting chance at Harvard if I'd applied to Phy instead of App Phy. Eh, water under the bridge.
12/2: Three offers in a day, feels surreal.

[Lawall1122]

Undergrad Institution: Top federal university in Nigeria
Major(s): Physics
Overall GPA: 4.06/5.0
Length of Degree: 4

Master Institution: Top federal University in Nigeria
Major: Physics (Solid State)
Overall GPA: 4.94/5.0
Length of Degree: 2

Type of Student: international male; African

GRE Scores: n/a

Research Experience: 6 months in advanced physics laboratory using micro controllers to carry out system automation. 1 undergraduate project. 1 yr masters thesis using density functional theory to investigate electronic, structural and optical properties of 2D materials

Special Bonus Points: strong LOR from my recommenders, 2 are my undergraduate and masters supervisors, 1 USA professor with a title of Distinguished Scientist. I have 2 second author publication in automated covid-19 detection device. 1 second author in DFT method of analyzing a material used for solar electricity (under review). I also have polytechnic Diploma (2 yrs) and Certificate (1yr) result in the area of mathematics and computer science, finished both with Distinction.

Applying to Where: All in the research area of CMT
Harvard University (Applied Physics)
Cornell University (Applied Physics)
Yale University (Applied Physics)
University of Michigan Ann-Arbor (Applied Physics)
Rice University (Applied Physics)
University of Colorado Boulder (Physics)
University of Rochester (Physics)
Washington University in st Louis (Physics)
University of California Merced (Physics)
Emory University (Physics)
University of South Carolina (Physics)
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Physics)
Wayne State University (Physics)

I hope the schools I selected does not look like one that is too ambitious.

[James Jiang]

Undergrad Institution: Top Canadian School.
Major(s): Physics + Application Math
Minor(s): No
GPA in Major: 3.93
Overall GPA: 3.90
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top 5%
Type of Student: International, Asian male

GRE Scores: No


TOEFL: N/A


Research Experience: All research experience is at home institution in Experimental Condensed Matter. One paper is ready to be published, the other one will be published in two years.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for 3 years, NSERC, highest GPA in the college for first year

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: No

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: No

Special Bonus Points: All 3 letters from my research supervisors. The recommender of my summer research is famous in the field. Talked with a few profs in person.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Strongly indicates my interest in CME. I bombed a very important 4th-year physics course, and got a B-... but the rest of them are fine.

Applying to Where:

Mega reach:
University of Toronto (CME) - Rejected Apr 15

Reach:
Stanford (Applied Physics) - Rejected Feb 7
Yale (CME) - Rejected Feb 12
Harvard (CME) - Rejected Feb 22

Target:
Princeton (CME) - Interview Jan 16 Waitlist Feb 23 Withdraw Apr 12
Caltech (CME) - Interview Jan 16 Withdraw Feb 25

Safety:
UBC (CME) - Accpeted Jan 31
UCSB (CME) - Accpeted Feb 22 Will attend
Cornell (CME) - Accpeted Feb 23

[oboe7338]

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US university in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.92
Overall GPA: 3.88
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top 25%
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores: didn't attempt

Research Experience: Almost 2 years hep-ex research experience. Taking a gap year to continue my current research. 3 publications, all second author, a couple others in review/prep. 3 presentations at two different conferences.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Award for top graduating physics major, award for undergraduate physics research, two years deans list,

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: none

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: none

Special Bonus Points: took one grad class, my PI is somewhat well known in the field with connections to a few universities I'm applying to. My PI's letter should be quite strong, and my other letters (two research advisors and one professor), should also be strong.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I don't think so.

Applying to Where: all hep-ex physics PhDs
- Cornell: Accepted via email 2/22
- MIT: Rejected via email to check portal 2/15
- Northwestern: Rejected via email to check portal 4/24 (interview invitation 1/29, scheduled for 1/30)
- Penn State: Accepted via email 2/2, base $25k/9mo, RA $8k/summer, extra $5k first-year scholarship
- Princeton: Waitlisted via email to check portal 2/23, rejected via email to check portal 4/22 (interview invitation 1/12, scheduled for 1/17)
- Stanford: Accepted via email to check portal 2/2, $51.6k for first year
- UChicago: Rejected via portal 1/23
- UC Berkeley: Accepted via email 2/21, $47k for 6 years, $3k relocation stipend
- UCLA: Accepted via open house email 2/9
- UCSB: Accepted via email to check portal 2/5, $44k during first year, supported for 5 years
- UW Seattle: Rejected via email to check portal 3/28
- Yale: Rejected via email to check portal 2/12

[adeavilacadena]

Undergrad Institution: US State School, big astrophysics department
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.3 (oops)
Overall GPA: 3.2 (oops)
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: No idea, probably not high

Grad Institution: US State School, big astrophysics department (Master's)
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.76
Overall GPA: 3.76
Length of Degree: 2
Position in Class: Like 4 or 5, wasnt much people
Type of Student: Latino Male

GRE Scores: nah

Research Experience: all experimental work, 2 years in undergrad in Atomic, 1 1/2 years of atomic research in grad school, published two papers

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Fellowship, Dean's List

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Student Grader, Teaching Associate/Lab Instructor
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I know SolidWORKS, AutoCAD, LabVIEW, MATLAB, python, just collecting skills lmao

Applying to Where:

University of California, Riverside - Physics - Condensed, Atomic Interview on 03/25Rejected
University of California, Riverside - Electrical and Computer Engineering ECE - Nanotech or whatever I can get into Interview offered 12/20/23 interview on 01/25Rejected
University of California, Merced - Physics - Condensed, Atomic, SolarRejected
University of California, Irvine - Physics - Plasma or CondensedRejected
University of California, Irvine - Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering AME - Plasma or FluidsRejected
University of Nevada, Reno - Physics - Plasma Waitlisted 03/06Accepted, will attend, $2200 per month TA
University of Iowa - Physics - PlasmaRejected
University of Illinois Urban-Champaign - Radiological and Plasma Engineering - PlasmaAccepted for Masters
University of Illinois Urban-Champaign - Aero Eng. - Electro Propulsion / Plasma Accepted 02/05 with no advisor or funding
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - Applied Physics - Plasma / Propulsion Rejected 02/19 by email
Auburn University - Physics - Plasma Accepted 02/17 $27820 annual with TA
University of Texas at Austin - Physics - Plasma Rejected 03/20 by email to check portal
University of Colorado, Boulder - Physics - Plasma Rejected 03/01 by email to check portal
University of Colorado, Boulder - AE - Plasma Rejected 03/22 by email to check portal

Second time applying. I hope I get accepted into at least one school. I am chasing a subject that is a bit niche, Plasma/Electric Propulsion. Not a lot of schools offer it and if they do, it's usually in the Engineering department. Either way, I am trying again, at least something in Plasma but I am open to some other fields. I wish the best of luck to everyone this year. You can see my old post of 2023 at the link viewtopic.php?f=3&t=182165&p=257333#p257333

UPDATE 02/05: It's nice that I got accepted to a place but now I have to look for funding. Seems like a hassle but I have hopes that I will get some more decisions soon. Good luck to everyone!

