The h Bar

FenderLesPaul

02:00

for Cornell the committee just started meeting a couple days ago

GBeau

I'm anticipating Washington the most right now

since they respond early and I know someone there

from a research group

FenderLesPaul

are you international?

GBeau

no

FenderLesPaul

oh ok

GBeau

international students get late responses no matter what, it looks like

with the absolute earliest responses in mid-late February

for acceptances, at least

FenderLesPaul

02:06

I see

GBeau

ugh I just want to sleep until I can wake up and know where I got in

FenderLesPaul

I guess next week and the week after that are going to be the most nerve-wracking

GBeau

when did you submit apps relative to due date?

FenderLesPaul

more or less a day before

almost all of them were dec 15th

GBeau

only several of mine were ~Dec 15th

the rest were ~Jan. 1

FenderLesPaul

02:09

I think I submitted a couple on the day of

dude if I don't get into UCSB I will be super bummed

especially since all 3 of my letter writers were post-docs there and know a lot of the theory faculty there

GBeau

person who got acceptance for Brown claims 710 on PGRE (53%) QQ

FenderLesPaul

and are collaborating with them

Brown doesn't care about PGRE though

not as much as other top places

like Princeton or MIT

also the rest of their application might have been really good

GBeau

I wouldn't complain about that then

FenderLesPaul

letters of rec/research

GBeau

my PGRE isn't bad, but the rest of my application is relatively flawless in comparison

gah it's just stressful :3

FenderLesPaul

02:13

I think are weighed far more than PGRE (and GPA somewhat more than PGRE) for most schools

I think Princeton, MIT, and maybe UCSB or Stanford are the well known exceptions

for domestic students that is

it's a whole different ball game for internationals

GBeau

I'll let you know by the end of February

FenderLesPaul

haha yeah same

hopefully it's good news for both of us

not asking for much I just wanna get into one of the places I applied to :p

GBeau

one of the grad schools I applied to was a tease

I got an email from the graduate admissions department email

offering to waive the application fee to apply to their engineering graduate program

FenderLesPaul

lmfao

I agree it's stressful

GBeau

can't believe I had heart palpitations over that

FenderLesPaul

02:16

especially since there's no fixed date of acceptance

like undergrad

this is just cruel what they do

Mike Miller

the usual advice is don't read gradcafe but nobody has ever actually listened to that advice.

FenderLesPaul

I don't read gradcafe

it'll make me too anxious

what I'm more terrified of is my friends telling me where they got into

and I'm sitting there like "I didn't get any emails :("

GBeau

goes to google gradcafe

Mike Miller

well uh

sorry.

FenderLesPaul

don't check grad cafe dude

it'll only make the waiting worse

I did for fun calculate the chances of me not getting into any of the schools I applied to

based on their acceptance rates

it was like a 5% chance

GBeau

02:19

is that even physics specific

Mike Miller

I think the wait for these things was so much better when it's like, four months like NSF apps

as opposed to a month for some grad school apps

where you're nervous until they're all back and they trickle in only a few weeks after your last is due...

FenderLesPaul

worst part is

it can either make or break your last semester of college

GBeau

god I have to write a thesis

Mike Miller

I was lucky because the first thing I got back was an acceptance (before the wave of nos started rolling in)

GBeau

I just need one acceptance

and then I'll be okay :<

FenderLesPaul

02:22

@GBeau same

haha

just one

is all I ask

preferably chicago but still

GBeau

man I don't even care

FenderLesPaul

I know people that got into chicago with <60% PGRE

so if I don't get in I will run around in circles until I pass out

Mike Miller

the last one i got was from the school i applied to i liked the least and it was like, screw you guys, I won

FenderLesPaul

I wonder when UCLA sends out stuff

GBeau

@MikeMiller When you applied to UCLA did they ask 5 questions about your gender

or is that new

Mike Miller

02:24

I don't remember.

@FenderLesPaul I could ask.

FenderLesPaul

@MikeMiller oh god that would be such scary information

but at the same time

how can I resist

GBeau

stats from last year are mostly acceptances on 2/11 and a bunch of rejections on 2/27 for UCLA

and a rejection on 2/5

FenderLesPaul

damn that's a long wait

do you know the stats for caltech or chicago?

classes start for me on the 27th

GBeau

give me a sec

FenderLesPaul

so I wanna get it all over with before then

cool thanks

Mike Miller

02:27

"Mid-Feb - March"

FenderLesPaul

@MikeMiller cool thanks

so I have to wait a bit then

GBeau

rejections Feb ~25, acceptances ~Feb 12 for caltech

chicago, seeing a bunch of rejects on 2/9 and 3/3, still looking

Mike Miller

the other thing to be warned about if you use grad cafe is that people lie about their stats

