2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

  • This has become our largest and most active forum because the physics GRE is just one aspect of getting accepted into a graduate physics program.
  • There are applications, personal statements, letters of recommendation, visiting schools, anxiety of waiting for acceptances, deciding between schools, finding out where others are going, etc.

rona
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:14 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by rona » Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:52 pm

Undergrad Institution: Large Canadian School - good rep in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.98
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: presumably near top
Type of Student: International

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: 166
V: 166
W: 5.5
P: 980 (94%)


Research Experience: About 3 years of research in four different subfields. One submitted paper in CMT - 2nd author

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Standard academic awards

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: did well in some national physics competitions. Expect letters to be quite strong.

Special Bonus Points:

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

Applying to Where: All for CMT

Berkeley - Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
MIT - Rejected
Harvard - Rejected
Stanford - Rejected
Caltech - Rejected
UIUC - Accepted
UCSB - Rejected
U Maryland - Accepted
Last edited by rona on Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:22 pm, edited 5 times in total.

whatup
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 6:57 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by whatup » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:09 pm

Undergrad Institution: UCLA
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 3.89
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Probably near top
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 162 (90%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 860 (80%)


Research Experience: Basically none besides the lab classes we take as part of the major.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, Magna Cum Laude

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Started working full time as a Physicist out of college (graduated class of 2015, been working since a week after graduating)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nope.

Special Bonus Points: Probably have solid recommendations

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Probably not.

Applying to Where: In no particular order...

UCLA - HEP-ex unofficial admittance via email (invite to open house) - 2/11
CalTech - HEP-ex rejected via email - 2/12
MIT - HEP-ex rejected via website - 2/12
Stanford - HEP-ex rejected via email - 2/22
UCSD - HEP-ex rejected via email - 3/5
UCSB - HEP-ex rejected via email to check website - 2/29
UC Berkeley - HEP-ex accepted via email, financial info to come - 3/4 WHAT
University of Chicago - HEP-ex rejected via website - 2/19

Well, that's that! Amazing to get into Berkeley after all the rejections, but I suppose being a good fit with their program probably got me in. I have a feeling that I was actually on a waitlist, since I think the wave of acceptances went out a couple days before mine. If I had to do it all over again, I would have applied to more match/safety schools, because I was extremely close to having only rejections.
Last edited by whatup on Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:16 pm, edited 7 times in total.

zack
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:03 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by zack » Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:35 pm

Undergrad Institution: Liberal arts. Little to no reputation in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.9
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores :
Q: 158 (71%)
V: 155 (67%)
W: 4.0 (56%)
First time in April 2015
P: 670 (44%)
Second time in October 2015
P: 800 (71%)


Research Experience: Started doing astronomy/cosmology research in the spring of my sophomore year, that research has taken me to multiple conferences with posters and one conference with an oral presentation and third author on a paper published in astrophysical journal. I have done various other small projects at my university. Currently working on building a fusor. One REU last summer with cosmic rays.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Academic Merit scholarship. NSF STEM scholarship for physics. deans list every semester. Outstanding Student award.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutored physics for about 2 years, CRLA level 1 or 2 certified (can't remember which)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: VP of our SPS chapter physics club and VP of astronomy club

Special Bonus Points: A few professors and a postdoc I worked with know people at hawaii, utah state, and wisconsin madison. they wrote me letters to those schools.

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

Applying to Where: mostly plasma physics stuff but used a kind of shotgun approach mentioning in my statements that I was interested in a lot of subjects at each respective school. also applied to a few astronomy programs. all PhD.


University of Wisconsin Madison - Physics - Accepted 25 Jan, by email, official offer ~$15k TA for school year +$3k fellowship/signing bonus
University of Arizona - Astronomy - Rejected 25 jan, by email
University of Colorado Boulder - Physics
University of Hawaii Manoa (IfA) - Astronomy - Accepted 2 Feb, by email, ~$31k/11 months TA/RA
University of California Irvine - Physics
University of Texas Austin - Applied Physics
University of Washington Seattle - Physics
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) - Physics
University of Utah - Physics
University of California San Diego - Physics
University of California Berkeley - Physics
Utah State University - Material Physics (space environment effects) - Accepted 8 Feb, $24k/yr fellowship for materials science group + start research this summer at $2k/month
University of Tennessee Knoxville - Physics - Accepted 4 Feb, by email ($21k +$5k "bonus")/school year

SoldatOvO
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:03 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by SoldatOvO » Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:42 am

It is my time to give back to this lovely community!!

Undergrad Institution: One of the top Canadian schools. Good reputation in physics.
Major(s): Physics, Math
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.7
Length of Degree: 6 (less than 1.5 years of Co-op)
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: International Female

GRE Scores : revised
Q: >160
V: >150 (ugh!)
W: >3.5 (ugh!)
P: >700 (UGH!)


Research Experience: Less than 1.5 years, 5 projects in 2 subfields, also have experience in a third subfield. 2 first-author pubs in 2 subfields, one more to come. 1 APS meeting, 2 local workshops, 1 summer school for grad students/ postdocs. 4 oral and poster presentations in total. 1 visiting student in a national lab of DOE.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Good grades scholarships, good student scholarships, summer student awards (1 nation-wide, several school-wide).

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Volunteering in a group since those people are awesome?

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I have a Canadian Red Cross CPR-C certificate if that counts...

Special Bonus Points: Female. LoRs from professors from three different subfields. I think my referees are well connected, though ironically none of them is from my local physics department.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I am not particularly interested in any discipline (I like AMO, fine with nuclear while interested in learning about CMT) but in quantum mechanics in general, so it is tricky, and I know this research interest might kill me but carpe diem. And I switched major three times (biology -> XXX -> XXX -> physics + mathematics) if that counts...

Applying to Where: All physics dept., all few to many-body quantum theory in AMO/ CMT/ nuclear systems with preference in mathematical physics (I would've added particle if they start playing with multi-particle interactions)

US (All Ph.D.):
Harvard - Rejected 2/24 by email checking applyweb. Almost bye-bye Boston :|
MIT - Rejected 2/12 from website :(
Boston University - Accepted 2/12 by email with 5-year fellowship in the form of TA/RA :mrgreen:
Stony Brook - Waitlisted 2/16 by email after declining their MA (I really like their director who gave me his best wishes when I declined their MA offer! -- but I cannot afford the tuition plus living expense plus student fee, by the way it is 42k just in case someone is interested... :( )Rejected since it is past 4/15.
Columbia - Rejected 3/02 by email to check website. hmm...
Cornell - Rejected 2/15 by email (hurt less since this comes after having two rejections on 2/12)
Princeton - Rejected 2/22 by email. Not surprised... and I like their rejection letter.
Univ. Maryland, College Park - Accepted 2/17 by email, TAship + some sort of grant (So they really want me to do physics there!) :mrgreen: though not JQI fellow :oops:
CU Boulder - Accepted 1/26 by email with TAship + signing bonus (OMG this is GOOD!). Update Feb. 23: awarded another fellowship. :mrgreen:
UC Berkeley - Recommended for acceptance 3/01 by email. OMG no way this could happen :shock: :shock: :shock: . Funding info comes in 03/12, first year TAship ~30k/yr
UC Santa Barbara - Rejected 2/29 by email. Bye bye KITP.
Stanford - Rejected 2/22 by email. Not surprised... and a nicely written rejection letter.
Caltech - Rejected 2/12 by email :( and thank you for encouraging :shock:
Univ. Chicago - Rejected 2/19 by email. I do like the city :( :( :(
Univ. Washington, Seattle - Rejected 3/01 by email. One first author in nuclear physics is definitely not enough...

Canada (All Master):
Univ. British Columbia - Unofficial waitlist 3/03 by asking department staff. 3/06 heart broken, withdrawn
Univ. Toronto - Unofficial waitlist 2/28 by email from THE person I would like to work with in U of T. Interesting... :shock:Accepted 3/22 by email with offer letter. Scholarship - Tuition = ~ CAD 21k/yr.

Reflection:
Indeed, in order to get into named places, GPA, GRE, LoR and research experience (plus SoP) are all important. While a meh GRE would not be too bad a thing to cry about (I did when I received the score...), too low a score might kill the chance even with great other stuff. Also, having supportive letters is very important. I know that one of my letter was awesome, but I should have asked a fourth letter from maybe one of my course professors who knows me well too.
Moreover, I have to say that having undergraduate research experience is very, very important and rewarding. In my case, besides getting me into great places, it also helps me to decide what to study and trains me how to study a problem. Everyone has been telling me that a physics B. Sc. would train one the problem-solving skills but it was until I finished my first project did I realize why.
Lastly, I would like to thank this forum for being with me when I was suffering through my life crisis during the second half of my awful undergraduate yearsssss. You guys are great people! And to those who see this post in the future, just make the best of what you have, and you will not only survive this turbulent season, but also thrive it.
Once a decision is finalized, the past becomes merely a fine structure of the ground state, and everything restarts again.
Enough said.
Last edited by SoldatOvO on Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:22 pm, edited 21 times in total.

endboss
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:41 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by endboss » Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:33 pm

Undergrad Institution: Large public research, so-so physics reputation
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 3.95
Overall GPA: 3.89
Length of Degree: 5
Position in Class: ?
Type of Student: domestic, male, minority

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 159
V: 163
W: 4.0
P: 850 (Oct. 2015)


Research Experience:

Acoustics at home institution for 3 years, one small talk
CME at home institution for 1 year
One REU in AMO physics, conference presentation

no publications

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Award for undergraduate research at home institution.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for 2 years, introductory classes and labs.