UPDATE 02/17: Wow! Very exciting to see I got accepted to another school, Auburn. And it's for physics! I am invited to an open house on March 15th. I am liking this option more but will wait to see any more offers. I wish the best of luck to everyone!

UPDATE 03/06: I really want to go to UNR, so if you will not go, please decline. Apparently, I am "high" on this list. I will decline my offers as soon as possible if you let me go to UNR.

UPDATE 03/27: More waitlists at UCR as well. If they get enough funding, or people start to decline the offers, I might be able to get in. I'll known as soon as early April or so.

[eventhorizon314]

Undergrad Institution: Large public university with moderate reputation in physics
Master's Degree Institution: Small to mid-size liberal arts university with solid reputation in my area of physics
Major(s): Physics (undergrad astrophysics concentration)
Minor(s): Philosophy (undergrad)
GPA in Major: 3.78 undergrad (3.96 in my master's program)
Overall GPA: 3.82 undergrad (3.96 in my master's program)
Length of Degree: 4 year undergrad, 2 year master's
Position in Class: Probably upper 10% undergrad, unsure about master's
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores: n/a

TOEFL: n/a

Research Experience: 1 undergrad engineering project (conference proceedings publication), 1 undergrad physics project (galactic astrophysics - no publication), 1 main master's project (multimessenger/gravitational waves - possible publication on the way), smaller tangential projects in my master's program (multimessenger/gw/cosmology - possible publication on the way), involved in collaboration work

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's honor list a few times in undergrad, honor's society, nothing big

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for several courses now (over 100 students so far), worked on some science communication/visualization projects, involved in science writing

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Science writing and outreach work might look nice, undergrad engineering project went quite far

Special Bonus Points: I have connections to researchers at every institution I'm applying to (typically via collaboration work), some more close than others. Will have a master's degree going into my potential PhD. Presented research at one institution I'm applying to.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applied to the NSF GRFP, probably have generally strong recommendation letters

Applying to Where: (MMA = multimessenger astro, GWs = gravitational waves)

Carnegie Mellon University - Physics - MMA/GWs/cosmology
Montana State University - Physics - MMA/GWs/cosmology (Email asking if I'm still interested 15 April, presumably admitting off waitlist)
Oregon State University - Physics - MMA/GWs/cosmology (Accepted via informal email 9 April) ~$29k TA
Tufts University - Physics - MMA/GWs/cosmology (Accepted via informal email 8 Feb) ~$44k stipend (TA/RA)
University of California, Berkeley - Astrophysics - MMA/GWs/cosmology/black hole astrophysics (Rejected via email to check portal 8 Feb)
University of California, Santa Cruz - Physics - MMA/GWs/cosmology/black hole astrophysics (Accepted via informal email from grad admissions 14 Feb) ~$34k TA, plus guaranteed first summer support, moving support, and cost of living supplement — WILL ATTEND
Vanderbilt University - Astrophysics - MMA/GWs/cosmology (Rejected via email to check portal 29 March)

I applied to 10 schools in 2022 and got resounding rejections but sticking through and doing a master's has been a valuable experience for me. I've made lots of connections and honed my interests—so hopefully second time's the charm!

Edit 4/16: It was a grueling and long application season but I'm very happy that I stuck with things after my slate of rejections in 2022. This time I had a >50% success rate! Don't feel like you need to give up if you're put in a similar situation!

[Mohammadahmadi72]

Undergrad Institution: Top Iranian school - Low international reputation
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: N/A
Overall GPA: 2.74
Length of Degree: 6 years
Position in Class: Probably one of the worsts
Type of Student: International white male


Grad Institution: Top Iranian school - Low international reputation
Major(s): Gravitation and Astrophysics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: N/A
Overall GPA: 3.5
Length of Degree: 3.5 years
Position in Class: near top
Type of Student: International white male


GRE General: 321 (Q:169 , V:152 , AWA:2.5)


IELTS: 7.0 (R:8 , L:7 , S:6.5 , W:6)


Research Experience: 1 year of research on the theoretical early universe which resulted in one first-author paper (not published at the time of application)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: N/A

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: N/A

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points: Strong thesis and two strong recommendation

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Founder of an online market (not related to my major)


Applying to Where (All to physics departments, theoretical cosmology):

North America:

Harvard University -- Rejected 2/22
Pennsylvania State University -- Rejected 3/19
University of Wisconsin-Madison -- Rejected 1/26
Rice University -- Rejected 1/30
University of California--Santa Cruz -- Rejected 3/12
Case Western Reserve University -- Rejected 1/25
Vanderbilt University -- Rejected 2/19
Louisiana State University
University at Buffalo—SUNY -- Rejected 4/16
Tufts University -- Rejected 3/7
University of Oklahoma -- Rejected 5/20
Southern Methodist University -- Interview 4/25 -- Rejected 5/30
McGill University -- Rejected 4/25
University of Manitoba

Europe:

Imperial College London -- Rejected 6/14
The University of Edinburgh -- Rejected 2/27
King's College London -- Rejected 8/20
Queen Mary University of London -- Rejected 6/14
University of Nottingham -- Rejected 5/9
University of Sussex
Lancaster University -- Rejected 4/10
University of Portsmouth -- Rejected 3/11
Universität Hamburg
IFAE (Universitat de Barcelona)
Universitat de Barcelona
KU Leuven -- Rejected 3/7
Charles University
University of Stavanger -- Rejected 5/6
SISSA -- Rejected 3/12

