Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

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hcai
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:09 pm

Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by hcai » Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:29 pm

Hi, all

I am a UC Berkeley exchange student applying for graduate school there in 2015. Honestly, my home university has no reputation in physics. That's why I am really anxious about.

What I am doing at Berkeley?
Now I have enrolled 2 graduate courses there, QFT and Particle Physics Phenomenology (PPP). The professors of PPP is pretty easy-going, with her approval I also attend her seminar group. I have a good communication with her, and she is willing to write a recommendation for me.
Meanwhile, I am also doing my internship at the National Lab. But it's about biophysics, or precisely, TEM work. The director of my group is the lecturer if statistical physics for undergraduate students, and I enroll that one. We also have a good communication on condensed matter physics.

My Profiles
Over All GPA : 3.77
Physics GPA : 4.0
GRE Scores :
V : 146 (35%)
Q : 170 (98%)
W : 3.0 (27%)
P : ???
TOEFL: 101

Research Experience: (beyond above)
one year experience on mathematical physics, no publication;
half year experience as RA at quantum optic, no publication;
one paper on condensed matter physics experiment, preparing to publish;
one presentation on particle physics experiment at LBL, preparing...
Rewards/Horner: Scholarship for 2 years


I think with my profile it would be really difficult to apply for Berkeley.. but I don't want to give up. Any suggestions for me to improve my probability? Or I should talk about this with my PPP professor?

By the way, my sub-plan is particle physics, theoretical, pheno. Or any suitable alternatives for me?

Thanks, guys!
Isaac
Last edited by hcai on Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

PathIntegrals92
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:42 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by PathIntegrals92 » Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:52 pm

you should seriously consider re-taking the general GRE! Even though it is not as important as the physics gre for grad school admissions ( for physics) your quantitative score is very low.

At least try to bring it up to 160+. Since the General GRE is offered many times and you can basically sign up for it whenever you want, i think you should do it again. Nice verbal score though...

Have you taken the physics gre yet? That will also play a factor. Your gpa looks great and your research experience looks great too. Berkeley is also in top 10 so admissions is pretty much difficult for everybody. I hope you have other schools in mind. It's hard to give you other suggestions for now, depends on your exam scores.

Though I want to point out that University of Wisconsin-Madison has a great particle phenomenology group ( top 20).

hcai
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:09 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by hcai » Sun Oct 12, 2014 9:41 pm

PathIntegrals92 wrote:you should seriously consider re-taking the general GRE! Even though it is not as important as the physics gre for grad school admissions ( for physics) your quantitative score is very low.

At least try to bring it up to 160+. Since the General GRE is offered many times and you can basically sign up for it whenever you want, i think you should do it again. Nice verbal score though...

Have you taken the physics gre yet? That will also play a factor. Your gpa looks great and your research experience looks great too. Berkeley is also in top 10 so admissions is pretty much difficult for everybody. I hope you have other schools in mind. It's hard to give you other suggestions for now, depends on your exam scores.

Though I want to point out that University of Wisconsin-Madison has a great particle phenomenology group ( top 20).

Thanks for the reply,

I think i just put the verbal grade at the quantitative position..revised right now. I don't know whether a non-native speaker should get an above-average verbal grade, I mean for physics I can read almost everything...

Besides, I have taken the Subject test in September, but in case I am also preparing for the October's one.

Wisconsin-Madison is also in my list. But of Berkeley is the first option. And I am also considering USSB, UCLA, Michigan, UIUC, Tex-Austin, Boston and Chicago.

Catria
Posts: 354
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:14 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by Catria » Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:31 pm

hcai wrote:Wisconsin-Madison is also in my list. But of Berkeley is the first option. And I am also considering UCSB, UCLA, Michigan, UIUC, Tex-Austin, Boston and Chicago.
For UCSB in particular, are you a domestic or an international? If you're an international, you may as well cut it off your list; UCSB has clamped down on internationals so hard that, for 2014 entry, there were only 2 international admits (all subfields combined) for over 150 international applications...

You might want to consider Rochester in its stead.

PathIntegrals92
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:42 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by PathIntegrals92 » Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:27 pm

I agree with the above posting, if you are international UCSB will be extremely tough to get into.
I am on the same side of admissions as you, but I don't think much emphasis is placed on verbal score.

It's great that you have connections at Berkeley, hopefully that will help! I think with a good physics gre score you will be a competitive candidate!

StonyBrook is in top 30, but I think it's good in phenomenology. Proximity to Brook Haven National lab is nice too... I knew a Post-Doc who went there has a grad student for HEP-TH.

Brown University, also top 30, has a great (but small) program from HEP-TH.

Michigan is great! friendly HEP-TH group (profs, post docs, and grads). I don't know specifics about the rest of the schools you have, but I have heard good things about all except UIUC ( I just haven't heard anything regarding hep-th).

Good luck with everything!

hcai
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:09 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by hcai » Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:38 pm

Catria wrote:
hcai wrote:Wisconsin-Madison is also in my list. But of Berkeley is the first option. And I am also considering UCSB, UCLA, Michigan, UIUC, Tex-Austin, Boston and Chicago.
For UCSB in particular, are you a domestic or an international? If you're an international, you may as well cut it off your list; UCSB has clamped down on internationals so hard that, for 2014 entry, there were only 2 international admits (all subfields combined) for over 150 international applications...

You might want to consider Rochester in its stead.

really useful information, thanks a lot, I will drop UCSB then.

I heard that the prof are really important consideration for choose a graduate school, thus i listed Tex-Austin and Boston, with Prof. Weinberg and Prof. Glashow there...I think it would be awesome to become their student:D

Beyond USA, I am also considering European options, like LMU and ETHZ...I have a German access, but seemingly they just need english test scores for physics student...

admissionprof
Posts: 369
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:50 pm

Re: Can exchanging to the a college benefit applying there?

Post by admissionprof » Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:47 am

hcai wrote:
Catria wrote:
hcai wrote:Wisconsin-Madison is also in my list. But of Berkeley is the first option. And I am also considering UCSB, UCLA, Michigan, UIUC, Tex-Austin, Boston and Chicago.
For UCSB in particular, are you a domestic or an international? If you're an international, you may as well cut it off your list; UCSB has clamped down on internationals so hard that, for 2014 entry, there were only 2 international admits (all subfields combined) for over 150 international applications...

You might want to consider Rochester in its stead.

really useful information, thanks a lot, I will drop UCSB then.

I heard that the prof are really important consideration for choose a graduate school, thus i listed Tex-Austin and Boston, with Prof. Weinberg and Prof. Glashow there...I think it would be awesome to become their student:D

Beyond USA, I am also considering European options, like LMU and ETHZ...I have a German access, but seemingly they just need english test scores for physics student...
General advice to applicants: It is very risky to focus on one professor unless you know they take students and that you'd have a good chance (if they take one every couple of years, you might be out of luck no matter how good you are). Glashow and Weinberg are in their late 70's and no longer take students.



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