Special Bonus Points: I did my best to emphasize what made me a unique applicant in my SOP, and why those attributes made me a desirable candidate. I also tried to emphasize my strengths and how they were applicable to my intended field of study. I was genuinely proud of it and I think it helped a lot.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I had 4 letters of recommendation, not sure if the extra helped or not.

Applying to Where: all AMO experiment

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Physics - accepted, 2/11 Will attend!
Harvard University - Physics - accepted, 2/11
Stanford University - Physics - rejected, 2/22
University of Chicago - Physics - rejected, 2/19
University of Maryland, College Park - Physics - accepted, 2/9
University of Colorado, Boulder - Physics - accepted, 2/15
University of Rochester - Physics - accepted, 1/22
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Physics - accepted, 12/9
University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor - Physics - accepted, 1/27
Pennsylvania State University - Physics - accepted, 2/9

NSF GRFP - not selected as a recipient
Last edited by endboss on Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:40 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Damien
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:39 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Damien » Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:02 am

Undergrad Institution: A French University, with decent reputation in physics
Majors: Physics B.S and M.S
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA: 17.014/20
Length of Degree: 3 + 2 years
Position in Class: 1/27
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores :
Q: 170 (98%)
V:155 (67%)
W:3.5 (38%)
P: 950 (91%)

Research Experience:
- 0.5 years in theoretical biophysics
- Small summer experimental project
- a bunch of small numerical projects, not original though
- Master thesis in non-equilibrium statistical physics, not used for application
- no pubs

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Highest honors in an advanced track

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- Spent one year in the US as an exchange student

Special Bonus Points:
- Letters from professors who have connections at two of the schools applied to

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
- I have a very convoluted academic path

Applying to Where:
Harvard Systems Biology : rejected at the end of February
Cornell physics: rejected, 02/12
Northwestern physics:
Michigan Ann Arbor complex systems theory: waitlisted then rejected
Yale Biophysics: Accepted, 02/19 (will attend)
University of Maryland College Park Applied Mathematics: Accepted, 02/18
Northeastern Network Science:
Last edited by Damien on Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:25 am, edited 3 times in total.

Astro88
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:06 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Astro88 » Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:50 pm

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts university in the USA. No real reputation in physics (some reputation in space science)
Major(s):Physics- Area of concentration in astrophysics, Mathematics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.74 in physics, 4.0 in math
Overall GPA: 3.83
Length of Degree: Four years
Position in Class: No idea, probably near top
Type of Student: Domestic minority male

GRE Scores : Revised
Q:153(52%)
V:149(41%) though I took it once before and got a 152(54%)
W:4.0(56%)
P:590(26%)

If you couldn't tell, I'm an incredibly poor standardized test taker (my ACT sucked in high school too).




Research Experience: I've been doing research at my university for four years. First year was making observations using our 21 meter radio dish of blazars and supernova remnants and reducing the data to determine flux densities at various frequencies to determine spectral indices (we wanted to test the capabilities of our instrument and compare our numbers with published results). This research was presented via a poster at the 2013 summer AAS conference. Next I did data reduction and analysis of supernova remnants and blazars at x-ray frequencies using the Chandra and Swift observatories. Worked on a galaxy that lead to a co-authorship on a published paper in the astronomical journal. Participated in an REU at the University of Chicago last summer working in CMB cosmology (more experimental and analysis). Presented work I've been doing on a blazar at the Swift conference last October (which is also my senior thesis).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Student research assistant, tutored one semester in physics.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: None

Special Bonus Points: Currently taking a two week class on AGN in Gottingen, Germany. One of the people who wrote a letter of recommendation for me just won a prize for his CMB studies (at U.Chicago), if that counts.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Hmmm not really.

Applying to Where: All in astrophysics unless otherwise stated

University of Kentucky- Accepted! via email, GTA $17,000/yr and possible $3000 summer support during the first year (Declined)
University of Louisville - Accepted! via email, GTA $22,000 over 12 months (Declined)
University of Tennessee Knoxville - Accepted! via email to check website, GTA $21,000 over 12 months - WILL ATTEND!
University of New Mexico - Rejected via email
University of Arizona - Rejected via email
University of Florida (Botched this one terribly during the application process, likely rejected)
Florida State University (Will likely be rejected as they already made their target number of offers round one)
Ohio State University - Rejected via email
Pennsylvania State University - Rejected via email
University of Chicago - Rejected (I thoroughly expected that so no biggie)

I understand that U.Chicago is a MASSIVE stretch but I figured "why not?" since I did an REU there and apparently did a very good job.
Anyways, seems like research experience goes a long way too. EDIT: Turns out I was right, massive stretch. I suspect I'll hear back from one of the other schools sometime next week.

Been a pretty stressful process for me. Didn't get into any of my top choices but still got three offers and my life won't stagnate after undergrad. Physics GRE scores (and GRE scores in general) matter, but research experience also goes a pretty long way. Life is good.
Last edited by Astro88 on Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:07 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Sajid_Ali
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:52 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Sajid_Ali » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:31 am

Undergrad Institution: Indian Institute of Technology
Major(s): Electrical Engineering with specialization in Microelectronics/VLSI Design
Minor(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 7.2
Overall GPA: 7.57
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: Somewhere around the average
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 166 (92%)
V: 166 (85%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 990 (94%)


TOEFL Total: 115

Research Experience:
8 weeks - quantum transport in graphene (theory/computational)
8 weeks - experimental investigation of temperature dependence of resistivity of graphene
12 weeks - Density functional theory studies on Li-ion battery cathode materials
1.5 years - Density functional theory studies on magnetism in graphene

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: some Olympiad stuff long ago

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for basic computational methods course

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: None.

Special Bonus Points: Better gpa in physics courses. Many grad level courses in physics.

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

Applying to Where:

University of Chicago - Institute of Molecular Engineering - Reject 10 Feb. Expected.
Purdue University - Physics (CME) - Accept. 10 Feb. 17k$ TA/9 months. upgrade to 19 on passing English exam.
Northwestern University - Applied Physics (CME/Mat Sci/EECS Devices) - Accept. 18 Feb. ~30k$/year for 5 years. dreams do come true !! :D :D
Cornell University - Applied Physics (CME) - Reject 19 Feb. Expected, but very rude of them to reject in 3 lines
University of Washington - Molecular Engineering and Sciences (MOLES) (CME/Mat Sci/EECS Devices) - Reject 19 Feb. (very courteous reject though)
UCSB - Material Science (Electronic & Photonic materials) - Reject 23 Mar. Expected, but wonder whatever took them so long, especially given the fact that they made lot's of A admits in jan.
University of British Columbia - MASc in Engineering Physics (CME) - Reject 5 Mar.
Guelph Waterloo Physics Institue - MSc in Physics (CME)
Last edited by Sajid_Ali on Thu Mar 24, 2016 9:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

CJYL166
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:11 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by CJYL166 » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:42 am

Undergrad Institution: Unknown in North America, but fairly high-ranked according to QS
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.58
Overall GPA: 3.25
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: At least one-sigma excess over average
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 169 (97%)
V: 156 (71%)
W: 3.0 (18%)
P: 830 (76%)

TOEFL Total: 104 (reading 30, listening 29, speaking 20, writing 25)

Research Experience:
- Half a year in complex network simulation.
- Two years in a major hep-ex experiment.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Junior Year's Departmental Prize (highest GPA in the department).
- Various academic merits.


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: None.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- Ranked 244 among about 300000 students in college entrance exam.

Special Bonus Points:
- I believe recommendations are decent.
- Supervisors are well known in the field.
- Senior thesis.
- Fairly composed statements.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Probably none.

Applying to Where: All for HEP-ex

PhD:
(Long shot)
Michigan-Ann Arbor - Rejected 2/15.
Wisconsin-Madison - Rejected. 2/15. Disappointed, some connection.
Maryland-College Park - Interviewed 1/29. - Rejected 2/22
Yale - Rejected 2/26.
Washington-Seattle - Rejected 3/1. Well...

(Reachable)
Carnegie Mellon - Wait listed 2/25. - Withdrawn
CU Boulder - Rejected via email 3/1.
Duke - Wait listed 3/22. - Withdrawn
NYU - Accepted 2/18, 27k fellowship x 4 years + RA + TA + 1k signing bonus.
Rochester - Rejected 2/23, email to check website.
Brandeis - Invited to Open House on 1/30. - Accepted 3/3, 29k per year.
Ohio State - Rejected 17/3.

(Safety)
Pittsburgh - Phone interview 2/17. - Accepted 2/19, 24k per academic year. Huge connection.
UMass Amherst - Accepted 2/5, 20k TA + 8k RA + 2k signing bonus.
Last edited by CJYL166 on Fri Jul 08, 2016 5:56 am, edited 54 times in total.

AtulKedia
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:34 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by AtulKedia » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:21 pm

Undergrad Institution: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay- Fairly reputed for physics in India.
Major(s): (Engineering) Physics
Honors(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 7.85 / 10.0
Overall GPA: 7.81/ 10.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Above average
Type of Student: International, male.

GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 167 (94%)
V: 153 (59%)
W: 3.0 (15%)
P: 990 (94%)


TOEFL Total: 103/120

Research Experience: A summer research project continued as Bachelors' thesis (so more than 7 months) on cosmology at TIFR, India. Publication expected as 2nd author.
A 2 months summer research at U Notre Dame in computational astrophysics.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored an online course on general physics for college teachers in India.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Exchange student to University of Toronto, Canada. Got insane position(rank) in Indian undergraduate university entrance exams (99.86 percentile). Qualified a physics olympiad exam in India as a high school student.

Special Bonus Points: LORs from India(TIFR), USA(U Notre Dame) and Canada (U Toronto).