[meep]

Undergrad Institution: Medium-sized US State School, More known for nuclear physics
Major(s): Astrophysics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Top or Near top
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores: N/A
TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience:
1. Home institution; computational nuclear physics; 1 yr; did a small panelist talk to the Board of Trustees about the experimental learning of the facility
2. Physics REU experience; Galaxy Evolution; 10 weeks; 2nd author publication in prep; poster presentation presented at my school, Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP), and virtually at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS)
3. Home institution; Observational Cosmology; 2 yrs, poster presentation at AAS conference


Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Institutional Nominee for the Goldwater Scholarship, a few department scholarships, Dean's List every semester.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer tutor this past semester

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Section leader in marching band

Special Bonus Points: Zoom met in the summer and early fall with a professor from 8 of the schools I applied to. From that made a good connection with a professor at Duke. Visited Penn State, UConn, and Maryland over the summer and met with a professor and a few grad students in person. Not really any famous recommenders, but I did research with all of them and one might have a few connections to schools I applied to.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My research interests are mostly observational cosmology, extragalactic, and galaxy evolution, but also open to other areas.

Applying to Where:

Yale - Astro Dept. - Rejected via email to check portal 2/6
Penn State - Astro Dept. - Accepted via email 2/11
Duke - Physics Dept. - Accepted via email to check portal 1/23 - Will attend
University of Maryland - Astro Dept. - Waitlisted 2/14
University of Minnesota - Astro Dept. - Waitlisted 2/23
University of Wisconsin - Astro Dept. - Rejected via email 1/17
University of Illinois - Astro Dept.
University of Pittsburgh - Physics & Astronomy Dept.
University of Connecticut - Physics Dept. - Accepted via email to check portal 2/13
Notre Dame - Physics & Astronomy Dept. - Accepted via email to check portal 1/24
Drexel University - Physics Dept. - Informal Interview 2/21 Accepted via email 3/1
Rochester Institute of Technology - Physics & Astronomy Dept. - Accepted via email 3/8
University of Delaware - Physics & Astronomy Dept. - Accepted via email to check portal 2/11

3/20 - I've withdrawn all my other applications and accepted Duke!

[dawginthecity]

[deleted].

[kitkat]

Undergrad Institution: Private R1 somewhat well-known in physics (T50), good reputation in hep-ex
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): n/a
GPA in Major: 3.96
Overall GPA: 3.91
Length of Degree: 4 years + 1 year post-bac at same institution
Position in Class: Near top, I would guess
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores: 940 PGRE, submitted to some schools but not others, no GGRE

Research Experience: 7 months studying abroad at CERN working on a demonstrator for a data scouting system (firmware/software experience); 1 year and counting at home institution working on detector R&D for an experiment at Fermilab (hardware/firmware experience). Minor astro project from sophomore year that I barely mention in application. No publications or conference talks

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: none, lol

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for classical mechanics, just one semester senior year

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 3 grad classes. No math beyond linear algebra/differential equations, though.

Special Bonus Points: Very positive letter of recommendation from well-known physicist in CMS

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Stated an interest in cosmology and astroparticle physics (despite having no previous experience in cosmology)

I have a pretty long list of schools; my strategy was to maximize my chances of acceptance to a reach by applying to as many as I could. I took a gap year after undergrad to gain research experience, but even so, I’m worried that aspect of my application is weak with no publications… I’m not sure if it was a mistake to state interest in both cosmology and particle physics, considering I have never done research in cosmology before. I think my letters of recommendation will be the strongest part of my application (but doesn’t everyone say that?).

I should be pretty easily identifiable to anyone from my home institution, so if you’re reading this from [redacted], hi! If you’re from that school, feel free to PM me for a Google Drive folder of useful grad school info (e.g. examples of SoPs) current and past students maintain--just name the school in your message.

Applying to Where:
(All cosmology/particle physics experiment, except Princeton)

Far Reach
Caltech - Interview 1/16 - Rejected 2/26
Harvard - Interview 1/20 - Accepted 2/7
MIT - Accepted 2/15
Stanford - Rejected 2/2
UC Berkeley - Accepted 2/16
UPenn - Interview 2/6 - Accepted 2/12
Princeton - Plasma Physics - Interview 1/17 - Accepted 2/8

Target/Reach
Johns Hopkins - Accepted 2/12
UIUC - Rejected 3/10 (offered master's)
Yale - Rejected 2/12
Michigan - Interview 1/31 - Accepted 2/8
Cornell - Accepted 2/16

Target
UCLA - Accepted 2/24
University of Washington - Accepted 1/26

Safety
Ohio State - Accepted 3/6
Brown - Interview 1/25 -
Carnegie Mellon - Wait listed 2/13 --> Application withdrawn
Boston University - Rejected 2/26

We’ll see how accurate my classification is, lol.

Edited 2/17: ^ WOW, when I wrote the above, I thought I was being too ambitious in what I called targets… can hardly believe these results

[bodiesinmotion]

Undergrad Institution: small T15 liberal arts college w/ a good reputation in physics
Major(s): physics
Minor(s): math
GPA in Major: 3.53
Overall GPA: 3.67
Length of Degree: 5 years (two semesters off for COVID)
Position in Class: no idea
Type of Student: domestic white female

GRE Scores: didn't take

Research Experience: two 10 week summer REU programs; 8 week summer at home institution; 12 weeks full-time staff research assistant at home institution (during one of my semesters off)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: a global scholarship for women in optics, the typical dean's list/college scholar stuff, undergraduate travel awards to two conferences, funding from home institution to do senior work in physics

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for introductory mechanics lab 2021-2022

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: poster presentations at three international conferences, three poster presentations at home institution, 4 year varsity athlete

Special Bonus Points: i know all three letters are very strong. both PIs from my REU programs want me to return to their labs (i also have one publication in review and two others in preparation, but i've read that it doesn't really matter unless they're fully published so idk)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: first-generation, low-income, multiple outreach experiences, also applied for NSF GRFP

my main research interest is optics, which is not strictly confined to physics programs. so i applied to a number of different programs and figured i'd put those up in case someone in the future is looking to do optics in grad school. the engineering programs were a rush job the day before the deadline (12/1) bc my current research adviser asked me to apply. other than that, i think my SOP and personal statement were very strong (had two of my PIs review them)


Applying to Where:
(all PhD programs)

UC Berkeley (physics) - rejected 3/21
UMich (physics) - interview request 1/26 (scheduled 2/2) - accepted 2/8!!!
Northwestern (physics) - rejected 4/5
CU Boulder (physics) - rejected 3/1
Caltech (applied physics) - rejected 3/1
U of A (optical sciences) - accepted 2/18!!
Rice (bioengineering) - interview request 12/19 (interview weekend 2/22-2/25) - accepted 3/4!
UT Austin (biomedical engineering) - accepted 1/18!
Dartmouth (biomedical engineering) - rejected 4/2

NSF GRFP - won 4/4!!!

