April 15th approahes

  • This has become our largest and most active forum because the physics GRE is just one aspect of getting accepted into a graduate physics program.
  • There are applications, personal statements, letters of recommendation, visiting schools, anxiety of waiting for acceptances, deciding between schools, finding out where others are going, etc.

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nathan12343
Posts: 249
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:34 am

April 15th approahes

Post by nathan12343 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:30 pm

So at this point, I've managed to narrow down my offers to two choices, University of Hawaii and UC Santa Cruz and I'm agonizing over the final choice. Anyone else in my position? Any clever ideas to narrow it down? Any stories from previous years?

murs
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:48 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by murs » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:37 pm

I got rejected by SC so I am not in your position, but they are both in beautiful areas if that helps.

One word of advice I read off here and really liked was to flip a coin, and right before it lands see which school you are hoping it lands on.

tensorwhat
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:33 pm

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by tensorwhat » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:46 pm

Sounds like a tough choice, except whenever you'd want to leave hawaii it'll cost you a shitload (unless you don't have to worry about that)

nathan12343
Posts: 249
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:34 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by nathan12343 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:00 pm

Both are good, I'm certainly leaning toward Hawaii right now. I also should say that this is for astrophysics, but anyone here who is in a similar position should post and commiserate!
tensorwhat wrote:Sounds like a tough choice, except whenever you'd want to leave Hawaii it'll cost you a shitload (unless you don't have to worry about that)
Many of the students I met there said that they liked to combine trips to conferences (AAS, AGU) with trips home. That way you're only paying for airfare from wherever the conference is while your advisor pays for airfare to and from Hawaii.
murs wrote: One word of advice I read off here and really liked was to flip a coin, and right before it lands see which school you are hoping it lands on.
Yeah, I think Sean Carroll gave that advice (or similar) on his blog. I'm hoping to be a bit more rational about the decision, but I see the logic behind that sort of exercise.

milkyway
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:39 pm

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by milkyway » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:43 pm

I would compare how Hawaii grad students do in the job market compared to Santa Cruz grad students. How do they both do at placing their students? I think Santa Cruz students do very well... they have 3 Hubble fellows this year! I am not as sure about Hawaii.

anerac
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:18 pm

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by anerac » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:44 pm

astrophysics exp or theory? i lived in hawaii most of my life, and now live in sc. pm me if you have any specific questions.

nathan12343
Posts: 249
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:34 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by nathan12343 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:38 pm

anerac wrote:astrophysics exp or theory? i lived in hawaii most of my life, and now live in sc. pm me if you have any specific questions.
I'm leaning toward exp., but I don't want to be too constrained in that area, so that's a downside for Hawaii. On the other hand, I'm not very interested in galaxies at this point and that seems to be what most of the faculty who are mostly into observations are doing at Santa Cruz. On the other hand, CFAO and LAO are at Santa Cruz, along with many other interesting instrumentation people/projects. I may PM you as we get closer to the 15th, right now I'm too busy working on my thesis to be too seriously thinking about this.

Maxwells_Demon
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:09 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by Maxwells_Demon » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:45 pm

Is it a possibility that some schools will call a student on April 14 to offer an acceptance?

Is it possible for schools to offer an acceptance after April 15, like April 16th? It would probably be pretty complicated if something like this happened...

-Maxwell's Demon

valkyrie
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:50 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by valkyrie » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:27 pm

Maxwells_Demon wrote:Is it a possibility that some schools will call a student on April 14 to offer an acceptance?
Yes. In fact it happened to a friend of mine last year. He knew he was on the waitlist for this school, but had already accepted an offer at a different place. Kind of sucky, but he's happy the way it turned out.

sterculus
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Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:16 am

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by sterculus » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:54 pm

I think that it happens quite a bit as students make decisions close to the deadline, and then decline some schools who in turn make offers last minute to those on the wait list.

milkyway
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:39 pm

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by milkyway » Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:15 pm

This does happen to people on the waitlist, it won't happen to people who have already been denied admission. In general, it is okay to accept admission one place, and then if you're made a late offer by somewhere else, you can switch. Schools know this kind of thing happens. The important part is to accept that first offer by April 15, or you risk losing your spot at the place that's already accepted you.

activegalaxybuff
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:38 pm

Re: April 15th approahes

Post by activegalaxybuff » Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:56 pm

milkyway wrote:This does happen to people on the waitlist, it won't happen to people who have already been denied admission.
Don't be so sure. UF has, in the past, offered admission to their first and second rounds, then have to go all the way through their waitlist and still not fill up their class. So, they went back and re-evaluated students they rejected and offered them admission. I can tell you that there are several graduate students there now who received a rejection letter, and in some cases two letters, and were then offered admission. Just don't bank on it happening...

Usual disclaimer: this is an astronomy department, not physics...



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