Profile Evaluation: BS in Physics and Applied Math going for PhD in CS

[dddddddd]

GRE: 159 Q, 154 V

Majors (GPA):

• Physics (3.4)
• Math (3.3)
• CS (3.5)
• Overall (3.2)
• Past 2 years overall (3.6)

Most senior level CS courses taken, making it almost 3 degrees. However this is at the end of Spring 2015 that I will have most of the CS courses done.

 

Research Expeirence/Relevant Employment:

4.5 years of nuclear physics research, of which I've published 2 first author publications in peer reviewed nuclear physics journals this year, with another being worked on now to be published this coming spring. Work deals with stastistical analysis of large data sets of which I used a few machine learning techniques (chi-squared minimization, linear interpolation, etc). My senior thesis was simulating a superconducting solenoid that we have in our nuclear physics lab here on campus. A simulation had to be made to try and fix a problem that would arise from an upgrade in the detectors in the lab. Wrote the code myself in C++ and threw it up on github along with the paper, successfully defended my thesis as well. Over the past 1.5 years, I've been to 4 conferences where I've given 2 talks and 2 posters. Also 1 year of experience analyzing dirt cores from Antarctica to not only look for signs of life, but also analyze the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field in the past.

 

Letters of Recommendation:

Professor that I wrote my thesis under I have worked for and know since 2010. Professor that I published with this year I have known for 1.5 years right now. Both of them adore me and think switching to CS is a good idea because of my experience and skill in it. The third letter of rec comes from a professor who taught my computational physics course, of which I was the best student. He likes me and says I remind him of other students he's had that left physics and went on to do well in CS.

 

Achievements:

• 2nd place in Microsoft hosted coding competition
• Inducted into the National Physics Honor Society (Sigma Pi Sigma)
• Accomplished competitor in the International University Physics Competition

 

Desired topic of study: Machine learning or scientific visualization of large data sets (depends on the school)

 

Schools (in order of personal preference):

1. University of Colorado Boulder
2. Unviersity of Washington
3. Colorado School of Mines
4. University of Oregon
5. Unviersity of Wisconsin-Madison

What do you think my chances of getting in are, and what other schools do you think I should apply to as safety? I do have University of Colorado Colorado Springs on my list for if I don't get in anywhere, as I'm sure that I will get into it. However the applications are due in June so I'm not applying to them right now.

Edited November 11, 2014 by cmertin

[milara]

What do you want to do with your doctorate once you graduate? How you present that in your SoP may make a big difference. I'd also say that your experience doing research involving computational methods will stand you in good stead.

 

Some schools are very welcoming to non-traditional students (i.e. students without a standard background in CS). Some are not. Your chances with any given school will probably depend strongly on their culture regarding non-traditional students.

 

A few thoughts about UW Madison.

1. Notorious funding problems (I was offered the University fellowship there, and it was still not as good a funding package as other schools offered)

2. If you have standard health issues, they're fine. If you take any expensive medications that are not dispensed by the university pharmacy, then you may run into serious fiscal issues; I had to drop them from consideration for this reason alone.

3. On the other hand, UW Madison has strong ties to the grid computing community (When last I checked, the PI for the Open Science Grid was a professor there), which in turn has strong ties to the physics community. If you hope to continue to apply CS to physics, then this may be a big advantage. Those ties reach to Fermilab, which is not so far away, where the current Council Chair is located. And to be clear, grid computing isn't just used by the LHC, nor just by particle physics. It's used by all branches of science.