Good luck everyone!

[almondgoodness]

Undergrad Institution: Medium size state school
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.92
Overall GPA: 3.89
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Top 3% in College of Science and Engineering, unsure about physics
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores: Only sent PGRE to one school: 720. No GRE's.


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


Research Experience: 3 years on 2 main projects, no pubs, 1 poster and thesis. All doing computational physics for a CME group.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Cum Laude, NASA Space Grant Consortium

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

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

All applications for CMT or AMO Theory
Applying to Where:
University of Virginia - rejected 3/23
Virginia Tech - rejected 4/9
Harvard - rejected 2/21
CU Boulder - rejected 3/1
UC Santa Barbara - rejected 4/29 thanks for the timely response..
UC Santa Cruz - rejected
University of Washington - rejected 3/28
University of Mass. Amherst. - rejected 4/8
Purdue - rejected 4/12
University of Florida - Accepted 2/1 29k/12months ta Will attend!!
University of Oregon - Accepted 1/30
Rice - rejected 3/26
Yale - rejected 2/12
UIUC -rejected 3/6

[wildmicrostates]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal arts, fairly good reputation
Major(s): Physics and Mathematics
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Not calculated at my school
Type of Student: International male from Latin America

GRE Scores: Not taken

TOEFL: Not taken

Research Experience:
- Two years of AMO experiment at my school. This led to a published paper, an additional paper to be published in the near future, two presentations at our local symposium, and three presentations at national conferences.
- One year of high energy theory. I wanted to pivot to high energy physics, so I attended an REU program last summer at a different university. The project continues as my senior research project during the academic year. I have presented this work at two conferences so far.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa (early admission), experimentalist award, award for best junior math major, and a few other minor awards.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: teaching assistant for six physics and math classes over the years and president of our SPS chapter for one year.

Applying to (all hep-ph/hep-th):

Twenty PhD Programs:

Case Western Reserve University — Interviewed 1/25 — Accepted 2/5
College of William & Mary — Interviewed 2/22
Cornell University — Rejected 2/22
Duke University — Accepted 1/23
Johns Hopkins University — Rejected 3/25
Harvard University — Rejected 2/21
Northwestern University
University at Buffalo — Rejected 4/16
University of California, Santa Cruz — Waitlisted 2/27 — Rejected 4/29
University of Chicago — Rejected 1/23
University of Indiana, Bloomington — Accepted 1/31
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign — Rejected 3/7
University of Maryland — Rejected 3/16
University of Minnesota — Rejected 1/31
University of Oregon — Waitlisted 3/21 — Rejected 4/11
University of Pittsburgh — Rejected 4/19
University of Southern California — Rejected 3/4
University of Washington, Seattle — Rejected 3/28
University of Wisconsin, Madison — Accepted 1/26
Yale University — Rejected 2/12

Four Master's Programs:

DAAD (Germany) — Withdrawn 2/13
ICTP (Italy)
Perimeter Institute (Canada) — Rejected 2/28
University of Toronto (Canada) — Rejected 2/13

[mzyf]

Undergrad Institution: top private school, good rep in physics & astro
Major(s): astrophysics
Minor(s): theater
Overall GPA: 3.57
Length of Degree: 4yr B.S.
Position in Class: not sure, mid?
Type of Student: international, female

GRE Scores: 165+169; 4.5


TOEFL: NA (attended US undergrad)

Research Experience: 1yr lensing research at national lab - conference paper published + various conferences; 5 month observation research at home institution - nth author paper on arxiv; supernova research started last summer - AAS poster

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: two research scholarship, 1 conference grant (all home institution)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: women in physics board member; asian scientists & engineers board member

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: does research in a very new area that's hot topic right now

Special Bonus Points: mentors are well-connected

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I think my SoP strengthens my application

Applying to Where:
University of Arizona, Astronomy
UC Berkeley, Astronomy - rejected 2/8
Harvard, Astronomy - rejected 2/2
Princeton, Astronomy
MIT, Physics - rejected 2/15
Yale, Astronomy - rejected 2/6
UPenn, Physics & Astronomy - interviewed 1/24 accepted 2/9! (official notice later)
Johns Hopkins University, Astronomy & Astrophysics
UCLA, Astronomy
University of Michigan, Astronomy
Carnegie Mellon University, Physics
Boston University, Astronomy - accepted 2/5!! (official notice to come later in the week)
University of Washington, Astronomy
Northwestern University, Astronomy
UC Santa Barbara, Physics
UC Irvine, Physics - accepted 2/20
Stanford University, Physics - rejected 2/2
UChicago, Astronomy - rejected 2/1
University of Pittsburgh, Physics & Astronomy - accepted 2/6!
UC, Santa Cruz, Astronomy

[LurkingInGravity]

Undergrad Institution: research institution in India
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s):
Overall GPA: 9.2/10
Length of Degree: 5yr BS-MS
Position in Class: near top?
Type of Student: international, male

GRE Scores: 156+170; 4 (only submitted at a couple of places)
PGRE: 950 (only submitted at a few places)

TOEFL: 118

Research Experience: 5 months research on black hole binaries - nth author paper on arXiv, 2 year research experience on dark matter halos at home institution - 1st author paper on arXiv under review + conference talk; 1 year research at Canadian institution on GWs - 1st author paper published in CQG + poster at LVK meeting; ongoing master's project in GWs at indian institution - conference poster

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Mitacs Globalink Research internship award, couple of govt scholarships, 1 academic excellence award

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Astronomy Club head

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: letter from advisor at home institution and from advisor in Canada should be strong, not sure about the third. applied with interests in GWs/Cosmology

