Listing Grad school responses (Admits & Rejects)...

  • 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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JackSkellington
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:26 pm

Post by JackSkellington » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:42 pm

Yeh- they emailed me that I was accepted- they said theyd would send me an official notice. I guess they were running ahead of schedule...
Last edited by JackSkellington on Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:52 pm

After having worked my butt off for a high GPA in physics courses, studied for, taken, and done well on the physics GRE, built relationships with my physics professors and gotten good letters of recommendations, and applied for and been accepted into my #1 preferred physics department with a fellowship, I'm starting to think... maybe I don't want to study physics anymore. Maybe I should drive race cars instead, that would be awesome.

Daharoni
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:49 am

Post by Daharoni » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:54 pm

artist, what school is your first choice?

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:24 pm

I dunno, I was joking. My first choice was probably UIUC but I haven't heard anything from them yet.

CPT
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:05 am

Post by CPT » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:43 am

@artist: meh ... race cars?? I'd rather go with flying fighter jets 8)

@schmit.paul: Thanks man, though I really wonder why some schools insist on not sending emails. Wouldn't it be more convenient/easier for them as well? I never understood why they still stick to snail mail?

Oh, and has anyone heard from UIUC or Princeton physics? Is the Princeton plasma physics program distinct from the general one?

This thread has grown waaaay longer than last year's similar thread :) So, I guess that's a sign to Grant on the success of this forum :) :)

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:35 am

I'd rather someone feed me money my whole life while I go out and eat delicious meals and drink beer at night...that'd be good.

radicaltyro
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:23 pm

Post by radicaltyro » Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:13 am

@ tnoviell: money doesn't buy happiness.

CPT
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:05 am

Post by CPT » Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:30 am

radicaltyro wrote:money doesn't buy happiness.
That is just a first order approximation ... :D Money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure does let you do a lot of stuff that can make you happy :lol:

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:06 am

@ radicaltyro - but a sense of humor does ;)

schmit.paul
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:48 pm

Post by schmit.paul » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:27 pm

CPT, yes, as far as I'm aware, Princeton Plasma Physics is part of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, even though I have very little intention of doing astrophysics (and actually, at this point I'm almost certain that I'd rather do high energy theory than plasma theory).

And tnoviell and artist, it's funny, I've already got a friend considering jumping ship on physics (or grad school, at least) and going straight into either the financial sector or defense research (our school just had a career fair, evidently). Every prof I've talked to says there are too many physics ph.d's being awarded compared to the job pool, but a high energy experiment prof I was talking to yesterday told me he thinks more of the individuals who go into the financial sector (after getting their ph.d's) probably do so because of the temptation of earning a ton of money up front, and not necessarily because there was absolutely no physics-related job available. I know I'm committed to physics, and science as a whole, regardless of its tribulations, but I do wonder what it would be like turning down a nice 6-figure salary and the mobility to move pretty much anywhere you wanted...

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:48 pm

I'm good friends with someone who's getting his PhD in the fall, and he's going into the finances. He makes many compelling arguments why one should do so - I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing after the next 5-6 years, and quite frankly none of us are. We all need to be ready for anything.

mathlete
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:22 am

Post by mathlete » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:59 pm

What field of study in physics would best prepare you for something in the financial sector? I'm think something theoretical, obviously, but is there something in particular?

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:33 pm

He is theoretical condensed matter physics...he's taken just about every math course one can think of...including classes like quantum finances.

astrobio
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:37 pm

Post by astrobio » Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:45 pm

Quantum finance -- is that where they focus on Enron type accounting?

CPT
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:05 am

Post by CPT » Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:41 pm

Lol! :D So, you either know how much money there is or where it's going :D

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:59 pm

Yes, the course was taught by Ken Lay.

anyon
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:26 pm

Post by anyon » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:57 pm

got a phone call on Sunday night from UIUC prof saying I was accepted to their physics department. They have an open house on March 16 or March 30.

Daharoni
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:49 am

Post by Daharoni » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:50 am

Congrats! Sunday night phone call... probably the most unexpected time to get an acceptance.

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:28 pm

I dunno, Sunday evening is pretty unexpected, but I sure would be surprised to get a call at 09:36:14 CST on a Monday. That would really startle me.

