Where are you Going?

[mobytish]

Now that people have started to receive acceptances from schools, I'm wondering about what schools everyone is choosing. If you've already made your decision, which school did you choose (and why, if you're interested in sharing)? If you haven't made your decision, which ones are you considering?

As for me, I'm planning on going to Kent LCI for Chemical Physics. This was my top choice of my three applications because it is most closely aligned with my research interest/experience (liquid crystals), and I also got awarded an IGERT fellowship, so I'm pretty excited about going there. Now it just needs to be August...

[mdrake]

I think it'll take awhile before you get a lot of responses, except for people who have their heart set on a particular school. There's still a lot of time to hear back. I've heard from 4 schools and applied to 9, so I expect it'll be some time until I know. At least I have one acceptance so far at University of Florida, so my stress level isn't too high. Now I just hope for a problem with choices.

[mobytish]

Yea, I know most people won't have made decisions yet, but I figured I'd get the thread started early.

Of course, it's always good to tell schools early if you know you're not going to be choosing them. I say this because I was accepted to Rochester on Feb 10, declined the offer Feb 17, and saw on gradcafe that another person was offered admission Feb 18. I think that that made that person's day

[Kites]

I just got an acceptance from Satan's School of Sadism, or SSS for short. So it looks like I am going straight to hell. See everyone there!

[mdrake]

I've got acceptances to UFlorida and UTexas Austin (unofficial, via website) and I'm waiting to hear from UC Davis and UMaryland. I visited Florida and really liked it. They've got a beautiful campus, nice physics buildings, interesting research, and seemingly happy current grad students. I hope I can visit texas soon, but no email yet. Still plenty of time to figure out what's happening.

[jmason86]

I've got an acceptance from UW aerospace engineering and I've been invited to CU Boulder aero eng open house (although I haven't been accepted yet.. just an issue of finding someone with funding). I'm still waiting to hear from MSU physics, UNM physics, berkeley physics, and boston astronomy. I probably won't go to MSU, UNM or boston. Assuming berkeley is an option, I'll have to visit all 3 departments before I can decide. CU and Berkeley would be hard to decide between, but if my gf doesn't get into berkeley too.. I'd rather live in Boulder. I grew up in the bay area (and spent the last 3 years of college at UCSC) so I could use a few years away.

[mobytish]

Wow. Needing the two acceptances (you and gf) definitely makes things tricky. Hopefully, you hear soon so that you have plenty of time to decide.

[jmason86]

yeah... she applied to berkeley for planetary.. me for physics. I was not expecting to get this far at all through the rejections. My pgre is way too low to get accepted there but I have 2 years of research in solar physics with stanford and I've collaborated with people at UCB so they might be fighting for me..

[Helio]

yeah... she applied to berkeley for planetary.. me for physics. I was not expecting to get this far at all through the rejections. My pgre is way too low to get accepted there but I have 2 years of research in solar physics with stanford and I've collaborated with people at UCB so they might be fighting for me..

not to rain on your parade... but had 3 years of research in solar physics with USC (no publications, but no surprise) and Phil Scherrer didnt even see my application because they weeded me out before the admissions committee because of too low PGRE score.

[jmason86]

That's probably true. Phil Scherrer is the one who hired me I applied to Stanford last year too and didn't get in then either, even though Phil was on the committee. Didn't get in again this year, but he wasn't on the committee this year because of the launch of SDO.
I'm just trying to come up with a reason why I wasn't in the first wave of rejection at Berkeley.
Are you still planning on doing solar research?

[Helio]

That's probably true. Phil Scherrer is the one who hired me I applied to Stanford last year too and didn't get in then either, even though Phil was on the committee. Didn't get in again this year, but he wasn't on the committee this year because of the launch of SDO.
I'm just trying to come up with a reason why I wasn't in the first wave of rejection at Berkeley.
Are you still planning on doing solar research?

You mean "launch" of SDO... how many times have they rescheduled it so far?

