Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Starting a thread to keep track of when the open houses are for this spring and, if people want, to figure out who will be at which open house so that some of us can meet each other.
I'll start this out with the dates I know about. Please comment here with open house dates to add to the list (and, if you want, say which of them you'll be attending)!

U. Arizona (Astronomy): March 2-4
Boston University: March 31
U. British Columbia (Physics): March 3-4
Brown (Physics): April 4
Carnegie Mellon (Physics): March 24-25
U. Chicago (Astronomy & Physics): March 3
Columbia (Applied Physics): March 31
Columbia (Astronomy): March 7-8 (20-21 for waitlisted students)
Columbia (Physics): March 19-20
Cornell (Astronomy): March 2-3
Cornell (Physics): March 24-25
Duke (Physics): March 2-3
Harvard (Physics): April 3-4
Hawaii (Astronomy): March 15-17
Johns Hopkins (Astronomy): March 31-April 2
U. Maryland (Physics): March 9-10
Michigan Ann Arbor (Astronomy): March 16-18
MIT (Nuclear science and engineering): March 17-19
MIT (Physics): April 5-7
NMSU (Astronomy): March 2-5
NYU (Physics): March 24
Princeton (Physics): March 29-31
Princeton (Plasma Physics): March 30-April 1
Rutgers (Physics and astronomy): March 31
Stanford: March 20-22
UIUC: March 10-11
UC Berkeley (Physics): March 23-24
UC Davis (Physics): March 3-4
UC Irvine (Physics): February 24-25 and March 10-11
UCLA (Astronomy): March 3-4
UC Riverside (Physics and astronomy): March 17-18
UC Santa Barbara (Physics): March 20
UC Santa Cruz (Astronomy): March 5-7
UNC Chapel Hill: March 9-11
UT Austin (Physics): February 22-24
U. Washington (Physics): March 3-4
West Virginia (Physics): March 20
U. Wisconsin Madison (Physics): March 9-11 and March 30-April 1
Yale (Physics and Applied Physics): March 31-April 1

Chicago physics is also March 3, Harvard is April 3-4, MIT is April 5-7, UCSB is March 20 (all physics). Anyone out there who likes topology / quantum information / holography / GR and is going to these, let's hang out!

Physics
UW- March 3rd - 4th
UBC- March 3rd - 4th
UC Davis - March 3rd - 4th
Columbia - March 19th - 20th
NYU - March 24
Cornell - March 24th - 25th

UC Davis - 3/3-3/4
UCLA Astronomy - 3/3-3/4
Michigan Ann Arbor Astronomy 3/16-3/18
Johns Hopkins Astronomy - 3/31 - 4/2
Columbia Astronomy - 3/21 - 3/22
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I am planning to attend U Arizona, UC Santa Cruz, Columbia and Michigan.

I'll be at the open houses for UT Austin, UC Irvine (February 24/25), Wisconsin (March 10/11), and Princeton (plasma)! Always down to meet new physics friends/potential classmates.

theladybug wrote:I'll be at the open houses for UT Austin, UC Irvine (February 24/25), Wisconsin (March 10/11), and Princeton (plasma)! Always down to meet new physics friends/potential classmates.

A fellow plasma lover at UT Austin Open House!

Ps: The Open House is from Feb 22 to 24, but the main event is on Feb 23.

winterises wrote:

theladybug wrote:I'll be at the open houses for UT Austin, UC Irvine (February 24/25), Wisconsin (March 10/11), and Princeton (plasma)! Always down to meet new physics friends/potential classmates.

A fellow plasma lover at UT Austin Open House!

Ps: The Open House is from Feb 22 to 24, but the main event is on Feb 23.

Yeah, I know, I emailed them about it. Lucky for me, 'cause I have to leave early to get to Irvine. I just figured I'd put the dates up there as they're given by the schools.
I'm sure we'll see each other there, then, if we're both plasma!

