Did you get into grad school for next fall user?

> i am scientist smart coz im an atheist
t. redditard

I'm waiting for the result. I will know it around July 11th. I'm dying inside right now.

m-may i ask w-what unis and what s-subjects?

>w-what uni
ehhh... not sure I want to say. I'll let you play a guessing game. It's one of the "public ivys"
>what s-subject
high energy physics - theory

Can I ask w-why you type with a s-stutter?

Neuroscience

Still on 2 waitlists. STILL. ITS MAY BTW

>ehhh... not sure I want to say. I'll let you play a guessing game. It's one of the "public ivys"

I thought you wouldn't; it was a rude question. I won't persist any further. Many congratulations though :)

>high energy physics - theory

Great. Sounds quite tough going.

>Can I ask w-why you type with a s-stutter?

It's convention when asking intrusive questions to pretend you're a nervous 13 year old girl.

>Neuroscience

Another great subject. Good luck too user.

I got into a UC

Inorganic materials research

it's harder

>hep-th
>not a top 5-10

You're fucked.

I'm entering my second year

You don't know who his advisor will be so you really can't say anything.

Edinburgh for theoretical physics.
Thanks dude.

>Did you get into grad school for next fall user?

No, I got in 7 years ago. Did get a postdoc position though.

Science died when everyone unanimously decided debating meant more than proving.
There are no scientists on the internet.
Science is buried next to intellectual honesty, respect, fair game, truthful politics.

Yeah. Deciding which one to attend was an incredibly hard decision, and I'm still a little worried I fucked up.

dont say unc

their physics program aint all that good

Sure did, user. Starting a CSE Ph.D in a top 10 engineering school.

>Stupid undergrad bemoans the death of science

>be in second year of PhD
>attend interviews with prospective PhD students recently
>my advisor is also there
>discussing a candidate after an interview
>he dropped spaghetti extensively
>advisor says "I think he knew his thing, but it sure didn't show... he was terrified"
>"I mean compare him to user, he always looks perfectly confident that he knows what he's saying"

Feels good to be Golden Boy.

Why do PhD engineers exist? If you want to work your way up to juicy projects you just need experience, maybe a masters. All a PhD gets you is a comfy management position in which case you may as well have just done an MBA.

>Science died when everyone unanimously decided debating meant more than proving.

Why not just say "I don't know anything about science," user? It is a much clearer statement.

Structural and chemical engineering. Outside of that who the fuck knows. Oh and doctors of engineering are move valued in germany, evidently you need a phd do do certain things legally in germany.

Get this: sometimes people do things for reasons other than gaining job credentials.

National Lab or perhaps Professor.

I actually wanted a CS degree but at this school, High Performance Computing is in the CSE department. My undergrad was CS and Math.

Got in for PhD Math, but will probably switch into the Applied program. I got into 7 programs and waitlisted at 3, but they were all pretty low tier. But getting in is good enough for me.

Tfw also go to a "public ivy"

Starting masters in CFD. Not sure if I'm going to stay for a PhD.

When during undergrad do you apply for PhD?
Also, what do you recommend learning/doing before applying?

What public ivy? Going to one in the Fall.

Get research experience, 3.5+ GPA, Letters of recommendation. Apply Fall Senior year.

You apply Fall of your senior year.

I don't know your field, so its hard to say how much research you need to do before hand. The rule of thumb is the "wetter" your lab is, the more research you need. E.g. A bio lab is about as wet as you can get, while a math lab is of course very 'dry'.

So you probably need to be like 8th author on a couple bio papers to get into a Ph.D. program while a CS or Math major won't need any.

Regardless, you'll need to have some research experience, and you need 3 letters of recommendation. I would try getting an internship at a national lab. That would look excellent on an application and the letter you get will be invaluable. Depends on your field again though.

Also you need good grades and a good GRE score but those don't get you into a Ph.D. program, they only get thrown out if they are too low.

Because with the PhD in engineering one gets to study something interesting. Have you ever looked at the curriculum for an MBA program? Jesus Christ, what a mind-numbing bunch of useless bullshit.

>So you probably need to be like 8th author on a couple bio papers to get into a Ph.D. program
Nah, that's so inconsequential nobody's gonna care if you don't have that. It's plenty common even at top universities to come in without even "walked in the room once" author-spots.

As far as prior experience goes, what you need to be able to do is explain the overall research purpose of the lab, why it was important, what you specifically were doing, and how it contributed to advancing the research goals of the entire lab and the field. If you can do all that, you're in a good spot.

It takes a while to get to that point. You'll spend a year or so learning the ropes and getting the lab to trust you not to break everything you touch, and then you'll get started on actual projects.

A math student certainly won't need publications, but doing research work is still important so that a faculty member can say "I worked very closely with user, and I can vouch for his ability."

>math
>research

Oh its you! I remember seeing you here before! Im also doing an msci in theoretical physics, only at Queens Belfast. What A levels you doing user?

Can you give me a vague idea of your stats? pGRE and gpa? I'm planning on applying this fall for hep-th

Boston University... for international relations
how'd I do?

