==> Sticky: 2008 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Undergrad Institution: top 5 lib arts,
Major(s): Physics, Math
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: Good
Overall GPA: Good
Length of Degree: -
Position in Class: Top 10%?
Type of Student:

GRE Scores:
Q: Good
V: Average
W: Very Bad (Below 50%)
P: Above 900


Research Experience: 2 summer of research at undergraduate institution

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing special

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Some TA appointments

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

UIUC - Physics - Accepted by Email 12/02
Stanford - Applied Physics - Accepted by Email 22/02
Texas Austin - Physics - Accepted by Email 05/02
Rice - Physics - Accepted by Email 14/02
Harvard - SEAS - Waiting....

Undergrad Institution: small notheast liberal arts school
Major(s): Physics & Classical Studies
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.0
Overall GPA: 3.1
Position in Class: average
Type of Student: domestic, white male

GRE Scores:
Q: 780
V: 540
W: 6.0
P: not good

Research Experience: Senior thesis project. 2 summers of physics research

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 4 years of full-time teaching experience (3 of them as a physics teacher)

Applying to Where:
(all for Exp. Condensed Matter in Physics)

University of Utah - Accepted 2/22 by email w/ TA

U Connecticut - no response
Northeastern - no response
Tufts - no response
Portland State - no response
UMass Amherst - rejected by mail 4/26
Dartmouth - Rejected by email after inquiry 4/14
Boston College - Rejected by mail 4/15
U Colorado Boulder - Rejected 4/2 by email
Wesleyan - Rejected 3/31 by email
U Oregon - Rejected 3/3 by mail
Drexel - Rejected 3/10 by mail
Boston U - Rejected 3/29 by mail

I didn't think I had any chance at all. I'm happy to be in somewhere!

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 overall/top 10 physics, private
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: ~3.8
Overall GPA: 3.9
Length of Degree: 4 years (incl. masters)
Position in Class: ~top
Type of Student: domestic white male
GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 720
W: 5.5
P: 930

Research Experience: 2 summers at my school + work into the school year, no pubs or conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: none since high school

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA one term -- lab class

Special Bonus Points: MS in Aeronautical Engineering, ~3.9 GPA, graduate coursework in fluid mechanics, thermo, a lot of engineering, group theory/Lie algebras, cosmology, QFT, and GR

Applying to Where:

Harvard - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - waiting
MIT - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - Rejected - 3/3 - post office mail
Princeton - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - Rejected - 2/25 - email
Chicago - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - Rejected - 3/3 - email as a reply to one I sent asking after my application status
Berkeley - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - Accepted - 3/1 - email - TA/RA + fellowship
Caltech - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - waiting
UCSB - Physics - Theoretical Cosmology/HEP - Accepted - 2/25 - email - TA/RA

(my decision available button for UCSB is still dark, so that doesn't always go first, for all of you that are checking it compulsively like I was)

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 UK
Major(s): Theoretical Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Length of Degree: 4yrs
Position in Class:
Type of Student: International, male

GRE Scores:
Q: 790
V: 530
W: 4.5
P: 780

Research Experience: One summer in particle experiment

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergraduate Scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

Yale - Physics - CMP Theory - Rejected 2/13
Oxford - Physics - AMO Theory - Rejected 2/13
Cornell - Physics - Particle Theory - Rejected 2/7
Duke - Physics -Particle Theory - Rejected 2/21
Chicago - Physics -Particle Theory - Rejected 2/21
Caltech - Physics -Particle Theory - Rejected 2/21
Purdue - Physics -Particle Theory - Accepted w/ TA 3/5
Ohio State - Physics -Particle Theory - Accepted w/ TA 3/13


______________________________________________

Bachelors Institution: Small(er) State School
Major: Physics
GPA in Major: 3.42
Overall GPA: 3.01
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: 3/4
Type of Student: White Domestic Male

Masters Institution: Large(r) State School
Major: Physics
GPA: 3.75
Length of Degree: 2 years
Position in Class: top-ish

GRE Scores:
Q: 770
V: 570
W: 5.0
P: 720 (65%)

Research Experience: Condensed Matter / Biophysics research at undergraduate institution, Condensed Matter research at graduate institution.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: two years as a TA

Applying to:
Caltech rejected 02/27
Iowa State Accepted, TA
Montana State Accepted 02/23, TA + RA
Oregon State Accepted 02/07, alternate for TA
Berkeley rejected. notification came from a yahoo email address
Irvine rejected
San Diego rejected
Minnesota rejected
Austin rejected

Undergrad Institution: Small State University
Major(s): Physics and Mathematics
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 4.0 and 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.8
Length of Degree: 4.5 yrs
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: American Male