No, all the schools that do solar physics either rejected me (Boulder, Yale, Stanford) or didnt want to go (USC and Montana), then again getting a job after you graduate would have been hard because of how small the field is atm.. i now moved to sounding rockets and x-ray astrophysics

[mobytish]

I'm just trying to come up with a reason why I wasn't in the first wave of rejection at Berkeley.

So, is it CU Boulder then? I've never been to Colorado, but I wish going there for school was an option for me.

[jmason86]

@Helio. SDO Launched in Feb. There were definitely a crap load of reschedules.. but it is finally up. Data should start becoming usable in a few months.

@mobytish. It's probably between CU Boulder and UW Seattle for me. I might get into Montana State and Boston University.. but I think I'd rather live in Boulder or Seattle than those places.

[nathan12343]

@Helio. SDO Launched in Feb. There were definitely a crap load of reschedules.. but it is finally up. Data should start becoming usable in a few months.

@mobytish. It's probably between CU Boulder and UW Seattle for me. I might get into Montana State and Boston University.. but I think I'd rather live in Boulder or Seattle than those places.

I think I know you - is your name James by any chance?

Boulder is a pretty awesome city and CU and associated labs have a ton of solar research happening not to mention many other options in stellar physics research. Check out CASA and LASP when you go on your visit.

[ddubs]

Probably Harvard

[jmason86]

Hahah.. yeah. What's up nathan. What are you doing on the prospective grad forum! I've got a meeting set up with Juan Fontenla of LASP. Going on my visit next weekend

@Helio. SDO Launched in Feb. There were definitely a crap load of reschedules.. but it is finally up. Data should start becoming usable in a few months.

@mobytish. It's probably between CU Boulder and UW Seattle for me. I might get into Montana State and Boston University.. but I think I'd rather live in Boulder or Seattle than those places.

I think I know you - is your name James by any chance?

Boulder is a pretty awesome city and CU and associated labs have a ton of solar research happening not to mention many other options in stellar physics research. Check out CASA and LASP when you go on your visit.

[nathan12343]

Yup, I used to work down the hall from him. I post here since I like answering questions and giving advice to people that don't have resources for this sort of thing at their school. There are a surprising number of misconceptions and easily answerable questions out there - I think of it as community service.

Also, for anyone that happens to read this - poeple on admissions committees DO read this forum.

[admissionprof]

Yup, I used to work down the hall from him. I post here since I like answering questions and giving advice to people that don't have resources for this sort of thing at their school. There are a surprising number of misconceptions and easily answerable questions out there - I think of it as community service.

Also, for anyone that happens to read this - poeple on admissions committees DO read this forum.

Of course some people on admissions committees read this forum. I'm one of them and have commented regularly. But any ethical admissions committee person would not try to identify any one individual, and even if one did recognize someone, it would be unethical to use the information in any way. (I can't speak for unethical admissions committee people, of course.) I've always looked at my comments as a community service (although I'm not commenting as much as I did a couple of years ago).

Someday, I'm looking forward to sacrificing my anonymity by introducing myself to grae313 (she will, of course, keep my anonymity...).

[grae313]

Of course! I'll have my camera all ready and as soon as you leave I'll post up your mug shot and a transcript of our conversation.

Wait, what?

[Helio]

@Helio. SDO Launched in Feb. There were definitely a crap load of reschedules.. but it is finally up. Data should start becoming usable in a few months.

@mobytish. It's probably between CU Boulder and UW Seattle for me. I might get into Montana State and Boston University.. but I think I'd rather live in Boulder or Seattle than those places.

Just a little off topic, but did they ever fix that buffer read out problem? Phil said he didnt want it to be fixed over a year ago, but then again there was enough time to fix it

[jmason86]

I'm not sure. All I know is that the last year has been pretty hectic lol

[Engage]

trying to decide between mit caltech and ucsb. im leaning towards uc though - cant beat beautiful sb and good funding. does anyone know any grad students there and specifically how they feel about the program?

[MacCutcheon60]

beautiful sb and good funding. does anyone know any grad students there and specifically how they feel about the program?

If I was on the waiting list, I'd be tempted to create a new forum account & tell you it's haunted.

