Physics GRE Discussion Forums

blackmass wrote:

YodaT wrote:
It's official, got it verified.

Awesome! Congrats again! Your top choice now?

yeah, it's between there and chicago.

So do we still think Berkeley will be sending out more acceptances this week (as suggested above) or have they sent all first round acceptances?

YodaT wrote:so yeah, i was just admitted to caltech's physics program (i applied to the astro program). do i feel excited or feel fear that this is a mistake?

Are you me? I also applied to astro, but the admission letter said astro thought physics was a better fit.

Congrats!

Got rejected from Brown today. I expected that one though, no surprise there. I dunno if I really even wanted to go anyways, so I guess that kinda works for me haha.

Aspirant wrote:

YodaT wrote:so yeah, i was just admitted to caltech's physics program (i applied to the astro program). do i feel excited or feel fear that this is a mistake?

Are you me? I also applied to astro, but the admission letter said astro thought physics was a better fit.

Congrats!

it's possible the astro program was full or they thought we were both better suited as physicists than astronomers (or both). it seems to be a pretty tight community, so yeah... see you in March.

Hiiieee does anyone know if Chicago have sent out all acceptances or not? My number 1 choice and am a nervy wreck atm

Per TGC, UCSC has apparently started sending out offers; can anyone confirm this?

Catria wrote:Per TGC, UCSC has apparently started sending out offers; can anyone confirm this?

Yes, they sent out acceptance and rejections today.

I heard that UChicago's open house is next week. Does it mean that they are not admitting any more students? Otherwise it would seem rushed.

I heard that UChicago's open house is next week. Does it mean that they are not admitting any more students? Otherwise it would seem rushed.

The Open house dates thread lists the visiting date as March 13th, so there's still hope!

Nothing from Berkeley, Chicago, UCSB, Harvard, Caltech. Safe to assume rejection from all I think. F*ck this

dean_winchester wrote:I heard that UChicago's open house is next week. Does it mean that they are not admitting any more students? Otherwise it would seem rushed.

Hrrrrmm do they have a waitlist? And internationals wouldn't be attending the open house so they might still have them to do. So much speculation! I hope we hear this week either way

blackmass wrote:

slowdweller wrote:Haven't received anything from Harvard despite the large number of acceptances they sent out... Oh well, another day, another broken dream. This time a very big one.

The past few days have been emotionally weird. I stay happy and hopeful one day, when I get acceptance from a place like Rutgers or UIUC, but then another day when I get rejected from Stanford and see people getting acceptances from Caltech and Harvard while me not having heard anything (which in all likelihood means a rejection), I get sad and depressed. I know I shouldn't, since I have offers from 3 good places, but I guess the main reason is that I can't help but notice that the best string theorists of today (almost all) went to extremely prestigious schools, and I would be limited in my career as a scientist if I can't go to one of these schools.

I really hope you guys can get into your top choices.

I've been thinking about this a lot -- the whole, "does it really matter where you go?" All I can say is that looking at my own undergrad institution -- which is by no means highly ranked -- there are a lot of incredibly smart people working on really amazing research topics. So much so that it makes me wonder why my institution isn't more highly ranked. And then I realize that there are so many programs that sort of fly under the radar while having excellent faculty, great research opportunities, rigorous curriculum and so on.

I understand completely where you're coming from. This whole process has been a complete roller coaster of emotions, and even getting rejections from places that were at the bottom of my list was hard. But I truly do think that it's not where you go -- it's what you do and the attitude that you carry with you. I look at the graduate students at my school and I am utterly impressed. Anyway, so really roundabout way of saying, hang in there! If you have 3 acceptances already, that's awesome! Some people go a whole admissions cycle without any offers or just one, leaving them with no choice really. But I don't mean to preach. Congrats on your offers!

Agreed! I don't doubt my abilities as a physicist. I know I'm nowhere near the fastest or the best, but I can do good enough with hard work. It's just disappointing since I planned most of my undergraduate studies with the goal of getting a good grasp of theoretical physics, and the goal of getting into a top 10 school for hep-th, which apparently isn't gonna happen. I just went to my UT Austin open house though, and after talking to a potential advisor there, I'm actually excited about going there. If I don't get a positive response from any other school, I'm most likely gonna be choosing between UT and Rutgers (assuming UT actually sends me an official acceptance) which are both great places for strings.

slowdweller wrote:Nothing from Berkeley, Chicago, UCSB, Harvard, Caltech. Safe to assume rejection from all I think. F*ck this

UChicago hasn't sent out almost any acceptances yet, so I suppose they are due next week.

slowdweller wrote:Nothing from Berkeley, Chicago, UCSB, Harvard, Caltech. Safe to assume rejection from all I think. F*ck this

Not sure if Berkeley sent out all acceptances based on people's updates in here and in gradcafe. I think(hope) there will be 2nd round next week.

entropy19 wrote:

slowdweller wrote:Nothing from Berkeley, Chicago, UCSB, Harvard, Caltech. Safe to assume rejection from all I think. F*ck this

Not sure if Berkeley sent out all acceptances based on people's updates in here and in gradcafe. I think(hope) there will be 2nd round next week.