Applying to Where: All for either cosmology or theoretical astrophysics

PhD programs:-
University of Pennsylvania - Rejected (got email to check web, 7/4)
University of Texas Austin - Rejected (got email to check web, 5/2)
Johns Hopkins University - Rejected (email, 4/3)
New York University - Rejected (email, 26/2)
Columbia University - Rejected (got email to check web, 1/3)
Yale University - Rejected (got email to check web, 11/3)
Princeton University - Rejected (email, 30/1)
University of Chicago - Rejected (web, 10/2)
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign - Rejected (email, 31/3)
University of Notre Dame - Accepted (email, 18/2) ($21,000/9 months)
University of Toronto, Canada - Rejected (email, 31/3)

MS programs:-
University of British Columbia, Canada - Rejected (email, 4/3)
Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute, Canada - Withdrawn
Last edited by AtulKedia on Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:13 pm, edited 7 times in total.

aluminumfalcon3
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:58 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by aluminumfalcon3 » Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:38 pm

Undergrad Institution: Medium sized private research university in midwest
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.83
Overall GPA: 3.66 (D- in intro to psychology my senior year brought me down from 3.76)
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: not top but graduated with honors
Type of Student: Domestic, middle eastern male

GRE Scores :
Q: 167 (94%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
P: 960 (91%)


Research Experience:
Misc research in bio as a high schooler and one volunteer research experience that didnt get off the ground

1.5 years of working with quantum nanoelectronics as senior undergrad, 1 senior thesis, 1 publication under review at Nature Communications (4th/5 authors), 1 publication in preparation for Phys Rev Letters (1st author). Experimental work, data analysis, and some quantum measurement theory. Invited for APS March Meeting 2016 undergrad talk, also presented at symposium at Brookhaven National Lab

Two 16 week DOE internships (SULI program) at:
- Brookhaven National Lab: Worked with neutrino detection in chemistry and physics groups, no pubs
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: Working in experimental CMB polarization detection in physics group, no pubs

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Cum Laude
- Undergraduate Research Fellowship as a senior
- Bronze Medal: University Physics Competition 2014

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- 1 year as SPS President, 1 year as SPS VP, organized an SPS zone conference as VP
- 1 semester TA for special relativity course
- 4 semesters group tutoring for calculus

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- Senior thesis
- Gave a talk on physics and eastern philosophy
- Member and former chair of socioeconomic diversity advocacy group on campus (do they care about that stuff?)

Special Bonus Points:
- A few graduate courses (2 in quantum, 1 in theoretical physics)
- Studied abroad at oxford and did some physics and philosopy
- Very strong letter of rec from undergrad PI, connected to quantum nanoelectronics field
- Other letters from math prof and mentor at Brookhaven Lab

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I applied last year and was rejected from everywhere. Re-applied this year with an improved application:
- pGRE score went from 760 to 960 (64% to 91%)
- Physics GPA up (3.76ish to 3.83)
- Regular GPA down from 3.76 to 3.66 bc of D- in intro to psych senior year
- 1 extra year of research and some pubs helped
- 2 DOE physics-related internships during gap year

Applying to Where (PhD programs):

Physics, focused on Exp Quantum (quantum information, AMO, quantum circuits, condensed matter)

Caltech - Accepted 2/02 via email! !! IQIM looks awesome :mrgreen:
Stanford - Rejected 02/22 email to check website.
UC Berkeley -
MIT - Rejected 2/12 on website
Harvard - Rejected 2/19 upon email inquiry
Yale - Rejected 02/26 email to check website
Cornell - Accepted 2/11 via email
UCSB -
U Maryland - Accepted 2/18 via email (rejected for JQI fellowship)
UChicago - Rejected 2/19 on website
WashU - Accepted 01/29 via email. Safety, declined
Boulder -

Electrical Engineering, focused on Quantum Information
Princeton - Accepted 2/10 via email! Had an informal interview early feb.
Last edited by aluminumfalcon3 on Fri Feb 26, 2016 5:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.

crm
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:49 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by crm » Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:23 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big state school, top 25 in physics.
Major(s): Physics (Optics specialization)
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.96
Overall GPA: 3.86
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: near top
Type of Student: Domestic Male

GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 164/88%
V: 156/71%
W: 5.0/93%
P: 680/46%

Research Experience: 3.5 years of AMO research in a laser cooling lab at home institution. One summer of Bose-Einstein condensate research at a top 5 institution(Harvard). Presented posters at multiple national meetings.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, Undergraduate Recognition award for extracurricular achievement (research/clubs etc.), travel grant for presenting at a national conference.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: One semester TAing for intro classical mechanics, SPS chapter VP for 3 years.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Grad student at home institution who I worked with was often absent due to medical/mental troubles, so I had the chance to work a lot on my own on the experiment and gain a lot of important experience and responsibility. I believe my primary adviser wrote about this in his letter.

Special Bonus Points: My research advisor at my home school is an older, very well known and respected physicist in AMO. I also worked with a younger, but very accomplished physicist at an Ivy League institution (Harvard) for my summer project after my junior year. They both wrote recommendation letters for me. I was able to take a grad class on Ultracold Atoms and Quantum Gases (BEC) and multiple advanced courses (Laser, Adv. Quantum, Solid State) in my first semester of senior year which showed up on my transcript.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: MIT is the only school that asked for my Fall 2016 grades. I took 4 advanced PHY courses including one grad class along with studying for PGRE, and I ended up getting 1 A and 3 B+'s in PHY courses that semester which brought my PHY GPA down to 3.87. Could be why I was waitlisted, but even then I was surprised I wasn't rejected outright.

In my SOP I mentioned this heavy workload, along with my desire to focus on research during the summer of my junior year to partially explain why my PGRE score was so low. I mentioned that I would rather learn real physics than focus on some multiple choice exam. I think my letters of recommendation were very strong and they echoed this sentiment of my focus on research and learning over exam scores. My main adviser said that he would write in his letter of recommendation that admissions committees should outright ignore my PGRE score since my grades and research speak for themselves.

Applying to Where:

Home Institution - Physics - AMO experiment-----Was virtually accepted by my research advisor, but told that if I got in somewhere else better that they want me to go away and would rather give my offer to someone else who they wanted from another school. Luckily that's what occurred. :)

U Rochester - Physics - AMO experiment-----Accepted 1/25, 19k 9 mo., up to 26k per year-----Visited the school. Good AMO research, but I wasn't overly impressed. More of a focus on Optics; the Atomic physics is good but as my mentor said is a little past it's prime at this institution.
Cornell - Physics - AMO experiment-----Accepted 2/12, 27k 9 mo., up to 31-35k per year-----Surprised to get in. They have good but few AMO people.

CU Boulder - Physics - AMO experiment-----Accepted 2/15, 19k 9 mo., up to 27-31k per year, 1k signing bonus----- Was ecstatic to hear this. My professors shook my hand after I told them the good news. Seems like the best research fit and best place to live. WILL ATTEND

U Virginia - Physics - AMO experiment-----Accepted 2/24, 20k 9 mo., 25.6k first year-----More of a backup for me, even considering home institution.
U Michigan Ann Arbor - Physics - AMO experiment-----Accepted 3/4, 29.8k per year-----I had assumed I was rejected because it took so long, so this was a nice surprise. I think they were just overwhelmed with the number of qualified applicants this year. I actually didn't send them my low PGRE scores as they do not require but "strongly recommend them"... although I forgot to remove the part in my SOP trying to explain low GRE scores because of my focus on research and large course load instead of the exam... I guess it worked out in the end.

UMD College Park - Physics - AMO experiment-----Waitlisted 2/21----- -----Rejected 4/11
Entire waiting list was "released" during the last week. They expressed how excited they were about their incoming students and that they had no room for more, not exactly humble or professional. I got into better schools anyway.

MIT - Physics - AMO experiment-----Waitlisted 2/16----- -----Rejected 4/13
Even after an interview with the head of the Atomic Physics group I ended up being rejected from the waiting list with two days left. Made choosing Boulder very easy. Boulder seems like a better fit anyway since it's also a top AMO school without all the extra pressure.

U Chicago - Physics - AMO experiment-----Rejected 2/19
Harvard - Physics - AMO experiment-----Rejected 2/24
This one hurt at first, since I spent the previous summer there. Was hoping my strong research fit and connections would help them overlook my low PGRE. I talked to my adviser from my summer project at Harvard and he mentioned that he just didn't have room in his group to add a student this year, which he warned me about in the past. Perfectly understandable. Boulder seemed to be a somewhat better fit in any case, due to the atmosphere.
Yale - Physics - AMO experiment-----Rejected 2/26
Columbia - Physics - AMO experiment-----Rejected 2/26
Penn State - Physics - AMO experiment-----------Rejected 4/5
Got a rejection email in my spam folder, didn't notice until 3 days later. The status of my application on my account on their website was updated with REJECTED in big, bold, red letters. Not very professional.
Last edited by crm on Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:55 pm, edited 5 times in total.

medicalfizzics
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:04 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by medicalfizzics » Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:43 pm

[quote="medicalfizzics"]Undergrad Institution: Middle tier UC
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
.... I had a late start in motivation and work ethic my first couple years so:
GPA in Major for all UPPER DIV courses: 3.75
Overall GPA: 3.38
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Above average but not top

GRE Scores:
Q:162
V:157
W:4
P: 760 (for 3 months of preparation reviewing all of lower-div physics that i had a poor background in, I was stoked on this result lol)

Research Experience: 2 years of cutting edge medical physics research analyzing data for a preclinical head scanner

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List a few quarters, a monetary award to do research for the summer

Special Bonus Points: Three letters of recommendation coming from reputable PhD's who were pleased with my medical physics research work.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I worked very hard on forming an impressive statement of purpose.