Daharoni
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:49 am

Post by Daharoni » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:32 pm

Haha

CPT
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:05 am

Post by CPT » Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:13 pm

woot! Just got an email from Michigan State University :D :D :D
It's (hopefully) my backup uni, but sure does feel good to get an acceptance nonetheless :)

EDIT: Michigan State and not UMichigan ... I guess in my excitement, I forgot the order of the U and the Michigan :D
Last edited by CPT on Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:36 am, edited 2 times in total.

tnoviell
Posts: 235
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Post by tnoviell » Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:24 pm

It's good to have options for sure.

JackSkellington
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:26 pm

Post by JackSkellington » Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:32 pm

Man, I wish Cal and Harvard would hurry up and reject me already.....holy cow.


Congrats on UMich.

mom
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:56 pm

Post by mom » Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:43 pm

email acceptance at UIUC today

sg83
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:04 pm

@CPT

Post by sg83 » Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:09 pm

Congrats!!!
I was looking at your previos posts...
Did you apply to Michigan State or University of Michigan at Ann Arbor??

mom
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:56 pm

Post by mom » Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:54 pm

nothing in Michigan. Did get an email invitation to U of Pennsylvania's open house.

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:59 pm

For those who got into UIUC physics, what kind of financial packages did you get, if you don't mind my asking?

schmit.paul
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:48 pm

Post by schmit.paul » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:16 pm

my friend got an email acceptance to UIUC physics today (and got rejected from Yale, but his elation outweighed his disappointment by far). They offered him full TA support, something on the level of 1650 a month.

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:25 pm

Thanks for the info. I'm anxiously awaiting a response from them.

phun
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:53 am

Post by phun » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:26 pm

Just recieved an email notice of acceptance from UIUC 3 hrs ago. YAY!~~~
I'm so happy for this, especially after having been rejected from Chicago last Friday.
Email mentions full support as a TA, but says details will be in a letter via postal service.

anyon
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:26 pm

Post by anyon » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:40 pm

I got one year fellowship from UIUC about $2k if I didn't mishear anything.

artist
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:20 am

Post by artist » Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:08 pm

Congrats everyone on UIUC. Good to know they're starting to contact people.

dan1234
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:04 pm

Post by dan1234 » Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:11 pm

@ schmit.paul,

Did your friend hear from yale today (2/19) ? Someone in the physics office told me that I would know my decision by today, so I'm a little anxious considering I still haven't recieved an e-mail!

It's mildly entertaining because
(1) I have only heard of e-mail rejections (e-mail acceptances still on the way??)


The other scenario...
(2) I fall late in the alphabet - my personal rejection on the way yet ;)

Asianbob
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:30 pm

Post by Asianbob » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:35 pm

After a long wkend at mardi gras, i returned home to a rejection email from Duke.

schmit.paul
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:48 pm

Post by schmit.paul » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:49 am

dan1234,

yeah, he got both emails at nearly the same time. he opened the rejection from yale first, cursed, then opened the one from uiuc and walked over to our lab beaming. this admissions stuff does a hell of a job making someone bipolar

CPT
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:05 am

Post by CPT » Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:33 am

sg83 wrote:Congrats!!!
I was looking at your previos posts...
Did you apply to Michigan State or University of Michigan at Ann Arbor??
I meant Michigan State University, sorry for the confusion with the other one. It is good to know that now I atleast have an option.

Seeing as a lot of UIUC results are out, Congrats to y'all, wish you a very happy grad life at your dream university. I guess I didn't get in. Are any of you who've heard from UIUC international students? Image

Wonder how much longer Princeton and Stanford're gonna take now ...

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:20 am

Asianbob - I got rejected from Duke too...I wonder how many they accepted (if they accepted anyone). When I went to visit them they made it sound like they had too many grad students.

Asianbob
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:30 pm

Post by Asianbob » Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:23 pm

tnoviell- I was hoping you would of got accepted, so you would of "mull" over the decision.

I imagine they accepted 4 to 5 people like most programs. If they didn't accept anybody like MIT, I'll be fighting a huge battle to get my $60 back! Duke is a new program (medical physics) that has only been around for a couple of years. And to introduce themselves to everybody, they did a very good job of advertising... so maybe they had a big applicant pool.

I want to write a letter back to ask them what was weak about my application...i'll be doing this all over again in a couple of years if I don't get accepted straight into a phd program. I wonder if they'll write back?

