Physics graduate school choice help

Graduate School
1

<p>Before I continue looking for advisors and subjects, I need to know where I might have a realistic shot at getting admitted into either a M.Sc. or a Ph.D. in physics. Note that I didn't write the GRE or the TOEFL just yet, and any budgeting decision will depend on what schools might be probables or possibles.</p>

<p>I'm well aware that PhDs in physics may not find employment doing jobs related to physics so I don't think that my dissertation subject would matter that much in the longer term.</p>

<p>Here are a few pieces of information that might be useful to review my request for information:</p>

<p>Current GPA:
- 3.67 if I apply to schools that count A+ as 4.3 (I have 14 credits' worth of A+s out of 68)
- 3.61 if I apply to schools that count A+ as 4 instead</p>

<p>Current school: University of Montreal
Current major: Double-major physics-mathematics</p>

<p>ECs: Wrote articles for the physics department's student newspaper</p>

<p>Even though the University of Montreal is a francophone school, I know some people in the graduating class that were admitted at schools like UBC, McGill and Waterloo for grad school, all of which are anglophone schools. Plus, like all Quebecer schools, regardless of teaching language, Quebecer resident students, like me, undertaking most undergraduate degrees only need 90 credits of coursework to graduate.</p>

<p>Plus, like most francophone schools that offer physics or mathematics as majors (usually with no selectivity other than what's afforded by the requirements of majors), University of Montreal is known to be a sieve-type of school, a school that admit lots of undergrads freshman year and weeding out the subprime students (usually between 1/3 and 1/2 of the incoming class).</p>

<p>P.S.: If I realize that what I want to do for my MSc (or PhD) was a topic related to solar physics or exoplanets, then I may as well stay at my undergraduate school since these are two things I know University of Montreal is renowned for in the physics world; as long as I can stay above 3.3 for the final 22-credit stretch I could classify that school, alongside University of Sherbrooke and Laval University, as grad-school safeties, since they both ask for a minimum GPA of 2.7.</p>

2

<p>None of us know what the right graduate school for you is, and there is no such thing as a “safety” - being above the minimum GPA is meaningless. Graduate admissions are highly holistic and qualitative.</p>

<p>You need to talk with your professors about the right programs for your particular research interests. Look at journal articles in your field and find faculty who are doing interesting research.</p>

<p>No Ph.D program is worth attending if they don’t offer full funding.</p>

3

<p>Perhaps there are some schools more appropriate for certain research topics and other schools for other topics. But my lack of knowledge about what’s done at American universities in physics is not helping me the slightest.</p>

<p>But without any research experience, I’m disadvantaged.</p>

4

<p>You don’t have any research experience? That’s a big, and potentially killer, gap in your application - particularly if you want to go directly to a Ph.D. You need to work on that ASAP.</p>

5

<p>Perhaps I’d be better off not going directly to Ph.D. instead… even then, my school has a yearly window for undergrads to gain research experience and, by the time I can seize that opportunity it might be a little too late.</p>

6

<p>I wonder what schools I could cross off my list by now…</p>

7

<p>As someone who applied to mathematics and physics graduate schools (and am now pursuing a PhD in mathematical physics) it’s pretty key to have /some/ research experience, just so schools know that you really want to pursue a PhD and know what it entails. If you don’t know what schools have what kind fo research, just start googling the physics departments of different universities, and looking at their research page. You can also look up papers on your interest in the arxiv, and see where the authors/collaborators work.</p>

<p>If I were you, I’d probably do an MSci and get research experience before applying for a PhD.</p>

8

<p>Then, what kind of schools can I cross off my list for a MSc?</p>

9

<p>This isn’t the right way to do things. You don’t start by “crossing schools off your list.” You start by building a list of programs that fit your particular research interests.</p>

10

<p>OK, then, I’d either want to do stellar physics or theoretical particle physics for a physics MSc, since my condensed matter desires would be better covered if I applied in a graduate, research-oriented materials engineering masters program.</p>

<p>With that information considered, am I in a position to get some school suggestions?</p>

11

<p>But perhaps McGill is not a “bad” choice by any means (subject pending); there’s a professor at McGill that told me, via email, that I would be competitive for MSc admission there.</p>

12

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<p>No, because none of us know the right schools for you and this is the kind of research that you need to be doing as a prospective graduate student.</p>

<p>Look on department Web sites for information about their graduate programs and admissions requirements. Browse faculty listings for information about their research interests.</p>

13

<p>At least my current four master’s program choices are fully funded so that’s not a problem.</p>