<p>Also Caltech did not impose a teaching requirement in their offer. Yale forces physics graduates to teach two semesters. Duke suggests it.</p>
<p>mini: </p>
<p>I'm hurt. To say that they admitted me just to fill TA slots is a bit crude, especially if you look at what happens at the end of the physics Ph.D. pipeline. There are many exotic transitions there; have a look at some of these "career chemical reactions" that have been observed in the real world:</p>
<p>(Student A) + (Physics Ph.D.) ---> (Consultant) + X
(Student B) + (Physics Ph.D.) ---> (Wall Street) + (Computer Programmer)
(Student C) + (Student D) + 2 (Physics Ph.Ds) ---> (Start-up)</p>
<p>X is some scientific career.</p>
<p>(for those who leave physics for greener pastures).</p>
<p>But some places would say you're right. Did you know that MIT Physics boasts one of the best Frequent Flyer programs in the country?
That's right! MIT will typically admit more students than they have slots so they can get temp TAs. Usually the excess admits score somewhat below the
average for the entering class. When it's time to take departmental qualifiers, most of these students will score below cutoff (fail). MIT will either (i) put those in the lower chism on probation (less likely), or ask them to
leave, or fly, after already TAing for two years. Ouch!</p>
<p>Red Flags:</p>
<p>Achem! I guessed Duke!!</p>
<p>Well, Red Flags, You sound like a wonderful addition to the Caltech community. May I ask which professor you work with?</p>
<p>SBMom:</p>
<pre><code> Oops! Ouch! I only skimmed page one of this thread, and missed your entry completely.
You've been added to the list of winners.
</code></pre>
<p>Red Flags - you've answered the admit question. . .still wondering about those 440/460 GRE scores</p>
<p>Red Flags, aside from the unfortunate verbal score, you still seemed very qualified for all the programs to which you applied. One thing you've not mentioned (unless I overlooked it) is your sex. Are you male or female? There are still comparatively few women in the field of physics. I'm sure most physics graduate programs are always on the lookout for talented females. This might very well give one a leg up when applying. If you are an "underrepresented minority", I would think that it holds doubly true.</p>
<p>Oh, okay--I never gave you the "special factors." Here they are:</p>
<p>Sex: Male
URM Status: Hispanic/El Salvador</p>
<p>I still don't understand the low verbal scores. You write very well. Your grammar is good. Your written vocabulary is excellent. So..... how the heck did you score so low????? Maybe you didn't work quickly enough to finish the test?????</p>