GBeau

domestic male accepted 1/30 to u chicago last year

2, both 1/30

astronomy accept, 1/26

FenderLesPaul

god damn that's only 3 days after school starts

Mike Miller

02:29

pretty well-known thing that people who are accepted under-state their stats and rejected overstate them. so don't use them as a point of comparison

the other reason not to use them as a point of comparison is that admissions committees are more random than the powerball

FenderLesPaul

haha

Mike Miller

oh friend updated "I got mine at the end of Jan tho"

GBeau

@MikeMiller that's why I bought 11 tickets

FenderLesPaul

end of Jan ok

that's fair

seems like chicago is also end of Jan

I have no point of comfort :(

GBeau

I just want one

checks email

FenderLesPaul

02:31

apart from one of the professors at MIT I wanna work for who told me he thinks I have a high chance of getting in based on talking to the professor I work for now

GBeau

I should go to bed

FenderLesPaul

which doesn't really comfort me at all

nooo don't go to bed

it's only 9:30

or possibly 8:30 or 6:30

depending on where you are

Mike Miller

smoke a lot of weed

GBeau

you're right, U Washington or Brown could still send out a letter this late ~ (I kid)

Mike Miller

you'll feel less nervous

FenderLesPaul

02:33

LOL

I can only imagine what smoking pot right now would do to me

checks email every 3 seconds

Mike Miller

I generally assume physicists are high at any given moment

FenderLesPaul

It's been houuuuurs

GBeau

the thing is

FenderLesPaul

it's only been 3 minutes

GBeau

I don't even need to check my mail

if I had gotten an email, it would be pushed to my phone and it would ding

but I still checked it anyway

Mike Miller

02:34

I remember I got nothing out of my classes for the first few weeks of winter

I was too nervous, and whenever my phone vibrated I checked

FenderLesPaul

I have a mac so the email shows up on the side of the screen

which means I can't even be surprised

Mike Miller

"Jesus christ no I'm not going to resell my books to you I NEED MY RESULTS FIX"

GBeau

@FenderLesPaul you know the waiver email I told you about?

FenderLesPaul

yeah

GBeau

let me go find it so I can show you what the preview for the start of the email looked like

that was cruel and unusual punishment

Mike Miller

02:35

lol I had something like this

"We're glad to tell you..."

FenderLesPaul

"Congratulations! You've been accepted...to read this email about fee waivers!"

Mike Miller

that we had a massive number of well-qualified applicants this season. Unfortunately, this means we could not offer most people a place in the program.

GBeau

this was the preview before I clicked the email, from ""Office of Graduate Enrollment Management and Admissions"

it said: "Dear <GBeau>, We believe your academic achievements are a preview of the success you'll enjoy..."

from a uni I applied to over half a month ago

Mike Miller

very nice\

GBeau

after I clicked the email, it finished "We believe your academic achievements are a preview of the success you'll enjoy in the graduate programs at the <uni> School of Engineering. For that reason, we're offering an application fee waiver."

if that happens again I will lose my mind

FenderLesPaul

02:37

shout out to the schools with no fees

I'm not going to get any sleep in the next 2 weeks

Mike Miller

so if weed won't work, have you considered smoking meth

this is a well-known relaxation agent

FenderLesPaul

meth is my fall back plan

GBeau

@MikeMiller see I applied to U Washington, I'm not there yet

FenderLesPaul

it's all or nothing

Mike Miller

what are, say, the top 10 physics schools in the US?

FenderLesPaul

02:42

Probably Princeton, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Harvard, UCSB, Berkeley, UChicago

can't think of anything else

other two spots are empty

Mike Miller

interesting

FenderLesPaul

I tried my best not to apply to HEPT for the schools I applied to

since that's an automatic rejection

but some schools gave me no choice

GBeau

@MikeMiller It obviously depends at least a little on the field you're interested in

but you'll never see a list without Caltech and Princeton

Mike Miller

sure, I was interested as broadly as possible

FenderLesPaul

oh if broadly as possible

then scratch off UCSB

GBeau

02:48

UC SB is like, number 2 or 3 if you're doing particle theory, though

FenderLesPaul

for sure yeah

Mike Miller

was pretty surprised to see it there

mostly it matches up with math, except ucsb

GBeau

it's so good that it would almost be tragic to try to get a non-physics job if you went to graduate school there

since non-physics people would have no idea how well-reputed it was

GBeau

03:01

Something tells me I'm not getting an email today

FenderLesPaul

I think you shouldn't worry about an email at this point

:p

watch random shit on youtube

DanielSank

03:38

w00t UCSB!

@MikeMiller That is a complicated question.

@GBeau ...which is hilarious.

Different school are good at totally different things in a lot of cases.

With such variability by subfield it seems kind of meaningless to try to rank schools on a single scale.