Applying to Where:
University of Arizona, Astronomy - Accepted via short zoom call (no interview) on 2/5!!!!: $38k/12mo WILL ATTEND!
University of Toronto, Astronomy - waitlisted 3/18 accepted 3/20 declined 4/15
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (AEI), Potsdam - interviewed 3/22 accepted 3/25 declined 3/30
UW Milwaukee, Physics - Accepted via informal email 1/28: $14.5k/9mo TA + $5.8k additional support + $3k summer support declined 3/18
Syracuse, Physics - Accepted via email 2/21: $29k/9mo TA + $9.6k summer RA/TA declined 3/18
UPenn, Physics - interviewed 1/25 accepted 4/11 declined 4/14
MIT, Physics - interviewed 1/17 rejected 2/15
Harvard, Astronomy - rejected 2/2
Yale, Physics - rejected 2/12
Stanford University, Physics - rejected 2/2
UChicago, Astronomy - rejected 2/1
University of Toronto, Physics - rejected 2/13
Carnegie Mellon University, Physics unofficial rejection (asked a faculty) 2/13
Caltech, Physics - rejected 2/26
UT Austin, Physics
Penn State, Physics - waitlisted 3/25 rejected 4/15
Stony Brook, Physics - rejected 3/21
UC Berkeley, Physics - rejected 3/21
Johns Hopkins University, Astronomy - waitlisted 3/22 (was told "Please be aware that it is very unlikely that we will use the waitlist this year") unofficial rejection 4/15
Northwestern University, Astronomy

[academic_trash]

Undergrad Institution: top Canadian
Major(s): Mathematical Physics
Minor(s): Pure Mathematics, Astrophysics
GPA in Major: 99.3 / 100
Overall GPA: 98.8 /100
Length of Degree: 5, but planning to graduate early in 4 years
Position in Class: no official ranking, but my academic advisor told me that I can safely assume I am the first place
Type of Student: domestic when applying to Canadian institutions, international when applying to the US
GRE Scores: didn't take

TOEFL: not required

Research Experience: astrophysics project started in summer 2022, quantum info / applied math project started in summer 2023. Two arxiv preprints when applied.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: term distinctions, various scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for multivariable calculus. Tutor for quantum mechanics. Oral and poster presentations at two conferences. Summer programs at Perimeter Institute and IQC.

Bonus point: 8 graduate classes (including undergrad/grad cross-listed courses). Recommenders have good reputations.

Applying to Where:

PhD:
MIT - Rejected Feb 15
Caltech - Interviewed Jan 17- Accepted Feb 20
Princeton - Rejected Feb 23
Harvard - Rejected Feb 21
Dartmouth - Interviewed Jan 26- Rejected Mar 22
Penn State - Withdrawn
UMichigan Ann Arbor - Rejected Feb 15
UC Berkeley - Rejected Mar 21
UC Santa Barbara - Rejected Apr 29
Stony Brook - Accepted Feb 15
UIUC- Rejected Mar 5
Maryland - Accepted Feb 19
UofToronto - Accepted Jan 22
Melbourne - Accepted Dec 18

MSc:
UofBritish Columbia - Informal Acceptance Jan 9
Waterloo (applied math) - Accepted Feb 15
McGill- Withdrawn
Perimeter Scholars International - Rejected Feb 28
ETH Zurich - Accepted Mar 14

[SilentApple]

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, no PhD program.
Major(s): Physics and Pure Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.5
Length of Degree: 7 yrs
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic, Male

Research Experience: (No papers published as of now, one in progress)
Two semester long biophysics experiments
One semester project on Kaon condensation in neutron stars
Ongoing year long project in condensed matter theory. Presented at my home institution twice and once at The Ohio State University.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Received three scholarships based on merit and President’s list last 4 semesters.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
SPS President, Astronomy Club VP, Women in Physics Secretary

Special Bonus Points:
My institution has a materials research partnership with Ohio state, and my collaborator on my current project is a condensed matter theorist there.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Dropped out of college three separate times to run my art business. As a result, my GPA from my first 4 years of college was approximately 2.0, with two semesters of straight F’s. However, my GPA has been a 4.0 for the last two years with a very heavy course load.

Applying to Where:
The Ohio State University - Physics - Condensed Matter Theory

[stardustashes]

Undergrad Institution: Medium sized state institution with an okay physics program but no graduate degree offered
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.44
Overall GPA: 3.44
Length of Degree: 3 years
Position in Class: Middle
Type of Student: Domestic white female

Note: I have a BA from a previous institution in addition to my physics BS, so all of the above information is for my BS only.

GRE Scores: Not attempted
TOEFL: N/A (native speaker)

Research Experience:
-1 year studying magnetic massive stars with a professor as a physics undergrad which produced a poster at a HEAD meeting; received an acknowledgement in a paper for data analysis but no authorship
-1 year NSF-sponsored post-baccalaureate bridge program in extragalactic astronomy which produced an AAS poster and a first author paper currently in draft stage (and potentially another paper as the third author, but it's still being discussed)
-Capstone physics project produced a third author paper that is being resubmitted pending final edits

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Physics scholarship in final year of BS from the institution I attended, graduated cum laude

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Planetarium TA at BA institution, women in physics group co-founder/president at BS institution, 1 year of previous teaching experience as an ESL teacher abroad

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Received a grant from APS to help fund the creation of the women in physics group at my university

Special Bonus Points: Three very strong letters of recommendation from faculty I have researched with, I'm also knowledgeable and experienced in high-energy astronomy, particularly in observational data reduction and analysis. My GPA during my BA was higher, and I graduated magna cum laude after writing two theses.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My grades weren't great during COVID because I was working full time as an essential worker. If I remember right, I had two or three Cs on my transcript. I applied two years ago without a solid research direction and didn't get in anywhere, so I decided to apply to bridge programs last year in order to gain more research experience.

Applying to Where: (all Ph.D., all extragalactic/observational astronomy)

UIUC - Astronomy & Astrophysics -
University of Washington - Astronomy & Astrophysics -
University of Michigan - Astronomy & Astrophysics -
University of Maryland - Astronomy & Astrophysics - REJECTED 2/14 via email
Penn State - Astronomy & Astrophysics - REJECTED 2/15 via email
Michigan State University - Physics & Astronomy - REJECTED 1/18 via email
University of Pittsburgh - Physics & Astronomy -
Montana State University - Physics & Astronomy -
University of Wyoming - Physics & Astronomy -
University of North Texas - Physics -

Good luck everyone!
Update 2/15: Doesn't look good, but my research advisor at my home institution has hinted that I'm welcome to stay in his research group for my Ph.D., so not all is lost. At least I enjoy my research, and this year I have a backup for my backups, so I'll count my blessings.

