Chiki Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 How many people are there here applying to college, let alone grad school? Post any questions/thoughts/concerns about applications here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klokinator Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 If you're smart, you'll make a lot of friends in school. Not for hanging out at parties, for connections and getting a job when you get out. Networking is your #1 ally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chastlily Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 If you're taken where you want to work, don't be too lazy or you're gonna die from the lack of sleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azura Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I luckily don't have to choose for another year and a half. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do, and in Danish universities you have to choose your major/what you want to study when applying, since all the individual studies have seperate requirements for grade average depending on how many applicants there are. I know I want to be a research scientist, and I know what university I want to attend, but I still haven't found out whether I want to do physics, chemistry or biology. Right now, I find particle physics and environmental chemistry to be very interesting, but I'm just really afraid that I'll realise that whatever I choose isn't what I want at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 i'm actually hashing out my grad school application over this next semester! feels good man; i should have tuition 100% covered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix Wright Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 (edited) I luckily don't have to choose for another year and a half. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do, and in Danish universities you have to choose your major/what you want to study when applying, since all the individual studies have seperate requirements for grade average depending on how many applicants there are. I know I want to be a research scientist, and I know what university I want to attend, but I still haven't found out whether I want to do physics, chemistry or biology. Right now, I find particle physics and environmental chemistry to be very interesting, but I'm just really afraid that I'll realise that whatever I choose isn't what I want at all. can you not switch your major later on if you so choose? that's pretty lame if you can't. that being said, i personally recommend going the physics route. it's a beautiful major that is obviously very tough, but equally rewarding. you're still a prospective first year, so your entire ideas of what you want to do are (somewhat) likely to change over the course of college, so at least physics gives a nice background for other sciences early on. i'm actually hashing out my grad school application over this next semester! feels good man; i should have tuition 100% covered in a couple a years lets hope i'm in the same situation haha. if i may, where do you plan on going? Edited December 15, 2014 by Phoenix Wright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 master's in industrial and human factors engineering from wright state university hell, i'm not picky about where i go if it's 100% covered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azura Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 can you not switch your major later on if you so choose? that's pretty lame if you can't. that being said, i personally recommend going the physics route. it's a beautiful major that is obviously very tough, but equally rewarding. you're still a prospective first year, so your entire ideas of what you want to do are (somewhat) likely to change over the course of college, so at least physics gives a nice background for other sciences early on. Yes and no. Once you start at a study, you are studying maths or physics or whatever you are studying. It is possible to specialise, of course, and you can also tweak your bachelor, so you gain access to closely related candidates. For example, if you start out studying maths, and find out that you want to do computer science, you can gain access to the candidate in computer science by taking as many elective courses in IT as possible to gain enough ETCS-points to meet their requirements. Other than that, you can't change your major. Recently, the must-get-students-though-their-education-as-fast-as-possible government even made it impossible to take additional courses between your bachelor and candidate that otherwise would have allowed you to get into your dream candidate. Stupid as fuck, but there are nothing lowly high schoolers like me can do about it. ((there is one university where you take two different subjects on your bachelor but that university is generally regarded as the worst of Denmark's 8 universities and I'm not going to study there)) So yeah, my problem is that the two things that interest me are so far from each other that there are no way that I can catch up if I change my mind :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raven Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Right now, I find particle physics and environmental chemistry to be very interesting, but I'm just really afraid that I'll realise that whatever I choose isn't what I want at all. Whether or not you're interested, I'd look into particle physics some more before choosing it. The job market for particle physics is pretty bad. You can find a job but it's not easy. I don't know about Denmark compared to the US but the US is bad about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azura Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Whether or not you're interested, I'd look into particle physics some more before choosing it. The job market for particle physics is pretty bad. You can find a job but it's not easy. I don't know about Denmark compared to the US but the US is bad about it. Yeah, that is also one of my main concerns. Denmark is not a good place for particle physics, the only jobs available for a particle physicist would be at a university or other higher education. The job opportunities for all kinds of organic/environmental chemistry, biotechnology, biology etc, and especially everything related to development of medicine are way better. There is a reason why the area around Greater Copenhagen/Southern Sweden is called ''Medicon Valley''. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raven Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 (edited) I'd wager the least jobs available are in academia. For reference, there's like 3-4 academia positions open for particle physics on a yearly basis in the US. Edited December 15, 2014 by Lord Raven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiki Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Yeah, that is also one of my main concerns. Denmark is not a good place for particle physics, the only jobs available for a particle physicist would be at a university or other higher education. The job opportunities for all kinds of organic/environmental chemistry, biotechnology, biology etc, and especially everything related to development of medicine are way better. There is a reason why the area around Greater Copenhagen/Southern Sweden is called ''Medicon Valley''. If you're serious about particle physics you should work in a university anyway. Looks like you have the answer to your question. Go into biology or chemistry if you don't want to teach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raven Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Not really, there's a bunch of places like Brookhaven, Fermilab, Argonne, CERN, etc where you could work, especially considering most graduate schools will have some connection to one of those places. There's actually a bunch more jobs there anyway, academia is the last place you should be looking. The primary issue with particle physics in general is that it's getting harder and harder to fund projects due to government agencies like the DOE and all that not seeing the long-term potential benefits to it. You can't blame them due to the situation these days, but I also don't know anything about the university system in Denmark and whether or not you can change the specific subtopic of physics you're studying midway through if you really don't like it. I know plenty of people in physics that keep changing their research interests because they thought they liked something but they didn't find it interesting in class or once they went to labs/did the theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiki Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 How many recommendation letters did you guys get for your applications? I got 5 for my PhD applications. I've been told that might be overkill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Odinson Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 For the accelerated B.S./M.S. Program for Computer Science in my school they tell you you need minimum 2, at least one from the CS department, but can go for 3 But that's Masters and it's also within the same University as my undergrad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLovin Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I'm lucky that my University allows free passage into their law school if they're a Political Science major from the same University. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiki Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) For the accelerated B.S./M.S. Program for Computer Science in my school they tell you you need minimum 2, at least one from the CS department, but can go for 3 But that's Masters and it's also within the same University as my undergrad So your professors have to write letters to themselves? That's a little weird. Edited December 16, 2014 by Chiki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raven Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) How many recommendation letters did you guys get for your applications? I got 5 for my PhD applications. I've been told that might be overkill.3 with two in reserve, in case one of them fucks you over. Two research, one academic. That's what I did and I'm in grad school for my PhD. Edited December 16, 2014 by Lord Raven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Odinson Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) So your professors have to write letters to themselves? That's a little weird. They do not. Most professors are not in charge of the acceptance process for the accelerated master's program. The Professor who is the director of the program told us to try to find other professors before resorting to asking her to write the letter. This is also specifically for an accelerated program so I have no idea how the normal process goes. Got to even skip the GRE, for that matter. Edited December 16, 2014 by Thor Odinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiki Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 They do not. Most professors are not in charge of the acceptance process for the accelerated master's program. The Professor who is the director of the program told us to try to find other professors before resorting to asking her to write the letter. This is also specifically for an accelerated program so I have no idea how the normal process goes. Got to even skip the GRE, for that matter. Well that's weird. As an undergrad (right now) I fulfilled the requirements for a master's in linguistics while a philosophy major and they didn't ask me for a letter or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Odinson Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Well that's weird. As an undergrad (right now) I fulfilled the requirements for a master's in linguistics while a philosophy major and they didn't ask me for a letter or anything. Different schools have different requirements, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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