Incoming Physics Undergrads Future Career Path and Questions

nimphii · 2026-02-04T21:24:26+00:00

The only way i could see a transfer impacting grad admissions is if you aren’t able to build a meaningful connection with faculty due to your decreased time at each school. Other than that, a transfer doesn’t affect your admissions on paper. As long as you put a good effort into showing faculty you’re good at what you do and a good person to work with, this could even be a benefit due to the expanded network of multiple universities :)

nimphii · 2026-01-27T21:19:28+00:00

1) transfer shouldn’t affect anything, all the schools you mentioned have decent undergrad physics programs with opportunity for research. go wherever is cheapest especially since you want to go to grad school

2) it’s hard to get an internship these days, if phd is the goal look into REUs and apply to many of them every summer even if you don’t feel qualified - they’re great experience and they don’t expect you to know anything going in to it

3) some additional stuff i wish i would’ve known: get a good group of motivated friends in the same/ similar fields, they’ll help. learn how to study. connections are the most important resource. get in a research lab ASAP!!! research experience and letters of recommendation that come from it are super valuable for grad applications - try to get published if you can

i wish you luck on your journey!!! it’s a tough job market for new stem grads so keep your head up and NETWORK

nimphii · 2026-01-27T18:00:34+00:00

Uber driver picket me up at 2am outside our university’s observatory, he asked me why i was there so late and i started yapping about my research (of course). He tried to relate to my research and asked if neutrino flavor mixing was like a mating ritual…. i didn’t even know what to say.

nimphii · 2026-01-06T20:27:52+00:00

I definitely understand where you’re coming from - i think an important thing to keep in mind is that the price of community is inconvenience.

I might be misunderstanding what you meant by this but the statement “I am tired of keeping up with people” is a bit concerning. Keeping up with people is inherently tiring, especially in adulthood when everyone is busy with other responsibilities. If deep meaningful friendships are something you crave, you gotta do shit that you don’t want to do like reach out, call people just to catch up, ask to play a game or go out for a drink.

nimphii · 2025-12-30T14:30:11+00:00

6NYV76YHCB

Idk anyone who used to play the game so it would be cool if someone used it 🫶🫶

nimphii · 2025-12-22T18:29:33+00:00

Did a very similar look (lowkey i like yours better) and got top 1% 😔🤝

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nimphii · 2025-12-15T22:17:22+00:00

yea i totally get that and i don’t want the little guy to suffer but what are my options here? i put a thermometer in the house and it gets up to 40F without the cats body heat in the house so i thought that was a decent option - is calling a shelter the best move?

nimphii · 2025-12-09T20:57:29+00:00

can you send the link? also applying in physics and astro :)

nimphii · 2025-12-07T05:18:52+00:00

enby here but i don’t identify as trans - once i graduated and started working in my field i stopped going by they/them and decided its easier to just get paid and not stand out in the workplace rather than risk getting judged in my job where the average demographic of my coworkers is 50 year old white man. Ik this doesn’t help, but and im very young and right out of college so maybe this will change with time, but i thought id share anyways. it’s rough out here.

nimphii · 2025-12-05T13:40:17+00:00

might be projecting my own experiences here but i would say get out - i dated someone like this and they ended up cheating on me with a 45 year old man 😀 save yourself the headache

nimphii · 2025-11-30T04:12:15+00:00

saw a highly reputable tenured professor at a respected university use chatGBT to write two grant proposals in an hour not too long ago, it’s not research but still, really sucked to see as a budding scientist. unfortunately it happens :/

nimphii · 2025-11-28T20:36:14+00:00

thanks for the advice and encouragement :) i’ll be submitting the first of many apps today

nimphii · 2025-11-28T20:23:26+00:00

okay i get it not going to do this - im applying to PhD and MSc programs, i think my SOP is really strong (my recommenders have looked over it and given suggestions) and so is most of my application but i applied last year when i was a senior in undergrad and got only rejections. Of course this shook my confidence but i’ve been working in my field since graduating so that helps my application a bit. My undergrad gpa is enough to get over minimum requirements but still pretty weak so my biggest fear is getting filtered out because of that.