Applying to Where:
(all applications are for PhD with focus in radiation therapy)

U Wisconsin- Madison - Medical Physics -ACCEPTED 1/15 by email (financial offer accepted, will attend!) :-)
U Minnesota- Twin Cities - Medical Physics-ACCEPTED
Duke- Medical Physics - REJECTED
Oregon State - Medical Physics-ACCEPTED
Last edited by medicalfizzics on Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.

gradschoolishard
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:52 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by gradschoolishard » Wed Feb 24, 2016 11:19 pm

This was such a helpful resource for me when applying, so I figured it's time to give back! All is not lost with a mediocre GRE and GPA--- devoting time to research and carefully writing your personal statement can apparently go a long way.

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 Private School
Major(s):Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major:~3.4
Overall GPA:~3.5
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: No idea, probably average
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: 166 (92%)
V:159 (81%)
W:4 (56%)
P:760 (64%)


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: 2+ years at home institution in quantum optics, summer REU affiliated with LIGO, summer engineering-related service work in third world hospitals

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Some private tutoring in STEM for students from my highs school, basic outreach

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: General involvements that show I'm a well-rounded person, perhaps? Music and athletic achievements, tour guide, etc.

Special Bonus Points: Female, taken and done well in 3 grad classes, recommendations should be solid (but like whose aren't?), put lots of effort into SOP

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

Applying to Where: Note: I applied to a ridiculous number of schools concentrated in similar regions of the country due to applying with a boyfriend, all were for experimental cosmology

JHU-Accepted!
Maryland-Accepted!-declined
UC Irvine-Accepted!-declined
Yale-Accepted!
Brown-Accepted!-declined
Columbia-Accepted!
Washington-Accepted!-declined
UIUC-Accepted!-declined

Penn- haven't heard, so I'm assuming rejection.

Harvard- Rejected
Princeton-Rejected
Stanford-Rejected
Berkeley-Rejected
Caltech-Rejected
Cornell-Rejected
MIT-Rejected

UCLA-Withdrew App
UC Boulder-Withdrew App
NYU-Withdrew App
Last edited by gradschoolishard on Sun Apr 03, 2016 9:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

particleinabox
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 5:22 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by particleinabox » Thu Feb 25, 2016 5:39 pm

___________
Undergrad Institution: Private research university, top 5 in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.9
Overall GPA:3.87
Length of Degree: (Are you graduating after 3, 4, or 5 years?) 4
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) N/A
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) Domestic Asian Male

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: 170
V: 168
W: 4.0
P: 960

Research Experience: Two summers at home university. One in experimental condensed matter physics (STM/atomic manipulation), one in AMO (photonic devices fabrication). No papers,

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: N/A

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: President of Splash program

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: Took plenty of EECS classes such as algorithms, machine learning, convex optimization and information theory. Brownie points for somebody looking to study quantum information.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: One recommender is a prominent researcher in QI (also in string theory).

Applying to Where:

MIT - Physics - Quantum Information [REJECTED]
Caltech - Physics - Quantum Information/Quantum Matter [REJECTED]
Harvard - Physics - AMO Theory [REJECTED]
Yale Physics - Quantum Information/AMO [REJECTED]
U. of Colorado, Boulder Physics - Quantum Information/AMO [REJECTED]

U. of Southern California Physics - Quantum Information/D-Wave [ACCEPTED] Ph.D program. 1/7 by email. Physics Graduate Fellowship, $27.5k for 1 yr (not incl. summer). Guaranteed RA/TA support for up to 5 years.
U. of British Columbia Physics - Quantum Information [ACCEPTED] MSc program. 2/3 by email. Canadian $23.5k/yr with RA/TA included.
U.of Maryland, College Park Physics - Quantum Information [ACCEPTED] Ph.D. program. 2/9 by unofficial email. QuICS Fellowship with $28-30k/yr for two years.
Berkeley Physics - Quantum Information/CMT
U. of Waterloo Physics - Quantum Information
Last edited by particleinabox on Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

uhurulol
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:38 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by uhurulol » Fri Feb 26, 2016 5:52 pm

Undergrad Institution: State University, no rep for physics
Undergraduate Major(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.34
Overall GPA: 3.11
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores:
Q: 155 (60%)
V: 155 (67%)
W: 3.5 (38%)
P: 500 (9%) (obligatory :oops:)

Research Experience:

Three years instrumentation on a significant NSF-funded project; one publication, one poster.

One year working on a globular cluster project; one publication, one poster.

Currently working as a research scientist at GSU, the only school I'm applying to. The instrumentation research I did led to me connecting with GSU faculty, who we began collaborating with. Moved to Atlanta and started working at the end of the summer, 2015.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Tutored physics to the youngins' at my school, did generic lab work/repair work for the physics department. Presentations regarding my research for the Physics Club, and I've represented the Physics department at a number of university events. Tutored online for a few months.

Other Information:

Major coursework such as E&M, Classical and Quantum came way later in my studies than they should have, after I took my PGRE. Also worked 30+ hours a week (plus research) for most of my college career.

Applying to Where:

Was rejected from most of my schools last year (applied before I was published), so I held out and took a good opportunity working at a university I want to go to.

Georgia State University - Astronomy PhD - Requested for interview 2/12 - Interviewed 2/17 - Accepted February 26th! Awaiting financial details

Life is good.

DconEfigSobjI
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2016 8:55 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by DconEfigSobjI » Fri Feb 26, 2016 9:32 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big midwest research university - top 20 physics
Major(s): Honors Physics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: 1st
Type of Student: Hispanic, native american, caucasian, male

GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 166 (92%)
V: 161 (87%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
P: 850 (78%)

Research Experience: 3 years, two different projects - both for large international collaboration - under advisor who is well respected in field. Had a very large role in the project and contributed significantly to the development. No publications but senior honors thesis at university. Do additional research in data analysis on the side, 10 hrs/wk - future pub. Lots of software experience.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Bunch of academic honors and minority awards

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor students +10 hrs/wk, grade for lower level physics classes 10 hrs/wk, plenty of volunteering experience. Teach Spanish at elementary school for 8 hrs/wk, board member for Society of Physics Students and member of Sigma Pi Sigma.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Developed and deployed a $0.5 mil project at university hospital

Special Bonus Points: Minority and amazing advisor

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Motivated to affect diversity

Applying to Where: (interested in Observational Cosmology / High-energy astrophysics)

Berkeley - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/19 by email - funding info to come
Caltech - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/4 by email, 34k fellowship and guaranteed funding all years
MIT - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/13 by email, prestigious 3 year fellowship (36k / yr) and 5k signing bonus
Stanford - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/17 by email, 3 year university fellowship (36k) and then 2 year department fellowship (34k), and 2k research conference funds
UChicago - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/8 by email, 32k fellowship for first year and plus 8k / yr scholarship, cash, for 5 years
UCSB - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/1 by email, 2 yr 29k fellowship, 5 yr guarantee funding through RA/TA positions

Columbia - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/15 by email, 2 yr fellowship and diversity scholarship for 8k - Declined
UPenn - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/8 by email, 29k TA funding - Declined
UMD - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/17 by email, 2 yr RA funding of 23k + 5k fellowship - Declined
UCLA - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 2/11 by email, funding info to come - Declined
UCSD - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 1/20 by email, funding info to come - Declined
CU Boulder - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 1/22 by email, TA/RA $27k for 2 yrs + $10k signing bonus - Declined
UW Madison - Physics - [ACCEPTED] 1/25 by email, 24k TA for 2 years + 10k singing bonus - Declined

UncertainTea
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:19 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by UncertainTea » Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:13 pm

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 private school
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.97
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Top 5%
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores :
Q: 166 (92%)
V: 165 (95%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
P: 900 (85%)

Research Experience: Two research projects in CMT at home institution, one for 2.5 years (and one summer), another for 1.5 years. One summer research fellowship abroad, also in CMT. No publications at time of application, but two papers in preparation: one first author of three, another fourth author of five. Also a handful of conference talks and poster presentations.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Top undergraduate research award at home institution, completed a thesis early and earned highest level of distinction, dean's list all semesters.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor/TA for several different physics and math courses over a span of three years. Spent a summer designing and teaching my own science class.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nah.

Special Bonus Points: Four grad classes (three physics, one math), a few A+'s. Recommenders aren't too well-known, but I think all of the letters were strong.

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

Applying to Where: Applying for CMT at all schools. Applying with a partner, hence the large number of schools.

Caltech - Rejected 2/11
Harvard - Rejected 2/24
Princeton - Rejected 2/22
Stanford - Rejected 2/22
Columbia - Rejected 2/26
UC Berkeley -Rejected 3/5

Cornell - Accepted 2/1, $26.8k/9mo TA/RA + 1 year graduate fellowship (28.4k)
University Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Accepted 2/5, $22.5k/year TA/RA
Yale - Accepted 2/19, $33.1k/year TA/RA
Maryland - Accepted 2/9, $36k/year JQI Fellowship
UPenn - Accepted 2/24, $29.5k/year TA/RA
Hopkins - Accepted 1/21, ~$30k/year TA/RA
CU Boulder - Accepted 1/25, ~$28k/year TA/RA + $10k signing bonus
UCLA - Accepted 2/11, Physics Division Fellowship
UC Irvine - Accepted 1/29, $22k/year TA/RA + 2 year Chancellor's fellowship (10k/year)
Boston University - Accepted 2/11, $31.5k/year TA/RA

While I am thrilled with these results, my rejections put me in a position to offer a word of advice to any future applicants interested in studying theory at top schools: Unless you are exceptionally well-qualified, a high GRE score (~950+) generally seems necessary for admittance to top 5 programs. Of course, I can't know this with certainty, but the fact that I was rejected from all the top 5 programs to which I applied, and admitted nearly everywhere else with a few fellowships, seems to support this conclusion.
Last edited by UncertainTea on Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:57 pm, edited 3 times in total.

wimmi
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:12 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by wimmi » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:03 pm

Undergrad Institution: Unknown European university
Major(s): Earth Sciences/Geophysics
Overall GPA: 4.68/5
Length of Degree: 3 years
Position in Class: Top 1%
Type of Student: International, male

Master's: Unknown European university
Major(s): Space Science and Technology
Overall GPA: 3.01/4
Length of Degree: 2 years
Position in Class: Average

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 156 (64%)
V: 146 (29%)
W: 3.5 (38%)
P: Not mandatory for Planetary Science.