GRE Scores:
Q: 770
V: 470
W: 4.0
P: 660

Research Experience: physics REUs in cond. mat. exp. and neutrino theory, no publications.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: various school scholarships and university research fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: math tutor, SPS president and associate zone councilor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: numerous talks at physics conferences with awards

Special Bonus Points: FOUR research classes in quantum mechanics including quantum field theory

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: the REUs gave me letters of recommendations from notable physicists

Applying to Where:

applying for High Energy Theory

Harvard - waiting
MIT - waiting
Princeton - Rejected - 2/25 - email
Chicago - Rejected - 2/25 - letter
UT Austin - Accepted - 2/5 - email
Stony Brook - Accepted - 2/13 - email - tuition scholarship + 20.5 K TA
Stanford - waiting

Undergrad Institution: small state school well-known in engineering; top 100 in physics (no actual physics degrees offered)
Major(s): engineering physics (B.S.); applied physics (M.S.)
Minor(s): math
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years B.S.; 1 year M.S.
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: white domestic male

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 470 (oops)
W: 5.0
P: 920

Research Experience: 2 REUs at my school, 1 experimental, 1 theoretical; NIST Gaithersburg SURF fellow, theoretical; 2nd REU and SURF appointment related to M.S. thesis topic that involves condensed matter, AMO, and (some) quantum information theory; one paper submitted to PRL on its second review, one paper submitted to a math/computational journal for a conference special issue, both first author with just me and my advisor, and a PRA in preparation; 2 seminar talks

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: department physics award and a few others

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA since freshman year for introductory physics class; 'academic workshop facilitator' for same class; ran my own lab/lecture/recitation class senior year

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: eh, perhaps, but we'll leave it at 'nope'

Special Bonus Points: full year of grad quantum, grad math physics, couple grad math classes (but I'm a grad student)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: ridiculously good letters I'm pretty sure

Applying to Where:

UC Santa Barbara - Physics - CMT - accepted, email on 2/26, Station Q research fellowship - accepted offer
Maryland - Physics - CMT/JQI - accepted, email on 3/3, department fellowship; email on 3/6, JQI RA/fellowship - declined offer
UC Berkeley - Physics - CMT - accepted, email on 2/21, fellowship + TA - declined offer
Cornell - Physics - CMT - accepted, email and mail on 2/7, grad fellowship + TA option - declined offer
UIUC - Physics - CMT - accepted, email on 2/11, fellowship + TA option - declined offer
Penn - Physics - CMT - accepted, call on 2/15, fellowship + TA - declined offer
Texas - Physics - CMT - accepted, email on 2/5, TA - declined offer
Arizona - Physics - CMT - accepted, email on 2/25, TA - declined offer
Washington - Physics - CMT - accepted, mail on 1/28, TA + fellowship - declined offer
Caltech - Physics - CMT/QIT - rejected! email on 3/21

Undergrad Institution: Premier technical school in the US
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
GPA in Major: 4.8
Overall GPA: 4.6
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: near top
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 690
W: 5.0
P: 900

Research Experience: As a math major, computational neuroscience undergraduate research position. Last summer and this year, research position at large, national laboratory with a linear accelerator. Presented poster at a conference this fall.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Mathematical Contest in Modeling award, Software Engineering Lab Design award, (Siemens-Westinghouse in high school, but I don't really mention it)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate instructor (note: this is rare) at my institution for calculus (Fall 2007), diff eq (2008). Some undergraduate government leadership positions (but I doubt most grad schools care)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: *shrug*

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I was a math major for a while. Physics is a recent choice. Several graduate physics/math/CS classes. Took names and kicked butt on a physics lab QC experiment.

Applying to Where:

Harvard - Physics - pending
Stanford - Physics - rejected, email 2/29
Princeton - Physics - rejected, email 2/25
Caltech - Physics - pending
Berkeley - Physics - pending
Chicago - Physics - rejected, mail 3/4
UW - Physics - accepted, email 2/13
Columbia - Physics - accepted, email 2/29

Undergrad Institution: Miniature State School in a flyover state, 5K student body
Major(s):Math Education
Minor(s):Physics
GPA in Major:4.0
Overall GPA:3.86
Length of Degree: 4 yr degree in math education, all the required courses for physics BS but no degree
Position in Class: top 5 in math
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores:
Q:760 86%
V:550 73%
W:4.5 54%
P:730 64%

Research Experience: REU in Nanoscience Chemistry

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: $1000 Math Scholarship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Taught Lecture and Labs in Physical Science (science for non-science majors), TA for Physics Labs

