2025 Applicant Profile and Admission Results

[drkmttr33]

Undergrad Institution: Private School, small physics department - t100
Major(s):Physics, Math
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 3.875 (Physics), 4.00 (Math)
Overall GPA: 3.93
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores: None


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


Research Experience:

1 summer in an industry internship
8 months in a Condensed Matter Lab doing Computational Physics/Simulation (1 publication in preparation)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List First Honor, Dean's Scholar Nominee

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Mathematics grader, SPS member (two posters)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: letters of rec from two PIs and a Math prof

Special Bonus Points: None

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Interest in all types of particle/nuclear physics experiments.

Applying to Where: (All Experimental Particle/nuclear Physics Ph.D.)

Reach:
Harvard - Rejected (2/28)
MIT - Rejected (2/12)
Yale - Interview with POI (Late Jan) - Rejected (2/14)
UChicago - Rejected (Late Jan) -
Johns Hopkins - Accepted (2/13)
Cornell - Rejected (3/1)

Target:
UMichigan - Rejected (2/11)
Penn State - Accepted (2/10)
Northwestern - Accepted (2/5)
UMD - Rejected (3/8)

Safe:
UVA - Rejected (3/7)
Vanderbilt - Interview (mid-Jan) Rejected
BU - Rejected (2/7)
Rochester - Waitlist (1/28)- Rejected (2/22)
Syracuse - Accepted (12/19)

[GodEmperor]

Undergrad Institution: mid-sized private university, T100 in physics
Major(s): Physics, History
Minor(s): NA
GPA in Major: 3.51
Overall GPA: 3.49
Length of Degree: 4yrs
Position in Class: do not know
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Scores: didn’t take


TOEFL: not applicable


Research Experience: 1.5 yrs, in a biophysics lab in my university

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: do not have any

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 SPS poster presentation sessions, TA for intro to physics in the last semester

Special Bonus Points: good letters of rec maybe? Experience in history research?

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

Applying to Where: biophysics-ex, some astronomy, some AMO, all PhD

Vanderbilt University- biophysics- rejected on 02.17
Johns Hopkins University- biophysics-rejected on 02.25
RIT-biophysics-interview on 02.03-unofficial acceptance on 02.22, official acceptance on 02.26
BU-biophysics-rejected on 02.07
Columbia-biophysics-
UC Berkeley-biophysics/soft matter-
Colorado Boulder-biophysics-
UT Knoxville-biophysics-interview on 02.03, accepted on 02.10 via email&portal
Ohio State-astronomy-rejected on 01.06
UPittsburgh-biophysics-unofficial acceptance on 01.31, official acceptance on 02.07
UNC Chapel Hill-biophysics(also say interested in astronomy in my SOP)-rejected on 02.03
Tufts-biophysics/soft matter-rejected on 02.10
UIUC-biophysics-
Cornell-astronomy-rejected on 02.25
ASU-astronomy-
UWashington Seattle-biophysics-
GeorgiaTech-biophysics(also astronomy in SOP)-
RPI-AMO-
Texas A&M-AMO-
UT Austin-biophysics-
UMichigan-biophysics-rejected on 02.11

[kkkkeyZ]

Undergrad Institution: US T50, known for stem
Major(s): physics; mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.87(phys); 3.9(math)
Overall GPA:3.81
Length of Degree: 4 and half
Position in Class: don't know
Type of Student: international, male

GRE Scores: N/A

TOEFL: N/A

Research Experience:
A couple of years on and off with hep-ex at my school with 1 co-author physics pub.
About a year in data science (ML stuff) with 2 pubs, 1 first author, 1 co-author.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: a couple of school honors (research award, academic excellence awards...)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutor/grader

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points: PI very famous/well-reputed in particular field.

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

Applying to Where: All applying for hep-ex

Rejected:
Madison
MIT
Yale
Stanford
UIUC (2/23)
CalTech (3/3)
CU Boulder (3/6)

Waitlisted:
Michigan (after interview 1/28)
CMU (Mentioned funding issue)

Accepted:
UFlorida(2/18)
Purdue(2/14)

Waiting:
UPenn (interviewed early Feb)
UCSB
UCLA
UCB

[aisaisbaby]

Undergrad Institution: Top Liberal arts college in my home country
Major(s):Physics
Minor(s): Math, Statistics
GPA in Major: Nil
Overall GPA: 3.40
Length of Degree: 3 years
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: International Female

Grad Institution: Top10 Private university in my home country
Major(s):Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: Nil
Overall GPA: 9.86/10
Length of Degree: 2 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International Female

