Behold, Science!

 
I have spent all day slightly sick writing my lab report for the above pictured lab. Twenty hours of lab work for seven data points. Not a particularly good return but I did learn something. I really dislike writing up lab reports in Microsoft Word. It is not only a pain but an agonizing experience [...]

Read Full Post »

University of Wisconsin Madison

 
I just received an e-mail from the Univiersity of Wisconsin Madison, I have been accepted to the Physics department. No official details yet as it seems that the graduate school determines all of those while the department selects the students.
No word yet from the Engineering Physics department.
For the application to the Physics department I did [...]

Read Full Post »

Nothing to Say

I soldered my finger today, the advantage of this is that solder wounds don’t bleed. They cauterize right away.

Read Full Post »

Acceptance

 
I received an e-mail from the University of New Hampshire physics department this morning: I have been accepted to the PhD program.
That puts me at two for two, or a one hundred percent acceptance rate so far. With more then one acceptance I really need to start figuring out a good way to evenly compare [...]

Read Full Post »

GRE Search Services

 
I must say this is a very poorly organized service.
I signed up for the GRE Search Services expressing in interest in physics graduate school when I took the general GRE the summer before my senior year. I did not really think much of it at the time. I went on with finishing my applications on [...]

Read Full Post »

Just a Small Tip

 
Just a tip, try not to misspell www.facebook.com
It appears that a transposition of two of the initial four letters redirects  to a site that might not be appropriate for many situations. I suppose the site would in fact be appropriate for only a very limited set of situations none of which are likely to occur [...]

Read Full Post »

Mini Macro Studio

Cruising around on the internet I came across a brief article on how to make a macro studio for dirt cheap. This was almost as exciting as finding instructions on how to make a cheap panoramic tripod head out of plywood (if I only had access to the needed tools I would make it).
With nothing [...]

Read Full Post »

Alternatives

 
After finishing it all it may be wise to consider options if there are no acceptance letters waiting. 
Here is a list of ideas that I have gathered from what my friends (physics majors) are considering or what I have considered as an alternative:
Teach for America
I applied for Teach for America and got in, but when [...]

Read Full Post »

Post Online Applications

With the online application complete, letters of recommendation secure and the personal statements done there is not much left to do. With the online application submitted a period of worry can start over whether documents like GRE test scores, official transcripts and letters of recommendation actually made it to the universities.
So far the universities with [...]

Read Full Post »

Personal Statement

 
Personal statements are hard. Hard to start, hard to write and hard to finish.
They feel like the most important part of an application and at the point of writing they are. Though not because they can influence an application completely, rather it is because it is the last and only thing wholly in our control [...]

Read Full Post »