TOEFL Total: 101

Research Experience: 2.5 years research experience at 3 different institutes. Several presentations at international conferences (4 as first author, 4 as co-author). 1 paper as first author in a leading journal of my field, 1 paper under review in the same journal (as first author), additional ones are in preparation.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Outstanding student poster award at the second largest international conference of my field.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Nothing

Special Bonus Points: I obtained my degrees from unknown universities but I worked at recognized research institutes and I prepared my Master's thesis at a world top 10 university. My recommenders have good reputation and they also know me very well.

During my university studies I went abroad and did research in 3 different countries, I think this could make my application quite unusual.I also contacted some of the profs at my target universities, which turned out to be extremely important.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My grades were crap during my Master's (I had to attend several courses on Master's level, which were not related to my Bachelor at all) but in the statement of purpose I tried to explain that despite this what additional knowledge and expertise I acquired.

Applying to Where:

UCLA: No information, probably rejected because POI does not take new grad student this year.
University of Michigan: Admitted (via email 02/29) - RA/TA + 28.4k/year. Very strong fit. Will attend
UTSA: Admitted (via email 02/18) - RA but no info about funding. Declined
Last edited by wimmi on Mon Mar 07, 2016 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

pgre123
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 1:10 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by pgre123 » Tue Mar 01, 2016 1:23 am

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts school in midwest, not known for physics
Major(s): Physics, Math
GPA in Major:4.00
Overall GPA:4.00
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Near Top
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores : (revised)
Q: 169 (97%)
V: 164 (94%)
W:4.5 (80%)
P: 890 (84%)

Research Experience: Geophysics at home institution, written up as senior thesis
Quantum research, worked on project at University of Tokyo with funding from home university
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list, Phi Beta Kappa

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA/ Tutored throughout

Applying to Where:

Indiana University - Physics, Undecided for all- Admitted, +5k first year bonus
Notre Dame Admitted
University of Chicago Admitted Will Attend
Colorado Boulder Admitted, +6k first year bonus
California Berkeley Rejected
Stanford Rejected
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Rejected
Illinois Urbana Champaign Rejected
Cornell Rejected
Ohio State Admitted, Fellowship
Northwestern Waitlisted
Last edited by pgre123 on Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

GaugeGravityDuality
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:06 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by GaugeGravityDuality » Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:56 pm

Undergrad Institution: Ivy; very well known for physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 3.95/4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic Male
GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 162
V: 168
W: 4.5
P: 910

Research Experience: 2 years of research in theoretical general relativity, 1 year of research in quantum gravity (AdS/CFT) and QFT; all at home institution; 1 publication in hep-th

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Award for physics research given by home institution

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Physics tutor for 2 years

Special Bonus Points: All three recs were written by well known people in hep-th who are well connected at some of my top choices; two semesters of graduate general relativity, two semesters of QFT, one semester of QFT in curved spacetime (seminar class), one semester of quantum gravity (seminar class), one semester of graduate statistical mechanics

Applying to Where: Applied for hep-th (specifically, classical and quantum gravity) at all schools

Harvard - Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Stanford - Rejected
UCSB - Accepted
UC Berkeley - Accepted
University of Chicago - Accepted
Cornell - Accepted

MisterE
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:02 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by MisterE » Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:10 pm

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Physics, Music Composition
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.98 (A- in freshman year Physics II)
Overall GPA: 3.81
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: For physics, near top
Type of Student: Typical privileged white male.

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 161 (87%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 770 (65%) - took 3 years after graduation, slight disadvantage =/

Research Experience: Small project at school, current job is research engineer for commercial company (focus on data analysis, engine efficiency, hyrdodynamics)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Won a spelling bee in 2nd grade

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Did some tutoring & TA in physics in college

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nope

Special Bonus Points: My current boss has Ph.D. in meteorlogy & oceanography and wrote my recommendation, which I guess helps a little

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

Applying to Where: (contrary to the "shotgun approach", I call this the "sniper approach". It worked for me in college too ;)

UCSC - Cosmology/Astrophysics Accepted 2/25 via email. Full tuition + $27k fellowship + TA

coffee&physics
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:22 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by coffee&physics » Wed Mar 02, 2016 4:09 pm

Undergrad Institution: Top ten, well known
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.4
Overall GPA: 3.5
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Near top among majors I'd guess.
Type of Student: Domestic


Graduate Institution: Not too well known
Major(s): Master of Physics
GPA in Major: 3.8
Length of Degree: 2
Position in Class: Very top.

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: 166, 94%
V: 162, 90%
W: 6, 99%
P: 900, 85%



Research Experience: All over the place in undergrad, GR in grad, no primary authorships but a few with random collaborations.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A few theory scholarships in grad school

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: not really

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I'm an author on the GW discovery paper.

Special Bonus Points: n/a

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

Applying to Where: All in theory

Tufts - Physics - GR/Cosmology: rejected--3/2 via e-mail to check site

UMass Amherst - Physics - GR/Cosmology: accepted--3/4 via e-mail

Case Western - Physics - GR/Cosmology: rejected--3/10 via e-mail

Penn State - Physics - GR/Cosmology: accepted--3/28 via e-mail
Last edited by coffee&physics on Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:18 pm, edited 6 times in total.

nilao
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:56 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by nilao » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:19 am

***I mainly just want to put it out there that, as it turns out, physics professors are not heartless and if you have a good explanation for a shitty GPA, they may actually care and want you anyway***

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college in USA with good reputation in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 2.8
Overall GPA: 3.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: above average, it's a weird school (average is a C=2.00)
Type of Student: Domestic white

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 155
V: 161
W: 4.0
P: 680

Research Experience: Significant research experience (net 8 or 9 years, all experimental and across many fields, most overlap in time), no publications, 12 conference talks, lots of certifications

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: best fingernail growth 2011-2012

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: government job in experimental physics + job as physics advisor in DC + 2 REUs + tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: see awards/honors/recognitions

Special Bonus Points: All of the above -- female, famous recommenders, grad classes, connections to about half the schools to which I applied

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Had a life-threatening health issue throughout undergrad. I actually didn't put this on my app because I listened to bad advice, but it came up in interviews.

Applying to Where:

University of Alberta - Physics -
Boulder - Astrophysics - rejected
Bryn Mawr - Physics -
Columbia - Physics - rejected
Georgia Tech - Physics - accepted + TA offer + fellowship
Hawaii at Manoa - Physics - accepted + TA offer
McGill - Physics -
Toledo - Physics and Astronomy -
Rutgers - Physics and Astronomy -

idanpwm
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:10 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by idanpwm » Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:34 pm

Undergrad Institution:
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:3.8
Overall GPA: 3.8
Length of Degree:
Position in Class:
Type of Student:

GRE Scores :
Q:168
V:157
W:4.5
P:700

Research Experience:

Applying to Where:

U of Washington - Physics - AMO - Rejected
UCSD - Physics - CME - Accepted
UCSC - Physics - CME - Accepted
Last edited by idanpwm on Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.

ohmygoshness
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:53 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by ohmygoshness » Tue Mar 08, 2016 12:09 pm

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, top 20 in physics
Major(s): Physics, Math
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 4.0, 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.94
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Unknown, near top
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores : (revised)
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 170 (99%)
W: 6 (99%)
P: 990 (94%)

Research Experience: 2 years experience including summers at my school in low energy particle physics (dark matter direct detection). 1 publication, senior thesis forthcoming

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater Scholarship, Sigma Pi Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, departmental awards in physics and math

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Nope

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: Grad math courses in topology, probability, complex analysis. Grad quantum 1 and 2.

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

Applying to Where: All Physics PhD, AMO experiment

Harvard - Accepted
Caltech - Rejected
Stanford - Accepted
Berkeley - Rejected
Chicago - Accepted
UIUC - Accepted
Yale - Rejected
Maryland - Accepted
CU Boulder - Accepted
U Washington - Accepted
Northwestern - Accepted

CJXD
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:10 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by CJXD » Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:32 am

Undergrad Institution:Top 3 in Hong Kong
Major(s):Physics
Minor(s):N/A
GPA in Major:3.7
Overall GPA:3.5
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: top ten
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores : revised
Q:168
V:152
W:3.5
P:960


TOEFL Total: 108

Research Experience: 2 yrs in soft matter lab, 1 semester on elastic network simulation, one summer in quantum material lab (on high-T superconductor and heavy fermion system in Lawrance Berkeley National Lab)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2013-14 Dean's list of Science Faculty
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: None
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:None

Special Bonus Points: 3 strong recommendations (2 from home institute, 1 from US top univ), good training on experimental skills (eg. fire work, hazardous chemical treatment)

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

Applying to Where:All for CME (focus on quantum matter, strongly correlated system, superconductor, topological materials)

UC Berkeley - Physics -Rejected
MIT - Physics - Rejected
Stanford - Physics - Rejected
Caltech - Physics - Rejected
Columbia - Physics - Rejected
Chicago - Physics - Rejetced
NYU - Physics - Waitlisted (declined)
UIUC - Physics - Accepted
UCSD - Physics - Rejected
U Penn - Physics - no news, Mar 11
Rice - Physics - no news, Mar 11
Gatech - Physics - Accepted (declined)
Oxford - Dphil in Condensed Matter Physics - interviewed in early Feb (4 prof interested), no news so far, Mar 11

cmtstudent
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2016 11:11 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by cmtstudent » Wed Mar 16, 2016 11:29 am

Undergrad Institution: UC Berkeley
Major(s): Engineering Physics
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.96
Length of Degree: 4 yrs
Position in Class: unknown
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 170 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
P: 990 (94%) (do all the practice tests and don't run out of time!)

