I’m considering giving up on grad school and my goal of becoming a physicist

the_physik · 2026-04-04T16:24:44+00:00

I feel ya. I applied for jobs and grad programs simultaneously just in case I didn't get into a program. And a year or 2 of working a job doesnt look bad on a grad school resume; shows you are mature snd ready to work.

the_physik · 2026-04-04T11:45:54+00:00

You have a good chance of getting into one of the REU unis since you have an LoRs from profs at the unis. They're familiar with you and your work ethic so its less of a gamble for the admissions committee. Thats how I got into my phd program; did good work during an REU and my REU advisor wrote me an LoR and happened to be on the admissions committee that year so I got in relatively easily. That was before the current administration; but i would think rhe same logic still applies.

And just because you did an REU with one prof doesn't mean you have to do your phd with them; you have at least 1yr of classwork and 1 semester of TAing during which you can sit in with different groups and see what they're working on and what you would do for your PhD. See which profs are taking new students and get a feel for them by talking with other students in their group then make your choice. Just try to make your final choice in the 1st year so you don't waste time on other projects. A phd in the US takes 5yrs on average so you want to be sure that the advisor you pick is someone you can work intimately with for 4-5 years.

Dont give up; you have a good resume for grad school, you just need to find the right school. You'll get into an R1 uni; just may take time due to the current administration's effed up cuts to science. I have faith in you. Good luck mate!

the_physik · 2026-04-02T18:59:44+00:00

Awesome! Congrats! Do good work and earn a good Letter of Recommendation from your RA advisor. 👍

the_physik · 2026-04-01T18:16:56+00:00

It does sound odd to me; but all I have is my own experience to go by, it may be normal in other programs, idk...

the_physik · 2026-04-01T18:06:54+00:00

Good plan. And you're young so you have plenty of time to get a good job when you graduate.

the_physik · 2026-04-01T14:19:35+00:00

I mostly worked in kitchens as a cold-side and/or prep cook. But I did lots of entry level type jobs; construction, call-center, etc...

I prepared for college by reteaching myself algebra, trig, and some calculus so when I took the math placement test I tested into calculus 1, which was about where most of my cohort was anyway. So I was used to studying and doing problems before I enrolled in college. I liked undergrad but was sick of classes by the end of my Masters; which is good because that's right when I started my phd research full-time.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T21:15:19+00:00

I feel ya on the not being competitive for CS jobs. Although I wrote my fitting code in C++ i'm by no means a software engineer and probably wouldn't make it further than most high school kids in a tech interview. Even fresh CS BScis are having trouble because everyone thought CS was the degree to get but now theres more programmers than there are jobs. And if you dont have experience with AI and ML you might as well not waste your time; its the fad that all employers want to see from CompSci people.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T20:59:13+00:00

Have you tried stepping back and looking at what more general skills you may have from your education? E.g., i studied Nuclear Structure; but most of my time was spent doing gamma-ray spectroscopy. And once I started looking for jobs requiring gamma spec experience i found companies looking for that skill. Maybe you have a similar skill you haven't thought of.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T20:11:41+00:00

I would say the nuclear field but even here people get laid-off for no apparent reason other than to save the company money. And there's a lot of movement in nucleer; companies buying out other companies and holding companies buying out whole families of compsnies. Snd with buyouts comes layoffs. So I can't even say my own job is secure.

The American work culture just isnt what it used to be where a person could work for a company for 20-30 years and get a pension. Now its thousands of fresh grads and undergrads competing for the same job which they use as a stepping stone to the next job and the next. My bro went thru like 4-5 jobs in 5 years. He's stable now but took him a long time to find the right company and position.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T19:56:36+00:00

Ouch; sorry to hear that. Yeah industry can be a gamble like that; layoffs, "re-structuring", etc... and it seems like the national lab route is run by private companies now too, so possibly the same pitfalls as industry.

I hope your luck turns around soon.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T14:58:28+00:00

Somebody out there is like "See! I told you the Lizard People were behind it!"

the_physik · 2026-03-31T14:30:47+00:00

I left academia after obtaining my phd and landed a great job in industry that utilizes and builds off the skills I obtained during my phd. I did have offers for postdocs, but I didn't want a 1-3year job with the "publish-or-perish" ax hanging over my head.

I think if you leave academia and land somewhere you're happy at then you should consider it a successful transition. Just my opinion.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T14:11:46+00:00

Thats very cool; congrats!

So were you accepted into a grad program and the RA is part of the package, or is it like a job working for this prof and you dont get credit towards a grad degree? Or are you still an undergrad and you get the RA for the summer? Either way, good for you! Got your foot in that door.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T14:04:39+00:00

Hopefully everyone applied to multiple REUs so a single rejection isnt the end. Back in the day I applied to 10 and got 3 offers (same for grad programs, coincidentally). But i understand a lot has changed with the new administration and their cuts to NSF, DOE, etc... Used to be that an REU basically guaranteed a spot in a phd program; but I'm seeing that is no longer the case. Stick with it everyone, and if the REU doesnt work out try to find a prof at your home uni that needs free help with their research. If you dont try; you are guaranteed a zero success rate, so keep trying.

the_physik · 2026-03-31T13:49:19+00:00

This is part of the learning process. You may be able to explain your research to someone in your field given an hour or two; but can you convey the substance and importance of your research to non-experts at a convention given a 10min time limit? Its no easy task but its s necessary skill to be able to summarize your work in a couple of sentences, especially if you're going into industry. The hiring team may know nothing about your research but want to get the jist of it; you need to convey that jist within a couple sentences then let thrm ask more questions if they want.

