Medical Physics PhD Program at University of Wisconsin — Madison (International Student Applications)

[Lawrencexoxo]

Hi, great day to all of you! To give you a glimpse of my background, I am currently an international undergraduate senior student from Philippines who is majoring in physics. I plan to apply for the Medical Physics PhD program at University of Wisconsin — Madison for the Fall 2022 term. While browsing the program statistics, it turned out that from more than 25 international applicants, only about four (4) were offered admission. Can anyone tell the chances of me getting an admission offer from them based on my background? Let me proceed with the nitty-gritty of my profile.

1. Currently, I have a GPA of 1.0853 (out of 5.0 scale, with 1.00 being the highest and 5.00 being the lowest). I tried converting this GPA using the WES iGPA Calculator and found out that in a U.S. grading scale, my GPA is 4.0/4.0. I am also an awardee of proficiency in science and math way back high school, garnered awards for work immersion (research), and a consistent top-performing student (class valedictorian in fact).

2. I was once a High School Math Expert at Study.com for a period of six months. The nature of my work is to provide step-by-step solutions to advanced high school math problems involving geometry, advanced trigonometry, calculus, advanced algebra, and statistics.

3. Here are the awards, fellowships, and scholarships I received:

• International Centre for Theoretical Physics – Physics Without Frontier (ICTP-PWF) for PhysicsMeetup Philippines (2020 – Present)

• Smarter Philippines through Data Analytics Research and Development (R&D), Training and Adoption (SPARTA) Project Award (2020 – Present)

• Department of Science and Technology Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) Undergraduate Scholar (2018 – present)

4. Affiliations/Designations are as follows:

• International Centre for Theoretical Physics – Physics Without Frontier (ICTP-PWF) for PhysicsMeetup Philippines Community Volunteer (2020 – Present)
• DOST-IX Scholar’s Initiative Club Zamboanga Committee Head (2020- Present)
• Western Mindanao State University Physics Students Society President (2019 – Present)
• College of Science and Mathematics Student Council Board Member (2019 – 2020)

5. As for my research experience, I do not have one that is related to Medical Physics. The main focus of my undergraduate research is in the field of materials science, specifically on crystallinity characterization. On my high school, I (together with my team) participated in regional and national scientific investigatory projects seminars and competitions, where we secured championships and runner-ups. I am quite worried about first-author publications as I do not have one. How can this affect my application?

6. Currently, I am attending the Japan and Europe Network for Neutrino and Intensity Frontier Experimental Research 2 (Jennifer2) Summer School on Particle Physics and Detectors. In addition, I also have working knowledge on the rudiments of python language programming and numerical computing. Moreover, I attended webinars on Functional Materials, Science Education, Fundamental Physics, and Biophysics and Complex Systems, Can these things be used as an asset to strengthen my application?

 

It is unfortunate that undergraduate students like me in the Philippines do have limited research opportunities. Does UWM grad school take into account the fact that not all applicants have had the same access to undergraduate research experiences, especially when the pandemic struck? I am looking forward to hearing from any voiced experience out there regarding my potential admission in this field. Thank you!