Physics PhD in the US?

johnboy1984

Hi

I'm about to start the final year of my undergrad physics degree here at Warwick and am thinking of applying to the US to do my PhD. I was hoping someone could tell me what sort of chances I have of getting a place? Is there a limit on the number of international students they admit? Having to pay for each application I want to know which universities are worth applying to. I'm hoping to get a 1st and have been published once.
Many thanks

Reply 1

ChemistBoy

I think you stand an excellent chance of being accepted for a PhD programme in the states. What area are you thinking of going into (this will help me give you some sort of advice about institutions)? Of course, the usual suspects are all worth going to.

Reply 2

johnboy1984

Not 100% sure yet, either surfaces / semiconductors or theoretical condensed matter physics of some kind. I'm doing straight physics rather than maths & physics so not sure whether theoretical is a good idea.

Reply 3

arkbar

This table might be a little help in narrowing down choices as it's the 2008 Graduate school rankings for physics(taken from another thread on here):

TOP SCHOOLS for PHYSICS
1. MIT
1. Stanford
3. Caltech
4. Harvard
4. Princeton
4. UC Berkeley
7. Cornell
8. UChicago
8. U of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
10. UC Santa Barbara
11. Columbia
11. UT Austin
13. UMichigan - Ann Arbor
13. Yale
15. U of Maryland - College Park
16. UCLA
16. UC San Diego
16. U of Colorado - Boulder
16. UPenn
16. U of Washington
16. U of Wisconsin - Madison
22. Johns Hopkins
22. SUNY Stony Brook
24. Ohio State
24. Pennsylvania State - University Park
24. Rutgers
27. Rice
27. U of Minnesota - Twin Cities
29. Brown
29. Carnegie Mellon
29. Duke
29. Michigan State
29. Northwestern
29. UC Irvine
35. Boston University
35. Georgia Institute of Technology
35. Indiana University
35. NYU
35. Purdue
35. U of Arizona
35. UC Davis
35. U of Florida
35. Rochester
35. UVA

ATOMIC/MOLECULAR/OPTICAL
1. U of Colorado
2. MIT
3. Harvard
4. Stanford
5. Caltech
5. UMichigan
7. UC Berkeley
8. U of Arizona
9. Rice
10. U of Maryland
10. Rochester
10. UT Austin

CONDENSED MATTER
1. U of Illinois
2. Cornell
3. Harvard
4. MIT
5. Stanford
6. UC Santa Barbara
7. UC Berkeley
8. Princeton
9. UChicago
10. Caltech

COSMOLOGY/RELATIVITY/GRAVITY
1. Caltech
2. UChicago
3. Princeton
4. MIT
5. Harvard
6. UC Berkeley
7. Stanford
8. UC Santa Barbara
9. Penn State
10. UT Austin

ELEMENTARY PARTICLES/FIELDS/STRING THEORY
1. Princeton
2. Caltech
2. Stanford
4. Harvard
5. MIT
6. UC Berkeley
7. UChicago
8. UC Santa Barbara
9. Cornell
10. U Michigan

NUCLEAR
1. MIT
2. Michigan State
2. U of Washington
4. SUNY Stony Brook
5. Caltech
5. Yale
7. Indiana University
8. Columbia
9. UC Berkeley
10. U of Illinois

PLASMA
1. MIT
1. Princeton
3. UCLA
4. U of Wisconsin
5. U of Maryland
6. UC San Diego
7. UT Austin
8. Columbia
8. U of Iowa
10. U of Colorado
10. UMichigan

QUANTUM
1. MIT
2. Harvard
3. Caltech
4. Stanford
5. UC Berkeley
6. UC Santa Barbara
6. UMichigan
8. Princeton
9. Yale
10. Cornell
10. U of Colorado
10. U of Illinois
01. U of Maryland

Reply 4

johnboy1984

Thanks for this, very helpful indeed!

Reply 5

ChemistBoy

PM me if you want to know more specifically about surface/nanoscience as I did my PhD in that area so I can recommend a few people stateside. I'd also have a word with Chris McConville and Phil Woodruff (the later, if you can find him) as well as Gavin Bell and the other members of the surface group there.

If you are interested in surface science then remember that much of the research goes on in chemistry departments as well as physics departments (and some in engineering departments) so if you are looking at departmental webpages, make sure you look at the chem and engineering departments too.

Reply 6

s.e.r.e.n.e

But I guess applying to the states is going to be real tough because the US universities can be very selective (for example, they have the whole of the world applying as first choice destination

UC Santa Barbara has a poorer general ranking but they have a number of physics Nobel laureates in recent years. Caltech is of course excellent in physics but it is extremely tough to get a place there. A friend of mine was the top student for BS Physics at Cornell and managed to get a place there (I think she's under Preskill now for Quantum)

The first thing you can help yourself is to start preparing for the GRE (or whatever entrance test that's needed). They test lots of tough vocabs (most of which we don't use daily) and can be difficult.

What about Cavendish lab? Think of applying there? I think it is going to be easier than places like Caltech/MIT surely (but probably harder than Cornell)

Reply 7

jacobadam

Physics' is too broad. What topic are you interested in? Astrophysics? Particle physics? Condense matter? Not every department offers everything. You'd also need to tell us your GPA, GRE, Physics GRE, TOEFL, research experience, and publications to know what schools you might have a shot at. I think Harvard University and University of Arizona best for your PhD education. They providing enhanced facility for learning and researching.