Finding Programs

Master's vs. PhD Programs

Once you have decided that you want to attend graduate school, there are still some choices to make. A big one is, what type of degree do you want to pursue? 

One type of graduate degree is a Master's Degree, usually in the form of a Master of Science (MS) or Master of Arts (MA) degree in APS/Physics. There are typically two tracks to earn a Master's: A thesis and a non-thesis track. If you earn a Master's with a thesis, you will be required to take fewer courses, but you will need to conduct research culminating in a written thesis, which you will defend in front of a committee. If you earn a Master's without a thesis, you will be required to take about two years of graduate level classes (~30 credit hours). To learn more about these two options, see GoGrad's article. There is also sometimes a Master's Examination required to earn a Master's. In total, a Master's should take 1-3 years (typically 2) to complete.

Another type of graduate degree is a PhD, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy (AKA a doctoral degree or a doctorate). A PhD requires you to take two years of graduate level classes (~30 credit hours), then complete 3-4 years of research culminating into a written thesis, which you will defend in front of a committee. In total, a PhD should take 5-6 years to complete.

There are some other degree options that APS/Physics students may pursue, such as a Law Degree or Medical Degree. While these types of degrees are beyond the scope of APS/Physics Professional Development, CU Career Services has excellent resources available to help you apply for these programs.

Here are some key things to keep in mind when considering what type of degree you may want to pursue:

• PhD's in APS/Physics and related fields should be completely funded. If you are accepted into a program, you will be supported by a teaching assistantship (TA), a research assistantship (RA), or a fellowship (or a combination). Your courses will automatically be paid for through this support, and you will earn a stipend (typically $20-35k/year) to pay for housing, food, etc. If you have a TA or RA, you will work for 20 hrs/week. If you have a fellowship, you may not be required to work, there may be some mentorship work required, or you may work full-time during the summer for the organization that provided the fellowship. Regardless, you should be working and conducting research during the year even if you have a fellowship.

• Master's Degrees are often not funded by their home departments. However, there are some ways to earn external funding for a Master's Degree. See our Funding page for some fellowships/scholarships that can help you fund your Master's Degree. Sometimes, a company or organization that you work for may fund your Master's Degree- see GoGrad's article for more info.

• Physics students can get a combined Bachelor/Master's degree at CU Boulder through the Bachelor's-Accelerated-Master's Degree Program (BAM). This program allows you to earn both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Physics in 5 years, rather than the usual 6.

• If you earn a PhD, you can also earn a non-thesis Master's Degree along the way (it is just a matter of filling out the paperwork, no extra research/classes). Since your PhD program is funded, this Master's Degree will be completely free. For this reason, you should not pay for a Master's Degree if you know that you want to pursue a PhD, with some very rare exceptions.

For more information about choosing between Master's Degree and PhD programs, see Franklin University's blog post.

Choosing where to apply

When choosing where to apply, you should consider what schools you might want to attend and which programs you are likely to be accepted into.

One excellent resource is gradschoolshopper.com. You can use this site to look up various programs and get a wealth of information on various institutions- location, application due dates, requirements, specialties, etc. This site also sorts and filters programs based on typical grad student GRE scores, which can help you get a sense of how competitive applications are at that school.

If you have done any research, talk to your professor/research advisor about your graduate school search. They will probably have a sense for the programs in their subarea, and may be able to get you in touch with professors that they know.

Some more things to consider:

• Try to apply for a few "safety", "likely", and "reach" schools- just like applying to undergraduate programs! Prof. Tobin Munsat (Physics vice chair) suggests that Physics students apply to 5-7 schools.

• Consider location- do you definitely want to live in the US, or are you considering other countries? Does city size matter to you, and what kind of apartment/living situation will you be able to afford on a graduate stipend in various cities? Do you care about climate and geography? How about politics and diversity?

• If you have a subarea of research in mind, it's a good idea to apply for programs that have at least a few faculty members in that subarea. It is good to have more than one professor that you could work with in a program, because professors can leave or may not be hiring students. Also, if you apply when nobody in your subarea wants to hire students for several years, you will probably be rejected.

• Are there any specific resources that you need to conduct your research (telescopes, accelerators, etc.)? Do the schools that you are applying to have these resources?

Graduate school ranking sites

Graduate program rankings can be useful for judging how competitive and prestigious various programs are. US News & World Report puts out an annual ranked list that compares graduate programs based on survey responses from notable academics. If you are in physics, you can use their domestic Physics rankings to compare the quality of physics programs and even subareas of research in physics programs. If you are in APS, you can use their global Space Science rankings and domestic Astrophysics rankings. Always keep in mind that domestic rankings will exclude countless excellent international programs- do not let these lists deter you from considering programs outside of the United States!

While graduate program rankings can give you a sense of overall programs, there are cases where they aren't so helpful. For example, working with a well-known professor at a lower-ranked program can still be very prestigious, but you should be sure that the professor wants to work with you, and be aware that anything can happen (you may not get along, they could leave, etc.) and you may not end up working with them. Also, graduate program rankings are not entirely correlated with competitiveness, and may ignore important factors like quality of life and student satisfaction.