Astro or hep-th? Need your advice
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 6:54 am
Hi, all.
I am applying for a phd slot in the US this semester, but I feel hard to determine the subfield I want to pursue. I quite like those GR stuff in my undergraduate courses and I find on arXiv that the articles I am most interested in are from astrophysics, gr-qc and hep-th. I understand this as one can use the same theory to solve different questions in different subfields. Since the thing that interests me is the underpinning theory, I think I am able to find my interest in any of those subfields. Now I have four possible choices to apply to gradschool:
1. astrophysics in dept. of astronomy.
2. astrophysics in dept. of physics.
3. astrophysics in an ajoint dept.
4. hep-th in dept. of physics.
Here is the question: I am an international applicant in an unknown undergraduate program with no publications, so I think applying to hep-th would be unwise. As for the first 2 choices, I searched the website of many gradschools and found astrophysics(together with some profs) is often listed in both departments. I have heard that dept. of astronomy is not well funded, but I also heard that astronomy is less competitive. So should I apply to an astronomy program or a physics program? Or mainly focus on some ajoint depts. Which one do you think I will have a statistically better chance to get in a program?
I appreciate your insight!
I am applying for a phd slot in the US this semester, but I feel hard to determine the subfield I want to pursue. I quite like those GR stuff in my undergraduate courses and I find on arXiv that the articles I am most interested in are from astrophysics, gr-qc and hep-th. I understand this as one can use the same theory to solve different questions in different subfields. Since the thing that interests me is the underpinning theory, I think I am able to find my interest in any of those subfields. Now I have four possible choices to apply to gradschool:
1. astrophysics in dept. of astronomy.
2. astrophysics in dept. of physics.
3. astrophysics in an ajoint dept.
4. hep-th in dept. of physics.
Here is the question: I am an international applicant in an unknown undergraduate program with no publications, so I think applying to hep-th would be unwise. As for the first 2 choices, I searched the website of many gradschools and found astrophysics(together with some profs) is often listed in both departments. I have heard that dept. of astronomy is not well funded, but I also heard that astronomy is less competitive. So should I apply to an astronomy program or a physics program? Or mainly focus on some ajoint depts. Which one do you think I will have a statistically better chance to get in a program?
I appreciate your insight!