8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

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WhoaNonstop
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8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:05 am

I promised I would do a thread about my reasons for choosing William & Mary over Brown. I will start with 8 reasons why I think why William and Mary and the surrounding area is a wonderful place (some jokingly). After that I will give more details about why I chose W&M instead of Brown.

If you're looking for my reason in choosing W&M over Brown you can scroll to the bottom.

1. Underrated - I am not saying that William & Mary should be ranked as a top 20 school, but I definitely think it deserves more attention! If you look through applicant profiles on here you'll find very few people who actually apply to William & Mary. There is a good range of research being done and even though I plan to work with a specific person there, I must say I was interested in many of the other projects as well. With Jefferson Lab just a few miles down the road, the school is a great choice for anyone interested in nuclear. The NASA Langley research center is also located nearby.

2. Beauty - During my time debating about which schools I should apply to, I made up a list of "non-academic" things I would like to have present at the school I attended. One of them was a beautiful campus. Of course, this would not be given a lot of weight, but did hold some value. In fact, if you look through the schools I applied to, the majority of them were found on some ranking system for most beautiful school. (William & Mary, Princeton, Santa Cruz, Virginia, etc) When I arrived at William & Mary, I must admit I was very impressed. Of course, considering I come from Nebraska all the school had to do was look better than a row of cornfields. However, I did get the chance to stop at Virginia and I visited Brown as well, and it was clear to me that W&M seemed to have the nicest setting.

3. Weather - In Nebraska, it gets cold and although sometimes the cold is preferable, a constant temperature below freezing is not (Nobody likes their balls in their stomach). For those of you who are contemplating attending schools in the midwest who are use to living on the coast, I must warn you; it gets much colder without the ocean beside you. You can expect similar latitudes to be on average 10 - 15 degrees colder inland. Although I've heard the humidity is pretty bad during the summer, Williamsburg seems to have an overall decent climate.

4. Restaurants - I love food. I'm sure most people can agree that they enjoy food to some extent. Considering the size of Williamsburg, it has a slew of restaurants. I'm fairly certain that I could eat at a new place once every week and it would take me 2 years just to try them all. The large amount of restaurants is due to the large amount of tourism in the area.

5. Women in Physics - A few years ago when I was first contemplating graduate schools, I was panning through some websites with a friend, looking for the school that contained the most women in a physics graduate program. Funny enough, W&M was definitely a step above the rest! One time a graduate student said to me that it is "unfair that girls in physics always have the pick of the crop of guys in physics". Although I know we aren't all interested in someone in the same field, statistically W&M is a good choice for someone who is looking for that mate in physics. (I, myself, cruised over to the art department to check out the current students there. =])

6. History - Now I am not a huge history person. However, I must admit that Williamsburg is easily the most historical place to visit in the United States. Therefore, if you're close to your family, it gives them a great incentive to come visit you!

7. Waterpark - Alright, so you don't think it's typical for a Physics student to be excited about a waterpark right? When there is a major waterpark within 5 miles of your research laboratory, how can you not be excited? Do you know how many chicks you could pick up by taking a physics book and just tanning all day, flashing off your brain muscle? Neither do I, but I sure as hell will be finding out this summer.

8. Negru - Most importantly, Negru will not be attending W&M.

So I know a few people have sent me private messages about what I thought of Brown University and why I would choose William & Mary over Brown. First of all, let me admit that both W&M and Brown have wonderful research. The people at both schools were overwhelmingly friendly and the atmosphere was great in both of the physics departments. To be honest, I was quite surprised by Brown. Although I realize it does not typically rank as a top tier graduate school in research, I was surprised by the amount of quality projects that were being done there. In fact, the person who I was primarily interested in working with, turned out to be a very welcoming person. I did not expect this. Overall, Brown was amazing. If I was choosing a program based on reputation and research alone, I would probably be at Brown. Even though I believe W&M is greatly underrated, I feel that Brown has a little bit more going for it research wise (at least in condensed matter, not sure about other fields). Also, having the name of Brown on your degree is definitely worth something (at least for people not in physics). So why did I choose W&M over Brown? The reason why I choose W&M over Brown is due to my own comfort and happiness. Although I realize that Providence is not a huge city, it is still not what I am use to. Williamsburg just had a wonderful feel to it; a place where I could be for 5-6 years and literally enjoy every day of it. Happiness is commonly overlooked in choosing a program and I urge you all to take it into account as you look at your schools. On one end I do realize the importance of quality research, but having a degree from xTopRankedUniversityx is not worth it if it claims your own personal happiness. Stop focusing so much on ranks, if you feel happier at Cornell rather than Princeton, by all means choose Cornell!

