UCSB

  • 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.

ler1
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Re: UCSB

Post by ler1 » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:42 pm

Has anyone seen USC 13/13 yield? I am not sure if I believe that? BU has 18/22 yield? MIT has 67/78?
I think some of the numbers are being manipulated?

peder
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Re: UCSB

Post by peder » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:45 pm

Almost positive they're being manipulated. Even a school like MIT would be hard pressed to have an 80% yield when they have applicants coming from all over the United States who apply to schools like Berkeley and Princeton too.

JackSkellington
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Re: UCSB

Post by JackSkellington » Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:08 pm

Yeh, whoever claims that USC has a 13/13 yield is just lying. I turned them down last year. At least one of my other friends here in grad school turned them down too.

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dlenmn
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Re: UCSB

Post by dlenmn » Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:10 pm

I think it's because schools are using different definitions of "accepted" on their gradschoolshopper profiles. Some use it to mean "offered admission" and some mean "matriculated". So when the MIT profile states:
Admission information: For fall admission, 2007, 78 students were accepted from 713 applicants.
...
First-year Grad. Stud. 67 {note that this number is for 2006-7}
I think they are using the second definition -- that means that 2007-8 will have 78 first-years and 2006-7 has 67 first-years. In contrast UCSB appears to use the first definition:
Admission information: For fall admission only, 2006–07, 62 students were accepted from over 440 Ph.D. applicants.
...
First-year Grad. Stud. 11
Some schools use more precise language to avoid this problem. Wisconsin's profile reads:
Admission information: For fall admission, 2006 –07, 23 students matriculated from 390 applicants.
It would be nice if more schools provided both pieces of information in a more clear fashion. Gradschoolshopper is a great resource, but departments seem to pick and choose what info they release.

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grae313
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Re: UCSB

Post by grae313 » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:31 pm

woooster wrote:Why it seems like everyone on this forum who got in UCSB are for CM or other fields, but not High Energy? There is one person got into CMT/HET. Everyone who apply only high energy are still waiting. :cry:
You do realize that most schools admit only a handful of HET students per year, if that? CME is a large subfield, with lots of funding. Experimental groups can support large numbers of graduate students doing research. Theory groups often only support one or two graduate students at a time, and each still has to stay there for five or six years to get their degrees. Theory is tough to get into, bottom line.

jburkart
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Re: UCSB

Post by jburkart » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:30 am

in my personal statement i said "I am most interested in theory, and intend to pursue research in high energy/relativity, but am also interested in cosmology/astrophysics, and expect to refine my interests during graduate school." was this retardedly general in retrospect? i was seeing a lot of schools on their websites say that it's fine if applicants aren't set on a certain field, so i went with honesty

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zxcv
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Re: UCSB

Post by zxcv » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:45 am

jburkart - I was even more retardedly general than you for many schools ("I find I am interested in theoretical physics especially when I have the opportunity to use powerful computational tools"). But we both got into Berkeley, so it can't have been that bad.

(Then again, for Berkeley I did talk about all the quantum computing theory going on there that tied in with my research.)

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zxcv
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Re: UCSB

Post by zxcv » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:13 pm

Just got a response to my email and learned I was rejected. Official rejections will go out in the next week or two.

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butsurigakusha
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Re: UCSB

Post by butsurigakusha » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:18 pm

Then I think it is pretty likely that I got rejected as well. Their loss. I don't even care, really. I guess I'll just have to go to a more prestigious school.

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dlenmn
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Re: UCSB

Post by dlenmn » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:49 pm

I also emailed them today and learned I was rejected.

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fermiboy
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Re: UCSB

Post by fermiboy » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:51 pm

I called the dept. and also found out that I was rejected. :(

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zxcv
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Re: UCSB

Post by zxcv » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:17 pm

UCSB's rejection definitely stings... I might not have chosen to go there, but they are one of the best places for theoretical physics, especially toward condensed matter which may be my interest... boo!

