What are my realistic options

[entropicalveda]

Hi everyone, 

I did my undergrad in Chemical Engineering (B.S.) and Physics (B.A.) at UT-Austin and doing my M.S. in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M. I've realized that I'm not truly passionate about pursuing my Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering and want to dedicate my life to research in Physics. I'm honestly a so-so student, in undergrad, i struggled with health issues and got an overall 3.2 GPA, and got about a 3.3-3.4 in my physics core courses. At grad school level, while I've done mostly research in the computational realm I don't have much experimental work to supplement and while I've been doing fine (mostly A's in my PETE coursework) I do have some bad grades from health reasons again. 

I really can't leave the state for health and family reasons so I'm quite limited to UT, Texas A&M, and Rice University. Realistically do I have a shot at any of those programs, or should I stay the path and finish my Ph.D. in something I don't truly love. If so do I have a strong shot at resuscitating my chances with a strong PGRE and GRE scores? 

 

[Khagan]

Hey friend,

I'd say the situation is not entirely hopeless. With a strong PGRE score you'd definitely have a shot at getting into Texas A&M. UT and Rice might be a bit of a stretch, since those are quite highly ranked physics programs, but there's no reason you should not submit an application. I know a few people doing a petroleum engineering major at UT. If I may ask, why are you unhappy with your petroleum engineering coursework? Is this just a case of "the grass is always greener" syndrome or are you really serious about physics? Succeeding as a researcher in physics is not easy and requires significant commitment over a very prolonged period of time. If you apply in physics and mention that you're switching fields because you're unhappy with your current field, it might make a few people frown because it suggests inability for long-term commitment. You'd have to explicitly challenge this type of thinking with tools such as a high PGRE score. One other thing you could do to make your application stronger and more serious is to seek out research opportunities at national labs or REUs for post-bachelors graduates. 

But even then I'd still be curious why you're switching- isn't petroleum engineering very well-compensated? I might even argue that physics isn't anything "special" compared to many other engineering disciplines. A lot of the fundamental science is done in subfields like high-energy theory, which is filled with underpaid researchers who are all extremely well-qualified. There's still fundamental science to be done in other areas but a lot of it is still application-oriented just like in any engineering discipline. Forgive me for making some assumptions- I'm only bringing up the most common reasons why one might want to switch. I hope you are considering all the points carefully, and I hope everything works out well for you.