-Riley

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midwestphysics
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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by midwestphysics » Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:36 am

Great analysis, very entertaining and yet informative about the school at the same time. I'd agree completely with the concept of picking a location that makes you happy over somewhere else with a bigger name. Though W&M may not be underrated very much longer, you're going to bump it up a couple spots with those sweet glasses alone. :D

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by bfollinprm » Thu Mar 24, 2011 6:56 am

WhoaNonstop wrote:With Jefferson Lab just a few miles down the road, the school is a great choice for anyone interested in nuclear.
To be honest, if the NRC knew what the hell they were doing and ranked subfields, W&M would almost certainly be top-5 for medium-energy physics (other than Michigan State, J-lab seems to be the only place getting money to do nuclear).

WhoaNonstop wrote:Also, having the name of Brown on your degree is definitely worth something (at least for people not in physics).
In the south, the only schools people consider better than W&M are UVA, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Duke (probably in that order). And you'll find plenty of people that put William and Mary second on that list behind UVA.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by tady » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:19 am

Thanks for your comments WhoaNonStop. Not sure if you got my message or not, but I appreciate all the helpful guidance and knowledge you provide to this forum. Good luck at W&M!
Last edited by tady on Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by laser » Thu Mar 24, 2011 2:58 pm

Excellent choice :) I did my REU there, it is a beautiful campus, good people, and I very much miss being there. Be sure to check out Aroma's, it is a good place within walking distance to sit, drink coffee, and get some reading/work done.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by axiomofchoice » Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:13 pm

laser wrote:Excellent choice :) I did my REU there, it is a beautiful campus, good people, and I very much miss being there. Be sure to check out Aroma's, it is a good place within walking distance to sit, drink coffee, and get some reading/work done.
Their REU is low pay though :P the lowest (about ~$3000 for the entire summer, if I remember correctly) I seen when I was applying. I cannot figure out why since NSF pays the same money per REU student to all institutions.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by fredri36 » Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:47 pm

Riley-

Are you interested in CME at W&M (as I remember reading in profiles)? If so, what research group are you looking at joining in a year? I have been accepted there, and just returned from a faculty visit & campus tour. I've got to say they have a smallish group (5 members, one of which it seems is near retirement, and another who doesn't take grad students anymore). That reduces the pickings to three research groups in CME, one of which is just starting off there. Do you think a graduate student in this field will be able to choose his research? For instance, how would you compare the CME research prospect at W&M vs CME research at NCSU?

Don't get me wrong, W&M is a great pick and there seems to be lots of experiments going on, CME or otherwise.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by TheBeast » Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:32 pm

WhoaNonstop wrote: Do you know how many chicks you could pick up by taking a physics book and just tanning all day, flashing off your brain muscle? Neither do I, but I sure as hell will be finding out this summer.
Please publish the findings of this experiment once you complete it. I think that it would be of great interest to the scientific community. It might also be interesting to see whether the results are dramatically different if you are reading a copy of Pride and Prejudice.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by tady » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:34 pm

TheBeast wrote:
WhoaNonstop wrote: Do you know how many chicks you could pick up by taking a physics book and just tanning all day, flashing off your brain muscle? Neither do I, but I sure as hell will be finding out this summer.
Please publish the findings of this experiment once you complete it. I think that it would be of great interest to the scientific community. It might also be interesting to see whether the results are dramatically different if you are reading a copy of Pride and Prejudice.
I'm not sure how flashing "brain muscle" will increase your upper body strength to "pick up" chicks. Furthermore, it is always safer to lift with your legs than your back, however, make certain your back maintains its natural lordosis.... :)

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:07 am

fredri36 wrote:Riley-

Are you interested in CME at W&M (as I remember reading in profiles)? If so, what research group are you looking at joining in a year? I have been accepted there, and just returned from a faculty visit & campus tour. I've got to say they have a smallish group (5 members, one of which it seems is near retirement, and another who doesn't take grad students anymore). That reduces the pickings to three research groups in CME, one of which is just starting off there. Do you think a graduate student in this field will be able to choose his research? For instance, how would you compare the CME research prospect at W&M vs CME research at NCSU?