GRE Scores: Didn't take

TOEFL: 117 (R:29, L:30, S:29, W:29)


Research Experience:
Grad:
1.5 years in a Nanotechnology lab (no pubs, 3 intra-uni presentations)
5 months in a Condensed matter physics lab doing Computational Physics/Simulation (1 publication in preparation, 1 symposium)

Undergrad:
12 mini physics projects in total (2 oral and 1 poster presentations)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 Merit Scholarships and a Gold Medalist title from grad institution

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
1. Very active member of physics and math club at undergrad institution
2. Technical Head of physics club at grad institution
3. Student Ambassador at grad institution
4. Machine Learning intern at a startup for 3 months
5. Private tutor for physics and math (nearly 3 years)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nil

Special Bonus Points: None

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: None

Applying to Where: (All Physics Ph.D. Subfield: CMX/CMT)

Rice - Rejected (Mar 22 via email to check portal)
Ohio State
WashU - Waitlisted (Feb 18 via email to check portal)
UT Austin
UMD - Rejected (Mar 7 via email to check portal)
UMich - Rejected (Feb 11 via email)
CU Boulder - Rejected (Mar 6 via email to check portal)
UChicago - Rejected (Jan 27 via email to check portal)
UNL - Accepted (Feb 20 via email to check portal)
Penn State - Rejected (Mar 26 via email)
Iowa State

[ascavixi]

Undergrad Institution: Ivy+, top physics program
Major(s): Physics
Overall GPA: 3.9+/4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Near top
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores: Did not take

Research Experience: AMO-ex (1 year), QI-th (2 years incl. summers, 1 of which was at another university). 1 first-author paper in QI-th, 1 WIP. Couple of conference talks at APS March Meeting + university talks away from home institution.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Some intra-university awards.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: President of quantum computing club.

Special Bonus Points: 10+ grad classes. Recommenders are very well-known. Was known by some prospective PIs from research contexts (collaborations, workshops, etc.)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Voiced very specific interests in select open questions in SOP, which is risky.

Applying to Where: (All QI-th)

Princeton — QSE: Rejected 2/6
Stanford — Physics: Rejected 2/7
Harvard — QSE: Accepted 2/11
MIT — Physics: Rejected 2/12
Yale — Physics: Accepted 2/14
Caltech — Physics: Accepted 2/19

Did not interview anywhere

[Cosmolology]

Second cycle applying. Was rejected by all 20 schools I applied to last year.

Undergrad Institution: Top small liberal arts college
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.55
Length of Degree: 4 years
Type of Student: American

Research Experience: 4 years of cosmology/astrophysics experiment as an undergraduate, 3 summer NSF REU programs (in various subfields of astrophysics), 2 years of condensed matter as a high school student. Completed optional year-long senior research project and presented at symposium.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Teaching assistant for 3 years, part-time community college instructor for 1 year, presented at 3 undergraduate research symposia.

Applying to Where: (astrophysics & cosmology experiment or theory)

Harvard - Rejected
Yale - Rejected
MIT - Rejected
Dartmouth College - Rejected
Brown University - Rejected
Indiana University - Rejected
University of Rochester - Rejected
University of Maryland - Rejected
University of Delaware - Rejected
University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Rejected
University of Massachusetts, Lowell - Rejected
University of Connecticut - Rejected
Boston University - Rejected
Stony Brook University - Rejected
NYU -
Columbia University.- Rejected
Rutgers University - Rejected
Penn State University - Rejected
Northeastern University -

I also applied last year.

Previously Applied to Where: (astrophysics & cosmology experiment or theory)

Harvard - Rejected
Dartmouth College - Rejected
Brown University - Rejected - Referred to and Accepted for Sc.M
Indiana University - Rejected
University of Rochester - Rejected
University of Maryland - Rejected
University of Delaware - Rejected
University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Rejected
Boston University - Rejected
Stony Brook University - Rejected
NYU - Rejected
Columbia University - Rejected
Rutgers University - Rejected
Penn State University - Rejected
Northeastern University - Rejected
University of Oklahoma - Rejected
University of Tennessee - Rejected
University of Kansas - Rejected
University of Arizona - Rejected
University of South Carolina - Rejected
Michigan State University - Rejected

This late in the cycle, I don't anticipate hearing good news from any of my remaining universities.

