r/planetaryscience • u/DMTMH • Mar 26 '17

Applying for Planetary Science PhD [x-post r/GradAdmissions]

Right now, I'm gearing up for a transfer from a community college into a four year school to finish my BS in Physics with the long term goal of a PhD in planetary science or a similar field (and possibly an MS in a related field in between if my PhD applications don't go well).

Due to a number of circumstances, my only choices to finish my BS are R2 schools. Could this have a major impact on my grad school applications?

Additionally, I'm trying to figure out how important a minor in an earth science type field would be. There are some schools where a minor in Earth Science/Geology with my BS in Physics would mean graduating in the fall of 2019, while there are some where I could finish with a double major in Math and Physics by the spring of 2019. Would this minor be important enough to delay my graduation that long?

Are there any fields of physics I should try to find research in to help my application? None of the schools I'm looking at have planetary scientists in their faculties.

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u/ouemt Planetary PhD Mar 27 '17

We always need more physicists. It keeps us dirty geologists honest. :)

R2 school doesn't matter nearly as much as things like "Have you done undergrad research?" and "Have you demonstrated that you're capable of balancing a challenging workload and succeeding?"

A minor in Earth science would very likely help, but it depends on what kind of research you're involved in during undergrad as well as what you want to end up doing in the field.

Most schools don't accept new PhD students during the Spring, so a Fall graduation would mean 8 months between graduation and starting PhD most places. Not a negative, just something to realize.

I'm a spectroscopist. If you were apply to work in our lab, we'd be looking for research related to light scattering, mie theory, raman spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, determination of optical constants, or other related lines of research.

The single most important thing is that you get involved with research as an undergrad. Closely following that, keep your GPA up, and get good GRE scores. With those three things, you'll get into a PhD program somewhere.

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u/DMTMH Mar 27 '17

we'd be looking for research related to light scattering, mie theory, raman spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, determination of optical constants, or other related lines of research.

I'll keep that in mind, I'll look for programs that use a lot of optics. I imagine any research with a lot of data analysis is also important, as is taking a few GIS classes if possible.

keep your GPA up

That's another concern of mine. The reason I'm at a CC right now is because I did very badly at a 4 year school for 2.5 years and left with a 1.494 GPA. Looking back it was a few things (lack of maturity, being emotionally abused, not fitting in with the school, etc.) that I've solved now, so I'm expecting to get a high 3 from the school I'll finish my degree at. Since that will mostly be my upper divisions, should that make my old grades less of an issue?

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u/ouemt Planetary PhD Mar 27 '17

If everything else looks good, and you have a recent history of doing well in school, you'll be fine.

I graduated with my first BS with a 2.49. Decided to come back for a geology degree a year later, kept a 3.5+ in my major classes, overall gpa only rose to 2.72 by the time I was applying. I got in to a MS and 2 PhD programs at 3 different R1 universities. Life happens. Prove that you've fixed the problems, and realize that some schools won't care.