Don't get me wrong, W&M is a great pick and there seems to be lots of experiments going on, CME or otherwise.
I am mostly interested in CME, but have contemplated doing AMO as well. However, I do plan to start with Dr. Lukaszew's group at W&M. I have a fairly good background in the type of research she is doing so I will be trying to get into her group as soon as possible. If for some reason things do not work out there (which I'd be very surprised if not), there are other groups that I am interested in (both AMO and CME).

In the physics department, there are 5 CME groups. I was informed that Kossler, the person retiring, would be replaced by a new CME person. This should be somewhat exciting for new graduate students, as whoever they will be hiring will definitely need students by the time you get through courses. Remember, it isn't typical for people to jump straight into research and even though W&M only requires a year of teaching, I'd say it's common for most graduate students to teach two years before joining a research group fully.

I'm assuming Manos is the person not taking any new students as I did not meet with him.

In the physics department, this leaves Qazilbash, Hoatson, and Lukaszew. Qazilbash seems to be a relatively new hire as well and from what I understand seems to be waiting to move his equipment into the new building. I find all three of these groups to be quite nice and honestly, I am interested in all of them.

However, do not forget that W&M has a wonderful applied science program with a lot of CME type research. In fact, I even applied to both the applied science program and physics program. In either program you can work across departments. I think there are about 4-5 more groups in applied science that are basically CME.

As far in comparison to NCSU, I don't have much knowledge of what they have available. I did a quick look at their research and noticed they seem to concentrate more on biophysics and/or soft condensed matter. Of course, their program is also bigger, roughly twice the size, so you should expect there to be about twice as many research projects that interest you there.

In general, a student does not always get to choose his research group. Of course, if the student has preferences, he should pursue them as quickly as possible. Although most research groups are looking for students, this is not always the case and sometimes your top choice might not need students. This is for all schools in general, W&M and NCSU. I would say for anyone considering a school, there should be at least three different groups you are interested in (unless you have 9 years of background in solo-luminescence and you've already planned out the next 6 years of your research with Professor W on the subject, since he is the expert on solo-luminescence). It would be very rare for all three groups not to need students.

In any case, go with what feels right for you. W&M was the better choice for me, but it may not be for you. Let me know if you have anymore questions or if there is something I missed.

-Riley

P.S. - You know you wanna go babe watching with me at the water park.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:12 am

tady wrote:
TheBeast wrote:
WhoaNonstop wrote: Do you know how many chicks you could pick up by taking a physics book and just tanning all day, flashing off your brain muscle? Neither do I, but I sure as hell will be finding out this summer.
Please publish the findings of this experiment once you complete it. I think that it would be of great interest to the scientific community. It might also be interesting to see whether the results are dramatically different if you are reading a copy of Pride and Prejudice.
I'm not sure how flashing "brain muscle" will increase your upper body strength to "pick up" chicks. Furthermore, it is always safer to lift with your legs than your back, however, make certain your back maintains its natural lordosis.... :)
Your brain muscle can work wonderfully to pick up chicks. In fact, the last time I hooked up with a chick and brought her back to my place, she was enthralled with the pulley system I had built in order to lift her onto the bed. Well, it was either that or the fact that she enjoyed being tied up to it...

-Riley

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by laser » Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:01 am

axiomofchoice wrote:
laser wrote:Excellent choice :) I did my REU there, it is a beautiful campus, good people, and I very much miss being there. Be sure to check out Aroma's, it is a good place within walking distance to sit, drink coffee, and get some reading/work done.
Their REU is low pay though :P the lowest (about ~$3000 for the entire summer, if I remember correctly) I seen when I was applying. I cannot figure out why since NSF pays the same money per REU student to all institutions.
I honestly don't remember how much it paid (though if I recall correctly there were several programs that did pay less). It was enough to pay my rent back home (I wasn't able to sublet my apartment and didn't want to break my lease) and pay my expenses while I was there. I wasn't exactly doing it for the money anyway. If I was, I wouldn't have quit my day job to go back to school and study physics full time in the first place :D I had visited their campus years and years ago and remembered it being beautiful and wanted to go back. So what if it didn't pay a lot? That said, I agree, I don't understand why there is so much of a range in pay among REU programs.

