FALL 2008 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.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:23 pm

@ VT

It looks like the $$$ can increase a good bit after the first year -- you're no longer "inexperienced". But yeah, many places offer more.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:31 pm

@ VT

I dunno, but I'll be looking in to it for sure. I'll let you know. Everyone tells me that Madison is a really nice place to live, so I guess that's not good news for housing prices. OTOH, I'm not sure that I want to go somewhere which isn't a nice place to live...

PS Are you considering Wisc? I don't see it on your profile

VT
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Post by VT » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:43 pm

I don't know yet. I like their research very much though.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:29 pm

VT, go to salary.com

you can enter you stipend and see how it compares to the cost of living between any two cities.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:42 pm

@ grae313

Thanks for the tip -- looks like Madison is a good bit cheaper than other cities with schools I'm applying to (with the exception of Allentown/Bethlehem, PA). Unfortunately, it doesn't have figures for smaller places, like Ithaca and State College...

I wonder how accurate these figures are for someone with our level of income. If, say, the statistics include the price of meals at fancy french restaurants, they might not be so useful for people with incomes of our size (unless that price is well correlated with the price of cheap housing and ramen noodles!) Probably good to first order anyway.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:03 pm

I believe the "cost of living" has some official definition. what that is and who says what that is, I do not know.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:16 pm

Economics lacks "official" metrics -- making it less awesome than physics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics may break down it's Consumer Price Index by city, but I don't think that would be so useful for grad students (has a lot of stuff we don't need -- it's not quite a cost of living index either). http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/steccpi.html looks to be a good list of resources. I haven't looked at all the sites it links to, but http://www.BestPlaces.net/ breaks down costs in to categories, which makes it useful.

EDIT: the last site also covers smaller places, like Ithaca and State College

VT
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Post by VT » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:35 pm

Cost of Living Madison, WI United States
Overall 67 100
Food 101 100
Health 106 100
Housing 4 100
Utilities 118 100
Transportation 101 100
Miscellaneous 96 100
I got that from best place.net. It looks like housing is really CHEAP, way cheaper than anything else, which is a good news. :)



EDIT : thanks grae313 and dlenmn for your input.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:48 pm

Yeah, I was excited to see that too. Breaking stuff down by category is important, because we don't care about all categories.

Edit... hmmm, my numbers are different than yours. I entered $15k as salary

VT
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Post by VT » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:10 pm

for one year it adds up to ~ $ 20,000??? TA( which is pathetic for us) + Fellow + Summer


Minnesota is giving me like $ 30,000/ yr which can be broken down as: Fellowship(minimum of $ 18,000)+ 25 % TAship, if I want to ($ 7,000) + summer guaranteed( $ 5000). I like their research too. Infact, they are much stronger in CMT and are as good as Yale. I am clueless. I am waiting from other places.
Last edited by VT on Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:19 pm

@ VT

Yeah, we're talking something like $20k. They do have some secret sauce that they break out for more appetizing applicants... (see http://www.physics.wisc.edu/fellowships/ I think anyone who can demonstrate need gets a shot at the GAANN one) So if your a stronger, you may get more dough.
Last edited by dlenmn on Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

VT
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Post by VT » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:30 pm

I have not gotten the letter from Wisc yet, I only got an email from them. I do not know about the type of assistanship given to me.
Last edited by VT on Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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will
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Post by will » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:31 pm

I'm still in the running for no acceptances. :cry:

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:37 pm

@ quizivex

Lol.... no problem... I aim to please.

@ VT

Well, I hope they decide that you're tastier than I am...

When I told the TA amount to my Mom, she replied, "Back in my day, I got $2,500 for TAing". I was tempted to ask if she also had to evade velociraptors on her way to class... Taking inflation in to account, it's still less than Wisc's offer, so I'm sure that it can be lived off of. You're never going to get rich being a grad student.

@ will

I actually sort of enjoyed the not accepted status. Whenever anyone asked me what I'm doing next year I got to say, "Well, if anyone decides to admit me..." Things are now more complicated.
Last edited by dlenmn on Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

VT
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Post by VT » Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:11 pm

Can any one who is accepted at Cornell kindly post when their open house is? Has any body here heard from Yale, Ann Arbor and other places, EXCEPT RG?

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jdhooghe
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Post by jdhooghe » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:41 am

I haven't been accepted to anywhere but I was hoping that posting in this forum would help me feel better. Almost as if I did...wait I can be! How about the University of .....hmm......Imaginary Land! Wooooo! I gots the acceptances!


/crys :cry: I feel so cold....

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will
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Post by will » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:03 am

I'm the admissions chair for the physics department of UIL, and I regret to inform you that your acceptance was actually the result of a clerical error. Your application was strong, however budget cuts have reduced the number of students that we can project into complex space.

admissionprof
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Post by admissionprof » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:31 am

From a faculty position "rumor mill" page:

Herbert A. Millington
Chair - Search Committee
412A Clarkson Hall
Whitson University
College Hill, MA 34109

Dear Professor Millington,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful
consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept
your refusal to offer me an assistant professor position in your
department.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an
unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied
and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept
all refusals.

Despite Whitson's outstanding qualifications and previous
experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does
not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume the
position of assistant professor in your department this August.
I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,

Chris L. Jensen

aanaa
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Post by aanaa » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:40 pm

@ nvanmeter

MIT said their visiting days are 19-20 of March...

VT
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Post by VT » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:41 pm

Ok, I got into U Florida, Gainesville with $ 20,000/yr offer. What surprised me the most was the fact that U F has average PGRE score of 850 last year while Cornell, Harvard, Stanford and other top places had only 830 approx.