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Early 30's, Second Career, stumbled into physics while trying to get qualified to be math high school teacher. Technically already a grad student in MS program at my school (to be eligible to TA while I finish the physics undergrad program)

Applying to Where:

Stanford - Applied Physics - Rejected by email 2/27 after inquiring about status
U Colorado Boulder - Physics - rejected
North Carolina State - Physics - Accepted with $10K signing bonus declined
U Arizona - Physics - AcceptedAccepted their acceptance
Colorado State Accepted declined offer
Kansas State Accepted with TA + $10K signing bonus fellowshipdeclined offer
Kansas University Accepted declined offer

Undergrad Institution: Medium private
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Spanish, European Studies
GPA in Major: 3.84
Overall GPA: 3.84
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: high?
Type of Student: domestic white male

GRE Scores:
Q: 710
V: 780
W: 5.5
P: 770

TOEFL Total:

Research Experience: 3 years of experimental research in nuclear structure, good technical skills, 3 publications, 2 as first author, 2 of them in PRC. poster presentations and talks at APS meetings and undergrad research symposia

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: goldwater scholarship, undergrad research fellowship, freshman physics award, sigma pi sigma

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for intro physics course, SPS president, tutor


Applying to Where:

MIT - HEP/nuclear experiment - accepted 2/18 with RA
Harvard - HEP experiment - accepted 2/21 with fellowship accepted offer 4/10
Stanford - HEP experiment - rejected 2/29
Berkeley - HEP/nuclear experiment - rejected
UChicago - HEP experiment - accepted 2/20 with fellowship
Yale - nuclear experiment - accepted 2/23 details pending
Michigan State - HEP/nuclear - accepted 2/24 with fellowship
Michigan - HEP experiment - accepted 2/15 with TA
U of Washington - nuclear/neutrino - accepted 2/16 with TA and small fellowship

Undergrad Institution: Not famous university in Europe, Lithuania, not known for Physics
Major(s): Applied Physics
Overall GPA: 9.5/10
Length of Degree: Bachelor degree, 4 years
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: international, male

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 360
W: 4.0
P: 920

TOEFL Total: 106/120

Research Experience: Ultrasound Institute in home university - 1 year, programming; X-Ray laboratory in foreign university in Europe known for Physics - summer work, modelling.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 1st place in home city mathematics olympiad in high school.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: -

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Exchange studies at foreign university in Europe known for Physics for 3 semesters.

Special Bonus Points: Grad classes in Cosmology, Quantum Mechanics and Introduction to QFT.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: -

Applying to Where:

MIT - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 2/26
Stanfordl - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 2/29
CALTECH - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/21
Univ. of Chicago - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 2/20
UCSB - Physics Department - Theoretical -not admitted 3/10
UCLA - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/20
Cornell - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/04
Maryland - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/31
Berkeley - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/18
PENN - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 4/04
PENNState - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 3/18
Madison - Physics Department - Theoretical - not admitted 2/25

Undergrad Institution: State school, listed top 10/20 (depends on list) - UCLA! Go BRUINS!
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math (did not appear on transcripts at time of application)
GPA in Major: ~3.988 (depends how you calculate, between 3.98 and 3.99)
Overall GPA: 3.939
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: Probably near top?
Type of Student: Domestic male minority

GRE Scores:
Q: 780/90%
V: 640/91%
W: 5.0/I forget
P: 760/69% (Sucky! But this makes me a proud member of the 700 club that's getting in places! )

Research Experience: Lots! But only some of it is high-quality.
1. Medical Physics Internship at a teaching university's hospital, one summer. Really just programming a color-coding scheme for brain scans. No physics actually involved whatsoever.
2. One quarter solo chemical research. I was given NOTHING and told run with it. By the time I figured out that they left me high and dry, the quarter was over.
3. 2.5 years, beam simulations, one publication at a conference, first author out of like 5, no peer review.
4. One summer, materials science research, LBNL.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Two scholarships, participation in a program designed to get minority students into a PhD program continuing on to a completely academic career.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 quarter tutor, and physics and math clubs.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: A decent sprinkling of A+'s for grades. They look pretty but don't show up in the GPA.

Special Bonus Points: Minority status? I don't believe this means anything. You have the scores and you're good, or you don't and you aren't. If anything, it can only hurt you.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: ...not really...?

Applying to Where (listed in rough order of preference when applying):
..... Didn't apply to too many east-coast schools because I wouldn't want to go there. I'm a California guy. I don't want to go to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, etc. over something like UCSD or UCLA. It would be hard for me to deal with the weather, I wouldn't be happy, my research would suffer. Those things can torpedo your PhD! I'd rather complete somewhere not so "good" than quit at some place that's first-tier!