Definitely will be visiting: Penn, UCSB, Chicago, and Stanford. (Not sure when the Stanford open house is though... hopefully it doesn't overlap with the others)

Looking forward to meeting other particle/cosmology nerds

I'll be attending Harvard's Open House on April 3rd and 4th. I have been waitlisted but they said they would also reimburse waitlisted students, and I should be matched to a graduate student with whom I will stay and chat. Had a Skype chat with the department chair who was super nice and encouraging. We had a fun, casual chat. Still hoping for the best.

stronglycoupled wrote:I'll be attending Harvard's Open House on April 3rd and 4th. I have been waitlisted but they said they would also reimburse waitlisted students, and I should be matched to a graduate student with whom I will stay and chat. Had a Skype chat with the department chair who was super nice and encouraging. We had a fun, casual chat. Still hoping for the best.

Whaaat!? Harvard Astronomy isn't inviting the waitlisted students

cosmosis wrote:

stronglycoupled wrote:I'll be attending Harvard's Open House on April 3rd and 4th. I have been waitlisted but they said they would also reimburse waitlisted students, and I should be matched to a graduate student with whom I will stay and chat. Had a Skype chat with the department chair who was super nice and encouraging. We had a fun, casual chat. Still hoping for the best.

Whaaat!? Harvard Astronomy isn't inviting the waitlisted students

Are you sure? I guess if it isn't in the e-mail notification you're likely correct, but it never hurts to ask. I would e-mail them and verify if I were you. Best wishes! And even if they aren't you could still get in, so don't stress out too much. It could just be an issue of limited funds. Stay positive!

Harvard Astronomy (CfA) and Harvard Physics are two completely separate departments, so I wouldn't expect them to have the same visiting procedures. From my experience, astronomy programs are a lot smaller and accept fewer students, so it's not common for waitlisted students to be invited to a visit. But if you get off the waitlist before the visit dates, then you might get an invitation! Or, more commonly, if you get off the waitlist at a later date, they are likely to invite you for a visit on an alternate date.

TakeruK wrote:Harvard Astronomy (CfA) and Harvard Physics are two completely separate departments, so I wouldn't expect them to have the same visiting procedures. From my experience, astronomy programs are a lot smaller and accept fewer students, so it's not common for waitlisted students to be invited to a visit. But if you get off the waitlist before the visit dates, then you might get an invitation! Or, more commonly, if you get off the waitlist at a later date, they are likely to invite you for a visit on an alternate date.

Thanks for the info TakeruK! The waitlist for CfA is very short this year so it makes sense. *Fingers crossed*

Rutgers Physics and Astronomy open house is March 31st

I was told the Columbia Astronomy Open House was on March 7th/8th! :O

magdalenasophie wrote:I was told the Columbia Astronomy Open House was on March 7th/8th! :O

I think there are two open houses. From what I have heard, one for accepted students and another for waitlisted students. The one I have been invited to is the waitlisted one.

University of Maryland physics open house is March 9th and 10th, and I'll be there. Only acceptance I've gotten so far, but that's all I need

NMSU (astronomy) open house is March 2-5

UC Riverside - Physics and Astronomy - March 3

Cornell (Astronomy) March 2nd and 3rd.

UNC Chapel Hill March 9-11

UIUC is March 10-11, 2017.

I emailed Maria at Stanford, and she said they plan to have the open house on 3/21 & 3/22 with a dinner on 3/20. Too bad this is on the same days as UCSB open house, to which I already RSVP'd.

Boston University March 31, 2017

I'll be attending University of Washington's and probably Boston's.

It seems that Michigan admits people off of the waitlist based on RSVPs to the visiting weekend. If you have been accepted with an interest in AMO and are not interested in attending, please consider declining... Michigan's my top choice.

I was not given any details regarding the open house for Boston U or Maryland (both Physics). Does anybody know if they only organize those events for US applicants?

TurdBurglar wrote:I emailed Maria at Stanford, and she said they plan to have the open house on 3/21 & 3/22 with a dinner on 3/20. Too bad this is on the same days as UCSB open house, to which I already RSVP'd.

