Grad School application in HEP

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Physico88
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:22 pm

Grad School application in HEP

Post by Physico88 » Mon Sep 08, 2014 1:16 pm

Hello everyone! I have known about this page for a long time and now my time has come to use it myself. I would like to present my profile and obtain feedback from everyone that feels has something relevant to say on this matter, any suggestion is very much appreciated. If you think there is some information missing please ask for it and I will try to provide it. Thank you in advance to all of those that take the time to read this.


I want to pursue a PhD in string theory(compactifications, dualities, branes...) or formal aspects of QFT(non perturbative approaches, solitons, anomalies...). I could only attend college if the university offers me enough funding so that my tuition is no higher than 6000$/year or so.

PROFILE
Origin country: Spain
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Undergrad institution: Universidad de Granada (SPAIN) (5 year long program in Physics but for some reason only amounts to a bachelor deg.)
Undergrad grade: 7.5/10 I am not sure how this translates to the 0-4 american GPA
Master science: Joint Master in High Energy Physics at ETH Zurich and Ecole Polytechnique Paris (2 year long program in HEP)
Master grade: 5.2/6 The translators on the internet says this is a 3.30/4.00
Type of Student: International
TOEFL: 105
GRE: Writing:?, Verbal:152, Quantitative:155
PGRE: 670 (45%)

The only research experience I have is my Master Thesis project that I carried out in the Theory Department at CERN. This counts like a 30 credits course and my grade is 5 over 6. I can count with good recommendation letters from top researches in Europe.


PRELIMINARY LIST

1.-Stony Brook
2.-University or Urbana Champeign
3.-Univeristy of Washington
4.-University of Colorado Boulder
5.-Waterloo University
6.-University of Maryland
7.-University of Chicago



QUESTIONS
Where do I have a good chance?
Where do I have no chance at all?
Is there any other university you think I should apply to? Why?

Thank you very much in advance.
Last edited by Physico88 on Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:31 am, edited 5 times in total.

Catria
Posts: 354
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:14 pm

Re: Grad School application in HEP

Post by Catria » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:59 pm

I think the list is a little top-heavy atm but there is one thing you should know about PhD programs in the US: if you're admitted with funding, you won't have to pay tuition at all.

I know that the European systems are not systems that like undergraduate research very much... and that, like you said, the list is preliminary, a sub-900 PGRE may force you to reconsider the top-7 on your list and to consider schools like WUSTL, Rochester instead.

flobadobadie
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:20 am

Re: Grad School application in HEP

Post by flobadobadie » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:48 am

The best way to assess your chances is to look at past application profiles. I'm also an international applicant for hep-th, and I've compiled a list of profiles which might be useful to people like us (only gone through 2008-2011 so far):

Babazula
Bosonic
Flobadobadie
Muons
Maxos
Andyietok
Ads
Spinff
Landau007
Nowhereguy
Jackadsa
Mfedderke
Four Minus Epsilon

I'm afraid research experience is one of the most important factors in US grad school applications (don't ask me why). For you I'd recommend bigging up what research exp. you have as much as possible, and applying to safety schools, like Rochester, or risk getting no offers.

Catria
Posts: 354
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:14 pm

Re: Grad School application in HEP

Post by Catria » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:03 am

How long was your masters thesis project? Were there any publications stemming from it?

Physico88
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:22 pm

Re: Grad School application in HEP

Post by Physico88 » Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:34 pm

Catria wrote:How long was your masters thesis project? Were there any publications stemming from it?

Hi Catria


My master thesis was 4 months long and no it did not lead to any publication. I didn't even get top grade on it but just 80% perfomance. I take chance to thank all of you who took the time to read over my post and reply.



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