Caltech - Physics - Rejected, 3/21, e-mail
..... This is almost literally in my back yard. I'm SO sad I didn't get in, but it's probably because I didn't tailor my personal statement to them. I knew I should have, it's my own fault.
Stanford - Physics - ACCEPTED!!! 2/29, e-mail - Matriculated!
..... This was one of those ones that I was like, "Okay, Stanford is like top 3, it's in CA, I have to apply." I didn't know much about it, other than it was pretty good. But after visiting, I love it there! The people are friendly - even the PROFS! The atmosphere is great, the weather is cool but not freezing like the east is. The grad students retain at least some level of normalcy. It's in California, and they have amazing labs that have been painted in the last couple years (lol - just visit Berkeley, you'll know what I mean...). They have great funding and, lol, I could just go on, but I won't!
MIT - Physics - Rejected. 3/2/2008, snail mail dated 2/26
..... I actually visited MIT last fall under a special program. I had to apply because, again, top 3. But I wasn't thrilled with the extreme nerdiness (blasphemy!) or the way they bragged that you never have to go outside because all the buildings are connected. So I wasn't broken up about not getting in.
U Chicago - Physics - Rejected. 3/2/2008, snail mail dated 2/27
..... One place an adviser recommended. I still don't know too much about it, and I'm not too broken up about this one either. They were condescending in their rejection letter. It's cold there too.
Berkeley - Physics - Accepted! 3/4, e-mail - Declined.
..... Berkeley is great for some people, but I don't like the people. (Once again, I know, blasphemy! Lol!) They're a little out there for my tastes. The professors seemed withdrawn. The grad students seemed cautious, and it seemed like a politically-charged environment. Housing is horrible in the area too. But other people LOVED it, over Stanford even, so I think this may just be a personal thing.
UCSB - Physics - Rejected
..... Their online application looked complete. Then I realized there was a SECOND link to check my status, of course underneath all the green check-marks, and I had a transcript and a letter of rec missing. By this time I was accepted to Stanford, and I really didn't have the energy or time to check it out. I got my rejection a few days later. I am annoyed that they didn't TELL me I had materials missing. Caltech, UCSD, UCLA, and Chicago all called/e-mailed when I was missing part of my app!
UCLA - Physics - Accepted! 2/28, e-mail - Declined.
..... So hard to say no! It's also close to home. But in the end it was important to go somewhere new, and Stanford was offering me better funding, and it really is the natural next step, especially if I stay in my current area of research.
UCSD - Physics - Accepted. 2/20, e-mail - Declined.
..... Declined on the advice of almost everybody I talked to. Stanford is definitely a better place to go for me.
U of Florida - Physics - Accepted. 2/25, snail mail - Declined.
..... This was my backup school. I was pretty sure I didn't want to go there.

Undergrad Institution: Top University in Middle east but still unknown
BS in Physics
Overall GPA: 3.5/4
Major GPA: 3.35/4
Length of Degree: 4 years
MS in Physics
Major GPA: 3.75/4
Length of Degree: 2.5 years
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: international, male

GRE Scores:
Q: 770
V: 290
W: 3.5
P: 810

TOEFL Total: 237/300

Research Experience:
-Worked in a laser laboratory in my university for two consecutive semesters in a project for analyzing rocks and metals using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS).
-Spent the summer training period and the semester after in another laboratory in the same university working in a project for automating a complete laser lab including all of its equipments (spectrometer – tunable pulsed ND-YAG laser – signal processor – high voltage power supply - oscilloscope) using LabVIEW.
-Worked in the same laboratory for another two semesters in a project funded by ARAMCO, one of the largest petroleum companies in the world, for developing a technique to reactivate catalysts that are used in refining crude oil using a hybrid system of plasma and laser.
-Currently working in the master thesis in a project to build a cavity ring down spectrometer (CRDS) to measure the concentration of NO3 gas.

Activities:
Served as the president of the sciences club in my university for three consecutive semesters

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: The distinction certificate in academic assistance to the students in my university.

Publications:Nothing

Applying to Where:

UMD - Physics Department - Exp AMO - REJECTED, March 20, email
OSU - Physics Department - Exp AMO - REJECTED, April 3, email
Arizona - Physics Department - Exp AMO - waiting
Texas A & M- Physics Department - Exp AMO - REJECTED, March 31, email
Colorado State - Physics Department - Exp AMO - waiting
Connecticut - Physics Department - Exp AMO - ACCEPTED, March 31, email
Kansas State - Physics Department - Exp AMO - ACCEPTED, March 5, email as a reply for my inquiry Offer Accepted
U of Waterloo - Physics Department - Exp AMO - ACCEPTED, Feb 28, email from professor

Undergrad Institution: Top public school
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.5
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: ?
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 800 (94%)
V: 640 (91%)
W: 6.0 (96%)
P: 860 (84%)

Research Experience: 3 years at my home institution + 2 SURFs at Caltech (all in observational cosmology, which is the emphasis I applied under)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None really...

