From Amsterdam to North America. Can I get in?

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Coco
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:14 pm

From Amsterdam to North America. Can I get in?

Post by Coco » Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:46 pm

Hi there,

I am a Peruvian student who is currently doing a M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics at the University of Amsterdam (the program is entirely in English.) I am doing my thesis in the string theory group, under the supervision of one of its professors. I am thinking of applying to Ph.D. programs in the US and Canada and I just realized today that the last date this year to take the GRE subject is in November! I thought it was in December. That means that I only have 3 months to prepare for the GRE General and Subject!

Here are some of my qualifications:

- Grade: 8.5 / 10 (honors)
- TOEFL: 270 (computer-based)
- Research Experience: master thesis in black holes in string theory.
- Courses taken: QFT, CFT, String Theory, Mathematical Methods, Theoretical Cosmology, General Relavity.
- Two summer schools attended in Trieste and Utrecht
- The letters of recommendation will be from three world-renowned string theorists who work in Amsterdam.

The schools I am thinking to apply to are:

- US: Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Stony Brook, MIT, Austin, Rutgers, Brown.
- Canada: Waterloo, Western Ontario (these two in order to be able to do the research at the Perimeter Institute) and Toronto.

I woul be very grateful if you could provide me some feedback as to what grade I have to score in the GRE subject test in order to have a good chance to get into the US schools? To get into the Canadian ones, I have to score at least 800. Will 3 months be enough to have a good preparation for the subject test and score above 800?

Thanks for the help!

Coco

sophia_xuqing
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:26 am

Hi, Coco

Post by sophia_xuqing » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:49 pm

hi,coco,
I can see that you a have a strong backgroud. And i am sure that you also have very good mastery in those fundamental knowledges.
i think three months is enough for Gre sub . some of the most excellent students in my country , just prepare for no more than a month and then got full score. I am not such good, and also because of the wide range that sub contains, from classical mechanics to modern physics, It really need a sound preparation. But my time is very limited, I can afford no more than 2 hours a day in these three months for GRE SUB.
So dont worry about the time, i am sure you will do a very good job on it.

Regards.
Sophia



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