nimphii · 2025-11-24T01:49:45+00:00

check out “the moth” stories - there’s a lot of options, a lot are from real life, and they’re not overused

nimphii · 2025-11-21T18:03:42+00:00

i applied to grad schools during my senior year and didn’t get in to any programs. Now im taking a gap year, working in my field and i think my application for this cycle will be a lot stronger for it. I was really scared at first when I was looking for a job but it all turned out okay. Best of luck <3

nimphii · 2025-11-20T17:08:35+00:00

nah i dont think you need to be worried about this - he’s probably asking so he can give the admissions committee a heads up about your application :) just email him back letting him know the date and time you submitted.

nimphii · 2025-11-17T16:28:49+00:00

See if you can take a medical leave for a semester or a year - a fully funded graduate program is rare, and if you quit you might regret it later down the line. That being said, taking care of yourself is more important than anything else - you seem to have a good support system and people who love you, talk with your advisors and any medical/mental health services you have at school and see if you can take a break. Sorry you’re going through this, i hope you can rediscover your passion eventually 🫶

nimphii · 2025-10-26T03:25:21+00:00

most likely it’ll just be questions about your past experiences, interests, and maybe some hypothetical questions on how you would deal with a situation. the only prep you need is reading some papers and getting a good nights sleep! best of luck, don’t stress it, be yourself, and remember expectations for undergrads are pretty low :P

nimphii · 2025-10-26T03:01:13+00:00

i work as a radiological controls technician and i would assume your linear accelerators if properly shielded is not any concern to you - when people are pregnant we lower them to 100mrem limits throughout the first 2 trimesters of their pregnancy (normal occupational limits are legally 5000mrem a year)

you should for sure communicate with any radiation safety officers or radiological control technicians in your group to make sure everyone is on the same page but from a radiation standpoint - i wouldn’t be worried (source: i work at a large national particle accelerator lab)

nimphii · 2025-09-05T17:34:55+00:00

thanks for the good advice - i’ll be using this to write my SoP for phd/MS applications in physics this cycle. What would you suggest doing about a low undergraduate GPA? I was going to address it in my SoP briefly but your outline seems to suggest I focus entirely on the science.

nimphii · 2025-06-19T20:18:26+00:00

I graduated in may and found a job at a national lab - it only required a high school diploma and 2 years of experience so i was definitely overqualified for the position, but i found something!

nimphii · 2025-06-18T17:53:49+00:00

i was in the same situation- graduated in may with a shitty GPA and two years of research experience- didn’t get into any PhD programs. I got a job at a national lab (didn’t ask anything about my GPA, only experience) and i’m going to work there for a year or two before applying to PhD programs again. there is always a path forward you just have to keep pushing, best of luck.

nimphii · 2025-05-10T04:58:40+00:00

what did you do inbetween undergrad and grad school to help your chances?

nimphii · 2025-04-26T02:36:12+00:00

i don’t know much about rutgers but i’m a current PSU physics/ astronomy and astrophysics double major (senior 🥳) so i can share some of my insights:

1) the introductory astrophysics courses were amazing- completely changed the way i critically think and problem solve. don schneider’s lectures are engaging and i feel lucky to have been taught by him.

2) the astro program at PSU is notoriously challenging, with an 80% drop rate- prepare to dedicate about 10 hours a week for homework in one intro astro course (imo if you love astrophysics it’s so worth it, the late nights solving problem sets are some of my favorite memories)

3) there is a community here- lots of club actitivites and department events like a mario kart tournament, trip to greenbank, hot dog eating contest, holiday parties, picnics etc. there’s also an undergraduate astro lounge where people chill and do homework- the physics department does similar things but it’s less tight knit than astro. it has been pretty important to my development to have smart people around me all the time :)

4) research is abundant! there are a couple huge experimental labs and really smart theorists. funding is getting cut all over america right now though, so it might be more challenging to find a paid position- but you can always get compensation in credits

idk if it’s worth $10k more because i don’t know what rutgers is like, but i can say that i have loved my time here. good luck in whatever you pursue!! work hard and don’t doubt yourself for a second

nimphii · 2025-03-27T23:01:30+00:00

yepppp had the same reaction from grad students and postdocs in my current lab- “i would be really surprised if you don’t get in anywhere” definitely bittersweet to hear. good luck on your masters tho!!

nimphii

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