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Held several jobs + lots of involvement/volunteer work (doubt anyone cares)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: =)

Applying to Where:

MIT - Physics - rejected, snail mail 3/1
Harvard - Physics - rejected, snail mail (took them forever)
Stanford - Physics - accepted!, email 2/29 ; will be attending Fall 2008
Princeton - Physics - transferred to astro, waitlisted there, email 2/26; rejected there, 3/15
Caltech - Physics - rejected, email (really late, I forget when)
Berkeley - Physics - rejected, snail mail
Columbia - Physics - rejected, email with subject line of "Unable to offer you admission to the Columbia graduate program in physics"
Yale - Physics - accepted!, email 2/20
UCSB - Physics - accepted!, email 2/26
UCLA - Physics - accepted!, email 2/20

NSF Fellowship: Honorable Mention

Advice: SOP/contacting faculty at schools is very important

Undergrad Institution: Top 5 Physics School
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.5
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: top 25%
Type of Student: domestic white male

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 700
W: 5.0
P: 850

Research Experience: 2 summers exp. astro, 1 summer + 1 term exp. CM
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: none
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'd CS class
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: set a record on experiment in lab class
Special Bonus Points: thesis advisor (recommender) is well-known

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: a lot of volunteer work, but I doubt it matters

Applying to Where:

Berkeley - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Rejected 3/18/08 e-mail... from a Yahoo! account!?!?!
Caltech - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Pending
Harvard - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Rejected 3/18/08 snail mail
Maryland-College Park - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Accepted 3/3/08 e-mail
Stanford - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Rejected 2/29/08 e-mail
UCSB - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Accepted 2/25/08 e-mail
UIUC - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Accepted 2/12/08 e-mail + phone call
Waterloo - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Accepted 2/26/08 e-mail Declined 3/19/08
Wisconsin-Madison - Physics - exp. CM/QIP - Accepted 2/10/08 snail mail + phone call Declined 3/19/08

Undergrad Institution: Top 25
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
Minor(s): Classical Literature
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.2
Length of Degree: 5 years

Master's Degree Institution: Small State School
Major(s): Physics
GPA: 3.96
Length of Degree: 2 years

GRE Scores:
Q: 670
V: 560
W: 3.5
P: 750

Research Experience: Some research in condensed matter theory. No publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Graduate) Fellowship from Graduate studies department, Special recognition in graduate studies (i.e. top in departmental graduating class).
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Graduate Assistant in several undergrad labs and tutorial sections.
Special Bonus Points: Pretty interesting and nicely written personal statement.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Also enrolled in classes at competitive (top 15) physics graduate school for master's degree.

Applying to Where:

UC Irvine - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail Declined
UIUC - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail Declined
Rutgers - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail + faculty email Declined
UC Riverside - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail + phone call Declined
UCSD - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail Declined
NYU - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail + faculty e-mail + phone call Declined
Columbia - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Accepted e-mail Will Attend
UCSB - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Rejected e-mail
UC Berkeley - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Rejected e-mail
UCLA - Physics - experimental condensed matter - Rejected e-mail

Undergrad Institution: Top 50 large public, top 40 or so in physics
Major(s): Physics, Math
GPA in Major: 3.90
Overall GPA: 3.80
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: Top 10% overall?
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 740
W: 5.5
P: 900

Research Experience: REU a couple years ago w/ 3rd author publication, current research expected to produce 2nd author
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Just the usual SPS blah blah
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Math tutor
Special Bonus Points: Lots of math classes...

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Damn good personal statement if I do say so myself. Haha...

