mdrake

I had a similar experience with University of Florida. I received an email from them saying I was missing 2 letters of recommendation. I checked my application status page and it said that they were in. I emailed them back, only to not get a response for about two weeks, which they responded with the exact same email as before. After the second email, I called them and found out everything was in and that there was a mix up with a student they had hired to help them. I had no reason to worry because the committee had everything they needed. The next day, I got my acceptance later. Sometimes, it just really helps to talk to an actual person on the phone and get it straightened out.

I can't say anything about CUNY, but I am an undergraduate at UMass Amherst. I've been doing research with a professor here, doing Monte Carlo simulations of a statistical mechanics model. From talking with him a lot, I can tell you that UMass is a good school for certain types of computational physics, as well as condensed matter. I've noticed that the biophysics department has been growing over the last few years, mostly in experimental work. I don't really know much about the high energy department or the astro department, but I'm sure there's people to ask about that. Most of the professors I've had classes with or talked with have been very friendly. The Amherst area is nice. Because it is the five college area (smith, hampshire, amherst, mount holyoke, and UMass), there's a lot of other students in the area, and the nearby towns all seem geared toward that. The towns are relatively small, but there's usually a fair amount to do. I hope this helps, but I'm not really sure what kind of information you might want. Specific questions would help me out if you want to know more.