<p>Are certain subspecialties in physics PhD programs more difficult to get into than others? I’m specifically looking at experimental soft condensed matter (or theoretical).</p>
<p>I think it depends on both the number of other students wanting to do that field at the schools you’re applying to and the number of students offering positions in that field.</p>
<p>For example, I’m doing metallurgy related work which isn’t very popular with materials grad students right now (it’s all alternative energy, nanotech, and biomedical nowadays), and I think that helped me out a little, since my interests weren’t what admissions committees had been seeing everyone else talking about.</p>
<p>Generally, theory is harder to get into than experimental. Physicsgre.com is a good source for information concerning physics graduate school.</p>
<p>I guess I am confused, for your PhD you usually if not always focus on a single very specific topic, algorithm or something that can be published for your PhD. So I wouldn’t be asking what is easiest for a PhD but what you are most interested in.</p>