Applying to Where (applying in high energy/astrophysics--less refined than in hindsight would have been advisable):

Berkeley - Physics - Accepted, going here 2/29, typical RA/TA, + small fellowship

UCSB - Physics - Accepted 2/25
Boulder - Physics - Accepted 2/22
Harvard - Physics - Rejected 3/4, email, response to my inquiry
Stanford - Physics - Rejected 2/29, email
Princeton - Physics - Rejected 2/25, email
Yale - Physics - Rejected 2/13, app website (not even a personal email! jerks!)
Cornell - Physics - Rejected 3/14, supposedly sent a letter 3/4

Undergrad Institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem (biggest university in Israel, ranked around 100th world-wide)
Major(s): Physics & Psychology & Classical Saxophone
Minor(s): No minors.
GPA in Physics: ~92/100
Overall GPA: ~90/100
Length of Degree: 3
Position in Class: Near top I would guess?
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores:
Q: 770
V: 510
W: 5.0
P: 760

TOEFL Total: 114/120

Research Experience: No publications. Did a pretty heavy seminar on analyzing music with physical tools (applying statistical mechanics, computer science and just a bunch of dimension reduction tools). Worked as a research assistant in an unrelated area (conducting psychological experiments for a professor in business administration).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: RA in non-related area

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I am not very focused on one topic, I think this was to my detriment.

Applying to Where:

Princeton - Physics - Theory - Rejected
UCSB - Physics - Theory - Rejected
Yale - Physics - Theory - Rejected
Cornell - Physics - Theory - Rejected
Stanford - Physics - Theory - Rejected
MIT - Physics - Theory -Rejected
UCLA - Physics - Theory - Awaiting Response
Columbia - Physics - Theory - Rejected
UPenn - Physics - Theory - Awaiting Response
Berkeley - Physics - Theory - Awaiting Response
CalTech - Physics - Theory - Awaiting Response
Harvard - Physics - Theory - Rejected

Undergrad Institution: Polytechnic University, Europe, not known for Physics
Major(s): Applied Mathematics
Minor: Physics
Overall GPA: 9.5/10
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: top
Type of Student: international, male

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 660
W: 4.5
P: 820

TOEFL (IBT) Total: 111/120

Research Experience: 1 term to write my thesis, (will do it as an exchange student in famous European university)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 5th place in national physics olympiad in high school, university awards for being the best in my class

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: have done 2 years of private tutoring (physics and mathematics lessons)

Special Bonus Points: Excellent recommendations. ("The best student we had for the last 5 years" order of magnitude.)

Applying to Where:
(All in Physics, theoretical physics, high energy theory)
MIT - rejected 3/5/2008 (snail mail)
Stanford - rejected 2/29/2008 (email)
CALTECH - rejected 3/21/2008 (email)
Univ. of Chicago - waiting - withdrawn 23/3/2008
UCSB - rejected 3/10/2008 (online)
Cornell - accepted 3/5/2008 (snail mail), offer accepted 23/3/2008
Berkeley - rejected 3/17/2008 (email)
Yale - rejected 2/13/2008 (email)
Princeton - rejected 2/25/2008 (email)
Harvard - rejected 3/10/2008 (email, response to my inquiry)
Columbia - rejected 3/7/2008 (email)

Undergrad Institution: Ivy
Major(s):Applied Physics
Minor(s):Economics
GPA in Major:3.9
Overall GPA:4.0 (A+'s are at my school 4.3 so that helped)
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: top 10%
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores:
Q:800
V:good but don't know off top of head
W:5.0 I think
P:910

Research Experience: Worked in a profs lab at my school for a year plus a summer but it was applied physics so I never had any chance to do any papers or anything. I worked in a machine shop and built circuits and figured that was what all undergrads had to do.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tau Beta Pi, Magna Cum Laude

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor, Paid lab work, lots of paid and unpaid technical theater

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: When turned into a Newt I got better and trust me that does help. They don't take newts I checked.

Special Bonus Points: No connections. None at all. Also I submitted my applications on the last day or two possible unaware that they reviewed them as they come it (turns out they do ).

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My plans to use my physics training to take over the world as less than benevolent dictator should not be in my application unless one of my recommenders mentioned it so no.

Applying to Where:

Harvard - Physics - Particle - waiting
MIT - Physics - Particle - waiting
Berkeley - Physics - Particle - waiting
Stanford - Physics - Particle - REJECTED around 3-1
Princeton - Physics - Particle - REJECTED around 2-25
Columbia - Physics - Particle - REJECTED 3-5
Cornell - Physics - Particle - REJECTED 2-27
______________________________________________

Undergrad Institution: Relatively Unknown Private Liberal Arts College with no physics Graduate Program
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.97
Overall GPA: 3.92
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: Top 10 probably
Type of Student: White Domestic Male

GRE Scores:
Q: 790
V: 670
W: 6.0
P: 780

Publications: Gave talk at a local conference on some of my HEP research. Co-presented a talk on computational physics with our Physics department head.

Research Experience: One summer of research in Quantum Optics. Summer research at CERN.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Pi Sigma, National Merit Scholar, Dean's List

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for two years in general physics and physics tutor. Worked in software development for a consulting firm.

