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my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:56 pm
by satyad18
I received an email yesterday from Indiana University Bloomington which I think is via GRE search service. It was an email from a professor. All this time, I was considering IUB to be not-so-reachable school for me. But after their email I'm thinking of considering it in my priority. Is my thinking right? Or should I just forget about it and think I never received such mail. I'm interested in Mathematical physics and HEP theory. Thanks..

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:21 am
by HappyQuark
satyad18 wrote:I received an email yesterday from Indiana University Bloomington which I think is via GRE search service. It was an email from a professor. All this time, I was considering IUB to be not-so-reachable school for me. But after their email I'm thinking of considering it in my priority. Is my thinking right? Or should I just forget about it and think I never received such mail. I'm interested in Mathematical physics and HEP theory. Thanks..
I think it depends on whether the email was a legitimate email sent specifically to you as opposed to one of these generic emails sent out to anyone unfortunate enough to check that evil check box that enables ETS to send you 2.5 million emails a day. Without reading the email, I can't tell which of the two options it would be but I tend to think that there probably aren't any professors at any schools that have access to everyones scores or would start sending out information and offers based only on knowing your GRE scores.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:38 am
by satyad18
HappyQuark wrote:I think it depends on whether the email was a legitimate email sent specifically to you as opposed to one of these generic emails sent out to anyone unfortunate enough to check that evil check box that enables ETS to send you 2.5 million emails a day. Without reading the email, I can't tell which of the two options it would be but I tend to think that there probably aren't any professors at any schools that have access to everyones scores or would start sending out information and offers based only on knowing your GRE scores.
Well, now I think it might not be via the search service. I remember,previously, I had emailed them expressing my interests in their program. Maybe a reply for that!?
Here is what I received:

Dear Satya,
This is ___________, a professor of physics at Indiana University -
Bloomington. I got your name and email address from our collection
of people who have expressed interested in our graduate program in
physics. You may have received another email from me or mailings
from us, if so, I apologize for the redundancy, but I wanted to
make sure you have enough info. I also want to urge you to apply
to Indiana U. for graduate studies in physics.

We have strong research groups in many subfields of physics; if you
haven't already done so, check out our "Research" page (under our
physics department home page at: http://www.physics.indiana.edu) to
get a quick overview of the variety of areas in which our faculty are
working. In particular, we have very active groups working in high
energy physics theory and experiment, nuclear physics theory and
experiment, accelerator physics, condensed matter physics,
astrophysics (especially in the area of neutrino physics), and
biophysics.

We have several centers of cutting-edge research in which physics
faculty are involved. A large part of our efforts in nuclear,
accelerator, and condensed matter physics are conducted at the IU
Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter (ceem.indiana.edu).
This center houses an electron accelerator (ALPHA) and a
low-energy neutron source (LENS) where students can work
hands-on with advanced experimental equipment for their Ph.D. research.
The biocomplexity institute (biocomplexity.indiana.edu) brings researchers
together from different fields to study self-organized, complex behaviors
found in biology. The new IU Center for Spacetime Symmetries focuses
study on various symmetries of nature and how they may be broken.

IU Ph.D.alumni occupy positions of leadership in academia, industry,
and national laboratories, and out recent graduates have been quite
successful in the job market both inside and outside of physics.
Every effort is made to accept only people who we believe will
complete the Ph.D. program successfully. Details about our graduate
program can be found from our physics department www page under
"Degree Programs".

In particular, all incoming students receive consideration for an
annual stipend and for tuition fee assistance. You do not have to
fill out a special form to apply for these. Nearly
all of our graduate students receive a stipend and tuition assistance
while enrolled in our program.

Applications to the Indiana University Physics graduate program can be
completed and submitted on the web. To do so, go to
"Admissions" from our physics dept. home page and click on "Application
Instructions" and follow them. Note that the priority dates for
international/domestic applications are Dec. 1/Jan 15.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our
scientific program or our application process. Send email to me at:
rtayloeindiana.edu . I will answer your questions or put you in touch with an
expert. I sincerely hope you will consider Indiana University for
your graduate studies.

Regards,
____________
Dept. of Physics,
Indiana University

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 4:16 am
by CarlBrannen
It might be a good idea to edit your post so that it doesn't get the professor any more spam than he already gets.

Actually, if it were my post I'd edit it to remove the whole thing.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:35 am
by admissionprof
CarlBrannen wrote:It might be a good idea to edit your post so that it doesn't get the professor any more spam than he already gets.

Actually, if it were my post I'd edit it to remove the whole thing.
Actually, if the professor is looking to spread the word about his program, he's just done an excellent job. I would edit to remove the @ symbol from the text, so spambots don't pick up on it. It does look like the GRE search service. I don't really see what is wrong with that---it usually means a few extra e-mails during the year, and they may have useful information.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:07 am
by satyad18
admissionprof wrote:It does look like the GRE search service. I don't really see what is wrong with that---it usually means a few extra e-mails during the year, and they may have useful information.
Oh! Thank you..