Also, if you look at UCSB acceptances on thegradcafe, they let people in slowly through March and then reject everyone else all at once. I wouldn't give up hope on UCSB. You could probably contact them and see if you're rejected if you don't want to wait until mid march. I also haven't heard from Berkeley, and it looks like Berkeley is doing something odd. They have way less reports on thegradcafe than the previous three years. I think that means they're not done accepting? Either way, they're late compared to the previous years as well.

Does anyone know USC, Rutgers, and UCLA are done sending out acceptances for domestic applicants?

PathIntegrals92 wrote:Does anyone know USC, Rutgers, and UCLA are done sending out acceptances for domestic applicants?

I got a USC acceptance on the 4th.

okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

instrument.santosh wrote:okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

Represent.

(just a waitlist so far, with three rejections, and a few more expected soon)

Me too.

Three rejections, two wait lists.

Half done, half to go.....

instrument.santosh wrote:okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

Five rejected, ten to go.

Is there anyone besides me who didn't receive anything from U Michigan, Ann Arbor?

It's strange, because according to TGC it seems like they've notified people who've been wait-listed. I'm starting to think getting nothing till now is practically a rejection.

Cho'bal wrote:

instrument.santosh wrote:okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

Five rejected, ten to go.

Is there anyone besides me who didn't receive anything from U Michigan, Ann Arbor?

It's strange, because according to TGC it seems like they've notified people who've been wait-listed. I'm starting to getting nothing till now is practically a rejection.

Yet most Michigan rejects were rejected by Feb. 13...

Does anyone regret not applying somewhere?

I had UPenn on my list, but I didn't apply. Same goes for UMIch Applied Physics. If only I had at least tried.

I guess it's time to move on. My chances were slim anyways.

PathIntegrals92 wrote:Does anyone regret not applying somewhere?

I had UPenn on my list, but I didn't apply. Same goes for UMIch Applied Physics. If only I had at least tried.

I guess it's time to move on. My chances were slim anyways.

Was ready to apply to Harvard astronomy. Feel like I should've at least tried MIT and Stanford... didn't realize how seriously some people would take my application. I'd most likely get rejected, but it's always nice to see what happens. Actually, not sure if I could take all those rejections.

Catria wrote:

Cho'bal wrote:

instrument.santosh wrote:okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

Five rejected, ten to go.

Is there anyone besides me who didn't receive anything from U Michigan, Ann Arbor?

It's strange, because according to TGC it seems like they've notified people who've been wait-listed. I'm starting to getting nothing till now is practically a rejection.

Yet most Michigan rejects were rejected by Feb. 13...

Five rejections. Nine to go.

Carnegie Mellon waitlisted me... should I go to the open house at CMU (in an attempt to get in off the waitlist) or at Minnesota (my first offer) one week later?

Again, Carnegie Mellon gave funding information along with my spot on the waitlist: $2,375/month.

Cho'bal wrote:

instrument.santosh wrote:okay, anyone here without a single admit as of now?

or am i the only one ?

Five rejected, ten to go.

Is there anyone besides me who didn't receive anything from U Michigan, Ann Arbor?

It's strange, because according to TGC it seems like they've notified people who've been wait-listed. I'm starting to think getting nothing till now is practically a rejection.

I didn't recieve any news from U michigan. I applied astronomy, I am international also. Maybe they left international for the last. We will be recieving next week I think.

I had 2 rejections, 8 to go=)

good luck to those who has 0 acceptance

PathIntegrals92 wrote:Does anyone regret not applying somewhere?

I had UPenn on my list, but I didn't apply. Same goes for UMIch Applied Physics. If only I had at least tried.

I guess it's time to move on. My chances were slim anyways.

The only one I would regret not applying to was Stanford...

Catria wrote:Carnegie Mellon waitlisted me... should I go to the open house at CMU (in an attempt to get in off the waitlist) or at Minnesota (my first offer) one week later?

Again, Carnegie Mellon gave funding information along with my spot on the waitlist: $2,375/month.

Why not both?
Many years ago, Sean Carroll (author of the standard GR textbook Spacetime geometry) was in the same situation. He was waitlisted by Harvard; after a few conversations with the department, he got into Harvard astronomy (while he applied to Harvard physics).
Source: his blog.

Yale astronomy rejections have been sent out

Caltech rejections are out. Just waiting on Washington and Boulder now.