Special Bonus Points: I'm fairly certain I had very good recommendations.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm 19 because I graduated from high school early... I don't know if this would have any effect though.

Applying to Where:

University of Michigan - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - upgraded to nice Fellowship - (offer declined)
University of Rochester - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted with very nice Fellowship - (offer declined)
Johns Hopkins University - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - Teaching Assistantship - (offer declined)
Purdue University - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - Teaching Assistantship - (offer declined)
University of Florida - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - (offer declined)
Texas A&M University - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - Teaching Assistantship - (offer declined)
Rice University - Physics - HEP Experimental - Rejected
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Physics - HEP Experimental - Accepted - Teaching Assistantship - (offer declined)

VERDICT: Received Fulbright grant to do research abroad for a year. Will apply again next year.

Hi everyone... Long time lurker, first time poster....

Undergrad Institution: Big School in Canada, in top 10. Has reputable Physics program
Major(s): Double major in Physics and Mathematics
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: top 5 in my school
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: pretty high, see overall GPA
Type of Student: Domestic Canadian... Mixed Asian background

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: 480 (opps!!)
W: 5.5
P: 870(2007) 490(2006)

Research Experience: Several University Labs, 3 research internships for a large oil company, and 2 summer research internships at Fermilab. I am also working fulltime as a scientist for a large oil company

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: award for high grades, award from work, award from the Canadian association of physicists

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Full time job, mentor high school students, and judged and organize science fairs

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nothing really... I do martial arts and I swim...but that doesn't really help

Special Bonus Points: I scored a perfect 100 percent(didn't make any mistakes all semester) in courses on tensor analysis, and elementary particle physics. Reference letters from a 'known' prof. and from a "high up" in the company I work for.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Only negative stuff.... but makes my admission results make some more sense. I started off at one school but transfered after 2 years. My GPA kind of sucked but there was some 'personal' reasons that made my time there sucky. Having my GPA increase significantly from school to school can/has been interpreted as meaning I transfered to an inferior program. Also note that the first time I wrote the GRE physics I did pretty bad. That didn't help me with the schools that averaged scores.

Applying to Where:

Princeton
------Accepted - Email, with stipend(early March)
Yale
------Accepted - Email, with stipend (end of February) - Offer Accepted
Cornell
------Rejected (mid March)
UCLA
------Rejected (late January)
UCSD
------Rejected(early April)
University of British Columbia
------Accepted - With stipend (mid January)
University of Western Ontario
------Accepted - With stipend (late March)
McGill
------Wait listed then Accepted (early April)

There you have it. It is now said and done. *note* I have edited this entry one final time to make it more accurate and less ambiguous, for the benefit of future students. Looking at test scores and marks doesn't tell the whole story and I think my application was certainly one of those cases.

Undergrad Institution: A technological institution, rank ~50
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.98
Length of Degree: 4 years
Type of Student: Intl (undergrad in the U.S.)

GRE Scores:
Q: 800
V: >700
W: 5.0
P: N/A (Not applying for physics Ph.D.)

Research Experience: ~2 years in 1 project, ~1 year in another

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Research-related + honor soc. etc. (nothing really big)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergrad RA + Undergrad TA

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Several first-authored & co-authored publications--all in well-known journal/ conf proc. Also, I have made myself useful in the organizing of departmental talks

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My SOP may have been important given that I am technically switching out of my major for grad school. I also know one of my advisors wrote a long, long, long letter for me-- not sure what's in it though.

Applying to Where:

Primary Interest: Computational Biology
9 grad programs- Accepted (3 are top 10, 4 are top 10-20, 2 top 20-30) : not specified to protect my anonymity.
Harvard SEAS- Rejected
My Final Choice- Cornell University

Undergrad Institution: small liberal arts college in the south, no reputation
Major(s): Physics and Math
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.95
Overall GPA: 3.83
Length of Degree: 5 years (could have graduated in 4, but for personal reasons I chose to wait)
Position in Class: top or near top
Type of Student: Domestic Male. 1/4 Hispanic, 3/4 Caucasian

GRE Scores:
Q: 760
V: 600
W: don't remember
P: 760

TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: 2 years of summer research at my school. Two presentations and one publication.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Physics scholarship from my university

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: physics and math tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: graduated early from high school

Special Bonus Points: minority

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have taken a good number of special directed classes in math and some in physics ( i.e. QFT I and II, differential topology, etc...)

Applying to Where:

Harvard -HEP Theory - waiting
Princeton -HEP Theory - rejected
UCSB - HEP Theory- rejected
Cornell - HEP Theory- accepted, free fellowship and TA position
UT - HEP Theory- accepted, TA position
Stony Brook - HEP Theory - accepted, TA position
MIT - HEP Theory - waiting

I hope this info helps international students weight their chances when applying for Ph.D. programs in the US and Canada.

