Research Experience

  • 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.

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michael879
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:37 pm

Research Experience

Post by michael879 » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:34 pm

hey, I have two questions about research experience in applying to physics graduate school.

1) How important is it? I have about a 3.5/3.7 GPA (total/physics), but its been improving every semester, and I should be able to get at least somewhere in the 900s on the GRE (Im getting 800s right now but there are a large number of questions on subjects I barely remember). How much is it going to hurt me that I dont have any research experience?

2) I was a double major between CS and physics until the end of last year when I realized it would actually be easier for me to get a masters in CS instead of the BS. Ill be getting the masters at the same time I get my Physics BS (end of senior year) and I was wondering if this would help me at all in applying to grad school? It seems to me like it might, but I could also see it hurting me or having no effect.

thanks in advance.

michael879
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:37 pm

Re: Research Experience

Post by michael879 » Fri Sep 19, 2008 6:43 pm

I have another similar question: would taking another subject gre in addition to physics help at all? I took a past CS gre just to see how I would do and got an 840/900 without any type of prep, and I was considering taking the math GRE anyway to win a bet. Does anyone know if either of these would look good on a physics grad school application?

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G01
Posts: 75
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Research Experience

Post by G01 » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:47 pm

michael879 wrote:I have another similar question: would taking another subject gre in addition to physics help at all? I took a past CS gre just to see how I would do and got an 840/900 without any type of prep, and I was considering taking the math GRE anyway to win a bet. Does anyone know if either of these would look good on a physics grad school application?

If your planning on physics grad school you should take the Physics subject test, not CS or Math. There is a reason they have a separate subject test for physics. Don't assume grad schools will let you substitute another subject test for the PGRE, because they probably won't.

michael879
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:37 pm

Re: Research Experience

Post by michael879 » Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:34 pm

G01 wrote:
michael879 wrote:another subject gre in addition to physics
I was asking if additional gre scores would help. I was considering taking both CS and math anyway (CS as a backup and math to win a bet), but if it would help me in applying to grad school Id be a lot more willing to.



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