<p>I'm wondering how difficult it is to gain admission to PhD programs in physics. On Duke's website, they show that the average GPA of admitted students was 3.7 last year. Keeping that in mind, I looked at the NRC rankings in physics, and Duke is ranked like 42. </p>
<p>At my school, the average GPA of a physics major is like 2.9. Mine is above that, but not by too much. I'd expect this to be similar at other schools. </p>
<p>Let's say I have 2 years of research and one publication with a 3.2 GPA along with 780+ GRE. Is that competitive a top schools? Judging by Duke's stats, I'm not confident that I can get into any top school. What does everyone think?</p>
<p>The page from Duke is here: [url=<a href="http://www.gradschool.duke.edu/about_us/statistics/admitphys.htm%5DDuke%C2%A0University%C2%A0Graduate%C2%A0School%C2%A0Admissions%C2%A0and%C2%A0Enrollment%C2%A0Statistics%C2%A0(PhD%C2%A0Only)%5B/url">http://www.gradschool.duke.edu/about_us/statistics/admitphys.htm]Duke University Graduate School Admissions and Enrollment Statistics (PhD Only)[/url</a>]</p>