[i_am_batman]

Undergrad Institution: Top Indian Engineering Institute
Major(s): Engineering Physics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 9.8/10
Overall GPA: 9.5/10
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top

Masters Institution: Top Swiss Institute
Major(s): Physics
Overall GPA: 5.4/6
Length of Degree: 2 years

Type of Student: International Asian Male

GRE Scores: NA

TOEFL: 103

Research Experience: Top HEP organization, Top US universities
Research Interest: Quantum Engineering

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 3 papers (1 first author), 2 patent applications (pending) (both first author)

Applying to Where:

MIT EECS: Accepted by email on Jan 29th, 2024
Princeton ECE: Interview on Jan 11th, 2024
Caltech APh
Stanford APh: Rejected by portal on Feb 7th, 2024 oops
Harvard QSE
Yale APh
MIT Phy
UCSB ECE
Cornell APh

Good luck to everyone!!!

[astrolover19]

Undergrad Institution: CSU, smallish department
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Astrophysics
Overall GPA: 3.7
Length of Degree: I went to community college so it's hard to say, but took a total of 6 years to finish my AS degrees + BS degree
Position in Class: For my department, I would say I am very close to the top of the class
Type of Student: Domestic, female, Latino
GRE Scores: Didn't take them lol

Research Experience:
- Completed an 8 month internship in Astronomy research
- Completed an REU in Summer 2022 at a t15 Astronomy department
- Wrote a senior thesis on the results from REU research

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Not that I could think of

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- Officer for Astronomy/Physics Club (1 year)
- Leadership Program (0.5 years)
- Observatory Volunteer (1.5 years)
- Instructor for a class at my undergrad university (1.5 years)
- Grader/Tutor in Mathematics department (0.5 years)
- Learning Assistant (1 year)
- Worked full time in customer service/supervisor roles outside of school (8 years)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- My letter writers are well known in their fields
- Attended multiple research meetings at universities I am interested in working at

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
- First generation college student
- Non-traditional student

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
- 2 conference abstracts
- 1 co-author publication
- Presented at AAS meeting
- Done multiple presentations and posters for other institutions

Applying to Where (all Astronomy with exoplanet/stellar research interests):
UT Austin - submitted 11/30 - waitlisted 2/23
UC Berkeley - submitted 1/3 - rejected 2/8
University of Hawaii - submitted 12/6 - rejected 2/23
Columbia University - submitted 12/13 - rejected 3/5
Boston University - submitted 11/20 - rejected 2/23
University of Washington - submitted 12/15 - rejected 4/10 by emailing for an update
Notre Dame - submitted 12/15 - rejected 4/10 by emailing for an update
UC Santa Cruz - submitted 1/3 - rejected 4/11
University of Florida - submitted 12/25 - unofficial acceptance 3/15 - official acceptance 3/21 - WILL ATTEND!
University of Chicago - submitted 12/18 - rejected 2/1
University of Delaware - submitted 1/15 - rejected 3/29

3/17 update: I’m so happy to get an acceptance!!
4/1 update: I am still crossing my fingers for UCSC and UW.
4/12 update: Glad that's over! UF it is for me

[anonagi]

Undergrad Institution: T10
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Astronomy
GPA in Major: idk probably 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: idk
Type of Student: Domestic Asian female

GRE Scores: nope

Omitting some stuff for anonymity Lol
Research Experience: 1.5 (to arguably 2) years of research experience, one REU in nuclear with a paper out, recently in astro, paper in prep, involved in several discoveries; poster presentations at AAS, DNP
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: fellowship at my school for a summer
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I tutor sometimes at my hometown, 1 semester of tutoring an upper level core CS course
Special Bonus Points: my recommenders like me and they're relatively well-known in their respective subfields; applied to NSF GRFP (does that matter lol?)

All astro or phys + astro joint PhD programs.

UC Berkeley -- Waitlisted 2/26 -- WITHDRAWN
UArizona -- Rejected 2/22
OSU -- Waitlisted 2/16; only 3 spots open this year! -- WITHDRAWN
Columbia -- Rejected
Harvard -- Rejected 2/2
Northwestern -- WITHDRAWN
Caltech -- Interview request 1/17, interviewed 1/24, unofficial acceptance 2/2, official letter 2/6, WILL ATTEND
Stanford -- Rejected 2/2
Notre Dame -- Accepted 1/24
Princeton -- Rejected 2/26
UMD -- Interview request 1/25, interviewed 2/9, accepted 2/22
UWash -- WITHDRAWN
UChicago -- Rejected 2/1
UVA -- Interview request 2/13, accepted 2/27

THESE ARE ALL REACHES
My application doesn't seem nearly as competitive as many on here so let's see how this goes

Update 4/25:
So glad that's over. To future applicants and to people who didn't get in this cycle, stay strong, I'm rooting for you!

[kclai0407]

Undergrad Institution: public research university in HK
Major(s): Physics (Astrophysics and Particle Physics Stream)
GPA in Major: 3.207/4.000
Overall GPA: 3.064/4.000
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: International male

Master's Institution: public research university in HK
Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.513/4.000
Overall GPA: 3.513/4.000
Length of Degree: 1 year
Position in Class: N/A

GRE Scores: didn't take


TOEFL:


Research Experience: I have two years of research experience. One year was on machine learning applications in High Energy Physics, mainly focusing on the study of the CP properties of the Higgs boson. The other year was on numerical relativity research, mainly on the application of the Multigrid method.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: MSc in Physics Excellent Performance Award

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I did a two-month internship at the Center for Entrepreneurship, where I worked as an IT project coordinator, helping to create a database for their website design.

