Missed the 2021 Graduate School Forum hosted by Stuart Gazes and Zosia Krusberg (and some UChicago grad students)? Not to worry, we have you covered with notes!
Should I go to grad school?
Grad school is supposed to train you to be a physicist and do research, whether or not you should go to grad school depends on what you want to do/how you want to spend your time
Alternate paths: aip.org/statistics/employment for lots of statistics on how people with different physics degrees (including bachelors) are employed
Could also take time off before applying!
Application process (typically fall 4th year)
Application includes: grades, physics GRE, letters of recommendation, personal statement
Admissions committees want to see that their graduate students will thrive at the school. This includes both the coursework and being able to transition into research
Grades: only physics grades matter (sometimes also math, MENG, chem, etc.), trends also matter (if you had a bad nth year, want (n+1)th year to be better!)
Physics GRE: usually fall of senior year (mid-sept or late oct, 2nd is more common, can also do both), review physics concepts and do not wait until September to do so!
You have to register for the October exam before you get the September results (if you do both).
Take ETS’s practice exams, can take “PHYS 990” which is a mini course on how to prep for the GRE (starts beginning of fall quarter, more about test strategies than physics concepts).
Not requiring vs. not allowing GRE scores are different, latter was due to COVID but most committees haven’t decided what to do moving forward.
Letters of recommendation: typically need 3, want to have at least one outside of the classroom (usually from research mentor!). Having at least 1 about research tells committee about your ability to do research and gives info you can’t get from a transcript.
Try to get research experience if you haven’t yet. You have nothing to lose by starting now if you haven’t thus far. This is valuable both for admissions and for you (ex. if you don’t like research, grad school might not be the right fit for you).
Personal statement: tells the rest of your story (ex. interests, future plans, brief explanations of any suboptimal parts of your application, etc.), avoid philosophy at all costs (ex. don’t say “I’ve loved physics since I was a child” kind of stuff), ask someone else to read it and give feedback (especially someone who has gone through this process). A comment from the author of these notes: UCISTEM also offers application reviews and other general grad school advising (book appointments via Handshake).
Admissions committees often looking for: nice to know why a student is interested in a certain field (if you are), also fine to not know exactly what you want to do, what skills you have acquired in previous research experience (ex. coding in x language, collaboration, etc.), want someone mature enough to handle grad school. No one will hold you to an area of research you say you are interested in. Want to know why you are interested in grad school (and that you’ve thought about it). Nice to know what you might like to do after graduate school if you have ideas (totally fine if not).
Some grad students’ examples/thoughts:
Explaining changes in areas of interest, what research problems are of interest and why, career goals, change essay slightly for each school depending on what they ask for in the prompt (ex. more about personal/extracurricular life, more about research, etc.).
Can choose one or two professors in your field of interest at each school, speak about what you would potentially want to work with them on and why, makes it clear you are interested in the particular school! This is not a commitment to work with them so don’t worry about that
Where to apply
Check out gradschoolshopper.com (presented by the AIP, is quite reputable), has lots of useful info about different grad schools. Helpful to export this to an excel document and whittle down the things that are important to you. Keep in mind, this is not a completely comprehensive list!
How many schools to apply to: grad students in the forum applied to anywhere from 7- 11 schools (though these numbers may be on the high end), good to not apply to too many or each application will likely suffer. Don’t apply to only 1 school (huge gamble no matter how strong your application is)! Keep in mind not only the reputation of the school but also the size of the classes they accept in considering your chances of acceptance.
What about rankings? NRC rankings are helpful to look into if this matters to you, but it is more important to figure out what school is the best fit for you! Helpful to identify your interests (not all schools offer or are strong in all fields), talk to people (professors, postdocs, grad students) and especially those who might know what schools are strong in your area(s) of interest.
Other notes (Q&A portion)
Not submitting a GRE score (for schools where it is optional) may or may not affect your application. If the rest of your application is strong then you will stand out anyway, if there are weaker parts then a strong GRE score could help your application. Generally US grad schools know how rigorous a uchicago physics education is, so GRE can be more important for students from smaller schools. But each person in each committee has their own things they care about/look for so you can never know exactly. High energy theory (string theory) and older members of physics department at Uchicago are generally the ones who care more about GRE scores (purely anecdotal! This is not always true!)
Ideally want letters from professors who know you well for more personal letters. As schools are asking for 3 letters (generally) they expect not all of them will be, but it is best to have at least 1 be personal. Because of pandemic, email is currently probably the best way to ask professors for letters. If you don’t get a reply from a professor after asking for a letter, this does not mean no, just that they’re busy. Follow up about a week later. If still no answer then best to look elsewhere. Not all letters have to be academic (ex. letter from a boss at an engineering company or a national lab can be super helpful).
Basically all reputable programs will give you financial support (living stipend, tuition, health insurance covered), it’s not a huge stipend but definitely livable. Most stipends will be based on the cost of living in the area, so keep this in mind when comparing stipends! However, the application process itself is quite expensive ($1300 estimate for 8 applications from one grad student). Depending on your financial needs there may be application fee waivers (process and possibility of acquiring dependent on school).
What makes a “strong research background”: it’s complicated, most committees take a holistic view. At minimum should have 1 meaningful research experience where you made some kind of contribution to a project such that someone (typically advisor) can write meaningfully about what you contributed. Want to be convinced that you will be successful in doing research! Time you spend on a project is less important than how much you contribute/how hard you work. Most people start research sophomore/junior year. Generally don’t include stuff you did before college unless it’s super significant (ex. big prize, patent, etc.). Good qualities: creative, independent, hard-working, passionate, etc.
For asking for letters (especially from non-research mentors): important to understand why you’re asking this person for a letter (ex. know your character, can vouch for your particular skills/experience like teaching). When asking for a letter, good to tell them why you want them specifically to write your letter. Be polite in your requests, but it doesn’t have to be anything special. Good to ask whether or not you feel a professor could write you a strong letter of recommendation (different than just asking for a letter) and gauge their reaction to this. Can also ask more than 3 people for recommendations and then say never mind later if you identify a stronger letter (they understand how the process works and won’t be upset). Be ready to follow up immediately with your resume and a draft of your personal statement (if you have one) after asking for a letter (lots of people will ask for them). Give people enough time to write your letters (the more time you give them, the better, but at least a month in advance)! Also nice to give people a spreadsheet of the schools and deadlines if they agree to write you a letter and be sure to send reminders along the way.
The more schools you are applying to the more letters your recommenders will probably write, but don’t feel like an imposition for asking for this or applying to lots of schools! Letter writing comes with the territory of working with undergrads. The only reason to not apply to a given number of schools is if that number is not the right number for you. At the same time, be sure to do something nice/express your thanks to your letter writers (ex. thank you notes, baked goods in non-pandemic times, etc.). A comment from the author of these notes: do your best to express your thanks BEFORE you receive your admission decisions, not after. This way it is clear you are thanking your letter writers for their time and effort rather than for what schools you may have gotten into.
Feel free to email Zosia if you have questions/want to set up a meeting to talk about grad school things!