(incidentally I'm glad to be taking time off to work for a couple years before going to grad school... I miss making money)

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by vesperlynd » Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:44 am

Congrats on your decision, Riley! You should post in SSM's thread.
Last edited by vesperlynd on Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by tady » Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:25 am

Hah. Pulley system? I see you have a particular flavor of women when it comes to mass. Did she undergo gravitational collapse and become a black hole? Was there a lot of "tension" in the room?

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:48 pm

tady wrote:particular flavor of women
Dipped in chocolate.

-Riley

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by tady » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:01 pm

Damnit Riley. You win this round, sir.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by sphy » Sat Mar 26, 2011 1:17 am

WhoaNonstop wrote: 5. Women in Physics - .... W&M is a good choice for someone who is looking for that mate in physics. (I, myself, cruised over to the art department to check out the current students there. =])
.....IS That why the name is William and Mary?
Have great life there.


Hm, when will be my turn...? come on God, it's late.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:48 pm

I just wanted to make an additional statement about Brown after contacting them about my decision. Although in no means do I think this represents the department as a whole the message I received from one professor about my decision perturbed me. After giving a short description of my preferences for attending W&M over Brown (something similar to the above, except condensed into a few lines), I received this response:

"I actually understand your rationale, Riley, although I cannot say
that this decision is the best for yourself physics wise."

Perhaps this does not come off as alarming to anyone else, but I just felt it was a little unprofessional. I don't think it should sway anyone deciding on Brown though, it's a wonderful school.

-Riley

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by midwestphysics » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:51 pm

That's messed up, so much for community camaraderie.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by negru » Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:02 pm

Oh noes, someone was honest and told you something you yourself concluded just a few posts above?

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:49 pm

negru wrote:Oh noes, someone was honest and told you something you yourself concluded just a few posts above?
Even though I have concluded that Brown probably has a "slightly" stronger program (in general) than W&M, I think there is a certain standard in academia to make appropriate comments.

-Riley

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by negru » Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:04 pm

just to take a guess, the prof was either not american or was older? there people usually care less about being phony

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by quizivex » Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:21 pm

"was either not american or was older"... well that's an easy prediction since old and/or foreign covers most physics profs. lol

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by frlz23 » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:36 pm

quizivex wrote:"was either not american or was older"... well that's an easy prediction since old and/or foreign covers most physics profs. lol
Which would make it all the more embarrassing were he to be wrong.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by ol » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:46 pm

negru wrote:Oh noes, someone was honest and told you something you yourself concluded just a few posts above?
negru wrote:just to take a guess, the prof was either not american or was older? there people usually care less about being phony
Why do I get the feeling you actually know who wrote that?

Not saying you wrote it (in fact, I highly doubt it :wink: ), but you certainly go on this forum and say whatever you feel like saying without any regard for what people might think. You must be entitled to do that right, because you're a foreigner and you think you're so wonderful because you're studying high energy theory?

There's a certain standard of decorum that should be met, whether it be some professor or some student. Clearly you never learned anything about proper manners.

As for the prof who wrote that email -- it's none of their business why someone chose to go somewhere else, and it's not their life.
Last edited by ol on Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by bfollinprm » Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:07 am

WhoaNonstop wrote:I just wanted to make an additional statement about Brown after contacting them about my decision. Although in no means do I think this represents the department as a whole the message I received from one professor about my decision perturbed me. After giving a short description of my preferences for attending W&M over Brown (something similar to the above, except condensed into a few lines), I received this response:

"I actually understand your rationale, Riley, although I cannot say
that this decision is the best for yourself physics wise."

Perhaps this does not come off as alarming to anyone else, but I just felt it was a little unprofessional. I don't think it should sway anyone deciding on Brown though, it's a wonderful school.

