please advise me on a career in research in particle physics !

[deepsudden]

Hi,

I am from India. My age is going to be 30+ when i will have my degree in ECE.

I left studies in the second year of my physics honors and started working for money, that i thought would add meaning to my insignificant life. But as time passed by, i began to understand that my love in physics and math was much stronger than i thought. I kept finding myself buying secondhand texts for self study. After 9 long years i got myself into a govt tech college and to my surprise and hyper amusement, i am doing good in studies (internships are not much of a norm in India except for those in the ivy leagues like iitians.

Now , my next aim is to get a PhD and do more than my best to get a position in academia that involves lots of theoretical work in experimental particle physics.

My concerns are as follows:

1) average marks in 10th and 12th (without private coaching and with abysmally low attendance in class. I had to take special permission from heads of the institutions for sitting in the board exams).

2) the big gap between 12th and UG studies (India is not well-known for out-of-the-box trend breaking thinkers. So it is hardly surprising that i rarely find people who admire my work in turning my childhood fantasy of becoming a physicist into a real aim! Also the jobs i took up during these years do not add anything to my applications.)

3) I am not in IIT Kharagpur,JU or BESU (the top three tech colleges in our state of West Bengal).

4) I don`t see any chance of me getting to do any real work or internships during my B Tech years.

5) Junior Research Fellowships have an age limit of 28 years!

On the other hand, few good news might be as follows

1) my GPA will be 9 point something (given i keep on doing the way i did in my first 2 years).

2) I may have good to excellent score in GRE Physics and GATE !

Now what I request is replies from people who can show me rays of hope and give some guidance on what to do?

Thanks in advance,

kd

Edited May 29, 2012 by deepsudden

[emmm]

I can't help you with your questions about physics, but just wanted to send you some encouragement. While there still may be some age discrimination here in the US, it is much more common (and easier) to go back to school at any age than you might think -- and to get support and encouragement during the process. I just started a PhD program at a large state U with full funding at age 40+. Good luck!

Edited May 29, 2012 by emmm