Applying to Where:

Penn State - Physics - Gravitational Physics -- Rejected via email on 19 Mar
York U - Physics - Astrophysics -- Rejected via email on 25 June
West Virginia University - Physics - Astrophysics -- Rejected via email on 5 April
RIT - Astrophysics - Numerical Relativity -- Unofficial Waitlisted -- Rejected via email to check portal on 5 June
Rochester - Physics - Cosmology -- Rejected via email to check portal on 1 Feb
Ohio State - Physics - Cosmology -- Rejected via email on 26 Mar
CUHK - Physics - Cosmology Interview -- interview request 1/29, interviewed 2/2 -- Withdrew

UK Universities (MSc only):
Soton - Physics - Optical Engineering -- Accepted via email on 18 April
Nottingham - Mathematical Sciences/Physics and Astronomy - Gravity, Particles and Fields -- Accepted via email on 26 April
Edinburgh - Physics - Mathematical Physics -- Accepted via email to check portal on 3 June
York - Mathematics - Mathematical Sciences -- Rejected via email on 2 May


It seems that the situation is not good, but it has been expected wish you all good luck

[Santosm]

Undergrad Institution: state school
Major(s):physics
Minor(s):math
GPA in Major:3.8
Overall GPA:3.7
Length of Degree: 4 (graduating in 3)
Position in Class: near top
Type of Student: American male,hispanic

GRE Scores: I wouldn't take it if you held a gun to my head


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


Research Experience: 2reus(both at UC schools one in condensed experiment and one in neutrino theory) 2ish years at home institution learning computational particle physics with a professor as a kind of pre-research at fermilab (ended up doing reu with theory instead). Guided reading of QFT with a professor at my university. No publications but presented at around 7 conferences. (Planning to go to April meeting)

Awards/Honors/Recognition: various small school scholarships and last 2 years full ride from a bridge program

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: sps president, tutored lower div for a semester

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: will have taken 3 grad classes by graduation, heavy math minor (only few classes away from double major)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: low gpa: most B's were in early sems when things were online(i cant remember canvas deadlines for the life of me). Also typical load was around 20 units of nearly all physics classes with research on the side.

Applying to Where: (all hep-th/qft)
reach:
Uchicago- rejected 1/22
Caltech-interview 1/16 rejected 2/26
Wisc-maddison-rejected 1/24
UCB-rejected 3/12
UCSB-
UPenn-
Princeton-rejected 2/23

target?:
Uwash-rejected 3/28
Case western-Interview offer 2/5 rejected 2/21
UCI-
UCD-
UCSC-rejected 3/12

safety?:
UOregon-Wait Listed 3/20
Uvirginia-rejected 3/20
Rutger-rejected 3/14
Brandeis-rejected 3/12
Uconn-
UCR-

(probably going to get in nowhere watch)

[shocker04]

Undergrad Institution: Research Institution in India
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
Overall GPA: 9.12/10
Length of Degree: 5 year BS-MS
Position in Class: unknown
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores: 160+170; 4.5
PGRE: 880 (not submitted unless required)

TOEFL: 113

Research Experience: 2 years in theoretical condensed matter physics, 1 year in string theory and AdS3 supergravity (Master's thesis). Small computational project in condensed matter. No publications or conference talks/posters.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Scholarships for undergrad education and research.

Applying to Where: (All for string theory/hep-th)

PhD:
Boston - Rejected (Feb. 29)
Cornell - Rejected (Feb. 22)
McGill - Rejected (Apr. 24)
Ohio State - Waitlisted (Mar. 21) - Rejected (Apr. 15)
UChicago - Rejected (Jan. 24)
UIUC - Rejected (Mar. 5)

Master's:
Cambridge (MASt in Theoretical Physics) - Rejected (Jan. 17)
Perimeter (PSI-Masters) - Rejected (Feb. 29)

[gwnorth]

Undergrad Institution: Large selective research university in Canada, strong STEM reputation
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.99
Length of Degree: 5 years (includes 1 yr of internship)
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: domestic Canadian, white male

GRE Scores: N/A

TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience:
- 2 x 4 month summer research in CMT and Ex, one as part of a National Undergraduate Research Award
- 8 month paid research internship at a start up company in Soft Condensed Physics/Material Science
- 8 month independent thesis project in CMT
- 1 publication submission in CMT from thesis
- 1 poster presentation at a local conference in CMT

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honour Roll every year, multiple small internal awards, NSERC USRA

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 years TA/Lab Demonstrator for first year undergraduate Physics

Applying to Where: all master's programs, mostly AMO & CM, both theory and experiment
UofT - accepted 01/31, Direct-Entry PhD - $29k net CAD$ + a one time $10k Pre-Doc Summer Research Fellowship - Will Attend!
UBC - accepted 01/31 - $21.5k/yr net CAD$
McGill - interview 02/05, rejected 04/25
York University - interview 02/20
Perimeter Institute (PSI) - rejected 02/28

Fellowships
NSERC CGS-M - rejected 02/28
OGS - still pending

02/29 Looks like it's between UofT or UBC as I haven't heard back from McGill or York and I need to give UofT and UBC my decisions very soon.
03/18 Accepted UofT offer
04/25 Rejected by McGill, never heard back from York

[suboptical]

Undergrad Institution: Large state school with solid physics program
Major(s):Physics
GPA in Major: 3.4
Overall GPA: 3.02
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic White Male
GRE Scores: N/A

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

Research Experience: 2 years of research and a senior thesis in Astrophysics. 1 poster presentation. No preprints or publications

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's Honor List last three quarters,

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA and professional tutor

Special Bonus Points: 1 year of core graduate courses

Any Other Info: I attended a graduate program for a year, but had to leave for a personal reasons that affected my academic performance. While at that program I did shadow the quantum optics group.


Applying to Where:
All Physics Programs

--Ultra Reach--
Duke Univ - Rejected 2/13
Virginia Tech - Rejected 2/26
Purdue Univ -
Univ of Virginia - Rejected 3/22
Univ of Southern California - Rejected 3/4
CU Boulder - Rejected 3/1
Georgia Tech - Rejected 3/8

--Less of Reach--
UC Irvine -
Univ of Oregon - Waitlisted 3/18
Case Western - Rejected 2/12
SUNY Buffalo -
Univ of Rochester - Optics - Rejected 3/8

--Reach--
UC Merced -
Colorado School of Mines -
UC Riverside -
Univ of Missouri - Rejected 3/18
Wesleyan - Waitlisted 3/21
North Carolina State - Rejected 2/26
Carnegie Mellon -

--Target--
Montana State Univ - Rejected 3/8
Univ of South Carolina -
Colorado State Univ - Rejected 2/20
Univ at Albany -
Univ of Nevada Reno - Waitlisted 3/6

Note 2/20 -- Not looking good so far. My reaches made sense, but Colorado State was the program I was the most hopeful for
Note 4/3 -- Assuming rejections for all that I am waiting to hear back from, wanting my three waitlists trickle down around the acceptance deadline, but not holding out hope.