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:20 am
by CarlBrannen
admissionprof wrote:It does look like the GRE search service. I don't really see what is wrong with that---it usually means a few extra e-mails during the year, and they may have useful information.
I signed up for the GRE search service, and so far most of the emails have been for programs that aren't even physics. I was getting them before I even signed up for the physics subject test.

What I need is a PhD adviser and I can't get that through what ETS does (no fault of their own, I think the service may be a lot more useful for the usual student).

Anyway, I'm writing up my SoP as a proposal for PhD theses in three areas. Hopefully the applications will be passed around and I'll be contacted by someone interested in putting up with me. And I plan on making it clear in the SoP that choosing an adviser is necessary before I'll accept admission. Any ideas on how that will fly?

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:14 am
by satyad18
Maybe I'd have to forget IUB and stick to what is best for me! :(

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:35 am
by grae313
CarlBrannen wrote:Anyway, I'm writing up my SoP as a proposal for PhD theses in three areas. Hopefully the applications will be passed around and I'll be contacted by someone interested in putting up with me. And I plan on making it clear in the SoP that choosing an adviser is necessary before I'll accept admission. Any ideas on how that will fly?
Hey Carl, granted you are an exceptional case but this strikes me as an unnecessary risk, though I could see this depending a lot on the strength of your wording. I guess I'd just warn away from coming off as making demands or as overly pompous (which I don't think you are), especially considering how most schools really segregate the admissions process and the adviser-finding process.

Remember, you'll probably be hearing back from schools in February and then you have until April 15th to make a decision. In between you'll have the opportunity to visit all of these schools and meet with your potential advisers. I think stating your preference would be safer at that point--when you are actually meeting with them one on one and you've already been admitted.

My point is that you can make sure you secure an adviser before accepting an offer of admission without jeopardizing your chances of admission at an early stage, and you'll be in a better position to discuss finding an adviser after you have been offered admission anyways.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 5:56 pm
by CarlBrannen
Grae313, I think your advice is spot on.

What I'd really want is a school where I could have fun building experimental apparatus but write a theory thesis. I think it would be much easier for me to get in on the experiment side because I have an amazing amount of experience in electronics. The ideal situation for me would be a theory thesis and an experimental RA. I don't know if that's possible, or if it's something I can ask for in an SoP.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:55 pm
by modernphysics
satyad18 wrote:I received an email yesterday from Indiana University Bloomington which I think is via GRE search service. It was an email from a professor. All this time, I was considering IUB to be not-so-reachable school for me. But after their email I'm thinking of considering it in my priority. Is my thinking right? Or should I just forget about it and think I never received such mail. I'm interested in Mathematical physics and HEP theory. Thanks..
Dear satyad18, no body will give proper advice in this *** forum, every body is selfish and they want your application to be as bad as possible (which of course you can't believe) now read all others thread and you can know it definitely. now take any long thread and match the stating point and then the last post, you will see those are irrelevant. The only thing this forum is good at providing important solution sets to ETS problems , thats it and yes, people can help you in making out solution to your physics problem if any, otherwise, you just forget to have any help for your application process. Take the present problem of IU Bloomington....
I can suggest you one thing, you please directly contact the department thru e-mail.
I am feeling bad writing this tacit fact about this forum, but that's the story so far. Out of this fact I started my Music section.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:06 pm
by HappyQuark
modernphysics wrote: Dear satyad18, no body will give proper advice in this *** forum, every body is selfish and they want your application to be as bad as possible (which of course you can't believe) now read all others thread and you can know it definitely.
I'm not sure what specific threads you are referencing and I don't much care to rummage through old posts at the moment but in this thread there were a lot of reasonable and "proper" responses. Frankly, compared to other threads this one was especially tame.

So far as I can tell, the OP had not sent any information (i.e. GPA, transcripts, LOR, SOP) to IUB and yet on some level was convinced that the physics grad school at this institution was interested in having him in their program. I responded by saying that there is a possibility that the email he received might be one of these generic ones sent out via the ETS search service and so it wouldn't be wise to put all his eggs in one basket. Others pointed out that although they have received similar generic emails, most were not from well known physics programs like IUB. How were these not proper responses?
modernphysics wrote: now take any long thread and match the stating point and then the last post, you will see those are irrelevant.
Here you seem to be suggesting that your complaint isn't that we don't respond properly but that we get off-topic to easily to which I have to ask, what else do you expect? The theme of this forum encompasses an extremely small group of people in a very narrow time in their life. Couple that with the stress of test taking and applying and you get a lot of people who want to shoot the *** on related topics but have nothing meaningful to talk about. This is precisely why so many thread responses take the form "try doing a search" or "Could you really not figure that out on your own?".
modernphysics wrote: Take the present problem of IU Bloomington....
I can suggest you one thing, you please directly contact the department thru e-mail.
This is precisely my point. Nobody should have to tell the OP to respond to the email with his questions.
modernphysics wrote:I am feeling bad writing this tacit fact about this forum, but that's the story so far. Out of this fact I started my Music section.
Your complaint is about people posting irrelevant content when uninteresting threads get posted. You then respond by posting irrelevant content?