I remember you as well, I'm actually doing an M.Sc, I did my A-levels a few years back and got my B.Sc in physics from elsewhere.

BIGGEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE
B I G G E S T

Make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you take the GRE and your subject test during the summer sometime if possible and write your SoPs and get all your credentials in order BEFORE the semester you apply. You have no idea how long it is going to take to constantly round up professor recs and edit SOPs and personal history statements and make sure they fit the program you are applying to and make sure they are within the word limit and make sure the fucking schools didnt misplace your shit. It sounds easy, but if you are applying to like 8 schools like i did, keeping track of all that shit + your senior coursework is going to be a bitch. i had a 19 credit hour semester on top of it all so that probably is what killed me.

get it done early, apply early. please, save yourself.

i applied to boston university and was rejected. the east coast schools seem to be pretty competitive for admissions. turned out i wouldnt have liked the research there anyway now that ive singled in on a research project, but i still wish i was given the opportunity.

It's not as hard to get in as you think, you just need to know exactly where your stats will get you.

Here's me
Degree: Biochem
Private uni
GPA 3.4
GRE*: 155 math, 152 verbal, 5.0 writing
Research: 2 years in a computational chemistry lab. no papers published. 3 publications will be published on my work the Fall i start grad school
I showed an improvement in my grades over the years from 3.2 to 3.7 on average. also mentioned death in immediate family contributed to a shitty semester.
I also tutored chem as a volunteer for a couple years.

*i was shocked i did that poorly on math, but that is supposedly better than 60% of applicants and got me a couple admission fee reimbursements. honestly, GRE scores dont matter that much

I think the scariest part of it all is the uncertainty. I was accepted to 2 of the 8 schools i applied to. obviously ivy leagues rejected me, accepted by a pretty decent UC, accepted by a shit UC, rejected by boston college and boston university, never heard back from my shit tier fallback schools. Weird and kind of annoying since i dropped at least $200 total applying for them.

I'm starting inorganic materials research next year. you definitely do not need experience doing what you hope to to get in to grad school.

>I think the scariest part of it all is the uncertainty
Absolutely. I spent so much money applying to about 10 schools out of fear of not getting in anywhere. I wound up being accepted to the school which I felt was my best fit before I even heard back from anywhere else and felt a little silly for sending out so many applications. By the times some schools got around to asking if I was still interested, I had already ruled them out.

Entering a top 15 Biomedical PhD program this fall

Well it is not exactly grad school but I got in to my favorite HS.
So I'm really excited about it and couldn't ask for moore.

What do you mean "scholarships"?

When you get admitted, it almost always comes with funding information, or at least that comes a couple weeks later.

You aren't going to self fund a PhD, are you?

>PhD
M.Sc

Nice man! What was your experience with physics like? Anything that you like dislike? Was your Bsc in pure physics or theoretical? Im sitting my exams atm and cannot wait till I start learning!

University of Illinois? UCLA? Genuinely curious

How does old butt taste?

Sounds stupid

>golden boy
>not brown boy

You were close

So golden shower then?

part 1/2

The number one thing about applying for grad schools that people don't tell you is that things are super competitive and thus there is an element of randomness to it.

The bottom line is number of applicants>number of spots.

This is the only thing that matters. The question, then, isn't "am I smart enough to do a PhD" (if you aren't retarded and you can work hard, you can do a PhD) but rather "am I smarter and/or luckier than other people applying?".

If you are good, and have reasonable expectations, and aren't super unlucky, you'll get in SOMEWHERE. It's rare for a good candidate to not get ANY offer, even if it isn't ideal.

You need to have minimum requirements. Meaning a 3.0 GPA overall, 3.5 major GPA, top 50% of the subject GRE, and a degree form a non shit tier university.

A GPA above this might help you a bit, but won't make or break you. Does someone who got an A- in one class at one university with one professor know less than a person with an A in another? Honestly, no. Does someone who has a lot of Bs know less than someone who has a lot of As? Well, on average, yes. But these are just heuristics. But who knows? Maybe you're too busy learning advanced cool math and couldn't be arsed to study for your classes? Maybe (like me) you were depressed your senior year and your grades suffered for that, but you're better now. Maybe you were just unlucky and had shit/tough professors.

part 2/2

GPA is imperfect. What does an A- even mean? It's just for heuristics. If you've got a 3.5 or above, you most likely learned what you were supposed to learn. If you have nearer to a 4.0 it might be helpful but they really won't give a shit. Same with GRE. UC Berkeley has a 80% rule for GRE (which shouldn't be THAT hard to get, to be completely honest).

People say "research experience" but honestly, as an undergrad you're not going to be doing anything that anyone gives a shit about. Writing a senior thesis or being a lab monkey is a plus, but isn't going to make or break you.

People say "fit" but as an undergrad you don't know what the fuck you want to study.

Really, just make sure you aren't retarded, apply to around 5-10 places (more if you're kinda retarded) and you'll probably get a couple offers. It might not be ideal. You could have a 4.0, perfect GRE, had Feynman suck your dick because of how much he loved your work, and still get rejected from MIT. Places like that have literally HUNDREDS of applicants for just a handful of spots. If you're not retarded, you're doing better than most, but it's still a crapshoot.

