Where can I apply?

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dviabhav
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:08 am

Where can I apply?

Post by dviabhav » Tue Jul 30, 2013 2:58 pm

I am from one of the best institutes in India, IIT-Guwahati. It is not very well renowned for physics, but the IIT tag does help. I am not sure what kind of schools I should apply as I am not sure how I rank in the world level.

I am in my final year of my four year B.tech Engineering physics course. I want to apply for a PhD in the US/Canada and am open for a masters in europe.

My credentials are

Grades
CGPA- 8.19/10 (Can not be converted)

Examination Scores
General GRE- 321
Physics GRE- not yet
TOEFL-112/120

Research experience
I have worked on a wide variety of topics in physics and some biology.
1) During my 4th semester I worked on Statistical Biology.
2) Last summer I worked on Calculation of Relic Density of Semi relativistic Dark matter.
3) During my 6th semester I worked on annihilation cross section of composite scalar dark matter. Which got me interested in Quantum Field theory and then I started reading about quantum field theory.
4) This summer I worked under two of the best string theorist in India in TIFR, Professor Sandip Trivedi and Professor Shiraz Minwala. I worked on large flavor expansion of different fields in finite temperature field theory. The project lasted only for 6 weeks, and I don't expect a brilliant recommendation, but definitely a positive one.
5) My Bachelor thesis will be in disorder in one dimensional fermionic systems. My guide did his PhD from UIUC

As one can see, my research experience is a little diverse then what I would have wanted. I want to pursue research in the field of Theoretical Condensed matter physics, especially in the usage AdS/CFT correspondence in understanding superconductivity.

Now my dilemma is that I am not sure what kind of universities should I apply to? I have a decent CGPA but not a great one, does that mean that I should not aim for the big universities.

I did find a professor from University of Chicago who works on topics I want to pursue. Do I have a chance of getting accepted in University Chicago?



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