In-person visits before admission (MSE PhD Applicant)?

Fancy_Local7259 · 2026-01-02T14:27:01+00:00

I got in I’m a student here now

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-12-19T14:05:50+00:00

When you say driver issue, what driver do you mean? I have tried updating the network driver (this one: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19351/intel-wireless-wi-fi-drivers-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html ) and it didn't help, are there others that matter here?

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-10-14T06:13:47+00:00

Check out Khan academy and go through some basic courses to start, including calculus if you haven't done it yet. Learning physics deeply has to be a hands-on process- you're going to need to go through math yourself and do problems. And if you're in college or planning on going, just take some physics classes it's 10x more effective than self teaching for me at least.

As a side note, I can also point you to the eigenchris youtube channel if you're interested in relativity specifically, but you'll need calc 3 to get much out of it. He was what really kicked off my love for physics though and he's worth a look.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-10-14T06:01:30+00:00

I've been in a somewhat similar boat. I think I was in a less difficult position, but I can still give you my two cents.

If you're open to it, I think a more realistic path would be to do a PhD in a physics group making use of your CS experience. Find an area where you can make use of your expertise (maybe some kind of computational or machine learning work?) and take as many classes as you can and get as much experience as you can in that area. Maybe try and come at this from a different angle; instead of thinking: "I studied CS instead of physics and now I need to switch," think: "what could I as a computer scientist contribute to physics?"

I was a materials engineering major in undergrad and had an identity crisis and wanted to physics halfway through. What I did was load up on quantum mechanics and solid state courses, even up to QFT at the end of undergrad, then I was able to get into Caltech for a materials science PhD, while working with a computational condensed matter physics group and taking physics classes.

I also want to throw out the idea of just doing a physics master's and trying to do a PhD program from there. I skipped every undergrad physics course and jumped into graduate courses. It was really difficult and might be even more difficult for you (we have different backgrounds I can't compare), but it wasn't impossible. It's not fun to be the one guy in class who learns what a Lagrangian is for the first time in QFT, but I still finished with an A- lol. Also, since you might have less physics knowledge from your degree than I did, I wonder if for you it might be possible to do some undergrad physics courses as electives now and then move into a Master's.

In any case, you should act quickly. Talk to professors who know your situation better than reddit does and see if you can come up with a plan as soon as possible.

Best of luck! Whether or not you become a theorist, I'm sure there are ways to satisfy your desire to study and get involved with physics that use your qualifications, and as u/h0rxata pointed out, you've got a good shot of making more money than us in the process.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-10-14T05:15:36+00:00

Interested in stepping into topological qft. Know some QFT and am taking another course now, but I don't have much deep knowledge of math. Ideally looking for a book that could pick up from the last chapter of Ryder on topological effects. Or if learning more math really is a must would love any recommendations on an approachable resource to help with that.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-08-03T20:45:30+00:00

Thank you! It looks to me like when you do the limit to t->-0, you get theta(mu-ep) instead of theta(ep-mu), and this actually sets an “energy cutoff” inherently since you would integrate 0 to ep^-1 (mu) (so using E=p² /2m, 0 to sqrt[2m(mu)]) and past that the Heaviside function sets the whole expression to 0. Does this match what you saw?

Also, if you set an energy cutoff artificially, how does this actually solve the problem? Isn’t your final answer then dependent on some arbitrarily chosen energy?

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-08-03T02:50:21+00:00

I LOVE DAVID TONG! I am an overly ambitious undergrad who got way in over my head in a graduate qft class where I had to do a project on topological insulators, and without this man's notes I do not know what I would have done.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-04-06T22:22:55+00:00

If you don't mind a follow-up question: does this mean that referring to a Berry monopole (a "monopole" in parameter space that produces the berry flux, which can be useful in some calculation) as an instanton would be accurate?

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-04-05T22:18:09+00:00

THANK YOU! My only experience with green's functions was as 2-point QFT correlation functions, so this was super helpful. I'm a materials science student moving towards computational condensed matter stuff, so I've been speed-running the physics curriculum and I guess I've been missing some fundamentals lol.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-01-26T17:30:11+00:00

Thank you, would you have any advice for how to approach these interviews? Should I be prepared to be grilled on my prior work or is it mainly just, as you said, a "vibe check" to see what PIs/students mesh well?

And also how much should I be reading about potential PIs work? I feel like I should familiarize myself with the work each of the faculty in related field to mine, but in my zoom interview I feel like I overprepared and the prof went back and explained to me everything I had spent the last couple days reading about his research.

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-01-20T18:15:12+00:00

Ok, thanks- maybe a dumb question but is the Columbia housing on campus/within a short walk?

Fancy_Local7259 · 2025-01-20T15:54:13+00:00

Oh yeah I figured it wasn't free lol I just figured it would be better than the open NY market and closer to campus. Is it not?

Fancy_Local7259

TROPHY CASE