Research Experience: 1 yr in mathematical biology position in my Sophmore year. 1.5 yrs doing CM exp and simulations. 1 summer REU in astrostatistics (resulted in 1 paper, 3rd author). Took a year off after undergrad to do research full time in CMT, with a professor known in the field (resulted in 1 paper, 2nd author).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing but Dean's list.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 2 papers, one in CMT. (See Research Experience).

Special Bonus Points: Took 4 graduate physics classes in undergrad and did well.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I had applied to graduate schools for HET last year, with no research experience in theory, and was rejected at all but my safety schools. I decided to take a year off to do research in CMT and apply again. I learned a ton and it definitely had a big impact on my admissions this time around.

Applied to Where:

MIT - Physics- CMT - Accepted
Harvard - Physics- CMT - Rejected
UIUC - Physics- CMT - Accepted
Yale - Physics- CMT - Rejected
Princeton - Physics- CMT - Rejected
Stanford - Physics- CMT - Rejected
Berkeley - Physics- CMT - Accepted
UCSB - Physics- CMT - Accepted
Boston University - Physics- CMT - Accepted
UCSD - Physics- CMT - Accepted

ZonalMarking
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2016 10:28 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by ZonalMarking » Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:50 pm

Undergrad Institution: Ivy League (But not one of the 2 people care a lot about)
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math, Economics (both are actually most of the way to majors)
GPA in Major: 4.00 (~half A+)
Overall GPA: 3.95
Length of Degree: 4 yrs
Position in Class: Presumably top
Type of Student: White Domestic Male (Foreign born in Europe but naturalized)

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 170 (99%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
P: 990 (94%) (Conquering the Physics GRE is a great book)

Research Experience:

2 years solidstate/biophysics work. Equal first author publication in ~15 impact factor journal. APS and BPS talk and poster.
2 years soft matter work. Getting close to publication, senior honors thesis on the way. Had to pull out of an APS talk because of scheduling issues. Whoops.
1 summer REU at top physics school doing nanophotonics and solid state. Will eventually be a minor author on a few publications.

Also 1 year in high school doing computational nanobiology work. Don't think that mattered at all.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans list and finalist for goldwater twice.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nothing really. Started a small company that folded before it really took off. Learned a ton from that.

Special Bonus Points: Took 5 graduate physics classes out of my field (mostly cosmology and GR stuff). Did well and really enjoyed them.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Teach a class of third graders about science as part of a teaching program. Tons of tutoring experience. I know that at least two of the letters are absolutely glowing, and the third likely emphasized my pretty novel NSF proposal concept which was entirely my idea.

Applied to Where:
All CME with focus on spintronics/quantum materials.

MIT: Waitlisted Probably means rejected. Had an interview that simply didn't go well. Not a disaster but no connection. But two hour plus long technical interviews later I'm in. Accepted
MIT DMSE: Accepted
Harvard: Accepted Attending
Cal Tech: Accepted
Berkeley: Accepted
Stanford Applied physics: Rejected Made a mistake on my SOP. Oh well.
Princeton: Accepted
Chicago: Accepted
UCSB: Accepted After a really fun interview.

NSF GRFP Awarded

And then a few safeties which I'll decline to list.

I spent way too much time stressing out about stuff over the last couple of years. I definitely didn't expect this level of outcome. Hopefully someone will look at my background and see that you don't need to be Einstein to get good results. Just do good work, do well in your classes, study for the GRE, and make sure you get along with your research team and everything will be ok.
Last edited by ZonalMarking on Thu May 12, 2016 8:21 pm, edited 4 times in total.

CME16
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2016 2:05 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by CME16 » Wed Mar 23, 2016 12:51 pm

Undergrad Institution: USNWR Top 30. Pretty mediocre overall rank in physics, but strong in condensed matter.
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.94
Overall GPA: 3.89
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top 5%
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 167 (94%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 890 (84%)

Research Experience:
- 3 years doing CME research at home institution - 1 publication (4th author), a few posters, and a contributed talk at the APS March Meeting.
- REU at Columbia

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Sigma Pi Sigma, Dean's list every semester, a few other awards for being a good student.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: SPS President for 2 years, Sigma Pi Sigma President for 1 year, a few different leadership positions in the residence hall association.

Special Bonus Points: A couple grad classes, letter from my PI at Columbia. I also have a lot of experience in materials synthesis which apparently is a rare and pretty attractive skill.

Applying to Where: All CME

Stanford - Rejected 2/22 via email
Harvard - Rejected 2/24 via website
MIT - Rejected 2/22 via website
Princeton - ACCEPTED!!!! 2/22 via email - (~$34K stipend)
Columbia - Rejected 3/22 via website (A little surprised just because of all the connections I had, but I guess it's kinda nice to see that personal connections don't carry as much weight as people often say they do)
UMD - Withdrew application after getting into Princeton
Johns Hopkins - Accepted 1/21 via email (Special Fellowship so I don't have to TA that comes with $25K stipend for 9 months + $5,000 research fund)
Northwestern - Interview 1/19 - Accepted 1/27 via website (~$30K stipend)

This whole process really is a crap shoot. For most of the year my plan was to go to MIT and if I didn't get in, Columbia, where I thought my having done an REU there and having a rec from a prominent faculty member would make me a shoo in. As you can see, I didn't get into either, but I did get into Princeton where I never thought I'd have a chance. I guess my main piece of advice would be to apply to a lot of schools (probably more than I did and probably with a few real safeties) just cause these sorts of decisions are so hard to predict. I also noticed that I seemed to better at the schools where I did not say in my personal statement who my first choice for an advisor would be.

gazillions
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 4:08 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by gazillions » Thu Mar 31, 2016 4:50 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big 10 school, great physics dept.
Majors: Astronomy, Physics
Minor: Russian
GPA in Major: 3.632
Overall GPA: 3.634
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: top 25%
Type of Student: domestic white male

GRE Scores : revised version
Q: 163 (86%)
V: 159 (81%)
W: 3.5 (38%)
P: 650 (39%)


Research Experience: 1 year of humanities research, 2 years studying the ISM (1st author paper in progress), 1 month at Kitt Peak National Observatory studying the Galilean Moons of Jupiter

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
At my school: Senior Thesis High Honors, Leadership, Excellence, Achievement, & Diversity (LEAD) Scholar, various other scholarships
Outside: Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: research assistant in astro dept, tutor, astronomy honors study group facilitator (similar to GSI)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: AAS (junior member, conference poster, Congressional Visits Day)

Special Bonus Points: recommender on AAS Council

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: SAS member, 4 years of marching band

Applied to: (All Astronomy programs to study ISM/star formation unless mentioned otherwise)

University of Arizona - rejected via email 01/26/16
Penn State - rejected via email 01/27/16
New Mexico State - acccepted via email 02/01/16 ($22-$28K GA-ship + $10K Voyager Fellowship for 2 years) - ATTENDING
UMass - waitlisted via email 02/08/16 after interview, withdrew application 03/27/16
CU Boulder (Planetary) - rejected via email 02/09/16
Hawaii - rejected via postal service 02/12/16
Illinois - interview 03/04/16, withdrew application 03/27/16
Cornell - rejected via email 03/10/16
Yale - rejected via email 03/11/16
Last edited by gazillions on Sat May 28, 2016 4:01 pm, edited 3 times in total.

schoice
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 1:50 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by schoice » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:54 am

schoice wrote:Undergrad Institution: Canadian, top in Canada for physics (depending on which website you check)
Major(s):Engineering Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: 5 years (that is the program length)
Position in Class: Not the top. High.
Type of Student: International female

GRE Scores : revised
Q:165 (90%)
V:161 (87%)
W:4.5 (80%)
P: 880 (83%)


Research Experience: 4 years on and off in CME. One middle author publication, in fairly high impact journal. Several other middle author pubs in the pipeline, but no 1st author yet.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Various 'good-grades' scholarships, two science communications scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:Worked 3 nights per week through my entire undergrad (except the last year) - 30+ hours/week. With the creditload in my program (it's practically a dual degree) this is it's own weird accomplishment. Science communications scholarships. Staff writer for one university organization. Contributor to local radio show. Volunteer with various student orgs. Teaching experience. LOR's from recommenders who know me well (have worked closely with all of them).

