Can you get into a top grad school coming from UT Knox? [closed]

Question

I went to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where I got a BA in Philosophy and graduated with a 3.4 GPA. During my senior year, I discovered an incessant love of physics. However, I’ve had to start over practically from the beginning, such as learning pre-calc.

I am now attending UT Knox for an undergrad physics degree. UT Knox is a public school ranked #83 in physics. My question is, how well do I need to do to come from a school like UT Knox, at my age, to be accepted into a top 10 graduate school? I know the odds are stacked against me, but I plan on overcoming them.

Answer 1

I think you are asking the wrong question. For the specific question, your chances of acceptance at a top ten graduate school are near zero. That has nothing to do with you or where you go to school. It is just numbers. The fraction of accepted candidates at such a small set of schools is minuscule.

A better question, that I think will leave you more satisfied, is what you need to do to get into a really good school that will help you meet your overall life goals. It would be sad if at the end of your life the only thing one could say about you is "he went to a top ten grad school."

The way to success to to work hard, learn a lot, read, write, emulate those you want to be like, be bold when necessary, ask for help, learn to work cooperatively, don't burn out, be flexible, practice, ....

You can do all of that anywhere. You can even do it while being a bit of a goofball.

For the record, lots of people are late starters. I never had a positive educational experience until the second or third year of HS. My HS doesn't even exist anymore. But I learned how to be better and wound up with a doctorate and a successful academic career.

But when it does come time to apply for grad school, apply to one or two top schools along with some others. There are a lot of good schools that will help you build a great career and life.

Answer 2

I went to a small southern university for my Bachelors in physics, and a different, medium sized southern university for my Masters in physics (both in the United States). And although I didn't, a few of my fellow classmates did end up at highly ranked physics programs such as Berkley, Chicago, and Cornell. These programs don't discriminate against applicants from 'low ranked' universities. It is just a fact that the criteria for acceptance into is much harder to acquire from a mid-tier program. Those requirements are:

1. A 3.8-4.0 GPA in your physics courses
2. A physics GRE score greater than 800
3. Research with an accompanying publication in a peer-reviewed journal

It is typically item-3 that is the largest handicap to students from smaller schools; the opportunities for undergraduates to assist in real research goes down dramatically with the size of the program. The best option for most physics undergraduates to get tangible research experience is to apply to an REU (Research for Undergraduates). These are high speed research sessions that are conducted over the summer semesters. If there was one thing I could go back and tell myself, it is to never, ever pass up a research opportunity, paid or unpaid. Doing research is by definition the thing most physicists (and all graduates) do, but is the last thing students think about for admission to graduate programs.

Lastly, as others have noted, going to a high-ranked school isn't necessary to have a successful career in physics; many university physics departments specialize in the research they publish. It is more important to have a field of physics (optics, plasma, solid state, etc) picked out and then apply to those programs that specialize in those areas of physics. Overall rankings may have nothing to do with that.

Answer 3

Top schools do not just look at the schools you graduated from and your GPA. They pride themselves in finding the diamond in the rough. They look for true ingenuity.

Suggestion:

If you do outstanding things outside of school that relate to physics, these can carry a lot of weight. Example - if you demonstrate ingenuity by setting up a DIY atom smasher in your garage and sharing it on youtube and get lots of views then you can graduate from knox, get a 2.0 GPA, but probably still get into MIT. Demonstrate your passion with real world activities. Don't depend on an institution to lend you credibility, stand on your own two feet and just do it - then regardless of whether you get into a top school you will have the skills to make it in the real world.

Answer 4

Look at where your professors went to graduate school. They’re qualified to compare their students to their grad school peers. So an absolute best case scenario is that some of them are impressed enough to compare you to their grad school peers, which (if it’s backed up with the grades and GRE scores you’d expect with that comparison) has a good shot at getting someone into that caliber of school (or perhaps a little lower). It’s not going to happen often, but it can happen. Getting into anywhere better than where your profs went is implausible since they can’t credibly say whether you’d be successful there.