VT
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Post by VT » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:43 pm

Hey aannaa,do you know when Cornell's visiting days are? thanks.

aanaa
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Post by aanaa » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:59 pm

VT - I have no idea about Cornell, didn't apply there...

tnoviell
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Post by tnoviell » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:17 pm

VT, that's because UF is paradise. It's a land of infinite distractions - to a man such as RG, it's a candy store.

nvanmeter
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Post by nvanmeter » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:28 pm

cornell's visiting days are march 28-29

VT
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Post by VT » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:22 pm

cool. Thanks nvanmeter.

tnoveill : UF is a good university, right?

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:23 pm

U colorado sent me an email today...

saying that I need to fill out a supplemental form that I should have sent in a month ago. DOH! At least it shows that they're hard at work looking through those apps...

@ VT

Maybe Florida's P GRE is so high because they let in some of the international students with 980s that everyone else rejects because they aren't 990s... It would be a smart move.

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will
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Post by will » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:09 pm

UF is a very good university. Hell, Dirac worked there, so it can't be all bad.

Unfortunately it's in Florida. *spits*

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:33 pm

Dirac was at Florida State University, not University of Florida.

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will
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Post by will » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:05 pm

I'm too young for my mind to be going. You're right. I guess UF is all bad.

FSU is even worse, though. Yuck.

tnoviell
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Post by tnoviell » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:06 pm

UF is an awesome area. FSU is not.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:47 pm

Is it bad because Dirac wasn't there? FWIW, I think UF is something like 50 in the US news ranking.

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:00 pm

Twistor, a lot of my teachers and classmates from high school probably think the same of me, or that I'm dead. I'm actually going to email a couple of teachers (the ones that got in my face about me wasting my potential) from my high school telling them about my graduation this spring. I think they will be pleasantly surprised!
I would've responded to this before but unfortunately grae313 mangled all of the threads and I could not find your post. This is ironic because it is what quizivex said I would do if I had to the power to whereas in reality I would have left well enough alone.

Anyways...

No one got in my face about wasting my potential. I'm not lying to you when I say that before my 8th grade graduation the class predicted I would have to escape from jail to attend the class reunion. At least they gave me some credit when they assumed I would be smart enough to execute an escape.

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will
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Post by will » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:12 pm

I'm just joking around. UF really is an excellent school, but I despise Gainesville. Of course, I despise Tallahassee even more.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:21 pm

Heh... The only part of FL I'm familiar with is the part with human sized mice... Yay, FIRST robotics competition.

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quizivex
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Post by quizivex » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:06 am

yuck (or as a girl would say, "ewww gross!!")

I'd hate to see how big the rats are.

tnoviell
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Post by tnoviell » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:15 am

I went to college in Florida, I miss Florida bigtime.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:17 am

twistor wrote:but unfortunately grae313 mangled all of the threads and I could not find your post
all the threads? relax, man, I was just trying to help things stay more organized. If people don't want the polls in the other forum I'll move them back. it's not a big deal.

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:21 am

I'm relaxed.

Now that I have your attention I can say that I think moving the "off-topic" posts to a different thread kills the flow of conversation. The other forum is just a random string of quotes out of context.

As for the polls, I've initiated a new poll regarding them. We shall poll on the polls.

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dlenmn
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Post by dlenmn » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:29 am

"Now that I have your attention I can say that I think moving the "off-topic" posts to a different thread kills the flow of conversation."

Is this in regard to the Profiles & Admission Results thread? That's defiantly best kept as two pages.

As for the polls, good riddance...

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:31 am

well I would agree except that it's conversation that happened a long time ago, not active conversation mid-flow. I separated it for the sake of *archiving* clear information regarding admissions and graduate school. you've gone on the defensive like you think I'm planning on doing crap to all the threads... I'm not, that was it. I was just responding to a few comments of users on here and thought it would help with the organization of the threads... maybe it was a bad call, I'm not perfect. I thought it would help, it didn't, ok, sorry.
Last edited by grae313 on Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:32 am

No, it refers to the spliting of this thread into two seperate threads.

And I was enjoying the polls.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:33 am

so was I! I started some! and voted in all, and I still enjoy them.. in the physics lounge.

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:35 am

... in the physics lounge, where no one reads them.

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:37 am

All I'm saying is if there isn't a direct link dangling in front my face I won't be looking through 100 dead topics to find it.

Sorry, but what's wrong with putting the most active topics on the main page?

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quizivex
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Post by quizivex » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:44 am

Twistor, I'm on to you! It's clear you are maintaining this debate to try to reach 500 posts. Also, every time you make consecutive posts instead of editing your last post proves that you'll stop at nothing, even cheating, to beat grae313 to 500.

Nevertheless, this debate is critical to the whole future of physicsgre.com. Future generatins may wake up to a whole new format on this site, and they can look back to this debate for its origins...

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:03 am

All I'm saying is that you don't have to look through squat. You go to http://www.physicsgre.com/forum , you click on the forum with an orange icon next to it, then you click on the thread *right at the top* with an orange icon next to it. I've never done anything else.
Last edited by grae313 on Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

VT
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Post by VT » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:20 am

grae313, your link doesnot work. It says page not found. Where do I go now?

EDIT : Well, I clicked on the above link and it keeps saying page NOT found!

EDIT 2 : My bad, it was a comma thing.
Last edited by VT on Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:21 am

try deleting the comma at the end of the url

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quizivex
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Post by quizivex » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:50 pm

Less than an hour after making yet another paraniod post about not being admitted anywhere, I got a phone call just now from the chair at one of my schools telling me I'm admitted. So yay! I'm hesitant to give the name of the school because I feel bad calling it my safety, but nonetheless I'm very relieved! I'd definitely be happy there!

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:52 pm

you are too paranoid! congrats, and I hope you post it once you get your official offer in the mail!



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