People applying to top 3 schools (harvard, princeton, MIT)

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tphysicist
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People applying to top 3 schools (harvard, princeton, MIT)

Post by tphysicist » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:01 pm

hehehe
Last edited by tphysicist on Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

mp1984
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Post by mp1984 » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:31 pm

I'll be honest... With this A-, you should probably forget about top 5 schools... :roll:

mathlete
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Post by mathlete » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:38 pm

You're pretty much screwed I think.

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:15 am

perhaps i'm a bit too inebriated but...

wtf are you all talking about? physics 990, general gre great, and a 3.9 at a top ten.

perhaps my sarcasm meter is broken. you should be absolutely fine.

tphysicist
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Post by tphysicist » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:24 am

hehe
Last edited by tphysicist on Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

mathlete
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Post by mathlete » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:32 am

You should be intimidated. I got a 4.0 from Harvard with 990 GRE Physics, 800 Q/800 subject (6.0 analytic) along with 3 excellent recommendations (one from a Nobel Prize winner) and extensive research experience at the most prestigious universities in the nation, and I got rejected from MIT. They found out that my A in E&M was actually because of a curve the professor gave on the 2rd test (would have had an A- otherwise).

I wasn't kidding at all when I said you were screwed. A- takes you pretty much right to the bottom of the pack.

somebody
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Post by somebody » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:42 am

AMEN! to drinking and coming to physicsgre.com

tphysicist
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Post by tphysicist » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:43 am

lol, dude. come on. i'm being serious.

invidia
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Post by invidia » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:48 am

In fact, it'll will hurt your chances. I know a couple of Nobel Prize winners applying for Harvard and MIT. You got some insane competition.


If I was you, I would work my ass off to get a Nobel Prize and at least 10-11 papers to be published in Nature and Science magazines before applying for MIT's grad school.

Don't bother with Harvard until you win at least 3 Nobel Prizes. Two of them have to be in physics though.

somebody
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Post by somebody » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:50 am

i had letters from steve weinburg, frank wilczek, and one from julian schwinger from when he was alive (i did some theoretical work on cold fusion at age eight) and got rejected from mit

invidia
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Post by invidia » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:54 am

My grandfather was rejected from Princeton for having only a 3.94 GPA. Even when he was recommended by Einstein and Planck personally to the grad committee.

He was again recommended by the 2 same people with Schrodinger behind him. Rejected again.


So yeah, nobel prizes and several published articles in Science and Nature before applying. Make sure you get recommendations from at least 3 Nobel Winners.

somebody
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Post by somebody » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:56 am

also, don't even think of applying for theory if you don't have a fields metal

mathlete
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Post by mathlete » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:58 am

I've heard that MIT has now begun preemptively rejecting everyone. Nobody else will be allowed into MIT again. Part of the problem stems from the the fact that the admissions committed at MIT rejected themselves from admitting anyone into the school because they found out they admitted non-perfect students in the past. It must be true, I heard it from a good source.

tphysicist
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Post by tphysicist » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:59 am

hahaha

somebody
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Post by somebody » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:03 am

actually, you're best bet might be to stop studying physics and focus on your beer pong shooting skills, i hear the physics department at mit is tired of losing in pong to the math department and will bend the admission rules to allow in good players who would turn the tide in the great rivalry

artschoolapplicant
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Post by artschoolapplicant » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:05 am

Basis for comparison:

I'm applying to those schools too!

GPA: 2.6 from a top 158 mail-in diploma college

GREs: 340 Phys.(2nd percentile) 420 Verbal, 410 Quantitative Analytical Writing, 0.5

Research experience with my imaginary friends that yielded two papers entitled "Flashy Things That Go Zoom" and "Molly Mittens and Her Quantum Kittens"

Superpowers: can blink many times in rapid succession

somebody
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Post by somebody » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:29 am

i think your original research makes you a strong candidate for admission

Daharoni
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Post by Daharoni » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:29 am

I am crying right now... so funny.

One thing is for sure, we all know we are having more sex than the original poster (even the virgins out there)... Makes you feel better about yourself, doesn't it?
Last edited by Daharoni on Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

tphysicist
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Post by tphysicist » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:32 am

lol. to everyone's surprise, i have a girlfriend and she's quite beautiful.

Daharoni
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Post by Daharoni » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:39 am

Is her name Righty or Lefty?

But in all seriousness, it bugs people that you posted this topic, not because you have better scores than us, but because you are using this question as a facade to brag. What possible advice do you think you would get? Do you really think anyone or school gives a damn about your A-... the answer is NO.

