International Student, need help selecting schools.

Post Reply
alexhunter
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:09 pm

International Student, need help selecting schools.

Post by alexhunter » Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:24 pm

Hi,

My plan is to apply for PhD in the US, and my research interest is in theoretical high energy physics. I'm not interested in computation and want to do formal theory, something to do with Srting/GTR/Cosmology. I have gotten my MSc (2-yr) from IIT Kanpur with CPI 7.6/10.0. I'm going to be taking subject GRE this year again as last year the score was very bad (720). GRE general scores are V -164, Q -166, A - 4.0, and TOEFL iBT score is 114 (R - 30, L - 30, S - 29, W -25).

I have no publications, and am currently working as a project assistant in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The topic of the project is consistent with my research interest. My MSc thesis project was mainly on data analysis of Type Ia supernova light curves.

Now I'm wondering what range (according to rank) of universities I should apply to. I'll be applying to at most 7-8 places. Also, if there is any information regarding which universities accept a comparatively larger number of international students, or any students in general, please let me know where to find that information.

User avatar
Raio
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:09 am

Re: International Student, need help selecting schools.

Post by Raio » Mon Aug 26, 2013 1:50 am

how does your grade translate into the US grading system?

alexhunter
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:09 pm

Re: International Student, need help selecting schools.

Post by alexhunter » Mon Aug 26, 2013 7:44 am

Raio wrote:how does your grade translate into the US grading system?

Well, 7.6/10.0 would be 3.04/4.00.

And the converting the B.Sc. grade is tricky as I got 63% but only about 15-16% of the total students get above 60%. So my percentile rank is something like 85. So you can judge from that.

User avatar
Raio
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:09 am

Re: International Student, need help selecting schools.

Post by Raio » Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:10 am

look up the list of schools with good theoretical physics graduate programs in the US.
you need to be sure about your gpa, talk to people who've went from your country to the US.
if it is really 3.0/4.0 you are eligible to apply, and you have very good GRE scores.

Basically you need to look up those programs and assess your chances, find programs which connect with your research experience, what you did in the past, and target them.



Post Reply