Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hello guys,

I do have interest in both High Energy Theory and Quantum Information and I am wondering which one of them is actually less competitive? I want to edit my SOP to have a focus on one of them ( the less competitive ), always thought QI would be easier for admission but I have no idea where I got that impression from!

Thanks in advance

hamadahoda007 wrote:Hello guys,

I do have interest in both High Energy Theory and Quantum Information and I am wondering which one of them is actually less competitive? I want to edit my SOP to have a focus on one of them ( the less competitive ), always thought QI would be easier for admission but I have no idea where I got that impression from!

Thanks in advance

This will be university-dependent.

hamadahoda007 wrote:Hello guys,

I do have interest in both High Energy Theory and Quantum Information and I am wondering which one of them is actually less competitive? I want to edit my SOP to have a focus on one of them ( the less competitive ), always thought QI would be easier for admission but I have no idea where I got that impression from!

Thanks in advance

That depends on your work in QI as well. Research, publications, LORs from relevant people, etc. etc, I guess.

In US, only Caltech, MIT and new mexico do theory QI. Some other Univs have prof in eecs doing that. Maybe you should also look at canada which is less competitive.

hermitw wrote:In US, only Caltech, MIT and new mexico do theory QI. Some other Univs have prof in eecs doing that. Maybe you should also look at canada which is less competitive.

You forgot a big one on the Eastern shore.

mjgm wrote:

hermitw wrote:In US, only Caltech, MIT and new mexico do theory QI. Some other Univs have prof in eecs doing that. Maybe you should also look at canada which is less competitive.

You forgot a big one on the Eastern shore.

You mean Harvard? There is only Lukin and he is mainly doing atomic physics.

hermitw wrote:

mjgm wrote:

hermitw wrote:In US, only Caltech, MIT and new mexico do theory QI. Some other Univs have prof in eecs doing that. Maybe you should also look at canada which is less competitive.

You forgot a big one on the Eastern shore.

You mean Harvard? There is only Lukin and he is mainly doing atomic physics.

Nope. There is another one.

UCF!

I don't know why we're restricting to 4. That's just not true.

Stanford just picked up Patrick Hayden, who's a major player. Word on the street is that susskind is trying to build a QI group there and started with him.

I'm really praying that QIT at the top tier schools isn't as bad as high energy. If that's the case I'm totally screwed. I'm hoping for a ton of QI experience/grad courses/pub and LORs from good QI people to make up for iffy GPA and mediocre PGRE.

ThomBoh wrote:Stanford just picked up Patrick Hayden, who's a major player. Word on the street is that susskind is trying to build a QI group there and started with him.

I'm really praying that QIT at the top tier schools isn't as bad as high energy. If that's the case I'm totally screwed. I'm hoping for a ton of QI experience/grad courses/pub and LORs from good QI people to make up for iffy GPA and mediocre PGRE.

Spots get filled quickly. I visited Partick in Oct and he already has 4 students. He told me that he does not like large group.