So next time, just post a topic "Hey, let my application stats *** you in the ass" and be done with it.

schmit.paul
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Post by schmit.paul » Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:28 am

...
Last edited by schmit.paul on Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

appliedphysgirl
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To schmit.paul

Post by appliedphysgirl » Fri Dec 15, 2006 2:36 am

i love your post. And I hear you, I am eager to completing my applications so that I can drown in cosmopolitans, to end the suffering of course.

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 3:49 am

cosmos? come on. gotta be either sam adams or hoegaarden.

/ in boston, gotta have the sam adams
// with physics, gotta have any alcohol

somebody
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Post by somebody » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:42 am

straight everclear

schmit.paul
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Post by schmit.paul » Fri Dec 15, 2006 10:29 am

...
Last edited by schmit.paul on Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

appliedphysgirl
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Post by appliedphysgirl » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:23 pm

What is wrong with Cosmos? Have you tried them? I am not a fan of beer but if I do see a good one, I'll try it. Anyway, how common do you think it is for physics grad students to drink? I was in colorado for the summer and the students there did not look the drinking type, so I stayed sober this past summer since I felt kind of bad for wanting alcohol :D . I am asking because according to the past posts, I am not alone. :D

soluyanov
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Post by soluyanov » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:50 pm

appliedphysgirl, may be those guys were simply... drug addicts? A shot of vodka would harm their sublimation)))).

I'd better read cosmo, than study with non drinking pals.

8)

schmit.paul
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Post by schmit.paul » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:29 pm

I think a fair share of the physics prof's at my school have well-established drinking habits, and scarred livers are standard issue for all of the student body (I am actually one of the tamer souls), so I think the idea that physics drives most people to drinking isn't too far-off of a generalization...

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:49 pm

i was just at harvard about an hour ago turning in a damn form i forgot from my application. the phones there are ringing off the hook it seems, and they only have 2 people as far as i could tell answering the phones.

just thought anyone applying to harvard would want to know this.
also, for some strange reason, there were about 234234 harvard marching band members getting on the subway to go somewhere in downtown boston. it was almost surreal.

artschoolapplicant
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Post by artschoolapplicant » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:27 pm

I know which form you're talking about.
I just mailed it...
we'll see what happens

and i was one of the people talking to those two people.

weee.

oh, and the servers for applyweb harvard started crashing at 3:00

slee
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Post by slee » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:44 pm

was that the signature form? mailed mine in a couple of days ago.

on the other hand, i also had to call harvard because one of my rec letter writers was cutting it close...but he did get it in on time. apparently it's ok if they get it next week, though

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:56 pm

it wasnt the signature form ...i turned that in yesterday.

it was the form talking about your courses + books for the courses that the physics and astronomy depts. require. pretty annoying.

and that really sucks about the server crashing. i got my cornell app in at 2:30 today, so i guess i missed the website going down.

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:48 pm

also, cosmos are actually good. but i'm a guy, so i have to have my man-drinks e.g. beer and publicly disdain anything that tastes good :P

also my kinda fruity friend who majored in int'l political economy and african studies at georgetown and at one time sported a handlebar mustache loves the cosmos. thats another contributing factor to my faux disdain.

skozmedia
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hmmm

Post by skozmedia » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:13 pm

Whoops!
Last edited by skozmedia on Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:44 pm

no. the harvard application for physics and astronomy required a listing of "your 4 most advanced classes in physics or astronomy and your two most advanced in mathematics"

rjharris
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Post by rjharris » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:44 pm

oh. with books too.

schmit.paul
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Post by schmit.paul » Sat Dec 16, 2006 5:00 am

yep, it's true, I think I attached mine with the rest of my online applications in the supplementary documents section, if there was such a section (I submitted the app a month and a half ago so i don't quite remember)...i think i actually just added it to the end of my academic resume. At least they were nice enough to let me send in a revised statement of purpose when I accidentally attached my stanford statement to the harvard app...

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:16 am

a classic thread from last year

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mrclean
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Post by mrclean » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:18 am

Pulling up threads from last year? You must be bored.

tnoviell
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Post by tnoviell » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:18 am

I remember these people. They were a lot less colorful than this year's batch.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:21 am

OMG mrclean I LOVE your avatar!

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:21 am

actually, I was trying to see when people last year started hearing from harvard

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will
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Post by will » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:22 am

with your gigantic internet eye?

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mrclean
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Post by mrclean » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:27 am

Gigantic internet eye? You could give it like, an iris mounted laser and monkey proof welding. It'd be great for reconnaissance applications.

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grae313
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Post by grae313 » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:28 am

yes

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twistor
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Post by twistor » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:15 am

with your gigantic internet eye?
Seriously, every time I see one of grae313's posts I feel like I'm living in a surrealist painting. Just for fun I printed out two of grae's avatar eyes and taped them over my dog's real eyes and took her for a walk.



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