[AO]

UW Madison, it's official like a referee with a whistle. The first years showed us a quality time at the visit weekend and every prof I met with was really enthusiastic about their research, one even offered me a summer RA.

-J

[matonski]

It looks like I'll be choosing between two schools that are about 30 miles apart from each other (Johns Hopkins and Maryland). I definitely want to study hep-th and am leaning towards Maryland because of the rankings. However, their open house is not till April 10. On the other hand, I had a great time at the Johns Hopkins open house and would be happy going there.

[MacCutcheon60]

not till April 10.

That would still give you a whole five extra days to make a decision, and maybe Maryland'll put on as good of a show as Hopkins.

[bibimbop]

cant beat beautiful sb and good funding

were you guaranteed good funding? UC schools seem like a bit of a gamble right now, in terms of money

[Engage]

cant beat beautiful sb and good funding

were you guaranteed good funding? UC schools seem like a bit of a gamble right now, in terms of money

yeah, they're giving me department and university fellowships with no responsibilities, so sounds pretty good to me.

[Helio]

UW Madison, it's official like a referee with a whistle. The first years showed us a quality time at the visit weekend and every prof I met with was really enthusiastic about their research, one even offered me a summer RA.

-J

Congrats.... See you in May or August......

[mdrake]

Just this past weekend, I accepted my offer to U Texas Austin. Anyone else going there in the fall? I'm really excited to start!

[peglegjeff]

Just this past weekend, I accepted my offer to U Texas Austin. Anyone else going there in the fall? I'm really excited to start!

I'll be there also! Made it official last week. I'm pumped to start up this fall-and equally pumped to be finished with undergrad!

[geshi]

I actually accepted a while ago (10 days or so), but I'm going to Ohio State next year.

[meggo]

I actually accepted a while ago (10 days or so), but I'm going to Ohio State next year.

woo! Congrats!

I went there for five years for undergrad. I love OSU, and I dearly miss Columbus. If you want information on the area, PM me!

[blackcat007]

If any other top schools viz. UT-Austin, UIUC, UPenn in my list don't accept me (which is actually anticipated, since no response yet) I will be going to University of Florida. Anyone else for UF?

[mdrake]

Just this past weekend, I accepted my offer to U Texas Austin. Anyone else going there in the fall? I'm really excited to start!

I'll be there also! Made it official last week. I'm pumped to start up this fall-and equally pumped to be finished with undergrad!

Cool! I actually made the decision sight unseen, since the department ran out of funds for accepted students to visit. Know much about UT?

[peglegjeff]

Know much about UT?

You could say that - I'm doing my undergrad there now. To avoid clogging up the thread too much, PM me with any questions you have, and I'll do my best to answer.

[YellowXDart]

Alright, I need a bit of advice here. I have to decide between Arizona State and Case Western Reserve, and every time I start to lean towards one, something pulls me back towards the other.

Here's the rundown:

ASU- $21,400 (or something like that) + $4,000 fellowship for first year only, located in Tempe (Pheonix), no research that I'm absolutely crazy about but a few projects that I would be okay working on, better reputation then CWRU, would major in Astrophysics instead of Physics, a LOT of opportunities for observation (which I love doing)

CWRU- $22,100, located in Cleveland, 3 or 4 projects that I'm really interested in, would major in Physics, no opportunites for observation but definitely experimentation (dark matter detectors and the like)

Honestly, if Case were located in Pheonix then there would be no question. I would strongly prefer to live in Pheonix over Cleveland because of the weather and it's a days drive from home. Also, that $4000 fellowship is pretty hard for me to turn down right now, although I know it won't matter too much in the long run. Basically, I need one of you to yell at me and say, "Of course you should go to Case! If they have research that you love, that's all that matters." Thanks.

[mobytish]

Yellowdart,

I'm actually going to give you somewhat opposite advice from what you were thinking you'd get. No, I'm not telling you to definitely go to Arizona, but I do know how important Location is in being happy with where you go to school, and the school's reputation probably doesn't hurt.