-Riley
Although it can certainly be taken as charged, ivy-generated hubris, it could be all he's really saying is just that: he thinks brown is a better fit for you "physics-wise". Which I guess means research. And a professor is allowed to think that his research best fits your interest and stated professional goals. It really doesn't have to be an attack on W&M's credentials.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by ol » Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:10 am

bfollinprm wrote:
WhoaNonstop wrote:I just wanted to make an additional statement about Brown after contacting them about my decision. Although in no means do I think this represents the department as a whole the message I received from one professor about my decision perturbed me. After giving a short description of my preferences for attending W&M over Brown (something similar to the above, except condensed into a few lines), I received this response:

"I actually understand your rationale, Riley, although I cannot say
that this decision is the best for yourself physics wise."

Perhaps this does not come off as alarming to anyone else, but I just felt it was a little unprofessional. I don't think it should sway anyone deciding on Brown though, it's a wonderful school.

-Riley
Although it can certainly be taken as charged, ivy-generated hubris, it could be all he's really saying is just that: he thinks brown is a better fit for you "physics-wise". Which I guess means research. And a professor is allowed to think that his research best fits your interest and stated professional goals. It really doesn't have to be an attack on W&M's credentials.
I disagree. He thinks Brown is higher ranked than W&M, and it will affect Riley's future in the field.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by negru » Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:59 am

ol wrote:
negru wrote:Oh noes, someone was honest and told you something you yourself concluded just a few posts above?
negru wrote:just to take a guess, the prof was either not american or was older? there people usually care less about being phony
Why do I get the feeling you actually know who wrote that?

Not saying you wrote it (in fact, I highly doubt it :wink: ), but you certainly go on this forum and say whatever you feel like saying without any regard for what people might think. You must be entitled to do that right, because you're a foreigner and you think you're so wonderful because you're studying high energy theory?

There's a certain standard of decorum that should be met, whether it be some professor or some student. Clearly you never learned anything about proper manners.

As for the prof who wrote that email -- it's none of their business why someone chose to go somewhere else, and it's not their life.
no, proper decorum is just not showing up naked in class. what does it have to do with being honest and/or straightforward? If you can't take it, cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it.
jesus the world is getting filled with wussies. my favorite prof in college was an emeritus who filled in one of our classes, and when people failed his exams en masse he wasn't afraid to call them names and the worst generation of students he'd seen in his entire lifetime.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by ol » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:08 am

negru wrote:jesus the world is getting filled with wussies.
Let me be straightforward and honest with you - you are a prick. And you're the wuss for not filling in more of your profile. What are you too afraid that someone will recognize you, and will read all of your other moronic posts?
Last edited by ol on Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:43 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by negru » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:12 am

ol wrote:
negru wrote:jesus the world is getting filled with wussies.
Let me be straightforward and honest with you - you are a prick. And you're the wuss for not filling in more of your profile. What are you too afraid that someone will recognize you, and will read all of your other moronic posts?
said the guy with no profile at all

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by ol » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:14 am

negru wrote:
ol wrote:
negru wrote:jesus the world is getting filled with wussies.
Let me be straightforward and honest with you - you are a prick. And you're the wuss for not filling in more of your profile. What are you too afraid that someone will recognize you, and will read all of your other moronic posts?
said the guy with no profile at all
lol. you are naive. I'm not the one yapping about all the crap that you are in your posts. But to make you feel better, I'm still waiting to hear from one school, and then I will post it. Happy?

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by tady » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:50 am

Who pissed in ol's Wheaties?

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by fredri36 » Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:40 am

Riley-

1) Lucaszew's group looks awesome, agreed. As does Qazilbash's as-to-be freshly set-up laser lab & Hoatson's huge electromagnet facility. Overall, very intriguing gadgetry.

2) I beg to differ on the Kossler's retirement issue. I got the impression Qazilbash was his replacement. Although Kossler informed me he intends to potentially continue his muon experiment, as opposed to retiring immediately (physics has a way of keeping you scratching your head & it's scary how much of a way of life it can become). He seems like the wizened veteran of the awesome task force that is CME @ W&M.

3) I was informed by Wouter that Manos is recently too busy for grad student advisorship.

4) The applied science seems like a potential career path for me, & Dr. Loupke's research seems swell.

5) This is evidence of the ridiculous funding for the NCSU Physics CME Research Facilities:

http://www.physics.ncsu.edu/clarke/ (Just look at that *** picture. There is some REAL physics in going on there.)

http://3440268229197975472-a-1802744773 ... edirects=0

http://carbon.physics.ncsu.edu/category ... echniques/


What do you say? I'm currently mulling over this decision & haven't made any progress. Hopefully the trip down there this weekend will help to sort things out.