Undergrad Institution: Private university in Peru
Graduate Institution: Big public university in The Netherlands (all the info below corresponds to this program, since I believe it is what was taken into account by admission committees when reviewing my file).
Major(s): M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 84%
Overall GPA: 84%
Length of Degree: 2 years
Position in Class: Near the top
Type of Student: International

GRE Scores:
Q: 790
V: 470
W: 4.5
P: 760 (69%) Yeah, yeah, I know, too low for having a masters degree, but, hey, I didn't have much time to study and I am just plain bad at written tests.

TOEFL Total: 114/120

Research Experience: Thesis written under the supervision of one of the professors of the string theory group at my university. No publications.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Big scholarship from the Dutch government, one scholarship from the university and one from the Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for undergraduate courses such as Electromagnetism, Physics 1 and 3.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: None that I can think of.

Special Bonus Points: Well-known recommenders within the string theory community. As part of my graduate program, I have already taken advanced courses.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Maybe the fact that I was invited with scholarships to attend two summer schools abroad when I was still an undergraduate in Peru? Although, I don't think it matters.

Applying to Where:

Stanford - Physics - String theory - Rejected
Caltech - Physics - String theory - Rejected
UCSB - Physics - String theory - Rejected (was really hoping for this one)
UCLA - Physics - String theory - Rejected
UPenn - Physics - String theory - Rejected
Columbia - Physics - String theory - Rejected
Austin - Physics - String theory - Haven't heard back from them and I really don't care anymore.
Brown - Physics - String theory - Accepted with usual TA position
Stony Brook - Physics - String theory - Accepted with usual TA position
Toronto - Physics - String theory - Accepted with usual TA position
McGill - Physics - String theory - Rejected
Perimeter Institute - Physics - String theory - Accepted (financial package to come)

Now that the whole process is over for me, I regret applying to some of the schools above, namely Caltech, Columbia and Austin. I think I just applied to them because of their overall reputation, rather than focusing on their string theory research, which is actually not close to my own interests.

Update: I decided to go to Perimeter.

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics
Minor(s): History
GPA in Major: 3.9
Overall GPA: 3.8
Length of Degree: 5 years
Position in Class: At the top
Type of Student: Male, domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 780
V: 570
W: 4.5
P: 590 (Yeah I suck but whatever)

Research Experience: Two and a half years working on 2 different condensed matter projects, and still more. One project for a professor modeling various non-linear systems.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Various scholarships for academics, NCAA Academic All American, Athletic conference all academic team awards.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 3 years of undergrad TA'ing for physics, one year for calc. 1 year of grading.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: nope

Special Bonus Points: Good recommendations, second author in a paper, presented my research as a talk at a fairly well known undergraduate research conference.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have some skill programming in Java, Scheme, VB, LabView, Mathematica, Maple, and Python.

Applying to Where:

Berkeley- Physics - Condensed matter- Rejected
Cornell - Physics - Condensed matter - Rejected
Colorado - Physics - condensed matter - Rejected
UIUC - Physics - condensed matter - Rejected
Indiana - Physics - condensed matter - Rejected
Minnesota - Physics - Condensed matter - rejected
Brown - Physics - condensed matter - rejected
Stony Brook - Physics - condensed matter - Accepted with usual TA position
Northeastern - Physics - condensed matter - Accepted with usual TA position
Washington State - Physics - condensed matter - Accepted with very nice fellowship offer.


I decided to attend Stony Brook.

Undergrad Institution: New England liberal arts school with 1 physics professor
Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.96
Length of Degree: 4
Position in Class: My school doesn't do this/i dunno
Type of Student: Domestic white male.

GRE Scores:
Q: 750
V: 640
W: 5.5
P: 780

Research Experience: 4 summer physics internships. Two summers in industry studying space radiation, one REU at mid ranked physics grad school doing cosmology, and one SULI program at highly ranked physics program doing exp. condensed matter.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Won an award at the end of the SULI program for being friendly, or something.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 3 years tutoring.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: A bunch of community service.

Special Bonus Points: Two letters come from internship advisers at different schools. This probably helped because on the smallness of my college. One internship adviser is director of an upcoming 400 million dollar physics project.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have taken like 10 courses from the professor at my school who wrote me a letter of recommendation.

Applying to Where:

Stanford - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
UC Davis - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
University of Maryland - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
Caltech - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
University of Chicago - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Rejected
UVA - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
Cornell - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign - Physics - Experimental Undecided - Accepted

I will be going to Stanford