GCS
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Re: UCSB

Post by GCS » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:53 pm

So what exactly were you guys told by phone or email?
I decided to call as well and was told something along the lines of:

"the only thing I can tell you right now is that official letters are going out in the next week or two, but it doesn't look like we were able to offer you admission"

I'm not exactly sure how to take that... definite no or a hint of hope of in a wait list or something???

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dlenmn
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Re: UCSB

Post by dlenmn » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:17 pm

I think that means you got rejected.
GCS wrote:So what exactly were you guys told by phone or email?
Here's the email I got.
Dear dlenmn,

Thanks for writing. Yes, we get a lot of questions about application status, etc.

We are unfortunately unable to admit your application for graduate admission to UCSB's Physics Department. It's quite a competitive year, and unfortunately we were not able to admit all of the qualified candidates that we would have liked. Official notifications have not yet gone out, however we expect them to in the next week or two.

Best wishes,
Kerri

-----Original Message-----
From: dlenmn
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 8:27 AM
To: gradapp@physics.ucsb.edu
Subject: Have I been rejected?

Howdy,
        I'm sure you get a ton of emails from people asking about their admission status, and I don't know if you reply to them, but I'll ask anyway. I haven't been admitted and it's now March, so I was wondering if this means that I have been rejected. Thanks.
-dlenmn

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fermiboy
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Re: UCSB

Post by fermiboy » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:24 pm

GCS,

I had the same conversation. I definitely interpreted it as a rejection.

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zxcv
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Re: UCSB

Post by zxcv » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:25 pm

I got essentially the same message, sharing much of the same language.

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dlenmn
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Re: UCSB

Post by dlenmn » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:32 pm

I mean, I guess since it's not official, if I get a "save the dlenmn" petition going, and get it signed by all living physics nobel prize winners, and submit it to UCSB, then perhaps I might not be rejected in two weeks when they send the letters out... What's with the 2 week delay anyway? They didn't have it last year...

peder
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Re: UCSB

Post by peder » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:10 pm

I know of a lot of you had your top choices being UCSB and Berkeley, with the majority of that lot getting into Berkeley and not into UCSB.

If it's any consolation, the reverse just happened to me. :D

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zxcv
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Re: UCSB

Post by zxcv » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:45 pm

Well, that's me and butsurigakusha, I'd guess :).

But I will settle for Berkeley :mrgreen:.

I'm glad you got into UCSB peder. I'm just sorry we won't be able to meet at visiting days.

jburkart
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Re: UCSB

Post by jburkart » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:11 pm

see you at at berkeley open house zxcv =)

peder
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Re: UCSB

Post by peder » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:07 pm

Ditto for berkeley and you, zxcv. I can't help but think that it all worked out well in the end... in the past couple of months I've been increasingly restless about staying in Berkeley because I think I wanted to have some change. That, and my physics idol has always been Fermi, combining theory and experiment. Can't think of a better place to go to than UCSB for that.

___
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Re: UCSB

Post by ___ » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:56 pm

I checked my app status online today, and it looks like Santa Barbara has foolishly decided to pass up on my awesomeness. At least I'm now part of the 800 club.

Woo! First rejection!

(Update: A couple weeks ago I checked my status and it said I was missing a transcript (they only had one of two copies, even though I sent two in the same envelope), so I emailed the department asking them about it. Just an hour or so after I got my online rejection I got an email from Kerri the 'Graduate Program Assistant' saying that there was no need to send my transcript because I didn't make the cut anyways. It was a really nice email -- evidently this year has been more competitive than most. She said that official letters would go out this week or early next week.)
Last edited by ___ on Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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butsurigakusha
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Re: UCSB

Post by butsurigakusha » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:37 pm

Yep, it looks like UCSB decided to join the ranks of Stanford and MIT and made the decision to reject me, a decision that they will one day regret...

(just so no one gets the wrong idea, I am not insinuating that I will do something violent or illegal)

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dlenmn
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Re: UCSB

Post by dlenmn » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:50 pm

___ wrote:I checked my app status online today, and it looks like Santa Barbara has foolishly decided to pass up on my awesomeness.
Wow, the button finally is green! About. ***. time.



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