Graduate Schools in PHYSICS in USA: Some Tips

I am posting some of my observations and experiences to apply for the graduate schools in the universities of the United states of America(USA). I have picked my own university -Worcester Polytechnic Institute(WPI), to give an example in these tips, but you can do the same thing for other universities too.

(1) University list: Click on here to find a list of US universities (or you can find the universities just by doing GOOGLE search.).

(2) University choice: Once you get the list, click on the name of the university of your choice. Here I have given an example of WPI, where I am doing my graduate research work.

(3) University information: Once you click on the name of the university, you will get a lot of information about the university, including its URL and other information required for application.
For example: You will get the following information of WPI there on the top of the page:
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Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Work 100 Institute Road Worcester, MA 01609

Work(508) 831-5286

Admissions E-mail: admissions@wpi.edu
Web site: http://www.wpi.edu/
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(4) University Web-page: Then click on the Web-site of the University.
For example,
Web site: http://www.wpi.edu/

(5) Areas of Research: Find Academics and Research and then the physics department:
For example:
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/Physics/index.html
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/Physics/Research/index.html

(6) Contact by E-mail: If you already know your area of research interest, you can click on the name of the link of faculty and staff and find whether there are faculties working in your area of interest or not. If you find someone working in the field of your interest, you can write an e-mail to the professor. But PLEASE take your time to write a nice and convincing and grammatically correct letter. PLEASE DO NOT write a letter in HASTE ! Edit and re-edit your letter (e-mail) if required. Take help of your friend and senior if needed.
For example, you can click on here to find the research interest of WPI physics faculties.

(7) Financial Support: To find some kind of financial support, search on the web page under financial support. For example, you can click on here to know about WPI financial support for the graduate students.

(8) Start making application check-list: Once you go through these steps, you are almost close to the application process. Please start making the application check-list.

(9) Language requirement: TOEFL is a must ! Most of the universities ask iBT TOEFL score more than 80. If your score is less than that there may be some universities accepting less than this score too. Please find them from the university listings.

(10) Skill requirement: If you have General GRE score in hand, the chances of acceptance will go high. Universities where there is a high competition ask GRE score of 1100+, but, to some extent, that depends upon the departmental decision too. So please e-mail the Chairman of the graduate committee, not the Department Headto know their requirement of the GRE scores. For Example: click on here to find the details of the graduate coordinator of the Departmnet of Physics at Kent State University.

(11) Specific skill requirement: In some specific programs (mostly medical and biophysics programs) and in some universities ( for example - 1,2, 3, 4, etc) you may need PHYSICS GRE too ! Please find whether this is required in the program and university of your choice.

(12) M.S. or PhD: Regarding to the question whether I should apply for M.S. or PhD, you can do any. But some universities only offer M.S., not PhD degrees. In that case, obviously, you will apply for the M.S., otherwise apply for PhD. (I think it is more logical to apply for PhD as you are applying after your M.Sc.).

(13) Start on TIME: Please start the application process much ahead of time of the start of the selection process. Most of the US universities intake students in FALL session, which usually starts in August/September. For the FALL session, the selection starts from around mid-January or the beginning of February. Therfore, your application should be COMPLETE by the second week of January or earlier.
If you are applying for the SPRING semester (classes usually start in mid-January), you need to proceed accordingly. Some universities also start from Summer (classes start in early June).

(14) Application fee: The application fee in a US university ranges from around $20 to about $100 or so. But there are some universities which do not charge the application fee or waive the application fee at your request. In my guess, you need to pay the application fee later if you are selected and admitted there. If you do 'ONLINE' application, you can not submit the application form without making payment. So the best way is - Make a CHECKLIST and send the application in ONE and SINGLE packet by MAIL. START EARLY so that the packet will reach the destination on time.

(15) Where do I send the application packet? Once the application packet is ready, mail it to the Graduate Admission Office, (the link here is of WPI graduate admission office). Once the application is received by the graduate admission office, it will inform you by e-mail.

(16) Statement of Purpose: A statement of purpose tells about yourself, your background in academia and research and your future research interest. It should be about a page, nicely written and edited and re-edited several times. It is one of the most important documents to impress the graduate committee which decides your admission in the graduate programs of your interest !


A Sample Statement of Purpose:

This is only a sample. Please write YOUR OWN in a similar format !

Since my early childhood, I was much interested in natural phenomena like the rainbow formation, the lightning flashes and the thunderstorms, and the pattern of stars in the sky. Interestingly, my father used to tell the time at night observing the positions of some stars and the Moon. My curiosity to learn science grew from these simple day to day observations. Therefore, after my high school education, I joined to XYZ college for higher studies in science. The college offered me a scholarship which was a great help to pursue my studies. I pursued my university education with Physics major from XYZ University and got M.Sc. degree in XYZ year.

Then, I started teaching Physics in XYZ college/school, which helped me in several ways. For example, I earned money for my daily living, and to support my family; on the other hand it gave me a great experience in teaching. I taught Physics theory to the undergraduate/graduate students there and assisted them in Physics Laboratory.

My desire to learn Physics in depth always drove me to go to the higher level of education which, in fact, is the only impetus to make my career in Physics. In this context, I along with some of my friends coauthored several books on Science and particularly, on Physics for high schools and higher secondary schools. All of these books were written in English. We got a great success in these publications.

Although each branch of Physics is equally exciting to me, I am much interested to carry out research works in Condensed Matter Physics or Astrophysics. As simple as an ordinary diode to the complicated Integrated Circuits are the outcomes of the Condensed Matter Physics which have revolutionized the world in the last fifty years. My interests in Condensed Matter Physics especially Nanophysics, grew more when I participated in a seminar at XYZ laboratory last year. The mystery of the composition of the universe including the Dark Energy has tempted me to a further research in Astrophysics. The mystery and the problem with the unification of Gravity and the other three forces have created a deep interest in me to carry out research in String Theory.

When I visited the Website of XYZ University, I found the programs offered and research works being carried out there which match my interests. The correspondence with the Department Chairman and the Graduate Coordinator has strengthened my impression about XYZ research works. I felt that the research environment available at XYZ, the excellent faculty of Physics and the academic and financial support, will help materialize my dreams of becoming an excellent professor of Physics and a committed research scientist.

I promise you that I will work for the betterment of the faculty and keep the glory of the faculty up under any and all circumstances. This will definitely help me materialize my long-cherished goal through XYZ academia.

Mr./Ms./Mrs. XYZ