2013 Acceptances

  • 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.

Ivan Fyodorovich
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Ivan Fyodorovich » Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:59 pm

[Ignore this]I believe you mean Harvard's applied physics program has finished sending acceptances, correct?[/Ignore this]

Stanford's applied physics looks to be done as well.
Last edited by Ivan Fyodorovich on Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Meteorshower
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Meteorshower » Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:00 pm

cwcomplex wrote:The supplemental form for Harvard GSAS application has to do with financial aid information: whether you have or are applying for an outside scholarship, how is that paid, etc. and if not whether you are able to support yourself financially (but physics students get paid by their advisors so this shouldn't matter much I guesss?)
So do you reckon they'll still consider my application? I'm just concerned they'll not even look at it because it was "incomplete"

photonic
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by photonic » Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:36 pm

Meteorshower wrote:
cwcomplex wrote:The supplemental form for Harvard GSAS application has to do with financial aid information: whether you have or are applying for an outside scholarship, how is that paid, etc. and if not whether you are able to support yourself financially (but physics students get paid by their advisors so this shouldn't matter much I guesss?)
So do you reckon they'll still consider my application? I'm just concerned they'll not even look at it because it was "incomplete"
I think they'll still look at it. There were no important questions on that form, just about if you're eligible for some scholarships, what scholarships you've applied for, and maybe some demographics. You can email them to double check, but I wouldn't worry.

ModusPwnens
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by ModusPwnens » Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:49 pm

Ivan Fyodorovich wrote:I believe you mean Harvard's applied physics program has finished sending acceptances, correct?
That doesn't sound right...has anyone heard a yes or no from SEAS?

Ivan Fyodorovich
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Ivan Fyodorovich » Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:01 pm

ModusPwnens wrote:
Ivan Fyodorovich wrote:I believe you mean Harvard's applied physics program has finished sending acceptances, correct?
That doesn't sound right...has anyone heard a yes or no from SEAS?
Whoops, sorry. I meant Stanford applied physics. My mistake.

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:04 pm

Ivan Fyodorovich wrote:
ModusPwnens wrote:
Ivan Fyodorovich wrote:I believe you mean Harvard's applied physics program has finished sending acceptances, correct?
That doesn't sound right...has anyone heard a yes or no from SEAS?
Whoops, sorry. I meant Stanford applied physics. My mistake.
No. I meant Harvard Astronomy. Stanford Applied Physics seems to be in the same situation though.

Ivan Fyodorovich
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Ivan Fyodorovich » Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:28 pm

Ya, someone else posted a comment that's pretty much the exact same as what you had said, but for Stanford applied, hence my mix up.

AprilMay4
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by AprilMay4 » Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:12 pm

UCSB just sent out some acceptances.

walczyk
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by walczyk » Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:56 pm

I applied really late (first week of january), so I am hoping my lack of acceptances/interviews is due to that. So far I have only heard from one university, and it's on the third page of US news. I'm still excited about it though. I am preparing for lots of rejections though.

Meteorshower
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Meteorshower » Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:23 pm

walczyk wrote:I applied really late (first week of january), so I am hoping my lack of acceptances/interviews is due to that. So far I have only heard from one university, and it's on the third page of US news. I'm still excited about it though. I am preparing for lots of rejections though.
One is a lot better than none! I've only got one acceptance too so far, but I could imagine the past few weeks being pretty rough if that hadn't been the case.

That said I know what you mean. Getting a bit impatient :/

walczyk
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by walczyk » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:05 pm

Meteorshower wrote:
walczyk wrote:I applied really late (first week of january), so I am hoping my lack of acceptances/interviews is due to that. So far I have only heard from one university, and it's on the third page of US news. I'm still excited about it though. I am preparing for lots of rejections though.
One is a lot better than none! I've only got one acceptance too so far, but I could imagine the past few weeks being pretty rough if that hadn't been the case.

That said I know what you mean. Getting a bit impatient :/
Impatient and nervous. I have an interview for that particular university in March, so I am focusing all my attention on reading a particular Professor's papers on ArXiv and studying the revelant field(s). I guess the best cure against nervousness is staying busy, hopefully I'll feel better in a week. Plus, by the time of the interview I should know if I got in anywhere else. Was the school you heard from a safety school?

ModusPwnens
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by ModusPwnens » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:11 pm

Meteorshower wrote:Getting a bit impatient :/
My thoughts exactly! I don't know if decisions are coming slower this year, or if it just seems like it's taking forever.

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:25 pm

walczyk wrote:I have an interview for that particular university in March, so I am focusing all my attention on reading a particular Professor's papers on ArXiv and studying the revelant field(s).
I would recommend that you spend most of your time making sure you know your own research like the back of your hand. That's what they're going to be more interested in. Though, it wouldn't hurt to be able to ask informed questions about the faculty.

