Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hi, guys, I've been admitted by UChicago, Upenn, UIUC. I am wondering which one is a better choice.

I am a condensed matter person both interested in theory and experiment. The condensed matter ranking from 2011 is that UIUC- 2nd, Chicago-7th, Upenn-outside of top 10. But I don't like urbana-champaign that much. And I know that Upenn has Charles Kane. So I have some trouble choosing from these three. Anybody has any idea? Thanks a lot!!

godott wrote:Hi, guys, I've been admitted by UChicago, Upenn, UIUC. I am wondering which one is a better choice.

I am a condensed matter person both interested in theory and experiment. The condensed matter ranking from 2011 is that UIUC- 2nd, Chicago-7th, Upenn-outside of top 10. But I don't like urbana-champaign that much. And I know that Upenn has Charles Kane. So I have some trouble choosing from these three. Anybody has any idea? Thanks a lot!!

Are you visiting? So far, after visiting two schools I've found my decision much easier, at least between those two.

Tom Joad wrote:

godott wrote:Hi, guys, I've been admitted by UChicago, Upenn, UIUC. I am wondering which one is a better choice.

I am a condensed matter person both interested in theory and experiment. The condensed matter ranking from 2011 is that UIUC- 2nd, Chicago-7th, Upenn-outside of top 10. But I don't like urbana-champaign that much. And I know that Upenn has Charles Kane. So I have some trouble choosing from these three. Anybody has any idea? Thanks a lot!!

Are you visiting? So far, after visiting two schools I've found my decision much easier, at least between those two.

Which two do you mean? Unfortunately, Upenn doesn't cover the travel expense. It will be too much for me to visit on my own. So I think I only have the chance to visit Chicago.

Based on your visit, which one is your preference?

UPenn does have Charles Kane, but it's highly unlikely you'll get to work with him or even with Eugene Mele.
I got accepted there also and was initially attracted to the place because of these two people, but on speaking with the graduate students there realized that I would not have much chance of actually having them as my advisors - they're very well known and mostly collaborate with other faculty members. Also, they have graduate students as of now and theorists rarely take on more than 2 at a time anyway.
I ended up declining their offer owing to these factors.
UIUC would be a great choice since there are many faculty there doing both theory and experiment, so you'll have a much higher chance of working with the advisor of your choice.

Both Charlie Kane and Gene Mele are absolutely wonderful physicists and very nice, humble individuals. Professor Kane currently has one graduate student but I think another student might eventually work for him and Professor Mele has two graduate students, although I think one is graduating after next year. I would try to get in touch with them, they are both very approachable.

tsymmetry wrote:Both Charlie Kane and Gene Mele are absolutely wonderful physicists and very nice, humble individuals. Professor Kane currently has one graduate student but I think another student might eventually work for him and Professor Mele has two graduate students, although I think one is graduating after next year. I would try to get in touch with them, they are both very approachable.

Absolutely! I've heard only positive things about them, but it was very strongly indicated that I probably wouldn't get to work with them (and I would have loved to!) I may have been misinformed, however, and it is not my intention to mislead anyone - simply convey what I know.
So if they intimate that it's a possibility you may get to work with them, that's fantastic!

godott wrote:

Tom Joad wrote:

godott wrote:Hi, guys, I've been admitted by UChicago, Upenn, UIUC. I am wondering which one is a better choice.

I am a condensed matter person both interested in theory and experiment. The condensed matter ranking from 2011 is that UIUC- 2nd, Chicago-7th, Upenn-outside of top 10. But I don't like urbana-champaign that much. And I know that Upenn has Charles Kane. So I have some trouble choosing from these three. Anybody has any idea? Thanks a lot!!

Are you visiting? So far, after visiting two schools I've found my decision much easier, at least between those two.

Which two do you mean? Unfortunately, Upenn doesn't cover the travel expense. It will be too much for me to visit on my own. So I think I only have the chance to visit Chicago.

Based on your visit, which one is your preference?

I was referring to two schools that I was deciding between. In my case it was Caltech>Cornell.