Graduate School Application Materials

PHYS 4604 · Lecture 9

Andrew J. Steinmetz

2026-10-23

Upcoming

What When Points
NSF GRFP deadline – Physics & Astronomy Oct. 23 (today), 8:00 PM ET –
Graduate application workshop: bring a statement draft Oct. 30, in class –
Astrophysics/Astro Graduate Q&A (Room CCB 103) Nov. 12, 3:30–4:30 PM ET –
Personal statement or cover letter Nov. 20, 11:59 PM ET 15%
Georgia Tech Physics PhD and BS/MS deadline Dec. 15 –

The goal of today’s lecture: leave with a plan for every piece of your application, and an outline of your statement of purpose to bring to next week’s workshop.

(Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, n.d.-a, n.d.-b)

What a committee reads for

A faculty committee is asking one question: will this person succeed as a graduate student and a scientist, here?

Research potential

  • Statement of purpose
  • Letters from research mentors

Preparation

  • Transcript and CV
  • Skills in your statement

Fit

  • The “why this program” paragraph
  • Faculty you contacted

Every piece should point the same way. Your statement makes the claims; your CV and letters back them up.

(MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.; Conrad and Wright 2023)

Statement of purpose vs. personal statement

Statement of purpose

Also called an academic statement.

  • Your preparation and research experience
  • Your research interests and goals
  • Why this program and these faculty

Personal statement

Also called a personal history statement.

  • How your background led you to graduate school
  • Challenges, service, mentoring, leadership
  • Should not repeat the statement of purpose

Some programs ask for both, some for one combined statement. Read each prompt and answer that prompt. Assignment 4 accepts either; write the one your target program asks for.

(University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.; White, n.d.)

A structure that fits in 1–2 pages

Section What it does Space
Opening Your research interest and goal 1 paragraph
Research experience The question, your role, the result, what you learned The most: half a page or more
Preparation Courses, skills, and tools that support it 1 paragraph
Why this program Faculty, groups, and facilities by name 1 paragraph, rewritten per program
Goals Where you are headed after the degree 2–3 sentences

Typical length is 1–2 pages, or 500–1,000 words. Defer to each program’s requirements.

(MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.; University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.)

Open with your research, not your childhood

Before

Ever since I was a child looking up at the night sky, I have been fascinated by the mysteries of the universe.

After

I want to know how dark matter is distributed in dwarf galaxies. For two years I have fit archival rotation curves in Prof. X’s group at Georgia Tech; at [Univ.] I want to test those fits against new radio data.

By the end of your first paragraph, a reader should know your field and what you want to do.

(University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.; MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.)

Writing about a research experience

For each project, give:

  • The question in one sentence
  • Your role: what you did, not what the group did
  • The method: instruments, code, analysis
  • The result: numbers, a talk, a poster, a paper
  • What’s next: what you learned and want to do with it

Before

I worked in a condensed matter lab, where I learned a lot about the research process.

After

In Prof. Y’s lab, I built a four-probe setup and measured the resistivity of 14 thin films from 4 to 300 K. I presented the results at the Spring 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

(MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.; University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.)

The fit paragraph

  • Name 2–3 faculty and the specific recent work that connects to yours
  • Say what you would bring to their group and what you would work on
  • Mention groups, centers, or facilities you would use
  • Mention any contact you’ve had: an email reply, a visit, a conversation at a conference

Write one strong core statement. Rewrite the fit paragraph for every program, and check that you upload the right version to each school.

(Conrad and Wright 2023; MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.)

Addressing a weak spot

A bad semester, a low grade in a core course, a gap in your record.

Do

  • Say it once, briefly and plainly
  • Show the recovery with evidence
  • Put it in the personal statement or an “additional information” box if the program has one

Don’t

  • Open your statement with it
  • Apologize repeatedly or make excuses
  • Explain more than the reader needs

My Fall 2024 grades reflect a semester I worked 30 hours a week. Since then my physics GPA is 3.7, including A’s in Quantum Mechanics I and II.

(University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.)

Sentence-level style

Instead of Write
I have always been passionate about physics. (Cut it. Show it through what you did.)
I was exposed to research in a world-renowned lab. I wrote the analysis code for the group’s 2026 cryostat run.
I possess strong analytical skills. I derived and coded the fit model for …
Your prestigious program would allow me to… Prof. Z’s work on … is the next step from my project on …
Measurements were taken. I measured …
  • First person, active voice. Numbers and names beat adjectives.
  • Show qualities, don’t claim them.

(University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.; White, n.d.; MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.)