@FenderLesPaul Why? UCSB has very good program. The Gravity, astro, and condensed matter subfields are all incredibly well represented.

(and we don't have a qualifying exam, heheheheheh)

FenderLesPaul

@DanielSank ah ok I don't really know anything about their program outside of gravity/HEP

but it's still my dream school

DanielSank

You an undergrad?

FenderLesPaul

yeah

DanielSank

Oh!

Get your butt over here!

Do a summer job or something.

FenderLesPaul

Here's hoping the UCSB admissions committee let my butt in

I just wanna work for Don Marolf

he is one of my gods

DanielSank

03:46

Oh?

He taught my mechanics course.

FenderLesPaul

lucky!

yeah I love Don

DanielSank

:-|

He gave us our final...

Told us it took him three hours.

FenderLesPaul

how'd that go haha

DanielSank

Asked us to log our time spent on it.

You know, for science.

Got results back.

According to my now fiance, next year's course was... easier.

FenderLesPaul

hahaha

DanielSank

03:47

I remember something Don said once, it was so funny I'll never forget it:

We're learning Hamiltonian mechanics, right? So at some point he goes all symplectic on our asses.

He starts talking about differential forms and stuff...

Mike Miller

@Daniel: In math, at least, there are 5-6 holy grail schools that are the best at everything. Then you start getting "Depends what you want to do!"

DanielSank

Now, take a moment to remember that very few first year physics grad students have ever even heard of differential forms.

0celo7

What year was this?

DanielSank

So at some point someone's like "Wait I don't get it what the hell is that funny upside down V symbol mean?"

Don's response:

"Oh, that's a wedge product. If you're confused about how to compute it, just follow your nose!"

FenderLesPaul

LOL that's so bad it's good

0celo7

03:50

modulo some fucking factorial

FenderLesPaul

he looks like he would say a joke like that

DanielSank

The thing is, like, nobody had any friggin' clue what was going on.

FenderLesPaul

damn it @DanielSank now you just made me want to work for him even more

0celo7

what year?!

DanielSank

I had studied exterior whatever it's called on my own time in undergrad, so I could follow, but everyone else was completely lost.

Then Don dropped that one on us and I think it was at that moment he lost the class forever.

@0celo7 Uhhh, must have been 2007.

FenderLesPaul

03:51

Don :(

I wonder if Don is on the admissions comittee

0celo7

@DanielSank no, not that year

freshman, sophomore?

DanielSank

@MikeMiller You know what's funny about that? I know folks who went to Harvard, and none of them loved it.

@0celo7 First year grad school.

FenderLesPaul

does UCSB release information about who's on their committee?

0celo7

@DanielSank how can they have not heard of diff forms?

Mike Miller

@Daniel: Eh.

I imagine a lot of it is who you work with.

DanielSank

03:53

@MikeMiller Yes.

Exactly.

0celo7

more precisely: how can UCSB grad students not know of diff forms

FenderLesPaul

OMG

he is!

he's on the comittee

DanielSank

@MikeMiller That's why I don't put much stock in this "best overall school" thing.

@FenderLesPaul Not sure.

FenderLesPaul

according to: physics.ucsb.edu/resources/committeeassignments

he is

DanielSank

@0celo7 By getting a normal undergrad degree in physics. Stop pretending that advanced stuff is normal. It's neither funny nor impressive.

0celo7

03:55

@DanielSank ...

Mike Miller

@DanielS: That's fine. Hiring committees do.

0537

I agree with 0celo7.

0celo7

The only physicists I know learned about diff forms in undergrad

DanielSank

@MikeMiller Argggg. See, that only matters if you want to be an academic.

0celo7

The only physicists I know are the ones here

FenderLesPaul

03:55

Dude if Don Marolf is on the committee then I'm so much happier

DanielSank

Most people who go to graduate school will never by professors.

0celo7

+ some pure experimental types at my school

FenderLesPaul

he's like bros with two of my letter writers

DanielSank

I find it incredibly disingenuous that academia pretends that everyone should aspire to be a professor.

Mike Miller

@DanielS: I agree.

DanielSank

03:56

It leads to people making terrible decisions, and severely limiting their career options.

FenderLesPaul

@DanielSank I think for what you did yes it would be limiting

DanielSank

@MikeMiller Ok, then we agree that what hiring committees think is not particularly important. In fact, it is decidedly less important than your general job marketability.

FenderLesPaul

but I think for things like HEPT there really aren't other options that are also enjoyable to the person

DanielSank

@MikeMiller So, if academic departments are rating each other based on where they like to hire from, I just don't care much about that metric.

I guess.

Mike Miller

@Daniel: ok

DanielSank

03:58

@0celo7 Ah. Ok, well this chat is full of a very thin slice of physics pie.

Most people here are theorists, and a particular sort at that.

Very mathematically oriented.

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