Hi,
I am an international student and about to complete my MSc from a Canadian University. My undergraduate thesis was on Feynman's path integrals in particle physics. Then in my master's I worked on experimental subatomic physics. I have applied to several US universities to do PhD in theory-HEP. I have good research background and recommendation letters But my PGRE score sucks (620). Plus, I'm changing my field from experimental to theory!. I don't know if I stand a chance in US universities.
My CGPA is (3.85/4.3).
I have applied to following universities:
SUNY,SB: Rejected already
U Chicago: Rejected already
U CLA : Rejected already
U Mass Amherst : Yet to hear
Virginia Tech : Yet to hear
Any opinion?
Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE
-
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:59 pm
Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE
Last edited by SymmetryMan on Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
- Posts: 190
- Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:42 pm
Re: Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE
Hi, I'm sorry your application season is not going the way you hoped. Admission for theory is very competitive and, unfortunately, I don't think your pgre is strong enough. Since you are international, it's even more competitive. I noticed that you applied to mostly public/state schools. I think you would have had a better shot if you had some more private schools, but do not apply to all top 10-20.SymmetryMan wrote:Hi,
I am an international student and about to complete my MSc from a Canadian University. My undergraduate thesis was on Feynman's path integrals in particle physics. Then in my master's I worked on experimental subatomic physics. I have applied to several US universities to do PhD in theory-HEP. I have good research background and recommendation letters But my PGRE score sucks (620). Plus, I'm changing my field from experimental to theory!. I don't know if any US university gonna select me.
I have applied to following universities:
SUNY,SB: Rejected already
U Chicago: Rejected already
U CLA : Rejected already
U Mass Amherst : Yet to hear
Virginia Tech : Yet to hear
Any opinion?
If you end up getting rejected from all schools, my suggestion is that you spend time studying very hard for the PGREs and try to aim for a score 800+ ( 900+ is better). Do more research and get excellent LORS. If your gpa is not quite good, maybe take some classes to raise it, otherwise really aim for high pgres+strong research.
HEP-th is the most competitive, so maybe think about whether you really want to do it. If you do, read what I wrote above.
Re: Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE
I understand that NSERC has not been very kind to HEP-TH, hence why I applied to US schools. But my PGRE is in the low-900s, and I got an offer from Minnesota (for HEP-TH, I would say that Stony Brook and Minnesota are rather similar in admissions difficulty)
Any reasons why European schools would prove problematic (other than logistics)?
Any reasons why European schools would prove problematic (other than logistics)?