Stating Intended Subfields in Application

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Iustinius
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 9:23 pm

Stating Intended Subfields in Application

Post by Iustinius » Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:24 pm

Hello,

I am wondering, in the statement of purpose, or any other part of the application to a graduate program in physics, do you have to specify which subfields you are interested in or intend to work on? For example, do you have to "choose" between theory and experiment, or HEP and Condensed Matter in your application? Also, do such choices affect the outcome of your application?

Any help will be appreciated.

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space orca
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 7:10 pm

Re: Stating Intended Subfields in Application

Post by space orca » Sun Sep 24, 2017 8:01 pm

From what I've read from hours of browsing this forum is that you do indeed have to specify your interests to a very specific program in your statement of purpose. I'm applying to neutrino experiment programs this upcoming season. I think that is specific enough, like I don't think I'll have to specify whether or not, and why, I'm interested in astrophysical neutrino exp or high energy neutrino exp. But I think simply stating "interested in particle physics" is far too broad.

From what I've read, it looks like whether or not you specify theory or experiment affects the outcome of your application. Theory is supposedly much harder to get into. I don't think it's recommended to lie about what program you're interested in, and switch once you're admitted. I'm not too sure what the variance, in terms of admittance, is between different experimental or different theoretical programs are but there is evidently a clear divide between theory and exp.

Regardless, you should apply for whatever subfield you're genuinely interested in. If you're passionate and qualified, things should work out. At least that's what I'm hoping haha.



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