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Entry time:	Tue Feb 3 12:08:16 2026
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<p><u>Kaeli's Advice:</u></p> <p>If grad school is something you want to do, make sure your activities throughout college reflects that! Get involved in research, SPS/ Sigma Pi Sigma, apply for REUs, and spend the summers learning as much as you can about research in your chosen area. Take on leadership positions in clubs if you can, and try to do some sort of outreach too (ASPIRE is great for that by the way).</p> <p>By the summer before your senior year, you should know whether or not you're planning on applying to schools. Here's what I did:</p> <p>June-August: Study for the physics GRE. It sucks, and it's not fun, but doing a little bit each week really helped me. I recommend the book "Conquering the Physics GRE" by Yoni Kahn and Adam Anderson. Do all of the problems, then do all of the problems again. You probably forgot more than you realize. Also sign up for the GRE early (in July or so) so you get to take it on campus at OSU.</p> <p>September: Take one practice GRE test a week leading up to the September test. Get lots of sleep and make flashcards for the equations you really need! </p> <p>October: Take the Physics GRE again. Generally people do about 50-100 points better on the second one they take (including me). Also, apply for the NSF Fellowship! This is due at the end of October, and the personal statement you use for the NSF can be easily reworded into your personal statement for grad schools. I also took the regular GRE at the beginning of October. I studied vocab for about a week beforehand and did fine, so don't stress about this one.</p> <p>November: make a list of schools you want to apply to. By this time you'll have at least one of your GRE scores back, and based on that and your GPA you should have an idea of what grad schools you'll be competitive for. But, don't let these things limit you if there's a program you're really interested in! Grad schools care a lot about research experience and rec letters as well as grades and GRE. Make sure you have at least one school that you are very sure you will get accepted to. I applied to 13 schools which was probably too many, but it also increased my chances of getting in to a good program. Also, make sure you have your letter writers lined up by the beginning of November so they have time to write good letters. If you can, send them your resume or a personal statement so they can talk about specifics in their letters.</p> <p>December: Write your personal statement for your favorite school and make sure you mention specific people that you want to work with. I put that information in the second paragraph so they knew I was serious about getting in. Have at least 3 people read your personal statement, especially your research advisor. Be prepared that applications are generally due around the same time as finals week (December 15th for many places) so manage your time as best you can! I submitted my applications for every school by December 15 even if their applications weren't due until January. This way winter break wasn't stressful.</p> <p>Some people recommend reaching out to faculty before your application is submitted, but I didn't have time for that. I got in to 9 schools out of the 13 that I applied to, so I must have done something right! However, lots of people do this differently and also get in to really good universities, so I don't think there's one "right way" to get admitted. I started hearing back from places in late January. Also, don't check grad cafe! It will stress you out and it's not worth it.</p> <p>Good luck!</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Encoding: HTML ELCode plain Suppress Email notification

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