Re-apply to grad schools?
Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:46 pm
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So here's a little perspective given my own experiences and that of other people I know with PhD, MS, and BS degrees in physics, more importantly recently. I also played around with ideas of what level I should go to in physics, what I wanted, and what were the wise investments.phy789 wrote:I was in a Physics PhD program and completed the first year before taking a leave of absence to go work abroad for a year. I really had personal issues and lost motivation for the subject in my 1st year and as a result, my grades were terrible (undergrad gpa was 3.8, but grad school gpa was less than 3.4, including a C+ in an undergrad Solid-State class). I no longer want to get the PhD since academia no longer interests me, but am thinking about whether it's worth continuing to get the Master's or not. If I stick with the program, I have to re-apply and am worried my poor 1st-year grades would really hurt my application (I emailed the admissions officer at my program and she said they will accept a late application from me). If I continue, I want to do research that involves computational physics. Since I want to get my MS ASAP and focus on my career, I'm thinking its best to focus on condensed matter, despite my horrific grade in Intro Solid-State.
So what do you guys think? Do I have any chance of being re-admitted? Should I ask the director if my poor 1st-year grades would severely hurt my chances of being re-admitted? In my statement of purpose, just mention that I overcame those personal problems since I learned alot by living/working abroad?
While I have to do a thesis in my program but I do not have to do a thesis in an MS engineering/CS program, I think it still might be better to continue in my program and leave with the MS because my program is funded, whereas getting an MS in engineering or CS would not be funded. Plus, its too late to apply to many engineering MS programs, whereas my program will still accept my application.My suggestion, if you're sure that the PhD is not for you, but you still want to get an advanced degree to help you in the market, which will help. Then I would go back and get it in something more practical and applied, go get into engineering, programming, finance, etc. The best thing this can do for you however is not the degree itself, the classes you take won't mean jack and the paper stating the degree will mean little more. What it will do is it will allow you to get into internships and more. Those connections and experiences will make or break the return of investment on any grad school opportunity you take on if you're not getting the PhD. ..If you get some good experience in some of those, some internships under your belt, and build a network then you'll be in great position to land a good and interesting job in a lot of industries.
You have to decide if physics is for you or not, so you can decide whether to continue in it all the way or not at all. It's just not worth it to continue in this field if you're not going to go all in.
Are you absolutely certain that the MS in physics will be funded? They may only fund you if you come back and say you want a phd. That said, I would absolutely do internships while there, and I suspect that a degree in engineering would look better than a degree in physics if you are stopping with a master's. You will certainly get paid more if the degree is in engineering.phy789 wrote:While I have to do a thesis in my program but I do not have to do a thesis in an MS engineering/CS program, I think it still might be better to continue in my program and leave with the MS because my program is funded, whereas getting an MS in engineering or CS would not be funded. Plus, its too late to apply to many engineering MS programs, whereas my program will still accept my application.
I'm just concerned about whether my program would re-admit me and how I can write my SOP. I don't really have a good excuse for my poor 1st-year grades and leave of absence. I just lost interest and motivation and had some personal problems
If this were a terminal masters degree I would say it's probably not a huge issue and what you're planning is fine. However, this not a terminal masters program. You're doing two things that may nip you in butt badly. One, you're leaving a very bad taste in the mouths of people you may need as references in the future. References in science are the gold standard and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Two, you can pretty much kiss a lot of programs goodbye if you ever decide to go back in the future to get any grad degree in really any field. The reason is this, you come off as either having failed twice at the same program which means you're not a good investment from the school's point of view. Or, and even worse, you come off as having taken advantage of the system to get a funded masters when the funding existed for the purpose of supporting PhD's. And given how incredibly thin funding has become this really bothers people now-a-days. I'm just saying even if you get back in, there are going to be consequences to it, and probably not enough return of investment to be worth it.phy789 wrote:While I have to do a thesis in my program but I do not have to do a thesis in an MS engineering/CS program, I think it still might be better to continue in my program and leave with the MS because my program is funded, whereas getting an MS in engineering or CS would not be funded. Plus, its too late to apply to many engineering MS programs, whereas my program will still accept my application.
I'm just concerned about whether my program would re-admit me and how I can write my SOP. I don't really have a good excuse for my poor 1st-year grades and leave of absence. I just lost interest and motivation and had some personal problems