Special Bonus Points: none

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

Applying to Where:

UCSB - Physics - AMO/CME - Accepted
UC Boulder - Physics - AMO - Accepted
UC Berkeley - Physics - CME
-

QuantumGravity
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:45 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by QuantumGravity » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:07 am

Undergrad Institution: Top Engineering Institute in India
Major(s): Electronics and Communication
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 75%
Overall GPA: 75%
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: top 20%
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 155 (68%)
W: 3.0 (15%) :)
P: 940 (90%)

Research Experience:
[*]GR based 4 projects,
[*]QM based 3 projects,
[*]Final year project based on QFT.
[*]1 paper (2nd author) on Quantum Gate design.
In total - 3 years research exp.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
[*]Scholarship for 2 years for academic excellence

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
[*]Founder and President of the Astronomy Society of the Institute.
[*]Teaching Volunteer for an org.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
[*]Won Electronics competitions and Programming contests

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
[*]Great letters from my Professors.
[*]Wrote my SOP in 1 day (that too just before deadline :D )
[*]My Engineering background

Applying to Where: HEP-TH for all

For PhD:

Carnegie Mellon - Rejected(4/5) via email
Washington University in St. Louis - Accepted(1/29) via email - TA $22,220/9 mo. + Summer Fellowship Award -Will Attend - :D
Ohio State - Rejected(3/18) via email - :(
Penn State - Rejected(3/3) via email

For Masters:

Rutgers - Mailed them to know about my status - "4/5 - A final decision has not been made in your case, but at the moment it appears unlikely we will be able to offer you admission." - :? - {EDIT}- Rejected(4/19) via email
Last edited by QuantumGravity on Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

mimiphysics
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:44 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by mimiphysics » Mon Apr 11, 2016 7:14 pm

Undergrad Institution: small liberal arts school
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Dance
GPA in Major: 3.84
Overall GPA: 3.89
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores : (revised)
Q: 166 (92%)
V: 154 (63%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
P: N/A

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)
2 years in acoustics research:
2 Published papers in JASA( neither first author)
Poster presentation at a Women in Physics Conference
Poster presentation at the International Symposium of Musical Acoustics in Le Mans, France
Have 2 Published papers in the above conference proceedings

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Sigma Pi Sigma, Sigma Xi, Omicron Delta Kappa

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 years tutoring, led an elementary STEM after school program; interned at a non-profit leadership organization sover the summer and led a high school service group to Jamaica; shadowed a medical physicist at two different hospitals on and off for approximately a week; Pres,dent of our dance club; member of our school's dance team

Other: Really great letters of rec- one from advisor/research professor, one from head of physics department, one from supervisor from my non-profit internship. I think I had a strong SOP- I have no background in medicine (no bio, anatomy or chem classes) so I used this as a chance to explain why my interests changed so drastically.

Applying to Where:

Medical Physics PhD:
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Invited to interview 1/15/16 -Accepted 3/8/16 - Declined

Medical Physics Masters:
Duke: Accepted 2/18/16 - Will Attend!!! :D
Columbia: Accepted 2/17/16 - Declined
UPenn: Accepted 2/15/16 - Declined
Kentucky: Invited to interview 2/5/16 -Accepted 3/15/16 - Declined
LSU: Invited to interview 2/3/16 -Accepted 3/3/16 - Declined


I found it really hard to find any medical physics admission statistics, so hopefully this will help those going through this process next year!
Last edited by mimiphysics on Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

thatPhysicsGuy
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:24 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by thatPhysicsGuy » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:53 pm

____________________________________________
Undergrad Institution: Small, no-name liberal arts college
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics, Computer Science
GPA in Major: ~3.95
Overall GPA: ~3.90
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top half
Type of Student: White, domestic male

GRE Scores : Revised
Q: 162 (83%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 5.5 (93%)
P: 650 (39%) Shitty by this forum's standards but pretty average for my school.


TOEFL Total: N/A

Research Experience: 3 years of computational atomic physics at my home institution. 8 months of computational plasma physics research at a national lab. 1 published paper, a bunch of conferences and talks.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa. Upsilon Pi Epsilon. Dean's List.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lab TA, physics tutor, SPS officer.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points: N/A

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

Applying to Where:

Accepted
Rejected

Princeton University - Plasma physics
Cornell University - Applied physics
Columbia University - Applied physics
University of Maryland - Plasma physics
University of Wisconsin - Nuclear engineering
Michigan State University - Nuclear physics
Colorado School of Mines - Applied physics
Lehigh University - Plasma physics

At least I got in somewhere! Definitely overshot myself. I even got rejected from some of my "safety" schools. A message to all those applying: Play it safe! Don't think that having good letters and research will make up for bad PGRE scores, no matter what your adviser says. Good luck!

olabaz
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:12 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by olabaz » Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:24 am

Undergrad Institution: Florida International University
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.93/4
Overall GPA: 3.85/4
Length of Degree: 4 Years
Position in Class: Top (magna cum laude)
Type of Student: Domestic (Hispanic)

Grad Institution: Florida State University
Degree: Master of Science Physics (Thesis)
Length of Degree: 2 Years
GPA: 3.83/4

GRE Scores :
Q: 167
V: 155
W: 4
P: 720 (55%) and 810 (72%)

Research Experience:
Undergrad research: quantum optics ~1 year, Construction of an external cavity diode laser for probing NV centers in diamond as a possible source of quantum memory.
Grad research: condensed matter ~2 years @ National lab, Detection of the spin dynamics of molecular magnets using on-chip techniques for broad or narrow bandwidth applications. Publication in writing

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)
Jun 2014 APS Bridge Program - Florida State University
Apr 2014 Phi Beta Kappa Member
Aug 2010 Florida Academic Scholars - Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Award
Aug 2010 Presidential Scholarship - Florida International University

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
Learning assistant during undergrad
Teaching assistant during grad

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Several outreach activities and poster presentations. Very good letters of recommendation. Trilingual

Applying to Where: all for CMT
PrincetonRejected
CaltechRejected
University of MarylandRejected
University of PennsylvaniaRejected
Penn State UniversityAccepted 1 Year Fellowship
Ohio State UniversityAccepted 1 Year Fellowship
UIUCRejected
BerkeleyRejected
UCSBRejected
UCLAAccepted 1 Year Fellowship
ColumbiaRejected
BrownAccepted 1 Year Fellowship
RutgersAttending TA
Georgia TechAccepted

This site was a big help for me so I'd be willing to share more information to future applicants via PM. Good luck!

ringofkeys
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 2:20 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by ringofkeys » Sat Apr 16, 2016 2:49 am

Undergrad Institution: State school, okay in physics
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s):Math, English, Women’s and Gender Studies
GPA in Major: 3.68
Overall GPA: 3.84
Length of Degree: 4.5
Position in Class: No idea, and as a December grad, not even sure what this means
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Scores :
Q: 159 (75%, whoops. Remembering how to quickly use real numbers is hard)
V: 162 (90%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 660 (42%)

Research Experience:
- 3 years +1 summer in AMO experiment at home institution (one second-author paper, one fourth-author paper just submitted, and an honors thesis on electromagnetic simulations),
- 1 summer at a national lab in accelerator physics,
- 1 summer REU in quantum optics,
- Currently at a national lab from January-August working on a BEC experiment

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Merit, school’s Honors Program, Dean’s List, some departmental scholarships, invited student speaker at my school’s women in physics conference

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: lab TA for a semester, co-founded/was president of chapter of oSTEM (organization for LGBTQA+ students in STEM fields)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: Female with lotsa relevant research experience + a couple of papers, my undergrad mentor for 3+ years is well connected?
All recs are from research advisors (including one at Rochester). Being gay probably doesn't count for anything, but offhandedly mentioned being involved in oSTEM and my school's LGBTQA+ mentoring program in a few apps that asked about campus involvement

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

Applying to Where: All for experimental AMO/quantum optics

University of Arizona – Physics Accepted 2/3, $19-21k/yr TA
Yale – Physics Rejected 2/26 via email to check website
William and Mary – Physics Wait listed 2/10, was told that they were seriously reviewing my application again, but withdrew
University of Rochester Physics Accepted 1/25, up to $26k/yr for TA or RA
University of Oregon – Physics Accepted 2/10, ~$24k/yr TA/summer RA
Washington State – Physics Accepted 2/4 ~$22k/yr TA
Georgia Tech – Physics Accepted 3/3, ~$23k/year TA + $5.5k/year (4 years) fellowship→ WILL ATTEND! :D

You can still get into some good places with lots of research experience, even with a meh GRE score.

whatthehell
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:38 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by whatthehell » Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:37 am

Undergrad Institution: Top Indian Institute, reputed for applied physics and nanotech
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Nanotech
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.8
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: top 5% (approx. 80 students)
Type of Student: International, Male

GRE Scores : revised
Q: 165
V: 160
W: 4.0
P: 810


TOEFL Total: 107 (R:28, L:27, W:26, S:26)

Research Experience: 2 year cosmic ray physics (both theoretical and experimental), 1 year Solid State Physics (Lasers), 1 year electronics (DTMF and optical fibers), 6 months radio and radar astronomy, 2 research papers (one in ApJ :age determination of stars, other in JCAP :large scale structure of universe and inflationary cosmology):- both as first author

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NASA best paper award, Government Scholarship for undergrad studies

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: T.A for quantum mechanics, Quantum Information and Computing, and Atomic Physics. 6 months R.A in nuclear physics lab: study of high energy cosmic rays and gamma-ray spectrometry (after graduation)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Senior Thesis in "Study of nucleus and simulation of associated radioactive nuclear decay phenomenon", various local conference and seminar talks in dark matter and antimatter physics, Declined analytics/consulting job offers from McKinsey and BCG.

Special Bonus Points: no such concept of grad courses for under-grad students, nevertheless studied books related to astronomy and modern cosmology on my own, 1 famous recommender (scientist at NASA), strong recommendation letters, good in R, MATLAB, LaTeX and C.

Applying to Where: all for particle astrophysics and cosmology

cornell - astronomy - Waitlisted-->Rejected, March
U.Michigan - Physics - Waitlisted-->Rejected, March
U.Penn - Physics - Rejected, April
OSU - Physics - Waitlisted-->Rejected, April
Penn State - Physics - Waitlisted-->Rejected, March
Purdue - Physics - Rejected, Feb, ETS took 1 month to send score reports
Columbia - Physics - Waitlisted-->Rejected, late March
CMU - Physics - Waitlisted-->Rejected, 16 April
U.Minnesota, Twin Cities - Physics - Waitlisted, no idea what's going onRejected April, 18
U.Pittisburgh - Physics - Waitlisted, no idea what's going onRejected April, 18Accepted(27.5K annual stipend)Declined (McKinsey was happy to have me back!).