During my application process, I was being pushed by Kent to pursue a fellowship that involved research I was, initially, not interested in. I looked at it in a little more depth and found some areas of it I thought I could definitely be interested in. I tried the same thing at Lehigh, looking closer at each research area than I had before, but I couldn't find anything I even thought I could find a love for. Hence, no Lehigh, even though it would have made my life much easier. So, what I'm saying here is try to take a much closer look at the research at Arizona. You may not already love any of it, but is there any of it you could love if you gave it a chance? If so, then that may be the way to go. If not, then I'd say avoid it at all costs.

Also consider what you want to do when you're done grad school. If you want to go into industry at all, look at where the industry for your major is going to be. Would you live there?

[grae313]

You're going to be doing research 60 hours a week once you are done with classes. If there is anything at ASU that you think you might end up liking spending 60 hours a week on, go there.

[YellowXDart]

Thanks for the advice. Looking at the research from both schools again I've realized that ASU really has nothing for me except location and a bit of extra money. I'm going to Case!

[bhavin]

Hi everyone! I've decided to go to the University of Pittsburgh and I could use some advice. Can you guys tell me your views about Pitt? Has anyone else decided to go there as well?

[mobytish]

Well, I'm not going there, but I went there for their School of Ed Masters program and my husband went there for a Masters in Biology. We both had problems with the schools. For me, it was that they treated us like little kids incapable of making responsible decisions or of being trusted. In his program, it was the low caliber of some of the teaching. However, once he got a handle on how much he needed to study, that was good. There's a lot of different research going on there and, in his program at least, the labs were pretty excited to get students.


Oh, and PS, I'd look for a place to live ASAP because the good ones fill up fast. Oakland is right outside of the university, but it's a little slummy. Shadyside is a little bit more expensive, but the neighborhood is great and there's a lot within walking distance. If you're fine with driving, there are also a lot more options. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Pittsburgh area, but feel free to ask me questions (I lived in Oakland for three years).

[johnpauljones]

I accepted an offer from Michigan State's Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department.

Anybody know anything about apartments in East Lansing...?

[Jsolins]

Hi bhavin, I think that I am going to accept an offer from U Pitt as well. It looks like we are both interested in the same general area (Theoretical Cosmology). When visiting the university a couple of weeks ago all of the professors in the area seemed very helpful

[bhavin]

Well, I'm not going there, but I went there for their School of Ed Masters program and my husband went there for a Masters in Biology. We both had problems with the schools. For me, it was that they treated us like little kids incapable of making responsible decisions or of being trusted. In his program, it was the low caliber of some of the teaching. However, once he got a handle on how much he needed to study, that was good. There's a lot of different research going on there and, in his program at least, the labs were pretty excited to get students.

Lets just hope that the physics department is better than that.

Oh, and PS, I'd look for a place to live ASAP because the good ones fill up fast. Oakland is right outside of the university, but it's a little slummy. Shadyside is a little bit more expensive, but the neighborhood is great and there's a lot within walking distance. If you're fine with driving, there are also a lot more options. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Pittsburgh area, but feel free to ask me questions (I lived in Oakland for three years).

Well, I'm an international student from India, so I'm not familiar at all with Pittsburgh or for that matter any area in the US. I've been looking at craigslist listings for apartments in oakland and shadyside but I don't know if I want to rent a place without looking at the actual property. So I'm confused if I should rent a place while here in India or if I should initially stay with one of the older graduate students (they've offered to host me for a while) for a week or so, till I find a place to live.

Hi bhavin, I think that I am going to accept an offer from U Pitt as well. It looks like we are both interested in the same general area (Theoretical Cosmology). When visiting the university a couple of weeks ago all of the professors in the area seemed very helpful

Hi Jsolins. Thats good to hear. Its nice to have the views of a domestic student who visited the school. I got the opportunity to speak to one of the profs over skype and he seemed nice. I also spoke to two pitt alumni who graduated last year in cosmology; they gave me quite a bit of information and most of it was good.

[notnaps]

I'm going to Stanford!!

Anyone else doing the same?

[mobytish]

Well, I'm an international student from India, so I'm not familiar at all with Pittsburgh or for that matter any area in the US. I've been looking at craigslist listings for apartments in oakland and shadyside but I don't know if I want to rent a place without looking at the actual property. So I'm confused if I should rent a place while here in India or if I should initially stay with one of the older graduate students (they've offered to host me for a while) for a week or so, till I find a place to live.