Meteorshower
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Meteorshower » Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:42 pm

walczyk wrote:
Impatient and nervous. I have an interview for that particular university in March, so I am focusing all my attention on reading a particular Professor's papers on ArXiv and studying the revelant field(s). I guess the best cure against nervousness is staying busy, hopefully I'll feel better in a week. Plus, by the time of the interview I should know if I got in anywhere else. Was the school you heard from a safety school?
I'd definitely agree with Skullgrid that you should be more familiar with your own research experience tbh. Definitely agree with staying busy!

The school I got into was one of my lower choices yeah, but I applied to places assuming i'd get a much higher PGRE score so tbh it was just a big relief to get into any of my choices. That said, i'm a little bit more confident now that I might get in some other places because everything apart my PGRE is fairly solid, apart from not having published anything I guess.

walczyk
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by walczyk » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:16 pm

Skullgrid wrote: I would recommend that you spend most of your time making sure you know your own research like the back of your hand. That's what they're going to be more interested in. Though, it wouldn't hurt to be able to ask informed questions about the faculty.
Thanks for that advice, I should have realized that sooner. As for their research, I received a nice personal email expressing interest, so I thought I should express the same back? In either case, I will really need to know my research much better than I do right now. It's been a few years.

StewieVader
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by StewieVader » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:31 pm

Actually reading up a professor's research on the arXiv is not really a bad idea. A professor who interviewed me explicitly asked me to go through his recent work on arXiv to get a hang of what he currently works on.

quantum_fan
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by quantum_fan » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:53 pm

Princeton plasma physics sent out decisions today. On the waitlist.

StewieVader
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by StewieVader » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:30 pm

Cornell Physics also seems to be done.

bschroe
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by bschroe » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:32 pm

Michigan has sent out at least my rejection. Statistics: they said 438 applicants, they're looking for a class of 21 this year.

Not all that disappointed, really, because they don't have much research that interests me.

Meteorshower
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Meteorshower » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:52 pm

Cornell and Michigan have rejected me too. Pretty much resigned to a string of rejections now

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:55 pm

StewieVader wrote:Actually reading up a professor's research on the arXiv is not really a bad idea. A professor who interviewed me explicitly asked me to go through his recent work on arXiv to get a hang of what he currently works on.
I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a good idea, just that being able to cogently explain every aspect of your own research is more important.

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Tom Joad
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Tom Joad » Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:00 pm

Penn State physics by email.

AgentZeta
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by AgentZeta » Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:12 pm

StewieVader wrote:Cornell Physics also seems to be done.
I hear they've started sending out rejections -- I haven't heard either way. Any idea if they've started rejecting High-Energy Theory applicants?

psykes
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by psykes » Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:33 pm

Anyone got any rejects from UCLA or UCSD? I haven't heard either way so just wanted to know if I still have hope or should brace myself for rejections.

Kinbote
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Kinbote » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:34 pm

Has anyone heard back regarding Condensed Matter Theory? Specifically from UPenn/Yale/UCSB?
It seems as if they've sent out Astro/AMO/HEP-EX acceptances, but I haven't seen anything about CMT yet...

photonic
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by photonic » Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:19 pm

Kinbote wrote:Has anyone heard back regarding Condensed Matter Theory? Specifically from UPenn/Yale/UCSB?
It seems as if they've sent out Astro/AMO/HEP-EX acceptances, but I haven't seen anything about CMT yet...
I applied to CMT for Yale and UPenn and I haven't heard back yet. I assumed for UPenn it was because they still mark my PGRE as not being received, but it could be they haven't gotten to us yet.

Ivan Fyodorovich
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Ivan Fyodorovich » Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:13 pm

I also applied for CMT at UCSB (in addition to UC Berkeley and UCSD), and I have yet to hear back. I couldn't find much information on whether certain subfields have not yet sent out at these places, though.

Kinbote
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Kinbote » Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:07 am

Yeah, everything I've seen here and on gradcafe seems to suggest CMT acceptances haven't started coming out yet but can't be sure

magdelynpierce
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by magdelynpierce » Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:24 am

Just a question - all the people who got turned down at Michigan, was that by email or website check. Because I still haven't heard one way or the other from them (though I'm operating under the "rejected" hypothesis).

Godot
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Godot » Wed Feb 13, 2013 1:12 pm

Kinbote wrote:Has anyone heard back regarding Condensed Matter Theory? Specifically from UPenn/Yale/UCSB?
It seems as if they've sent out Astro/AMO/HEP-EX acceptances, but I haven't seen anything about CMT yet...
I got in to Penn on 2/6 listing CMT as my primary interest. I got the impression that they weren't admitting field by field, though.

