Timeline for Transferring to a Top-10 PhD program in Theoretical Physics from a Top-50 program in US for better job prospects in Academia?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Jun 15, 2015 at 19:58 | comment | added | singularity | And my main professor (with whom I published) gave me a very very good recommendation. I still needed two more recommendations....which were definitely good but not "very very good" since I didn't get to work with them a lot on a research project. Also, my main professor is a brilliant guy but he is very young and not very senior in the community. Actually, all my recommenders were very young and one of my recommenders was not a physicist. I had no other options. With that I did get wait-listed at a couple of Top-20/30 schools during admissions but didn't make it to the final list. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 19:37 | comment | added | singularity | I did not do any coursework but I studied subjects like general relativity on my own and then asked many professors for advising me on some research project. With some good fortune, one professor at the top institute in my country (not US) agreed to keep me on a project after I succeeded in working out a test problem. And, the string theory project he gave me to work on proved to be successful for me and I was able to publish two papers in JHEP as I had done a lot of the tedious calculations. I was able work on another paper with the same professor, which resulted in another publication. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 19:29 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | What journals have you published in? If you have multiple publications in top journals, why are your recommendations only "good"? What would be better? Your situation is not quite adding up to me. "So, if I finish coursework at my current school with good grades....wouldn't that increase my chances of getting myself transferred to a top program?" In my experience: not much. Grad coursework provides little opportunity for distinction: in many courses, all who do satisfactorily get the highest grade. And top schools are less hung up on technicalities involving credentials. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 19:17 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | "Also, I think I would have easily got admission into at least Top-20 programs." Would have if...? "I do not have any physics degree or a coursework record. I only had multiple high energy theory publications in top journals and good recommendations." That is an unusual situation. How did you come to have multiple publications in top journals without any coursework? To advise you specifically is outside of my expertise: I am a mathematician, and in any given year there are probably zero applicants to the top math PhD programs who have "multiple publications in top journals". | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 18:12 | comment | added | singularity | Also, I think I would have easily got admission into at least Top-20 programs. The only big flaw in my application was that I come from a completely non-physics background. I do not have any physics degree or a coursework record. I only had multiple high energy theory publications in top journals and good recommendations. So, if I finish coursework at my current school with good grades....wouldn't that increase my chances of getting myself transferred to a top program ? Thanks | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 5:38 | comment | added | singularity | Thanks for the detailed response. I definitely has no personal ambition to go for Harvard or Princeton just for the brand-name. Even some earlier students of a prospective advisor at my current school have been able to get faculty positions at MIT and other such places....but that was 15 years back. Now, the situation in High Energy Theory seems particularly bleak because of very little funding and super-intense competition....only this thing concerns me. But I guess, as you said, my work in any program will decide if I get a position in academia rather than brand name. Thanks again. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 0:56 | history | edited | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 15, 2015 at 0:06 | history | answered | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 3.0 |