Either way, i'm 1-1 for letters thus far... i'm cool with the R.

dan1234
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:04 pm

Post by dan1234 » Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:17 pm

Just got into UChicago by mail :) Very pleased

! Just heard from Yale as well. Good day today
Last edited by dan1234 on Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

dbl
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:15 am

Calling departments

Post by dbl » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:11 pm

I've gotten into practically all of my safety schools. I've only heard back from one reach school (Princeton) with a rejection. The rest I haven't heard at all. Is there any benefit to calling them right now before I finalize plans for visiting the schools I've been accepted to so far? Will this make them upset at all?

Anyone have any comments on this one way or another?

tnoviell
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:31 am

Post by tnoviell » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:20 pm

Asianbob - lol, I wouldn't have gone there anyway because I've made my full decision on biophysics...yea, they probably had a huge applicant pool.

I'm 2-1, which means I am done hearing from schools. Hurray!

schmit.paul
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:48 pm

Post by schmit.paul » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:09 pm

For anyone who's interested, I called Harvard's Graduate Office to ask how far they were into the admissions decisions process (i'm already visiting 2 schools next month and really don't want to accidentally overbook and then not be able to make it to harvard...if i get accepted there, of course). Anyway, the lady was pretty curt, and basically said that all admitted students will be notified by March 15th. So seeing as how no one on this board has mentioned hearing from Harvard Physics yet, that is evidently the window of time they are operating within.

Also found out from a professor I know at MIT that they didn't accept me to the physics program...kinda sucks, because to get admitted to do plasma physics, you have to appear absolutely committed to it or they won't even consider you. However, as it turns out, they had no money to accept a single plasma theory student, and of course it would have done no good to pass my application off to another physics subfield, because my app only talked about plasma (i would have been glad to mention my interest in particle theory if I would have known). Kinda fishy, considering MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering accepted me to do the exact same thing (plasma physics theory), and as far as I know they both draw off of similar grant support through the Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Oh well, can't win them all.

dan1234
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:04 pm

Post by dan1234 » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:13 pm

Looking at http://www.thegradcafe.com , Harvard apparently sent out a bunch of acceptances on feb 25 last year....so you should hopefully know by the end of the month.

Has anyone heard from princeton physics?


Dan

nimbus
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:16 pm

email vs smail

Post by nimbus » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:17 pm

Its seems quite obvious that acceptances are comunicated by e mail (or phone), but rejections only by s mail.
I just got a rejection -by s mail- from Biophysics, Stanford U
Last edited by nimbus on Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mp1984
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:26 pm

Princeton

Post by mp1984 » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:25 pm

I got into Princeton Physics earlier today by email...

dan1234
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:04 pm

Post by dan1234 » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:11 pm

Seems like Princeton may've sent out the bulk (all?) of their acceptances today :shock:

Ghagnastiac
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:55 am

Post by Ghagnastiac » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:22 pm

So far I've been accepted by the following:

Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
NYU
University of Washington (just got an email 20 minutes ago).

Rejected by
Yale
U. Chicago

Still waiting on:
Harvard
MIT
Cornell
Berkeley
Columbia
UCLA

baksiidaa
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:35 pm

Post by baksiidaa » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:28 pm

@schmit.paul

I called Harvard Physics a few weeks ago and they said they were sending out acceptances towards the end of the month (February).

hyejjjj
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:37 pm

Post by hyejjjj » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:49 pm

So far...
Acceptances:
UCLA (2/16 by email)
UCSB (2/13 by email)

Rejections:
UT Austin (2/13 - I called in... so a bit unofficial)

Still waiting for 11 schools.
(Stanford, Chicago, UIUC, UCSD, Berkeley, Colorado, MIT, UMD, Rutgers, NYU, Cornell... whew)

Don't bother calling the admissions people... not helpful at all. They give vague answers such as "we'll start sending out emails around the end of Feb/beginning of March". The wait is killing me but eating half of my fridge has helped in the past few days :oops:

It seems like the notifications are a bit delayed as compared to last year. I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from Stanford and Chicago. Is Chicago done with sending out notifications? I've been checking my mailbox 5 times a day (I know the postman only comes once... but it helps... haha)

rjharris
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 6:48 pm

Post by rjharris » Tue Feb 20, 2007 11:01 pm

@schmit.paul

Sorry to hear about MIT physics. The whole "didn't accept a single theory student" appears to be fairly common this year at that place ... anyway, good luck with the rest of your apps that are still out.



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