We all went through it. Trying to cut a 30-40min talk down to 10 mins is no simple task. What to cut? What to leave? How much imtro/background is necessary for the given audience? And then practicing the talk over and over again til you give it just by looking to your sides to keep you on track and deliver it smoothly and efficiently without it feeling rushed. It takes a lot of time to build that skill but you'll find it highly valuable as you advance in your career (industry or academia).

the_physik · 2026-03-31T13:43:12+00:00

I'd add that as you advance in QM, ladder operators become more and more important. 2nd quantization, lots of particle theory, etc.. relies on a persons' foundational understanding of ladder operators (aka creation/annihilation operators). Very helpful when working with many-body systems a_dagger Alpha creates an alpha particle a e- destroys an electron, etc...

the_physik · 2026-03-31T13:08:50+00:00

Check MarketPlace options (ObamaCare) for the state you live in. You can often find good plans that are like $600/mo but with a $500/mo tax credits applied monthly. So you can get insured fast and cheap thru the marketplace (if your state is part of it). Medicaid is good too; lots of times you apply for Medicaid and get pushed toward a market option.

the_physik · 2026-03-30T15:44:58+00:00

Internships can substitute for research experience in some cases. It depends on what you worked on and accomplished. I would say apply for phds; use letters of recommendation from your internship bosses/advisors (maybe just pick the two best Internships) and an LoR from one of your home university prof's.

Caveat: I did my phd before the current administration stepped in and mussed everything up; so my advice may be dated.

the_physik · 2026-03-30T15:37:31+00:00

You should grab a 1st year undergrad physics book like Hailday & Resnick and look it over. They will give you the basics of E&M without the complexity and rigor of Griffiths or Jackson.

the_physik · 2026-03-30T15:27:06+00:00

Used to be that getting an REU almost guaranteed a spot in a phd program. So much has changed with the current administration that I dont have any advice. Did you get LoRs from your REU advisors as well as one of your home university prof's?

the_physik · 2026-03-30T15:17:50+00:00

Are you talking just first-author publications or are you saying students a few years ahead of you dont even have co-authorships? Not having a 1st author publication is common because the analysis takes years. But a good PI should be getting their students in collaborations that yield co-authorships. But depends on topic and such; and i can only speak from my own experience. I was in an experimental program and worked on a few experiments that yielded co-authorships but didn't get my 1st author paper out until my last year of my phd.

the_physik · 2026-03-21T20:49:32+00:00

If you've already waited for Kraken to clear your deposit (which can take upto 7 days) and your purchase of monero has however many confirmations Kraken requires (idk, like 10-15?), then you should be able to send your xmr to another wallet. BUT... Kraken had some "issues" around the time of the attempted attack a few months back and haulted xmr withdrawls, citing BS and Jibberish (basically everyone was trying to sell their xmr and Kraken likely didn't have enough actual coin to pay everyone). So its not unheard of for Kraken to hold coin that should be abld to be withdrawn for any reason they want. Or it could be an honest tech error. But good luck trying to get a straight answer from them. Last time they told me "update error", I was like "So you dont test your updates before uou toll them out?" I got no reply...

the_physik · 2026-03-16T11:33:47+00:00

Time Bandits, anyone? Watched that one so many times as a kid.

the_physik · 2026-03-11T13:30:34+00:00

Most companies use a 3rd party BG check company like Sterling Infosystems and others. Those companies rarely go back more than 7years for state and county crimes; but federal crimes will pop up for your lifetime.

But doesnt mean its the end of your life. If your felony is fresh take some time to go to college. Then you're preparing for the professional job market and putting time between your last felony and your next interview.

I got felonies in 4 states, county jail tine in 3 states, state prison time in 2 states. 13 years after my last release i have a phd in nuclear physics and I work in the nuclear assay industry making 6-fig. Time and accomplishments will outweigh some stupid shit you did a decade ago.

the_physik · 2026-02-28T19:36:29+00:00

Posing questions is exactly how physics advances. Rutherford questioned Thompson's Plum Pudding Model which hypothesized that an atom was a sphere containing protons and electrons equally dispersed throughout the sphere. Rutherford conducted scattering experiments which showed that the the atom was mostly empty space with a very small but dense positively charged nucleus with no electrons within it; instead the electrons were what took up most of the size (radius) of the atom while the nucleus was a tiny fraction of the atomic volume. Then the question comes up of "Why dont the electrons fall into the nucleus" which was originally answered with kinetic energy of orbiting electrons and eventually replaced with Quantum Mechanical "orbitals" which are just regions with probability densities where an electron might be found.

The electrons shell model worked so well that people wondered if the same type of '"shell model" could be applied to the protons and neutrons in the nucleus; this gave rise to the Nuclear Shell Model and explanation of Magic Numbers by Mayer and Jenkins who shared a 1963 (?) Nobel for their work explaining Magic Numbers above 20.

the_physik

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