U Indiana Bloomington just waitlisted me. I'm kinda pleased it wasn't a full rejection. They're number 5 in nuclear physics, so I'm keeping hope in my heart that I'll hear back from them!

Has anyone heard from Michigan State?

shep23 wrote:Yale astronomy rejections have been sent out

Funny how there has not been a single Yale acceptance posted on thegradcafe. What are the odds for:
1. None out of ~50 accepted decided to show their results.
2. Yale plays against the convention, choosing people to reject first and then accept all the rest.
3. Yale accidentally rejected all applicants in the accepted list and still hasn't been aware of their mistake.

tqn wrote:

Catria wrote:Carnegie Mellon waitlisted me... should I go to the open house at CMU (in an attempt to get in off the waitlist) or at Minnesota (my first offer) one week later?

Again, Carnegie Mellon gave funding information along with my spot on the waitlist: $2,375/month.

Why not both?
Many years ago, Sean Carroll (author of the standard GR textbook Spacetime geometry) was in the same situation. He was waitlisted by Harvard; after a few conversations with the department, he got into Harvard astronomy (while he applied to Harvard physics).
Source: his blog.

This is basically comparing someone to a person who's the exception (a guy that published two books and left a faculty postion at UChicago at the drop of a hat to move on over to Caltech all because he was denied tenure).

More realistically, I have a friend who was wait-listed at a top 10 astro program, was invited to the open house, and visited. The applicant was later accepted and ended up going to that school. It can happen, just network well and aim to impress.

The only way this whole dilemma could be mooted is if I'm admitted at Columbia, in which case I'd attend Columbia's open house rather than Carnegie Mellon's (and over Minnesota as well).

tqn wrote:

shep23 wrote:Yale astronomy rejections have been sent out

Funny how there has not been a single Yale acceptance posted on thegradcafe. What are the odds for:
1. None out of ~50 accepted decided to show their results.
2. Yale plays against the convention, choosing people to reject first and then accept all the rest.
3. Yale accidentally rejected all applicants in the accepted list and still hasn't been aware of their mistake.

I don't think 50 people were accepted. If it's anything like other astronomy departments, 5-10 people were accepted and another 15 or so are on an unofficial waitlist, in case the accepted people choose other schools. So I think that is more likely that the 5-10 people didn't post on gradcafe.

Catria wrote:Carnegie Mellon waitlisted me... should I go to the open house at CMU (in an attempt to get in off the waitlist) or at Minnesota (my first offer) one week later?

Again, Carnegie Mellon gave funding information along with my spot on the waitlist: $2,375/month.

Unless Minnesota overwhelmingly beats out CMU for you, I would definitely attend both! Sounds like you have a pretty nice shot of being accepted off the waitlist.

tqn wrote: Funny how there has not been a single Yale acceptance posted on thegradcafe. What are the odds for:
1. None out of ~50 accepted decided to show their results.
2. Yale plays against the convention, choosing people to reject first and then accept all the rest.
3. Yale accidentally rejected all applicants in the accepted list and still hasn't been aware of their mistake.

Yet Yale's physics department chose to reject first and accept afterward. Astro may also proceed like this.

YodaT wrote:

tqn wrote:

Catria wrote:Carnegie Mellon waitlisted me... should I go to the open house at CMU (in an attempt to get in off the waitlist) or at Minnesota (my first offer) one week later?

Again, Carnegie Mellon gave funding information along with my spot on the waitlist: $2,375/month.

Why not both?
Many years ago, Sean Carroll (author of the standard GR textbook Spacetime geometry) was in the same situation. He was waitlisted by Harvard; after a few conversations with the department, he got into Harvard astronomy (while he applied to Harvard physics).
Source: his blog.

This is basically comparing someone to a person who's the exception (a guy that published two books and left a faculty postion at UChicago at the drop of a hat to move on over to Caltech all because he was denied tenure).

I bet at the point Sean Carroll applied to grad school, his profile was not much different from many of us. My point is just there would be more opportunity if waitlisted applicants go visit the school and make some connection.

Catria wrote:The only way this whole dilemma could be mooted is if I'm admitted at Columbia, in which case I'd attend Columbia's open house rather than Carnegie Mellon's (and over Minnesota as well).

You can always arrange to visit Columbia on the other day. I heard it would be even better since you have more time to talk with students and faculty.

shep23 wrote:

tqn wrote:

shep23 wrote:Yale astronomy rejections have been sent out

Funny how there has not been a single Yale acceptance posted on thegradcafe. What are the odds for:
1. None out of ~50 accepted decided to show their results.
2. Yale plays against the convention, choosing people to reject first and then accept all the rest.
3. Yale accidentally rejected all applicants in the accepted list and still hasn't been aware of their mistake.