Darn, that is disappointing. Do you think there is any chance that Stanford might change their dates, if enough students have conflict and voice this issue? I feel like Stanford UCSB conflict would be fairly common (myself included).

theladybug wrote: UC Berkeley (Physics): March 23-24

May I ask what the source of this information is? As far as I know, UC Berkeley physics has not send out any admission information this year. Was this meant to be astronomy, maybe? Or, do they have the openhouse info somewhere on the website?

HydrogenAndTime wrote:

TurdBurglar wrote:I emailed Maria at Stanford, and she said they plan to have the open house on 3/21 & 3/22 with a dinner on 3/20. Too bad this is on the same days as UCSB open house, to which I already RSVP'd.

Darn, that is disappointing. Do you think there is any chance that Stanford might change their dates, if enough students have conflict and voice this issue? I feel like Stanford UCSB conflict would be fairly common (myself included).

She said it in a way that seemed somewhat set-in-stone. She also said that she hopes to send out an email about it by the end of the week. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

HydrogenAndTime wrote:

theladybug wrote: UC Berkeley (Physics): March 23-24

May I ask what the source of this information is? As far as I know, UC Berkeley physics has not send out any admission information this year. Was this meant to be astronomy, maybe? Or, do they have the openhouse info somewhere on the website?

It is on their website: http://physics.berkeley.edu/i-am-a-uc-b ... open-house

TurdBurglar wrote:

HydrogenAndTime wrote:

TurdBurglar wrote:I emailed Maria at Stanford, and she said they plan to have the open house on 3/21 & 3/22 with a dinner on 3/20. Too bad this is on the same days as UCSB open house, to which I already RSVP'd.

Darn, that is disappointing. Do you think there is any chance that Stanford might change their dates, if enough students have conflict and voice this issue? I feel like Stanford UCSB conflict would be fairly common (myself included).

She said it in a way that seemed somewhat set-in-stone. She also said that she hopes to send out an email about it by the end of the week. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Yeah, I emailed her as well, and she confirmed that it is set-in-stone. I guess I will have to join Stanford late or leave Santa Barbara a bit early.

stronglycoupled wrote:I'll be attending Harvard's Open House on April 3rd and 4th. I have been waitlisted but they said they would also reimburse waitlisted students, and I should be matched to a graduate student with whom I will stay and chat. Had a Skype chat with the department chair who was super nice and encouraging. We had a fun, casual chat. Still hoping for the best.

Yay! See you there

I'll be at MIT's nuclear science and engineering open house on March 17-19. Anyone else going?

theladybug wrote:I'll be at MIT's nuclear science and engineering open house on March 17-19. Anyone else going?

Will be there. I'm interested to see what MIT's plasma physics program is doing after the defunding of the C-Mod.

I've been accepted to Brown but haven't found any information about an open house, does anyone know if they are doing one?

Just got the Open House email from Brown, it's on Tuesday April 4th

UC Riverside (Physics and Astronomy) is actually March 17-18, not March 3.

Carnegie Mellon's physics open house is March 24th and 25th, and I'll probably be there

Hawaii Astronomy Open House is going to be 15-17 March. Not sure if I'm going to be able to go, though. They are providing $750 towards airfare but tickets from my nearest airport are >$1200.

Anyone know when Boulder's physics open house is?

A few more that aren't listed yet:

UC Berkeley (Astronomy): March 9-11
Caltech (Astronomy): March 1-4
Princeton (Astronomy): March 25-28
Harvard (Astronomy): 2 options, March 1-3 and March 29-31
University of Washington (Astronomy): March 30-31

I'll be at the Caltech, Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard (2nd visit) ones.

fairlylocal wrote:Anyone know when Boulder's physics open house is?

They have two: March 23-25 and April 6-8. If you are going to the first one, I'll see you there

pastrocchioblues wrote:

fairlylocal wrote:Anyone know when Boulder's physics open house is?

They have two: March 23-25 and April 6-8. If you to the first one, I'll see you there

Yay! Found that out today as well. Sigh of relief. I will probably be at the first one as well

Is Penn sending out another wave of acceptances or were the ones in late January the only ones?

I heard that UPenn had their Open House a couple of weeks ago, so I am not expecting to hear back from them.

UC Berkeley Physics: March 23rd and 24th