<p>To answer your other question akash, most PhD students do their PhDs directly after their bachelors. Generally the M.S. is for people who don’t plan to pursue the PhD such as engineers or professional schools like nursing and business administration (where it’s an MBA instead of an MS). Of course there are engineers that will get all three degrees, but I think that’s the general trend.</p>
<p>If you love math and physics to the point where it defines your philosophy on life, it is for situations like those where you should pursue them to the fullest extent of your passions. I for example very much love theoretical computer science, but I have to choose between it and engineering which is difficult decision for me. But few things can be substituted for passion.</p>
<p>I know what you mean Eat I got waitlisted from Cornell… but it wasn’t my top choice so things are probably more painful at your end. The application season has doubtless been an interesting and challenging experience for us all. Shame that many of us will have to repeat this process in four years, but hopefully things will look better then. </p>
<p>Let’s take solace in the fact that we can learn anything we want through the internet, for those of you interested in the academic side of things.</p>
<p>What are you guys planning to major in anyway? Only akash seems to have answered my question.</p>
<p>congratulations to all those who got accepted, and, for all those who got waitlisted, i just pray to god for your acceptance. @NPcomplete thanks man. thanks for the help.</p>
<p>@NPcomplete but you never answered my original question. i’m admant on doing astrophysics & i’m not transferring to any other subject. what i meant to ask is will a math degree help me in any way get a better job or get accepted into a better university to do my phd? or will i be just another guy who knows too much?</p>
<p>Anyone know about the waitlist procedure at Princeton? What am I supposed to do now? And I still can’t see my Columbia decision - no real point though - because they still aren’t sending me the password I need to login. Has anyone gotten theirs?</p>
<p>@arifxlr8 & @mayisha i’m so sorry guys you might still wanna keep your hopes up, but thats likely to be futile. but with the ivies you never know…</p>
<p>^exactly. we’re all praying for your acceptance guys. and in case you dont get accepted(i hope not), remember its always their always loss that they cant boast of your name in their alumni.</p>
<p>College apps have really been harsh this year. I myself felt very very bad seeing the Princeton rejection but I’m mostly over it now. But I am especially sorry for those of you who were not accepted to any US school </p>
<p>I think it’s better to just do undergrads <em>somewhere</em> while taking advantage of online resources. Grad school acceptance rates fare better than undergrads if you apply for FA remember that (assuming you are pursuing a science PhD and applying for FA in both undergrad and postgrad)! And in the end it is your highest degree that people will care about. Remember that lots of US citizens are having a worse time in college than you would have in a less expensive university in say, Bangladesh or India. US colleges are expensive and when people here don’t get the returns on what they thought was a good investment, their whole confidence in the process shatters. So think optimistically as well!</p>
<p>If you were waitlisted at a school, you should reply to the waitlist but not expect to be admitted since you will hear back from the waitlist after May 1st which is the date you have to reply to your other acceptances. If you are admitted through the waitlist, then take it as a bonus and if you want to switch to your waitlist you can do so, but keep in mind that you will lose the enrollment deposit for the school you originally planned to attend. So take the waitlists very cautiously. And the school you originally planned to attend may not like you much for it either.</p>
<p>@akash: I’m not sure if a math degree would help with applications to astrophysics grad school. A astrophysics degree on its own has plenty of math, and the mathematics you would see in a math degree that isn’t on the physics degree will unlikely be of much help in astrophysics. But this is only my guess, as I don’t know much about astrophysics. You should pursue the math degree if you will sincerely enjoy since in that case you have nothing to lose. But if it’s a burden that you want to take only to be a competitive applicant, I would not do it. Instead read books on astrophysics and pick up whatever math that you happen to need. If the math you happen to need translates to a math degree, go for it! But if not, then leave it since it won’t help much. </p>
<p>^that exactly was the answer i was looking for. i guess i’ll just pick up the math course books & go through them myself. for curiosity’s sake. no degree then.</p>
<p>@akash: Yes degree doesn’t always translate to skill. If you’re really good at astrophysics and you picked up a few math books to supplement it but they did not amount to a degree in themselves, that will still help if you mention it to grad schools. It will show that you can learn by yourself, and that you can pick things up quickly and efficiently which is by far the most essential skill today in any job market/grad school.</p>
<p>So akash, which lectures have you begun watching? Just curious. </p>
you might still wanna keep your hopes up, but thats likely to be futile. but with the ivies you never know…</p>