2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[RockSniffer]

That'd be an awkward e-mail to write... But yeah, you should find out.

Congrats to you, Crazy454 on your invites!

[Crazy454]

Would you guys email them back? lol I've never been on an official waitlist.

 

I would email them and inquire as to what a waitlist means, I imagine at this point in the ball game it is a short list.

[GeoDUDE!]

Tons of Earth Science news today... guys get ready for the tundra of results it seems.

[geographyrocks]

I see all of those acceptances on the results page, but no one is speaking up on here.

 

For anyone who is interested: CU Boulder's online portal is still down.

[Crazy454]

Accepted at the University of Texas (Austin) TA/RA 9 month stipend.

[reeses_pieces]

Congrats Crazy! How much is the stipend and for how many years?

Is CU Boulder making announcements today?

[CC2014]

Congrats on UT!

[ssynny]

Hi all!

Thanks a bunch for always posting in this forum. I've been checking my email all day hoping for a response from somewhere. I applied to UC Irvine, Stony Brook, CU Boulder, and UW to study atmospheric chemistry and haven't heard a thing..... And I don't think these schools have a results page. I wish us all the best when the emails start coming !!

[Crazy454]

Congrats on UT!

I am unbelievably excited. Thank you.

[GeoDUDE!]

Congratz crazy, UT is a great school.

 

 

I have more info on the WUSTL waitlist... seems that its a nonlinear waitlist and they try to create a well balanced incoming class in terms of interests. Therefore, it seems to me that there arent people on the waitlist in my field of earth sciences, but acceptance is highly dependent on who drops out.

[CC2014]

Hi all!

Thanks a bunch for always posting in this forum. I've been checking my email all day hoping for a response from somewhere. I applied to UC Irvine, Stony Brook, CU Boulder, and UW to study atmospheric chemistry and haven't heard a thing..... And I don't think these schools have a results page. I wish us all the best when the emails start coming !!

Woooo more atmospheric scientists!  Good luck on those schools.  They're all top notch.  I'm also waiting on UW.

[CC2014]

I am unbelievably excited. Thank you.

 

I bet - hell of a school.  Are they your top choice?

[Crazy454]

I bet - hell of a school.  Are they your top choice?

They are definitely my top choice. It is the best of both worlds, and advisor I enjoy being around and great resources.

[Souri_RS]

Hi all!

Thanks a bunch for always posting in this forum. I've been checking my email all day hoping for a response from somewhere. I applied to UC Irvine, Stony Brook, CU Boulder, and UW to study atmospheric chemistry and haven't heard a thing..... And I don't think these schools have a results page. I wish us all the best when the emails start coming !!

Hi ssynny, I am also applying for PhD in atmospheric science especially atmospheric chemistry modeling (such as CMAQ model) with remote sensing background!

I hope you get admission from both Boulder and UW (is it Washington or Wisconsin?); I know that Prof. Ackerman is a profound master in aerosol/dust field in Wisconsin-Madison. Boulder is also awesome, a good place to pursuit your education in national center of atmospheric research.

Why didn't you apply for Colorado State school? The faculty's interests also are in line with yours. Good luck!

[ssynny]

Hi ssynny, I am also applying for PhD in atmospheric science especially atmospheric chemistry modeling (such as CMAQ model) with remote sensing background!

I hope you get admission from both Boulder and UW (is it Washington or Wisconsin?); I know that Prof. Ackerman is a profound master in aerosol/dust field in Wisconsin-Madison. Boulder is also awesome, a good place to pursuit your education in national center of atmospheric research.

Why didn't you apply for Colorado State school? The faculty's interests also are in line with yours. Good luck!

Oh modeling is tough work! I'm more into analytical chemistry and there's not a lot of people who do that unfortunately. The schools I applied to were all ones that my lab has relations with since we have field seasons in Antarctica and Greenland together for ice core drilling. That way I can run away from modeling haha. I actually applied to both Washington and Wisconsin, but I withdrew my application from Wisconsin :\. Colorado State was supposed to be low on funding so I decided not to apply. I saw your profile and you have some really good schools on your list! Just waiting on these emails....

[whatcouldbe]

_{Since there are a few atmospheric science folks here (who I'm sure collectively have done a ton of research into programs): Which do you think are the top 10 or so programs (roughly) for climate science/atmospheric & oceanic science? Perhaps mention their strengths (modeling, aerosols, oceans circulation, paleoclimatology, ice dynamics, etc.)?} Weaknesses? Size (# students/profs)? Funding?

 

I saw one applicant, but are there any other applicants to Princeton AOS here? Any Columbia EES folks?

[Souri_RS]

Oh modeling is tough work! I'm more into analytical chemistry and there's not a lot of people who do that unfortunately. The schools I applied to were all ones that my lab has relations with since we have field seasons in Antarctica and Greenland together for ice core drilling. That way I can run away from modeling haha. I actually applied to both Washington and Wisconsin, but I withdrew my application from Wisconsin :\. Colorado State was supposed to be low on funding so I decided not to apply. I saw your profile and you have some really good schools on your list! Just waiting on these emails....

It seems tough, but you should just use available models working in Linux interface (such as CMAQ and SMOKE),use some external meteorological models (NCEP,ECMWF etc) and finally calibrate, modify and adjust them using satellite/ground based data. No one expects you to propose a new model! If my future supervisor asked me to do it, I also would prefer to hug white bears and drill ice cores (from the surface to Earth core by bare hands!) . I am sure you will get the best result...

