Background:
College of William and Mary
GPA: 2.79 ( first semester was a 3.73)
Major: Physics
Year: Incoming Junior
Reasons For low GPA (I think):
Diagnosed with epilepsy second semester freshman yr, hard financial issues back home, People around bully me for having a low gpa/ epilepsy affecting my mental health, second semester freshman/sophomore yr I decided to double major in physics and computer science so computer science killed my GPA + some Gen. Eds (got A/B in my physics courses, not too many in math though).
What I want to do:
I want to potentially get a Phd. in Physics, hopefully become a theoretical physicist. Focusing on getting from “point A to point B in the universe faster than the speed of light.” So wormholes, which leads to quantum gravity. I did research based off of quantum gravity over the summer and it was a lot of fun :). I would be really happy to work for NASA, Blue Origin, or Space X one day; though Im open minded about my career choices (but it has to be related to exploring space faster than what we can do now).
Start by meeting with your professors. They know who has been admitted to the kinds of grad programs that you are hoping for, and what those students’ profiles were like. They also have friends at other universities who might be able to take you into their labs for research projects.
Calling @xraymancs
My guess is that your chances are not great with a GPA below 3.0, especially because it doesn’t sound like you have a lot of research experience. You might look to do an MS in physics as a stepping stone.
Sorry about the delay. @PHY. With a GPA at the level that you have currently, you will find it hard to get into a Ph.D. program directly. I agree that you should maybe go for a M.S. first to demonstrate that you can handle the coursework. However, I note that you mentioned that you have had challenges in your mathematics classes. This is not a terribly good indicator for becoming a theoretical physicist. At this period in time, it is very hard to find a postdoctoral position for a theoretical physicist so any responsible faculty advisor will only take on the most promising students, who are those who are comfortable with physics, applied mathematics and even computation. Once you get into a graduate program, keep your mind open to the possibility of moving into experimental physics.
In the meantime, you need to work hard at raising your GPA. If you can do exceptionally well this year, by the time you apply for graduate programs next December, you will have a better chance with a good GPA in your upper division physics courses. Also make sure to get as much research experience as possible, in any area of physics.
You need to work very hard to get your GPA up. Your best bet at this point would be to substantially improve your GPA for your last two years of undergrad, and plan to get a masters before going on for a PhD.
I do also wonder whether focusing a career on trying to go faster than the speed of light might be a long shot even for a straight A student. I will admit that I did a lot better with special relativity (which sets the speed limit) than I did with quantum physics. Quantum physics was a part of what convinced me to be a math major.