[beehive256]

Undergrad Institution: ivy t5 in physics
Major(s): physics
Minor(s): math & bio
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 4 yrs
Position in Class: dunno but probably top quintile?
Type of Student: domestic

GRE Scores: nope

Research Experience:
- biophy theory (3.5 yrs at home institution - worked on four different projects across two PIs)
- two summers of biophy experiment through REUs under the same PI at another institution
(no papers rip but 3 conference talks/posters like aps march meeting, etc.)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: random department/travel grants

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: officer in SPS, TA/grader for 4 classes

Stuff that might matter:
- took a few graduate courses and did well, have some A+s in relevant undergrad classes
- my two main recommenders (one home, one REU) are pretty well connected and well-known in the field, and i think they like me and the work i did for them so their letters were probably somewhat good at the very least. my third recommender was a smaller project i didn't work as hard on as i would have liked to, so i hope that one wasn't too lukewarm ...
- in my SOP i tried to sell myself as someone who brings a unique perspective having worked on projects that integrate both theory and experiment, i wonder if this actually helped me or did more harm than good

Applying to Where: (all physics PhD programs, indicated biophysics theory, experiment, and CMX whenever possible. i'm interested more in the "physics of living systems" side of biophysics (stuff like soft matter, quantitative modeling, dynamical systems, etc.) rather than the structural/biochemistry side of biophysics, to be clear, so I ultimately decided to apply straight up to physics programs rather than more interdisciplinary programs that are often housed in biology/chemistry depts.)

UChicago - POI Interview invite (1/10), interview (1/14), rejected (1/27) while randomly checking portal (this one hurt as it was my first rejection lol, thought interview went ok)
Stanford - rejected via email to check portal (2/7)
MIT - rejected via email to check portal (2/12)
Harvard - rejected via email to check portal (2/21)
Caltech - unofficial acceptance (2/19), official acceptance (2/20), most likely will attend (WAAAAAT!!?? )
JHU - official acceptance (2/13)!!!
Yale - rejected via email to check portal (2/14)
Cornell - waitlisted via department email (2/27) - says due to funding issues
UPenn - POI Interview invite (1/28), interview (1/31), unofficially waitlisted via POI (3/15) - says due to funding issues
UCSB

some thoughts
- took a huge risk only applying to a bunch of mega reach schools lol what was i thinking
- maybe applying to just physics programs wasn't always the best fit lol (for example most of the people i wanted to work with at Stanford were actually in applied physics and biophysics)
- didn't really reach out to PIs beforehand, maybe that helps a little?
- the funding situation is def making this a lot more difficult than it usually is
- in the end you just need one place to let you in, so have faith and hang in there

[uniformegg]

Undergrad Institution: large private R1 with very solid rep both in physics and in general
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math/CS
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.37
Length of Degree: 4 years. Graduated May 2024, but this cycle was my first time applying.
Position in Class: unknown, but probably around the middle.
Type of Student: domestic white male

GRE Scores: PGRE - 820 (67%). Submitted to most schools. Took the general GRE too but didn't do well enough to justify submitting anywhere.

Research Experience: 2.5 years of computational biophysics at home institution during undergrad resulting in an nth author publication and a conference presentation. 3 month REU in AMO at different university. 6-7 months of CME post-bac at time of application.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List in final year, got a small grant at home university for biophysics research, won a 3rd party award for academic achievement.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: did a few semesters of tutoring during undergrad.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: GPA was 3.7+ in last 3 semesters. Total of 5 grad classes completed between my home institution and a T10 uni as a visiting student, mostly As in these.

Special Bonus Points: my letters were pretty great, at least from what I can tell. All 3 of my recommenders know me quite well and could speak to different positive characteristics since they are in different subfields. I also only applied to programs with at least 1 professor of interest that I have a good research fit with. I emailed around half of these POIs before applying, and ended up having zoom meetings with a few of them.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: my GPA tanked in my first 2 semesters due to COVID-related problems. I mentioned this in the supplemental info, or if there was a personal statement in addition to SOP, I mentioned it there (didn't talk about it in the SOP which I kept as a very professional description of my research goals and experience).

Applying to Where (all CME or QIS):

Hefty reach:
Columbia - Applied Physics -
Rice - Applied Physics - Rejected
Wisconsin - Physics - Rejected

Reach:
Penn State - Physics - Accepted Feb. 13
NYU - Physics - Rejected
Rutgers - Physics - Rejected

Target:
Purdue - Physics - Rejected
Minnesota - Physics - Rejected
Texas A&M - Applied Physics -
Washington University (St. Louis) - Physics - Accepted Feb. 2
Syracuse - Physics - Accepted Jan. 31
Florida - Physics - Rejected

Relative safety:
Georgetown - Physics - Rejected
Boston College - Physics -
SUNY Buffalo - Physics - Accepted Feb. 19 (interview Feb. 15)
UConn - Physics - Accepted Apr. 17