If you didn't get into your dream graduate schools for physics, but by contacting someone your professor knows, you have until tomorrow afternoon to decide whether you want to go to West Virginia University for a physics PhD or not, what would you do?
asking for a friend - I can't give him advice because I don't know what the field is like and what considerations should be taken into account
>>8046098
>I didn't get into my dream graduate schools for physics, but by contacting someone my professor knows, I have until tomorrow afternoon to decide whether I want to go to West Virginia University for a physics PhD or not, what would you do?
>Not getting in based on merit
Degenerate. Who cares what I think. Go for it if it's your dream school
>physics PhD
>>8046131
Here's more context:
So WVU isn't his dream school. There's another catch too: he'd be going there for numerical relativity (it's what he's done research in for the past 3 years as an undergraduate). But his true interests lie in mathematical physics.
Are you pigeonholed in physics? For example, for medical students, residency matters more than the medical school they pick, especially for what they end up doing at the end of it all. Does physics have a degree of flexibility to it, or will he forever be doing numerical relativity if he chooses this?
>>8046146
>will he forever be doing numerical relativity if he chooses this?
Over the course of a PhD, you become an expert in a narrow subfield. He will likely not be knowledgeable enough to do research in other fields until later on in his career. Will he have to work with this specific advisor?
If his only other option is no PhD and he really wants a PhD, I don't see what the dilemma is so long as it's fully funded.
>>8046239
Yeah, if he does this he would have to work with this specific advisor during his stay there.
Is the alternative really no PhD though? Are there ways that someone can improve their application for applying next fall? I hear a masters is frowned upon in the physics world, maybe a bridge program?
I looked up WVU's rankings (do those matter for graduate school?), it's 111. That's pretty shitty, I feel like if he applied to something that isn't Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. that he would get in. That's kind of the crux of this - is holding out for something better worth it, or too much of a risk?
>>8046291
The schools that didn't want him this year are highly unlikely to want him next year. He might be able to go to a school ranked a little higher, but it won't make a difference. Honestly, rankings aren't going to matter after the top 25 or so schools (not that the specific rankings matter above that level either), and the advisor is the important thing.
What are the other options?
>>8046141
This OP. If you don't get tenure as a professor you're fucked. You probably should have picked some kind of engineering but you were retarded and listened to /sci/ memes.
>>8046314
>If you don't get tenure as a professor you're fucked.
Exactly, you completely forget how to function as a normal human being after getting a PhD. All of your skills and employability go out the window as soon as you learn something. Make sure to study engineering at the undergraduate level only so that you can be carefully molded into a young professional without ever being in danger of thinking.
>>8046098
The question is why you are getting the PhD and what your goal is. WVU is, well, a kinda shit school. If you want to get the PhD and try to fuck off to computational finance, you are probably not too bad off (not that great either, but oh well). If you want to stay in academia, ask yourself this: How many professors have you heard of with a PhD from a place like WVU?
>>8046141
Posting the literal bottom of the barrel as an example of a typical outcome. Seriously, who has no publications at all after a graduate program?
>>8046305
Is there really little difference between a place that is ranked 30th vs. 111th? I don't know how rankings for graduate schools work - I would assume it takes into account very tangible things like resources, experience of the faculty, etc.
I am going to relay your post to him though, I think it will be comforting to him.
>>8046309
There aren't any 100% chances right now. He's waiting on UChicago to get back to him on their bridge program, and me and a few other friends are trying to see if alternatives exist. The ideal would be if somehow he can strengthen his application without going to graduate school, but it doesn't seem to be a possibility for physics.
For what it's worth, he is a double major in physics and computer science, and can easily get a CS job, but the little sperg loves physics with all his heart.
>>8046329
I suggested that he get the PhD and fuck off to computational finance - one of the professors at our university did that for a little bit and made an obscene amount of money.
But he wants the PhD because he genuinely loves physics. He's TA'd physics classes the past two years, he's taken mathematical physics I and II at the graduate level, as well as general relativity I and II, he's spent all four years of his undergrad doing physics research of some kind - he would want to go into academia, no doubt.
Do you do physics? What would you suggest he do?
Also, thanks everyone for offering your input so far.
>>8046389
>Do you do physics?
Currently a postdoc in condensed matter theory.
>What would you suggest he do?
If he wants to go teach at some small liberal arts school and do research on the side, WVU could work out. The problem is that if he wants research to be his primary focus, WVU probably (I don't know much about computational GR/cosmology/astro; WVU could potentially have a rockstar in that field I don't know about) isn't going to cut it unless he himself does something amazing in grad school.
For research, he should be aiming at a minimum at the top 50 (much more realistic would be the top 20). If he doesn't hit that mark, there are other routes, but they are going to be expensive, at least in the short term, and probably involve some grovelling. Basically, he can throw himself on the mercy of an advisor by offering to be free slave labor and show competence without investment risk on the advisor's part (I know at least one person that made it into a graduate program this way; it works better if you went to a local school, but who knows).
>>8046389
Bridge programs are mostly for blacks and Hispanics. Not even being racist here. Their primary purpose is to "increase diversity" in physics graduate education. If you're friend is white or Asian, he's probably not getting in.
>>8046426
I should add that the alternative route I mentioned works much better for experimentalists than for theorists since experimentalists can generally use just another body to do grunt work, but if you can convince a theorist you are competent, you can do some work while they politic to improve your chances during the next round of applications.
>>8046426
I think graduate school applications are more or less done for this year - I was going to recommend he try and see if the professor he does research with now and/or his mathematical physics professor he's doing his undergrad thesis under would be willing to let him work on projects until the next round of applications. A year between formal schooling won't kill all chances, right?
>>8046460
>convince a theorist you are competent
I'll tell him to talk to his mathematical physics professor tomorrow and gauge the likelihood of that happening.
There's nothing much else he can do that I can think of. Physics is a rough field, goddamn.
>>8046098
As someone who grew up in Morgantown and is currently attending WVU, I will say we have a great Science department (physics,chemistry, biology, animal sciences, environmental sciences, etc ...) as well as Engineering and Medical school. Being in West Virginia the university also gets access to one of the largest radio telescopes in the world in Green Bank, WV. WVU is also really easy to get into and tuition(even for someone out of state) is fairly low compared to other universities.
>>8046484
If you are concerned about tuition for a PhD program, you need to stop trying. If you aren't getting paid, they think you are shit and are basically looking to get you to pay them for the privilege of doing their bitch work before you get booted.
>>8046098
Tell your friend do do a non-degree post bac studies program and take grad level courses. Sync up with a professor and do more research. Preferably at a top school he intends to go to. Use this to get in the door and get into that school's grad program.
WVU is a party school, not renown for academics, all that's needed for admission is a pulse, find a real school. Pro tip, not University of Phoenix either, kek.