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:27 pm
by satyad18
@modernphysics @HappyQuark: I don't think you guys should argue over petty things. This forum has definitely helped me a lot, so I won't go blaspheming about it. But yes, we all are competing to get admitted to the best possible schools and in which case, most of the people here would want others application to be as bad as possible.
For now, I'm faced with yet another problem: I just received an email from UC Berkeley stating my interests in financial engineering and they say they received my name via GRE search service. Fine. But financial engineering!!? :shock:

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:41 pm
by HappyQuark
satyad18 wrote:@modernphysics @HappyQuark: I don't think you guys should argue over petty things. This forum has definitely helped me a lot, so I won't go blaspheming about it. But yes, we all are competing to get admitted to the best possible schools and in which case, most of the people here would want others application to be as bad as possible.
For now, I'm faced with yet another problem: I just received an email from UC Berkeley stating my interests in financial engineering and they say they received my name via GRE search service. Fine. But financial engineering!!? :shock:
I'm not trying to get in any arguments. My primary concern is the implication by modernphysics that members of the forum are either not giving people good advice or, worse, intentionally giving up bad advice in an attempt to sabotage potential competition. I'm going to be so bold as to argue that anyone who has spent any amount of time reading through current and past threads would see that this is demonstrably false.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:11 am
by satyad18
HappyQuark wrote:I'm not trying to get in any arguments. My primary concern is the implication by modernphysics that members of the forum are either not giving people good advice or, worse, intentionally giving up bad advice in an attempt to sabotage potential competition. I'm going to be so bold as to argue that anyone who has spent any amount of time reading through current and past threads would see that this is demonstrably false.
True!

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:31 am
by WhoaNonstop
Now that this quarrel has been settled, what is everyone's home address? *hides matches behind back*

-Riley

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:08 pm
by modernphysics
HappyQuark wrote:
satyad18 wrote:@modernphysics @HappyQuark: I don't think you guys should argue over petty things. This forum has definitely helped me a lot, so I won't go blaspheming about it. But yes, we all are competing to get admitted to the best possible schools and in which case, most of the people here would want others application to be as bad as possible.
For now, I'm faced with yet another problem: I just received an email from UC Berkeley stating my interests in financial engineering and they say they received my name via GRE search service. Fine. But financial engineering!!? :shock:
I'm not trying to get in any arguments. My primary concern is the implication by modernphysics that members of the forum are either not giving people good advice or, worse, intentionally giving up bad advice in an attempt to sabotage potential competition. I'm going to be so bold as to argue that anyone who has spent any amount of time reading through current and past threads would see that this is demonstrably false.
dear happy quark (10 th generation quark, super quark you are!!! :wink: ) certainly you and some few are exceptions, you have even helped me in past. But I was kind of telling my problems, few months back to other members (for some information via private message about certain things) but none replied me that's why I got fed up and thought that all are here for general advice and if you ask them about something more, in depth you will not get that information. However i am done with those problems and thought of others who are like me not getting the required information at right time from those who are experts in those fields, how ever, God Bless All Those who are not so fortunate like me (few months back). I don't have any grudges for any one, I just lost my grasp on reality. Bless you all, in your career and please start conditioning this society both at large and small scales. Please society needs physicists like us. We are the future. Keep improving both intellectually and mentally. :)

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:46 pm
by satyad18
WhoaNonstop wrote:Now that this quarrel has been settled, what is everyone's home address? *hides matches behind back*