TAKE AWAY: FOR INTERNATIONAL MALES, aim for perfect GRE (both general and specially PGRE) scores. Don't even look at the profiles of Domestic applicants specially those of females while shortlisting the grad schools, these profiles are highly deceptive. It doesn't matter if you have published papers at top venues and have good research experience, if you are an international male having average PGRE then you will survive mostly all the rejection rounds but will get rejected off the waitlist in the end no matter what (maybe because of limited funding for international students). Contact professors before applying, helps a lot in at least reserving a place in wait-listed applicants. Also apply for M.S programs at other places (Europe and Canada) if you can afford, I did not hoping that I am a strong applicant and will get a PhD position at one of the schools I applied to but here I am searching for jobs now. Also, order your score reports more than a month in advance as in my case ETS took more than 40 days to send official score reports to the requested universities thus delaying the completion of application and in some cases it was completed much after the deadline which might be the reason why I was waitlisted even at universities supposed to be my 'safety schools'. In short, ETS sucks! Period!. Graduate admissions in US is a huge gamble so try to buy 'luck' if possible.
Last edited by whatthehell on Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Quetzal
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:59 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Quetzal » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:13 am

Undergrad Institution: Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from an Indian University, Masters in Physics from a research institute in India
Overall GPA: 3.00 / 4 (UG), 67.4 / 100 (Masters)
Length of Degree: UG - 3 years, Masters - 4 years
Position in Class: Around the Middle
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Scores :
Q: 168
V:158
W:4.5
P: 960

Research Experience:
~9 months in cosmology, in particular on dark matter density estimations.


Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- TA for a graduate course on electrodynamics.


Applying to Where: All for Theoretical Cosmology

Carnegie Mellon University - Accepted by mail (26/2) - Attending.
University of Pennsylvania - Rejected.
SUNY (Stony Brook) - Rejected.
UC Santa Cruz - Rejected.
University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) - Yet to Notify.
Michigan State University - Rejected.
Case Western Reserve University - Rejected.
University of Florida - Dropped myself from Consideration.
Florida State University - Yet to Notify.
Yale University - Rejected..

physicsphdplz
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 3:56 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by physicsphdplz » Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:20 pm

What follows is a byzantine story of a very unconventional student trying to get into programs they should not have. This is to give hope to all the homies who are intimidated by what they see here and maybe scared away from applying as a result. If I did this, you DEFINITELY can. Good luck.

Undergrad Institution: Top 30 in Physics
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA in Major: 3.4 Math/3.6 Physics
Overall GPA: 3.0
Length of Degree: 5.5
Position in Class: Average probably
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: 168
V: 167
W: 4.0 (lol oh ok)
P: 880*

*Started at a 600, so this is a goddamn miracle. I never took stat mech, mech 2, EM 2 or quantum in undergrad, but self-taught what I needed via the conventional undergrad texts and of course Conquering the Physics GRE - go buy it now. do it. why are you still reading this. Studying for 10 hours a week for 2 months did the trick.



Research Experience: Abso-***-lutely nothing. Had a professor with whom I lined up a project but had no time between school and running a company full-time.

To be clear: I have NO business applying to physics PhD programs. I was a mediocre student in undergrad, didn't even major in physics, and have NO research experience. However, I have good test scores and some pretty sweet job experience that I sold like hell in statements of intent.


Awards/Honors/Recognitions: My parents think I'm pretty cool

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked for a prominent education company in the city of my university. Started as what was supposed to be a very part-time undergraduate assistant and tutor, but worked up to Head of Physics Dept and given a salary and equity a year before I finished my Bachelor's. The work was something like a hybrid recitation section and lecture. I taught ~50% of the intro physics students every semester. Everyone in the phys dept knows this company because of their prominence and some even know me because of my management role there.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I once got a concussion from crashing on a longboard and my face breaking the fall. So, in short, no.

Special Bonus Points: I guess my math degree is probably the best non-physics degree one could have. Did well in all the calcs, algebras, and a calcs. Also took complex analysis.

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

Applying to Where: All CMT PhD

NYU - Rejected last week of February
Rochester - Rejected last week of February
Shitty directional school in my state - Rejected last week of February

At this point, having a weak resumé and having been rejected so EARLY from all of these schools, I figured the dream was dead. I applied to a few jobs in Silicon Valley (had some interviews and offers) and got ready to move my career in that direction. Then,

[Undergrad institution] - Accepted last week of April (~25k) - Crying, dancing, screaming, and attending


To summarize, if you really want to do something, you should do it. There is a place for everyone willing to put enough effort into the process. I spent several months studying for the PGRE because I knew that would be my strength. If you suck at tests but have spare time in undergrad, spend a bunch of time in a lab getting research exp. Also, I emailed every physics prof I had in undergrad asking for help/guidance/letters of rec, so at the very least, there were people in the dept who would remember my name when my app came up.

I was the last one in. Now I will spend the next 5 years proving they made the right decision. Thank you for all your help, you beautiful, brilliant people.

uzbyte
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:12 pm

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by uzbyte » Mon May 02, 2016 7:35 pm

Finally getting around to this.

Undergrad Institution: Large state school in SW. Good physics reputation, but small dept.
Major(s): Physics, Math, Economics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: Took me 5 years for three BS degrees
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: DWF

Grad Institution: JHU
Major(s): Biophysics MS
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 4.0

Grad Institution: Oxford
Major(s): Economics MS
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: No GPAs, graduate with distinction

(yes, I did two masters degrees--don't ask me why)

GRE Scores :
Q: 161
V: 167
W: 6
P: 780



Research Experience: Lots. All four years of undergrad did an internship at a national lab. Couple of papers from my first masters, working paper at oxford plus thesis. A lot of applied math work, materials engineering, CM, etc.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NSF Graduate fellowship at JHU, full ride to Oxford, St Gallen award, a lot of other smaller awards.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'd a few classes, passed a qualifying exam in materials engineering.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Started a business in undergrad that I ended up selling.

Special Bonus Points: First gen college grad (not that it matters for grad school), female in STEM, worked with my recommenders one on one to write my recommendations (this was big for me because my GRE scores were low and I made sure each letter highlighted something much different)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm older, 5 years to graduate & 3 of grad school already--some faculty want seasoned students and others want fresh young minds so it can go either way.

Applying to Where:

Harvard University - SEAS - AP/AM (CMT / Optics): Accepted
Caltech - Applied Physics - AP/CMT: Rejected
Columbia University - AM/AP - Accepted
Cornell - AP/CMT - Rejected
Cal Berkeley - AS&T/Materials Engineering - Accepted
Princeton University - SEAS/AP - Just Throwing My Money Away Because FI. Rejected
Columbia University - AM/AP - Accepted


Take aways. PhD programs seem to be pushing more and more for students to get one (even sometimes two) masters degrees before even entering their PhD. Degree inflation, push for maturity--call it whatever you want. For me this worked out well. I'm 31 and will get to attend my top choice program. My GRE scores sucked and this didn't seem to matter compared to fit, letters of rec, and research experience. Just another piece of data showing how little that exam means if you have solid materials in the rest of the app. For my first masters I got letters from my undergrad professors and was rejected everywhere but where I ended up attending, in retrospect this was probably my achilles heel. I didn't know them well and I don't think they put that much effort into them. If you want to make sure you get good letters BE INVOLVED FOR THE LOVE OF GAUSS! There is an outline about how to go about doing this. http://www.howtogetintograduateschool.c ... mendation/

Lastly, if you're applying to a saturated field like CMT, my experience has shown that adding more "trendy" ancillary topics of interest to your SoP and CV can go a long way. The overlap between CMT / Bio / Engineering / Applied Math is pretty substantial and grants/funding are easier to find in the latter options, but you're often allowed to do essentially the same research in the end. Just something to think about. Good luck to all!


Edit: After reading some of the other posts I have this to add--no matter what gender you are, if you're applying to US schools as an international students, yes your GRE scores have to be higher. This isn't about "limited funding for internationals" or "discrimination" --it's because every person on an admissions committee at every school doesn't spend all their free time traveling the globe to verify the credibility of foreign degrees. Your undergrad school may be the ***--but it isn't accredited in the US so they have no way of knowing that. The only objective way to judge your ability to do well, and to mill through thousands of international applicants, is to look at GRE scores because the test is consistent no matter where you take it. If they wanted to "discriminate" they'd simply educate US citizens and stop giving stipends and funding to people from other countries...instead around 50% of grad students in the US are foreign--but the money paying for those students comes from US taxpayers, keep that in mind. If you can find other ways to prove yourself to a committee (by getting US issued awards or being recognized by an international standard of some kind) this rule gets loosened a lot. I say this as someone who literally worked on a Dean search committee for 6 months at a Top 5 US University.

Qwaps
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:21 am

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Qwaps » Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:18 pm

Undergrad Institution: USFQ, Ecuador
Major(s): Physics and Chemistry
Overall GPA:3.9x
Length of Degree: 6 years
Position in Class: Near top
Type of Student: International, latino

GRE Scores : (revised or old version?)
Q: n/a
V: n/a
W: n/a
P: 990, in April 2016


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this) n/a

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

4 years as research assistant in Physical Chemistry, with one publication. Physics undergraduate thesis.

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

Graduated with honors and Chancellor's list all semesters.

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

Online tutoring 6 months. TA 6 months.

Applying to Where:

Todai - Embassy rejected my MEXT application
IFT-UNESP and Perimeter Scholars International 2017 - Cosmology at IFT, dunno what at PSI. Will attend



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