What are my chances? (CMT/QC)

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chsh
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:53 am

What are my chances? (CMT/QC)

Post by chsh » Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:12 pm

Hi everyone,

So, I'm applying to PhD programs in physics this year:

Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Physics?)
Smallish STEM-focused school.
Major(s): Physics, Math
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.6 Undergrad, 3.8 in integrated MS
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: (Are you graduating after 3, 4, or 5 years?) 5 UG, 1 G
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) Near top?
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) US white guy.

No GRE scores yet, taking on the 29th.

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)
I did undergrad research in computational research and grad research in quantum computation. No publication from the undergrad stuff. My advisor and I should have an arxiv preprint and an article submitted to a journal, but it probably won't be through the review process by the time adcoms read my application.

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

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Teaching assistant for 2 graduate courses and freshman physics.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) I had a lot of grad courses in undergrad and got almost all A's, and a few more during my 1 year MS. Also did independent study with my undergrad advisor (CM) and grad advisor (QI) in the specific subfields I'm interested in for my Ph.D. Also completed Ph.D. quals. I should have 3 strong recommendations.

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

Basically, I took a lot of graduate courses starting in my second year of undergrad (~19 between 2nd year and 4th year of undergrad) in both pure math and physics, and did really well in them. But, by my last year of undergrad I was burned out and blew off my senior project and an undergrad lab class and got C's. After a year off, I went back to school, planning to get my MS and start working, but I ended up really liking QC/CMT, so I've decided to stick with it.

What I want to know is:
Will I be able to get into a top 20-30 or so contingent on a high PGRE? I imagine not, but I figured I'd ask on here anyway. Thanks for reading.



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