Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?
what is the time limit in USA?

Please give some positive information.

THANKS

On Sep 10, 12:02 pm, "chilldown" wrote:
Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.

That kind of aid is often available once you gain admission to
the physics department. Once you pass qualifying examinations
and are accepted as a Ph.D. candidate (generally after 1-2
years of course work) with a specific advisor and research
topic, then you can often get research assistantships. These
are paid out of the professor's grant.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?

The same way one can do it if he/she is 18-21. There is
not in general any age limit.

what is the time limit in USA?

That depends on the school. Some schools will put a limit
of 4 years on assistance. Some don't.


Please give some positive information.


Contact some specific physics departments and graduate
schools. Look up the website of the university you are
interested in, and look for "Graduate School" links under
"Admissions". Also, I suggest looking up the Physics
departments and writing the chair directly, or if there is
an e-mail given for inquiries of this type, write to that
e-mail.

- Randy

On Sep 10, 11:02 am, "chilldown" wrote:
Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.


In almost all US Physics PhD programs, acceptance comes
with full financial support, which includes tuition and a modest
stipend. In most cases, this starts as a teaching
assistantship, with the idea that the student will
transition to a paid research assistantship as he/she
narrows in on a thesis topic. There are variations,
but there is almost always a plan to support the
student while they are in school.

The few cases where schools accept Physics PhD students
without offering them support, it translates to "We
don't think you're qualified for our program, but we're
happy to take your money for a couple of years".
Consider it a rejection.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?
what is the time limit in USA?


Your age will be a mark against you (whether or not it's *technically*
legal to discriminate), but there are some very solid programs
in this country that would accept a talented middle-aged person,
particularly in HEP, which - to put it bluntly - needs a lot of
bodies.

My advice would be to go for it.

-jc





Please give some positive information.

THANKS

I have not mentiond but I am in Holland and I am talking about Holland in
EU.




"chilldown" wrote in message
vices.nl...
Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?
what is the time limit in USA?

Please give some positive information.

THANKS

On Sep 10, 12:02 pm, "chilldown" wrote:
[snips]
I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd

The big thing here will be getting a professor to accept you.
If you can get a prof to say "I want that person as a student"
then you have much more power than otherwise. If no prof
wants you as a student, you are going to find it very cold.
Getting some help from the university is strongly driven by
how hard the prof is willing to push for you.

Check around to find profs that do research in areas you
are interested in. Check places like the preprint archive.

http://www.arxiv.org/

Look in journals in your area. Find profs that work in
stuff you are good at and keen to work in. Especially
if you have a paper, or more than one, it's good since
it will show you have something to produce.

By the way, don't limit yourself to any particular place.
Check as many places as you can find to check, in
Europe, in North America, any place you think you
might be able to go and benefit from it. Get the Particle
Data handbook and check out all the places in the
world that have theory departments, just as an example.

Contact the prof directly and ask how he feels about
you working for him. Be specific about the area you
want to work in. Make sure you mention you want to
be a PhD student so he knows what he's looking for.
University web pages are great for this because they
often have webpages or emails for profs.

And there's an old old OLD joke about getting a prof.

One day, a rabbit was sitting in the woods, typing on
his typewriter. And along came a fox and said "What
are you doing?"

The rabbit said "I'm working on my PhD thesis about
how rabbits eat foxes." The fox fell down laughing.
"Oh, just come into my rabbit hole and I'll show you."
So the fox followed the rabbit into the hole. In a few
seconds there was a lot of roaring and screaming
and horrible bone breaking noises. Then it got quiet.
Then the rabbit pops back out and starts typing again.

Along came a wolf, and the wolf asks "What are you
doing?"

The rabbit said "I'm working on my PhD thesis about
how rabbits eat wolves." The wolf fell down laughing.
"Oh, just come into my rabbit hole and I'll show you."
So the wolf followed the rabbit into the hole. In a few
seconds there was a lot of roaring and screaming
and horrible bone breaking noises. Then it got quiet.
Then the rabbit pops back out and starts typing again.

But back at the back door of the rabbit's hole, laying down
in the sunshine amid a pile of fox and wolf fur and bones,
picking his teeth with a straw, was a huge old lion.

And the moral of the story: It does not matter what your
PhD thesis is about. It only matters who your prof is.
Socks

On Sep 10, 6:02 pm, "chilldown" wrote:
Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?
what is the time limit in USA?

Please give some positive information.

THANKS

why doin all tha way to usa when you
can buy it thro internet

On Sep 10, 11:02 am, "chilldown" wrote:
Hello,

I am finishing my masters in Theoritical Physics shortly
and want to ask what is the Phd procedure in USA?

I am 43 years old and here its impossible to do Phd
because for the grant the maximum age limit is 33 years.
and the grant is for 4 years so max limit is also 4 years as far
as I am told.

I have heard from somebody that maybe its possible to do Phd
in USA but then they require that you should do some teaching assistance.

Is it true? how can somebody do his Phd if he/she is middle aged?
what is the time limit in USA?

Please give some positive information.

THANKS


At the graduate level, it will very much depend on personal
connections, especially since you've finished your Masters and so
presumably you have no graduate coursework to complete and you'll be
jumping right into research. Teaching assistantships are usually
reserved for those who are doing coursework on the side.

If you want to get financial assistance when you go to a university,
this means getting a research assistantship. To win one of those, you
will need to find a professor who is impressed with the work you have
done so far, including that for your Master's thesis. For this, your
Master's thesis adviser (the professor who supervised your work) will
know which US physicists would be interested in the kind of work you
did, and it is to those professors you should write letters expressing
interest in doing graduate work at their institutions.

If you don't need financial assistance, then choose where you want to
go according to the research groups that match your interests, fund
your first year or two of grad school yourself, take a few nominal
classes, and then lobby like crazy to get some assignment on a
research team to prove yourself.

I've seen grad students of all ages, though in theoretical physics,
someone your ages is a tad on the unusual side. If you do the
groundwork right, it won't matter.

PD

On Sep 11, 2:25 pm, geos wrote:


why doin all tha way to usa when you
can buy it thro internet

I know you'd like to think you can. You can't.

On Sep 10, 12:02 pm, "chilldown" wrote:
[43 yo wants to do PhD work]

Another thought: Don't be afraid to branch out a bit
from your particular home niche. For example, don't
be afraid to look at applied math departments, astronomy
departments, and even engineering departments if you
are in an experimental program, or something that might
have some engineering apps. For example, if you are
in fluid dynamics or anything like that, you should look
at what some engineering departments are doing. Hey,
you might be able to get paid for doing your research
because a prof might be doing a contract for industry.
Or if you are in solid state of any kind you should be
looking at engineering as well.
Socks

Thank you very much guys for info. I really appriciate it.