That certainly makes it challenging, though I agree renting site unseen in Pittsburgh is questionable. U of Pitt has a section of their website with apartment listings that they've pre-screened. My husband rented one of the ones from those lists (from John C.R. Kelley Realty) and was pretty pleased. However, as long as you're able to deal with public transportation or a really long walk, you should be able to find things that are available after you've arrived. There's always something for rent in Pittsburgh, and you can always move after your first year.

[highbounce]

I am trying to decide between Yale, Cornell and Princeton. I have visited all three schools. I would really appreciate your advice. The thing is that I really value of quality of life at my future grad school. I would love a little bit of social life outside research (yes I am single). Since I don’t know what I want to do after getting a PhD, I just want to be happy for the next 6 years of my life.

Yale, applied physics
Pros:
* Two very renowned professors in solid state quantum computing whom I am very interested in working for.
* There are ~ 3 to 4 other professors in the applied physics/physics departments who do various kinds of research which I can see myself working on.
*A lot of the professors mentioned above have too much money but not enough people
*No TA first year
*Quals have two parts, if I fail one part, I will only have to take the failed part again.
*They are merging the physics and applied physics departments
*Very vibrant social life. The grad students seem to be happy. Lots of opportunities to mingle with students from other departments. Amazing atmosphere at the grad student bar
Cons:
* The department is relatively small. There are limited choices in experimental condensed matter. I have zero experience in quantum computing research. If God forbid I found out it’s not really for me, I would have only a few backup options.
* Some parts of New Haven can be pretty dangerous.

Cornell, applied physics
Pros:
* Extremely flexible program
* There are ~6 to 7 professors in the applied physics/physics departments whom I have interest in working for.
* I can also explore options in other engineering/science departments.
* Very gorgeous campus
Cons:
* Challenging/rigorous qualifying exam (the hardest one at Cornell, I have heard). Out of its six parts, I have to pass at least 4 parts at once.
* TA assignment first year which can be very time consuming I have heard since I will have to TA junior/senior level applied physics classes/labs.
* Some of the research groups that I am really interested in joining have limited openings (3 to 4 people trying to get one spot, so professors have to interview the candidates)
* Isolated location, depressing winter
* I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to feel the social life of the grad students if there is any (I missed the official open house). From what I have seen, there really isn’t a bar scene at Ithaca. The undergrads drink in the frats. I don’t know where the grad students go. I went to a salsa night event at the Big Red Barn alone when I was there. Ironically, the few people I talked to there are either undergrads or people who don’t go to Cornell.

Princeton, electrical engineering
Pros:
* No qualifying exam
* All first year students are supported by fellowships, so no TA obligation first year
* One young yet extremely gifted and promising professor working on quantum computing whom I am very interested in working with.
* I am also interested in the research of 2 to 3 other professors in the department in areas related to experimental condensed matter/ nanodevices.
* I believe I can also work for professors outside the department. There are quite a few professors in the physics department whom I have interest in working with.
* Princeton was my dream school when I was in high schools. So there is an emotional factor
*Gorgeous campus
*Easy access to NYC
Cons:
* Limited research choices in the EE department for me.
* Openings of the research groups in the physics department that I am interested in might be limited or hard to get in since I am from another department. I don't know if it is as flexible as Cornell?
* A small population of grad students. Social life on campus could be lacking. Princeton is an expensive town and nightlife is next to none.

[newt11]

Dont make a mistake! Princeton is far better than other two. And most respected of three!

[Mataka]

I was in a somewhat similar dilema, having to choose between Yale and Cornell, but both for physics. I went to both open houses, and based on what I saw at the open houses I chose Cornell all the way. That being said, after reading your pros and cons I can see that your situation may be quite different than mine, especially because you're in applied physics. So the only relevant thing I can tell you is that, based what I saw, I think I prefer the social life at Cornell over the social life at Yale. The grad students seemed more friendly, and more down to earth.