-Riley
:mrgreen:
modernphysics wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:
satyad18 wrote:@modernphysics @HappyQuark: I don't think you guys should argue over petty things. This forum has definitely helped me a lot, so I won't go blaspheming about it. But yes, we all are competing to get admitted to the best possible schools and in which case, most of the people here would want others application to be as bad as possible.
For now, I'm faced with yet another problem: I just received an email from UC Berkeley stating my interests in financial engineering and they say they received my name via GRE search service. Fine. But financial engineering!!? :shock:
I'm not trying to get in any arguments. My primary concern is the implication by modernphysics that members of the forum are either not giving people good advice or, worse, intentionally giving up bad advice in an attempt to sabotage potential competition. I'm going to be so bold as to argue that anyone who has spent any amount of time reading through current and past threads would see that this is demonstrably false.
dear happy quark (10 th generation quark, super quark you are!!! :wink: ) certainly you and some few are exceptions, you have even helped me in past. But I was kind of telling my problems, few months back to other members (for some information via private message about certain things) but none replied me that's why I got fed up and thought that all are here for general advice and if you ask them about something more, in depth you will not get that information. However i am done with those problems and thought of others who are like me not getting the required information at right time from those who are experts in those fields, how ever, God Bless All Those who are not so fortunate like me (few months back). I don't have any grudges for any one, I just lost my grasp on reality. Bless you all, in your career and please start conditioning this society both at large and small scales. Please society needs physicists like us. We are the future. Keep improving both intellectually and mentally. :)
8)

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:09 pm
by axiomofchoice
modernphysics wrote:But I was kind of telling my problems, few months back to other members (for some information via private message about certain things) but none replied me that's why I got fed up and thought that all are here for general advice and if you ask them about something more, in depth you will not get that information.
You can't possible expect response to your private messages, since none of the members in the forum are paid to be your personal counselor. Just putting things in perspective...

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:28 pm
by HappyQuark
WhoaNonstop wrote:Now that this quarrel has been settled, what is everyone's home address? *hides matches behind back*

-Riley
I live on a small rubber raft so I don't have an address per se but I can give you the coordinates

33°45'7.56"N
118° 7'32.17"W

When I first moved into the raft it was about a half mile east of Chaffee Island but over the last couple of years it has managed to float just off the coast of little naples. Here are the mapquest directions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.75389 ... &t=h&hl=en

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 2:20 am
by WhoaNonstop
Are you fond of little naples?

-Riley

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:35 am
by grae313
modernphysics wrote:dear happy quark (10 th generation quark, super quark you are!!! :wink: ) certainly you and some few are exceptions, you have even helped me in past. But I was kind of telling my problems, few months back to other members (for some information via private message about certain things) but none replied me that's why I got fed up and thought that all are here for general advice and if you ask them about something more, in depth you will not get that information. However i am done with those problems and thought of others who are like me not getting the required information at right time from those who are experts in those fields, how ever, God Bless All Those who are not so fortunate like me (few months back). I don't have any grudges for any one, I just lost my grasp on reality. Bless you all, in your career and please start conditioning this society both at large and small scales. Please society needs physicists like us. We are the future. Keep improving both intellectually and mentally. :)
bipolar much?

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:40 am
by grae313
axiomofchoice wrote:
modernphysics wrote:But I was kind of telling my problems, few months back to other members (for some information via private message about certain things) but none replied me that's why I got fed up and thought that all are here for general advice and if you ask them about something more, in depth you will not get that information.
You can't possible expect response to your private messages, since none of the members in the forum are paid to be your personal counselor. Just putting things in perspective...
FWIW, I usually respond in detail to every private message I get. modernphysics' PM, however, was a hilarious exception.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:25 pm
by HappyQuark
WhoaNonstop wrote:Are you fond of little naples?

-Riley
For some reason I read that question as "Are you fond of little nipples?".

As to your question, of all of the cities/towns that I've floated near as my house travels via the ebb and flow of sea currents, this is one of the best.

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 4:57 pm
by WhoaNonstop
HappyQuark wrote:For some reason I read that question as "Are you fond of little nipples?".
This was intended.

-Riley

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:20 am
by modernphysics
WhoaNonstop wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:For some reason I read that question as "Are you fond of little nipples?".
This was intended.

-Riley
what guys are you talking about. :lol:

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:30 pm
by grae313
modernphysics wrote:what guys are you talking about. :lol:
Translation:

What are these... "little nipples" you speak of?

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:45 pm
by CarlBrannen
grae313 wrote:What are these... "little nipples" you speak of?
Nipples typically come in three sizes. The largest are Asian while most Europeans are in the middle size. But there's really not much difference in functionality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke_wrench#Sizes

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:18 pm
by axiomofchoice
CarlBrannen wrote:
grae313 wrote:What are these... "little nipples" you speak of?
Nipples typically come in three sizes. The largest are Asian while most Europeans are in the middle size. But there's really not much difference in functionality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke_wrench#Sizes
lol great find. :mrgreen:

Re: my interests and a coincident email from IUB!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:45 pm
by HappyQuark
CarlBrannen wrote:
grae313 wrote:What are these... "little nipples" you speak of?
Nipples typically come in three sizes. The largest are Asian while most Europeans are in the middle size. But there's really not much difference in functionality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke_wrench#Sizes
Get your head out of the gutter, perv. We are talking about human nipples.