 

_{Since there are a few atmospheric science folks here (who I'm sure collectively have done a ton of research into programs): Which do you think are the top 10 or so programs (roughly) for climate science/atmospheric & oceanic science? Perhaps mention their strengths (modeling, aerosols, oceans circulation, paleoclimatology, ice dynamics, etc.)?} Weaknesses? Size (# students/profs)? Funding?

 

I saw one applicant, but are there any other applicants to Princeton AOS here? Any Columbia EES folks?

 

Great! The atmosphere of this forum is increasingly becoming more atmospheric!

Let me just talk about my choices:

Maryland-College Park: The main reason that I am applying for is not the reputation of this eminent school, many research centers such as NOAA work there; so it is an utmost privilege to go there . The person that I got a "encourage to apply"  has a great remote sensing background who is Prof. Li : http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~zli/ . An e ditor of JGR, cloud/dust/particles are his interests. He has many students but I think he preferably chooses Chinese people :| I am not aware of the exact students but I am sure it is available on the department website.

Colorado State: a great city with some of the advocates in atmospheric remote sensing. It has a broad spectrum of research areas.

Let me copy/paste what graduate coordinator said: "We generally admit 20-25 new students each fall into our graduate program.  Admissions are competitive.  We normally receive 130-140 applications for the 20-25 openings.  We also generally only admit students when we can offer financial assistance in the form of a graduate research assistantship."

Therefore the admission process is "rolling". Who did not manage to get a supervisor (with funding) wont go there. If you take a glance over other departments, you will definitly see that many well-known professor graduated from this department. See researches : http://atmos.colostate.edu/dept/research.php

In case of atmospheric remote sensing, Prof. Kumerov is almost the father of TRMM!

----

Regarding that most of folks here are native and have a strong CV, I wont talk about Alabama, Houston and Michigan Tech, since you have more chances for top schools.

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Another thing that I forgot to say is University of Wyoming, it is the safest option, you can also find your future thesis title!

here: "http://www.uwyo.edu/atsc/phd%20opportunities/index.html

But I heard it is located in rural place and you will become depressed and dragged down.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Souri_RS

[CC2014]

Ranking the programs is tough to do.  The NRC rankings are a pretty good rough estimate of quality, though

 

http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124750/

 

I focused on applying to quality programs where I felt my PhD would be viewed upon favorably and would allow me a decent chance for an academic position.  After that, I just wanted to work with various people (Richard Seager was one at Columbia but I doubted my applcation was EES material) so I made my application decisions based on that.

[ssynny]

_{Since there are a few atmospheric science folks here (who I'm sure collectively have done a ton of research into programs): Which do you think are the top 10 or so programs (roughly) for climate science/atmospheric & oceanic science? Perhaps mention their strengths (modeling, aerosols, oceans circulation, paleoclimatology, ice dynamics, etc.)?} Weaknesses? Size (# students/profs)? Funding?

I saw one applicant, but are there any other applicants to Princeton AOS here? Any Columbia EES folks?

It's really tough to just arbitrarily say which schools are the best for atmospheric science because there are so many subdivisions. In my opinion, Scripps is a fantastic school for oceanography and atmospheric science and I know a good amount of people who have gone on to teach and do research at schools like MIT and Harvard. CU Boulder is good for ice core and paleoclimatology research. That ranking site posted above is actually pretty helpful. For PhDs, it's about the department and researchers and less about the name of the school. So Princeton is a great and prestigious university, but their atmospheric science department isn't too strong. But it's still Princeton haha.

[CC2014]

Oh I don't know.  Having access to GFDL at Princeton puts you around some great research.  

[reeses_pieces]

It's really tough to just arbitrarily say which schools are the best for atmospheric science because there are so many subdivisions. In my opinion, Scripps is a fantastic school for oceanography and atmospheric science and I know a good amount of people who have gone on to teach and do research at schools like MIT and Harvard. CU Boulder is good for ice core and paleoclimatology research. That ranking site posted above is actually pretty helpful. For PhDs, it's about the department and researchers and less about the name of the school. So Princeton is a great and prestigious university, but their atmospheric science department isn't too strong. But it's still Princeton haha.

I'm more likely than not going to attending Scripps for paleoclimate work. Is it still considered a top university for that as well?

Edited February 16, 2014 by reeses_pieces

[ssynny]

I'm more likely than not going to attending Scripps for paleoclimate work. Is it still considered a top university for that as well?

Oh definitely. My boss did his PhD there

[Pacifico]

All this atmospheric / climate talk is great.... but where are my sed/ strat/ paleo people?? I know you are out there somewhere...!

[Crazy454]

All this atmospheric / climate talk is great.... but where are my sed/ strat/ paleo people?? I know you are out there somewhere...!

 

I wonder how many people that normally would have been "graduate school bound" have been getting employed in industry.  Our graduates are getting pretty decent jobs in the oil and gas industry (not necessarily geology related)

[geographyrocks]

I wonder how many people that normally would have been "graduate school bound" have been getting employed in industry.  Our graduates are getting pretty decent jobs in the oil and gas industry (not necessarily geology related)

Same here. 

Also, my current school doesn't even bother teaching anything related to geology.  The program was dissolved I want to say 10 years ago or so.