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:24 pm

Looks like MIT physics has started. (I haven't heard from them yet though.)

Meteorshower
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Meteorshower » Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:28 pm

Skullgrid wrote:Looks like MIT physics has started. (I haven't heard from them yet though.)
If you're talking about Gradcafe it seems like it's someone who's at MIT who's been accepted, so who knows when emails would go out.

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:01 pm

Meteorshower wrote:
Skullgrid wrote:Looks like MIT physics has started. (I haven't heard from them yet though.)
If you're talking about Gradcafe it seems like it's someone who's at MIT who's been accepted, so who knows when emails would go out.
Good point. Based on what Kangaroo said earlier, I would expect them this week or next.

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Tom Joad
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Tom Joad » Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:05 pm

Colorado at Boulder sent out some acceptances today by email.

quantum_fan
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by quantum_fan » Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:09 pm

Tom Joad wrote:Colorado at Boulder sent out some acceptances today by email.
What field did you apply for there? It seems like all of the acceptances for Boulder that came out last week were for AMO or astro, so I'm curious if they're still doing it by field.

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Tom Joad
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Tom Joad » Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:15 pm

quantum_fan wrote:
Tom Joad wrote:Colorado at Boulder sent out some acceptances today by email.
What field did you apply for there? It seems like all of the acceptances for Boulder that came out last week were for AMO or astro, so I'm curious if they're still doing it by field.
I applied for astro, but in the physics department, not the astronomy department.

Kinbote
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Kinbote » Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:22 pm

Colorado sent out CMT today.

physicsworks
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by physicsworks » Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:24 pm

finally... the first one... UC Davis :D (CMT)
Good luck to everyone!

Ivan Fyodorovich
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Ivan Fyodorovich » Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:41 pm

Looks like U Chicago started sending some out today.

kangaroo
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by kangaroo » Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:53 pm

I can confirm MIT is coming out tomorrow or Friday, in one wave.

soh
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by soh » Thu Feb 14, 2013 1:47 am

If I haven't heard from UCSC astro so far, what are my chances?

Also, does anyone know when Columbia astro will send out first-round acceptances?

cwcomplex
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by cwcomplex » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:25 am

I got an acceptance from MIT by email.

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lordbadri
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by lordbadri » Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:32 pm

Anyone know about Cornell astro ?

TakeruK
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by TakeruK » Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:46 pm

soh wrote:If I haven't heard from UCSC astro so far, what are my chances?
I checked my emails and saw that I was rejected from UCSC Astro last year on Feb 10. I kind of expected that one coming since I saw that other people on this forums have had interviews in late Jan. / early Feb. I also know someone who have interviewed with UCSC Astro earlier this month. Sorry I don't have more optimistic news.
lordbadri wrote:Anyone know about Cornell astro ?
I got accepted by Cornell astro exactly one year ago today (Feb 14)! So maybe there will be news soon.

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Skullgrid
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Skullgrid » Thu Feb 14, 2013 1:38 pm

soh wrote:If I haven't heard from UCSC astro so far, what are my chances?
I could be wrong, but I believe that all acceptances have been sent out. I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, sorry.

woepriest
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by woepriest » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:19 pm

So Im guessing after tomorrow your chance of getting accepted will fall from small to nil. Im not just talking about the top schools but anywhere for that matter.

mnakusor
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by mnakusor » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:28 pm

woepriest wrote:So Im guessing after tomorrow your chance of getting accepted will fall from small to nil. Im not just talking about the top schools but anywhere for that matter.
Thanks for optimistic vibe. :)

esopterodactyl
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by esopterodactyl » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:30 pm

woepriest wrote:So Im guessing after tomorrow your chance of getting accepted will fall from small to nil. Im not just talking about the top schools but anywhere for that matter.
Yeah, that's just not true, I can name a few places hovering around top 50 that have rolling admissions.
Hell, it might not even be true for top 20's based on gradcafe results from previous years.
A little secret for those "not top 20", you can sometimes apply after their deadlines have passed and still get a good look if you're a strong candidate.

Minovsky
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by Minovsky » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:36 pm

woepriest wrote:So Im guessing after tomorrow your chance of getting accepted will fall from small to nil. Im not just talking about the top schools but anywhere for that matter.
Rationale being...? Just taking a quick look at previous acceptances on this forum, a number of people still get acceptances (from everywhere, including top schools) through March, and some even in early April.

esopterodactyl
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Re: 2013 Acceptances

Post by esopterodactyl » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:41 pm

Minovsky wrote: a number of people still get acceptances (from everywhere, including top schools) through March, and some even in early April.
And then in mid-April again if there's a waitlist in place.



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