I don't think 50 people were accepted. If it's anything like other astronomy departments, 5-10 people were accepted and another 15 or so are on an unofficial waitlist, in case the accepted people choose other schools. So I think that is more likely that the 5-10 people didn't post on gradcafe.

I mean astro+physics combined.

I wonder whether Carnegie Mellon hands out financial data to all waitlistees or just to the topmost ones...

tqn wrote:

shep23 wrote:Yale astronomy rejections have been sent out

Funny how there has not been a single Yale acceptance posted on thegradcafe. What are the odds for:
1. None out of ~50 accepted decided to show their results.
2. Yale plays against the convention, choosing people to reject first and then accept all the rest.
3. Yale accidentally rejected all applicants in the accepted list and still hasn't been aware of their mistake.

Someone pointed out to me that Yale had an unusually high enrollment rate out of the people they accepted last year. As a result, they are only trying to enroll 1 or 2 this year and they are managing that target very carefully.

In other years, it was and probably won't be as difficult to get into Yale for astro.

I wonder if Penn State has given out all the offers for Physics. Does any one have any idea about this?

At this point in the admissions procedure, i.e. the midway point (atleast for me in terms of no. of replies and no. of universities applied to) I would like to dedicate the following popular song by Abba to all the adcomms who have (or might in the future) put me on a wait list:

"Take A Chance On Me"

"If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try

Take a chance on me
(That's all I ask of you honey)
Take a chance on me

We can go dancing, we can go walking, as long as we're together
Listen to some music, maybe just talking, get to know you better
'Cos you know I've got
So much that I wanna do, when I dream I'm alone with you
It's magic
You want me to leave it there, afraid of a love affair
But I think you know
That I can't let go

If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try

Take a chance on me
(Come on, give me a break will you?)
Take a chance on me
Oh you can take your time baby, I'm in no hurry, know I'm gonna get you
You don't wanna hurt me, baby don't worry, I ain't gonna let you
Let me tell you now
My love is strong enough to last when things are rough
It's magic
You say that I waste my time but I can't get you off my mind
No I can't let go
'Cos I love you so

If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best, baby can't you see
Gotta put me to the test, take a chance on me
(Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance on me)

Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best, baby can't you see
Gotta put me to the test, take a chance on me
(Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance on me)

Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa ba-ba
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me

[fade] "

Or if you prefer to hear it, instead of reading it, then follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72r32bceDzg

Cheers,

Ne10 wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72r32bceDzg

Looking back on things, I probably should have applied to at least one or two in-between schools. I didn't apply anywhere between Washington (U.S. News rank 22) and Oregon (U.S. News rank 54). Still waiting on Boulder and Washington, but so far I've been rejected to all the top-tier schools and accepted to all the bottom-tier.

Has anyone not heard from UCSB? I've seen a few rejections, but my application status has not changed.

Did Case Western even sent out offers? All I saw on TGC was that the rejections are now in...

I shouldn't be complaining because I have two acceptances so far. However, I just wish the schools who are pretty sure they are going to reject me would just do so. I have yet to hear from 5/7.

djh101 wrote:Looking back on things, I probably should have applied to at least one or two in-between schools. I didn't apply anywhere between Washington (U.S. News rank 22) and Oregon (U.S. News rank 54). Still waiting on Boulder and Washington, but so far I've been rejected to all the top-tier schools and accepted to all the bottom-tier.

I remember you mentioned in my post a while back that you were interested in quantum information/quantum computing. USC seems like a fantastic school for that despite it having a low US ranking. Congrats on your acceptances.

PathIntegrals92 wrote:I shouldn't be complaining because I have two acceptances so far. However, I just wish the schools who are pretty sure they are going to reject me would just do so. I have yet to hear from 5/7.

djh101 wrote:Looking back on things, I probably should have applied to at least one or two in-between schools. I didn't apply anywhere between Washington (U.S. News rank 22) and Oregon (U.S. News rank 54). Still waiting on Boulder and Washington, but so far I've been rejected to all the top-tier schools and accepted to all the bottom-tier.

I remember you mentioned in my post a while back that you were interested in quantum information/quantum computing. USC seems like a fantastic school for that despite it having a low US ranking. Congrats on your acceptances.

Thank you very much. It certainly is an excellent school (technically, though, almost all of the professors working in the field are part of the electrical engineering department) and I'm quite happy with my acceptances, but I can't help but wonder what other schools are out there that I might have gotten into. I started out browsing primarily in the mountain and west coast states and pretty much stopped looking after that since I already had a decent size list. To be honest, I don't even think MIT was that great of a fit for me and applied mostly because my girlfriend talked me into it.

Really, I'm just curious and don't mean to complain. I am quite thankful for getting into the schools that I did.