So relax, don't be retarded, and roll the dice.

>Doing a M.Sc.

Aww, what's the matter? Couldn't get into a PhD?

Also, I want to add a story to explain how "random" things are.

Imagine you apply for a PhD and in your senior thesis you say you studied Banach algebras and you're interested in that. You would be a good fit to work with Dr. Fuckface. However, Dr. Fuckface once humiliated Dr. Shithead and Dr. Shithead hates Dr. Fuckface. Dr. Shithead is on the admissions committee. They see you would be a good fit for Dr. Fuckface and naturally Dr. Shithead can't stand the thought of Dr. Fuckface getting a student, so you're rejected.

Now does this happen? Maybe. Does this happen enough to be worried about? Probably not. But this is the right mindset to have. These are human beings reading your application.They are imperfect and can judge you on superficial characteristics.

In commonwealth countries (UK, Canada and Australia) it's common to do a masters first and then a PhD. Jumping from a bachelors straight to PhD is mostly an American thing.

Oh yeah, i forgot about how the lower iq countries need to adjust

May I ask why you are trying to start shit with our fellow scientists across the pond?

Does anyone know why they do this? It seems like a lot of unnecessary applying to and moving around between schools.

Already got my master's.

You can apply for a masters straight out of A levels. So you just do the four year course at one uni. (Five if in Scotland)

Bachelor - base level education
Masters - more in depth education in a specific field
PhD - training for a career in research

Yes, it's like that in America as well. However, most students interested in a career in research will go straight from a Bachelor's to a PhD program, and will also spend the first year or two picking up an in depth education. This seems more effective than applying to two separate post-Bachelor's programs, no?

You guys are all speaking about the GRE, but I'm a student in the UK. Do I need to take the exam regardless if I want to study in the US?
Is it hard?

Also, I'm planning on doing either math or high energy physics grad studies.

For the most part yeah.

In my personal experience I went to mediocre undergrad school, didn't try terribly hard, only have 3.5 and haven't had much guidance regarding graduate education.

Im doing masters at same mediocre school, getting 4.0 with more research under belt and hopefully getting into phd program at actually good school. Have seen plenty of people do that from where I am at the moment.

>Do I need to take the exam regardless if I want to study in the US?
yeah

In what?

do your life a favor and choose high energy physics.

also, yes. i hear it should be a breeze for europeans though, especially the subject test. take it. it just about required for you if you want to go to a US uni.

Environmental engineering.

Can I ask why?

>noble prize
And a proud lineage comes to a close.

t. mathfag, anyway

>what public ivy

don't want to say, but east coast.

Hope its not UGA kek

What the fuck is a public ivy? No one ever seems to follow this list.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy

I just care about the money and doing maths/physics, which is the most profitable undergrad I could pursue? I am planning to do a master's after that.

>he fell for the graduate studies meme

Enjoy someone with a BS and two year experience blow you fags out of the water

Lots of higher positions require a master's degrees as a company rule.

>he hasn't even worked in his industry
>he doesn't even have experience

Yeah for retards like you. Most companies promote from within. As long as you're not a moron you can pretty much go anywhere.

>climbing up the company ladder by doing petty office politics
yeah no
most importantly
>being a wagecuck

Even promoting within, companies have this policy. They don't want to show off their vice president who only has a bachelor's.

>13 year old girl.
s-send pictures pls

There are 2 GREs. There is the general GRE. That should be pretty easy for you.

There are subject GREs. If you want to do pure math, you should take the math subject GRE, which is pretty hard. Take it seriously. If you want to do other kinds of math(s) like applied math or stats, you can get away not taking it.

If you want to do Physics, take the Physics subject GRE. You dont need the math subject GRE for Physics programs. I heard that the Physics subject GRE is pretty easy, but you have to check it out yourself.

you will fight tooth and nail to find a job where you can do math all day. i.e. university position or research institute. all of these positions are extremely difficult to get.

high energy physics is math intensive, will give you more job opportunities in defense and energy, and you can still do math on your free time. you can always take advanced math courses in grad school if you want.

...

this shit always make me want to kill myself

West coast School.
Physics.

I got accepted into one somewhat famous school, but with a TA. The one I accepted ultimately included an RA for 2 years and optional TA if I did not have funding the last two years.

The area is in theoretical gravitational, more specifically relativistic hydrodynamics, and compact star binaries. Both of the schools I was accepted have LIGOs super close by and were involved in both.

Cool stuff.

>public ivy
>UC Santa Cruz

AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA i visited there as a prospective graduate student and there is literally 2 entire living communities dedicated to smoking weed. you can also opt to be graded on a pass/fail system where you either get an A or a B. what a fucking joke. There are much better UCs that are not listed there.

beautiful campus though...

Pure math for Fall 2016. Thinking of doing machine learning and dropping out when I get a job.

>AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA i visited (insert every school) as a prospective graduate student and there are literally entire living communities dedicated to drinking alcohol