[Kyle_Boone]

Undergrad Institution: Big state school, good reputation in physics
Major(s): Physics and Math
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0/4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Should be at or near top
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores: Nope lol

Research Experience: 2 years (by the time I graduate) in an observational cosmology group at my school. Paper in progress, no conferences but have talked with working groups within DES at group meetings. Also a semester long neural networks project that was part of a course I was taking. Put the final paper for this project up on arXiv but it's not at the level of anything that's peer reviewed.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List every semester, multiple merit based scholarships, completed both majors for honors, got a 22 on the Putnam which I felt couldn't hurt to include.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for one semester for an intro course for engineers.

Special Bonus Points: I've taken five grad courses in physics and math, all of my letters of rec were pretty strong.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Not sure how relevant it would be, but I did a large variety of personal volunteering things which I included in my CV. Things like fundraisers with bands and working in youth outreach for STEM.

Applying to Where: (All for observational cosmology with thoughts about trying theory, all for PhD except Toronto)

MIT - Rejected 02/15 via email to check portal
Harvard - Accepted 02/07 via phone call, $4k per month for ten months first year stipend, six years of guaranteed funding. Will Attend!
UCSB - Rejected 04/29 via email to check portal
U Chicago - Rejected 01/23 via email to check portal
Caltech - Rejected 02/26 via email
Princeton - Rejected 02/23 via email to check portal
Rutgers - Rejected 04/12 via email
Cornell - Rejected 02/22 via email
Stanford - Rejected 02/02 via email to check portal
Berkeley - Rejected 04/02 via email to check portal
Ohio State - Waitlisted 03/21 via email
Michigan - Waitlisted 02/15 via email. Rejected 04/16 via email
Purdue - Accepted 02/13 via email, declined.
University of Toronto - Rejected 02/13 via email
CU Boulder - Rejected 03/01 via email to check portal

Final thoughts: Overall I'm pretty thrilled. I knew I was applying to a bunch of top schools, and I'm incredibly excited to be attending Harvard. A lot definitely came down to luck, since the professor I wrote about the most in my statement of purpose was stepping down from an administrative position so he was going to be taking on a good amount of students. Good luck to everyone reading this applying in future years!

[quantum_kyrgyz]

Undergrad Institution: International science & tech institution, East Asia
Major(s): Physics and Computer Science
GPA in Major: N/A
Overall GPA: 3.55/4.3
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Upper class
Type of Student: International Asian male

Did 2 more Masters : reputable schools in Physics, both in US
Biophysics (GPA: 4.0/4.0)
Quantum Computing (GPA: 4.0/4.0)


GRE Scores: PGRE 980/990
TOEFL: 110/120 (R: 28, L: 28, S: 26, W:28 )


Research Experience: 2 years of Computational Plasma, 2.5 years Experimental Nanoscale Lab, 7 months Superconducting Qubits

7 publications (three as a 1st author), 6 conference presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Best Oral Presentation, Thesis research finalist, International Physics Olympiad medalist, Quantum Hackathons

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA and professional tutor
2 years Biophysics Labs I & II,
1 year General Physics.

Special Points: MIT Quantum Computing Bootcamp, IBM Quantum Hackathon,
many grad courses with A0 and A+ as an undergrad

Applying to Where: (all QI)

Yale (Applied Physics) - interviewed on 01/26, rejected via portal Feb 16
Interview went really well. I was really hopeful, but it looks like they found a better candidate. Anyway. Good experience.
Stanford - rejected on Feb 7 via portal
Caltech- rejected on 3/2 via email
UC Berkeley - rejected on 3/22 via email
U Wisc-Madison - accepted (01/24)
UCSB -
USC - interviewed on 01/17
Cornell -
Oxford - interviewed on 01/30
UIUC -
Duke - Waitlisted on Feb 21 If you have better offers from other universities, PLEASE, reject the offer for Duke . I think Duke is my top choice at the moment.

[nuutye]

Undergrad Institution: very small liberal arts college with a decently sized astronomy department but pretty unknown
Major(s): Astrophysics
Minor(s): Math and Dance
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.989
Position in Class: First as of the beginning of the school year
Type of Student: Domestic white female

No GRE or TOEFL

Research Experience:
1 summer of math research at my home institution, 1 summer + 16 months during school year of radio astronomy research, 1 summer + 5 months of computation astronomy experience. 1 first-author paper accepted (was under review when I submitted my applications) and 2 presentations at the AAS conferences.


Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
TA for astronomy, physics, and math for three years and lots of outreach experience at my school's observatory.


Special Bonus Points:
Lots of advisor connections at places I've applied and with people I'd like to work with. Very strong LORs. A few confirmations from potential advisors that they'll be taking on students for the fall upon emailing them.


Applying to Where: (All astronomy programs)
UT Austin: Waitlisted 2/23 via email; withdrew application after no updates in early april
UW Madison: Interview Invite 1/11; Interview 1/17; Accepted 2/5 via phone call and email
University of Arizona: Accepted 2/2 via zoom
UC San Diego: Interview Invite 1/15; Interview 1/23; Accepted 1/30 via email
Ohio State University: Accepted 1/30 via email; WILL ATTEND!
University of Maryland: Interview Invite 1/25; Interview 2/9; Accepted 2/22 via email
University of Michigan: Accepted 2/9 via email
University of Massachusetts: Interview Invite 2/14; Interview 2/20; Accepted 3/1 via email
Northwestern: Interview Invite 1/22; Interview 1/24; rejected 3/5 via email
Johns Hopkins: withdrew application after no updates in early april
UCLA: Accepted 2/8 via email to check portal
University of Minnesota: Accepted 2/19 via email
UIUC: Interview Invite 2/9; Interview 2/14; withdrew application after no updates in early april
University of Virginia: Interview Invite 2/13; Interview 2/20; Accepted 2/27 via email

Fellowships:
NSF GRFP: Received 4/4