Comments on: Open House http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/open-house/ The collected ramblings of six physics grad students and postdocs. Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:35:53 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: ~ http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/open-house/#comment-278 ~ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:12:03 +0000 http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/?p=81#comment-278 Hi Bonna, I don't know if you remember me but we spoke for a while at Dave's kegger party (I asked you about being a woman at MIT).... I think you were truthful with me because you said things that you wrote about here ;) Anyway... I've almost decided to come to MIT for grad school next year. I haven't sent in my acceptance yet, though... and honestly, I'm terrified.... about the general exams, about what a serious commitment it all is, about the kind of expectations and demands that grad school physics and MIT have. i know that i couldn't live without challenging myself, but i'm scared, you know? any thoughts? Hi Bonna, I don’t know if you remember me but we spoke for a while at Dave’s kegger party (I asked you about being a woman at MIT)…. I think you were truthful with me because you said things that you wrote about here ;) Anyway… I’ve almost decided to come to MIT for grad school next year. I haven’t sent in my acceptance yet, though… and honestly, I’m terrified…. about the general exams, about what a serious commitment it all is, about the kind of expectations and demands that grad school physics and MIT have. i know that i couldn’t live without challenging myself, but i’m scared, you know? any thoughts?

]]> By: Bonna Newman http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/open-house/#comment-132 Bonna Newman Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:11:10 +0000 http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/?p=81#comment-132 I should hope the students answered the "who should you avoid?" question. Any grad student without an answer to this is either (1) a first year, (2) living in the lab with no interaction with the outside (physics) world, or (3) lying. I am glad that you had a good open house! At MIT, the total attrition rate is about 8%. About 1-2% leave for an academic reason, the others choose to leave for other reasons, often to go to other schools. In order to scale we have about 250 grad students total. I should hope the students answered the “who should you avoid?” question. Any grad student without an answer to this is either (1) a first year, (2) living in the lab with no interaction with the outside (physics) world, or (3) lying. I am glad that you had a good open house!

At MIT, the total attrition rate is about 8%. About 1-2% leave for an academic reason, the others choose to leave for other reasons, often to go to other schools. In order to scale we have about 250 grad students total.

]]> By: Matt B. http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/open-house/#comment-131 Matt B. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:14:25 +0000 http://imaginarypotential.wordpress.com/?p=81#comment-131 I just came back from an open house at a small physics department at a large state university. It was impressive and the grad students were very helpful--even answering the question "who should we avoid?" It was a very positive experience overall. I wonder, what is the attrition rate like at MIT? And what proportion of that is because of grades, life changes, etc? I just came back from an open house at a small physics department at a large state university. It was impressive and the grad students were very helpful–even answering the question “who should we avoid?” It was a very positive experience overall.

I wonder, what is the attrition rate like at MIT? And what proportion of that is because of grades, life changes, etc?

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