ADVANCED STUDY

 

Applicants for MBa, MD, DDS, and JD degrees who hold BSs in physics certainly stand out from other applicants and often have an advantage competing for admission.  A dozen or so of our recent majors have successfully studied for such degrees.


Advanced study in physics or a kindred field typically focuses on attaining a PhD.  The PhD is a research degree; it prepares holders for “creating new (fundamental or applied) knowledge.”  PhDs in physics find careers in industrial and federal research labs and as professors in academia. Again, see the AIP statistics website for lots of relevant information.


When considering graduate school, keep in mind that PhD students are paid to go to school.  Graduate student stipends are mostly in the form of teaching or research assistantships, the latter usually being higher paying.  Stipends vary depending on cost of living and institutional wealth, but range from $10,000 to over $30,000.  Typically, PhD students receive tuition waivers and health insurance coverage as well.


On applying:


•Start in the summer between your junior and senior years. 

•Begin by identifying geographical “show-stoppers.”  Are there regions of the country or specific cities you cannot live in?

•Identify a small number of areas of physics you would most like to study. (Helpful hint: Most PhDs are awarded and most jobs are found in experimental condensed matter physics.  The more esoteric, and theoretical, the area of study, the harder finding employment might be.)

•Go to the terrifically useful and free website http://www.gradschoolshopper.com/ and begin searching for PhD programs that align with your geographical constraints and your intellectual interests.

oWhen you click on an institution you get a pdf of the department’s entry in the AIP directory of graduate programs in physics.  In it you will find all kinds of important information: how large is the program; what are student stipends; what research is going on; how long does it take to complete a degree.

oIdentify a small number of faculty working in your area of interest.

•Go to the identified department and faculty websites.  Find out as much as you can from what is there.

•Cull your possibility list to about 15-20.  Send the faculty an email stating your interest in their research (be specific), a little bit about who you are and what accomplishments you have, and ask if you are accepted in their program would they be receptive to guiding your PhD work.  (Be prepared: some won’t respond.)

•Cull your list further to 5-10.  If you can, email a graduate student or two in the programs you are considering asking about their experience there.

•Talk to USU faculty about who they might know at the places you are considering.  Personal contacts are very helpful.

•Early in the fall of your senior year you have to begin the application process.  You also will have to take the general Graduate Record Exams (glorified SATs or ACTs) and also possibly the Physics GRE (check on each program’s requirements).  The former can be taken by computer at any time, the latter by paper and only a few times per year—notably mid-October and mid-November.  Don’t blow theses exams off: study for them, preferably the summer (not the week) before.  Note that applications and GREs will cost some money.

•Investigate possible fellowship opportunities.  Fellowships carry no strings and pay more than assistantships.  Getting one is an honor you can brag about; a fellowship can facilitate your progress to a degree.  Major fellowship programs for graduate study in physics are found at the National Science, Hertz, and Gates Foundations, and provided by DOE and NASA.

•If you are accepted, expect to be invited to campus (expenses paid) in April for a dog-and-pony show intended to persuade you to come as a student.  Multiple such invitations are not uncommon. 

•Good luck.