-Zach

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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by WhoaNonstop » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:03 pm

Zach,

Kossler will be replaced by someone else, eventually. It may be 2-3 years (or even more) but I know there will be a new condensed matter person coming in. Schools definitely do not hire replacements until the other professor is gone, so Qazilbash is the replacement of another professor, Schone. I think you should contact someone at W&M to get the full details of this, as of course I only have the information from my visit.

As far as funding goes, I think you should be careful at how you determine that. If you look at gradschoolshopper.com you can find some decent information on how much funding the physics program has overall:

William & Mary:
http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/228.pdf

NCSU:
http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/165.pdf

Roughly 5 million @ W&M and roughly 9 million @ NCSU. If you look at the number of people/faculty in the programs, you'll see that these numbers are very similar. Also, remember this doesn't take into account additional research being done in other similar programs on the campus (such as Applied Science at W&M). I'm sure there are other people you can work with outside of physics at NCSU as well.

Of course there is a lot of other useful information in these documents.

In the pictures you have linked, I'm nearly positive Lukasjew has a similar apparatus as in the second picture.

Anyways, what I would suggest is go through a few people at W&M and at NCSU and see if they've produced papers over the past 5 years (hopefully many papers) and have recent funding. If you can find 2, maybe 3, research groups that interest you at each school that have produced papers, then that school should be a good option. From there it really should become a choice of personal preference and setting.

For example, if you attended a larger school, you'll probably be more interested in NCSU. I come from a smaller undergraduate university, so W&M feels much more comfortable than any state school. Since you seem to be from the area, I think it is a must that you visit both of the schools. I would think this would easily make the decision for you. I truly think you, yourself are more interested in NCSU, just from your enthusiasm about the school.

In either case, remember there is always someone sitting around waiting to be taken off a waitlist, so when you have all the information, make your decision as promptly as possible.

And trust me, I have no reason to push you either way on this decision. As much as I'd love to encourage people to attend W&M, I don't want to hear bitching about it being the wrong choice later down the road when I'm out trying to enjoy the babes at Water Country USA.

-Riley

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fredri36
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Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by fredri36 » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:41 pm

Riley-

You're likely right about Kossler's replacement, & this is good news.

I looked at this data much earlier in the process in the book at the physics secretary's office at my school, & came to these conclusions about these schools, but had since forgotten about the breakdown of expenditures per specialty. Looks like for Combined CME / Nano & AMO you see what you'd expect proportionally, what you wrote earlier. The gradschoolshopper website doesn't have this.

Lukaszew's group has one of these awesome combination CVD / Scattering chambers in the lab similar to the one I posted. I wonder if they factored the huge $1.75 million research grant she was awarded into expenditures data... I'd guess not, since it's the feds paying, and not the university.

I come from a huge (in terms of population) state school but much prefer the smaller atmosphere for a change. The recreational activities seem to be more than enough from a school 1/10th the size I'm used to... (that's if there's enough time left over after physics to sail or play ultimate frisbee).

As for preference, W&M's been my number one through the process, because of the feel I get from them. I'm just biting my nails here...

In the end, after all the meta analysis etc. I think the decision has to come down to a gut feeling.

As for the babe-watching, bitching is never in order whilst babe-watching.

-Zach

judith90
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Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:38 am

Re: 8 Reasons To Attend William & Mary (and why not Brown?)

Post by judith90 » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:41 am

I would strongly recommend W&M over Brown. I am now over 10 years out but was heavily recruited by Brown. I really only chose W&M at the time because I couldn't justify an extra $50k for Brown (or other great private schools) and now I'm sure the cost differential is even greater. Thank God I did. My friends that went to Brown are still finding themselves. I am an executive at a Fortune 500 Company. Another friend in my class is President of the foreign operations of another. My friends from school are doctors, lawyers, heads of non-profits, authors etc. The kids I know that went to Brown dabble in this and that, try something for a while, try something else etc. I really think this is the difference between the W&M method of really hard classes with even tougher grading and a strong grounding in the liberal arts and the Brown method where you pick what you want, grades aren't important and don't mean much etc. If you want to be prepared for the real world - W&M all the way.
Forest City HS Class of 1975



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