Example 1: an admitted statement, annotated

Two pages of a statement of purpose that led to admission to the MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering doctoral program, with color-highlighted paragraphs and red margin annotations. The annotations label the opening as a hook that ties a recent essay to the research interest, two paragraphs as previous experience and match, a paragraph naming a specific professor and project as research interest, and a closing paragraph as career goals, leadership, and diversity.

What works

  • The hook leads straight to the research interest
  • Current project is specific: CO2 sequestration in sandstone
  • Names a professor, a project, and how the applicant’s lab skills fit

Annotations by the MIT CEE Communication Lab · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Source: (MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.)

Example 2: an admitted statement, annotated

Two pages of a second statement of purpose, titled Continuing an Expedition, that led to admission to the MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering doctoral program, with color-highlighted paragraphs and red annotations. The annotations label a personal-narrative hook, paragraphs on previous experience and match, paragraphs on research interest naming two faculty members and their work, and a closing paragraph on career goals, leadership, and diversity.

What works

  • Undergraduate research in detail: data, a prediction algorithm, sensitivity analyses, a paper submitted
  • Names two faculty and the specific topics of each

Annotations by the MIT CEE Communication Lab · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Source: (MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab, n.d.)

The personal statement

When a program asks for one, it wants to know how your background brought you to graduate school, and what you will add.

What goes in

  • Formative experiences: education, family, culture, finances
  • Challenges and how you responded
  • Mentoring, teaching, outreach, leadership
  • Context for a record that undersells you

How to write it

  • Stories with an outcome: what you did, and what it shows
  • End on why graduate school, and why now
  • Don’t retell your statement of purpose

It is still a professional document, written for a committee.

(University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division, n.d.)

Reuse your GRFP work

If you applied to the NSF GRFP, you have already drafted most of this.

GRFP document Becomes
Graduate Research Plan The research-interest and “what I’d work on” paragraphs of your statement of purpose
Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Your personal statement, and the research-experience paragraphs of your statement of purpose
Broader Impacts, in both Service, outreach, and mentoring in your personal statement

Adapt, don’t paste. A different prompt, a different reader, and usually a different length.

Your CV for graduate school

Lead with

  1. Education
  2. Research experience
  3. Presentations, posters, publications (mark “submitted” or “in preparation”)
  4. Skills: instruments, languages, codes
  5. Awards, teaching, outreach

Compared with your resume

  • Research moves to the top
  • Length can run past one page
  • Confirmed future items are fine, e.g., an accepted conference talk
  • Leave off anything that doesn’t help you

Your CV should back up every claim in your statement. More in the resume and CV guide.

(White, n.d.)

Letters of recommendation

Who

  • Programs typically ask for three
  • Research mentors first; aim for at least two who saw you do research
  • A professor from an upper-level course who knows your work

When

  • Ask ≥ 4 weeks before your first deadline
  • Ask, “Can you write me a strong letter?”
  • Remind them a month, two weeks, and one week out

Send everything in one email

  • Your CV and a draft statement
  • Courses and grades with them
  • Programs, deadlines, and submission links
  • Reminders of what you did together: projects, results, skills they saw

After

  • Tell them where you got in, and thank them

(Conrad and Wright 2023; White, n.d.; Xavier University Department of Physics and Engineering, n.d.)

Transcripts, GRE, and English tests

Transcripts

  • Upload a transcript when you apply
  • Official copies are usually needed only once you are admitted

GRE

  • Georgia Tech Physics requires neither the General nor the Physics GRE; check each program
  • Physics GRE fall window closes Nov. 1

English tests

  • International applicants at Georgia Tech Physics: TOEFL ≥ 106 or IELTS ≥ 7.5

Track every program in one spreadsheet: deadline, fee, statements, letters, and tests.

(Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, n.d.-a; American Association of Physics Teachers, n.d.; ETS, n.d.; White, n.d.)

In-class activity: plan your statement

Fill out the statement of purpose planning worksheet (15 minutes):

  1. Your research interest, in one sentence
  2. Your strongest research experience: the question, your role, the result
  3. One program: 2–3 faculty and the specific work that fits yours
  4. Your three letter writers, and what each can speak to

Turn it into a one-page draft and bring it to the Oct. 30 workshop.

References

American Association of Physics Teachers. n.d. “Statement on Use of GRE for Admission to Graduate Physics Programs.” Accessed October 16, 2026. https://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/upload/Statement_on_Use_of_GRE_for_Admission_to_Graduate_Physics_Programs.pdf.
Conrad, Brad R., and Matthew J. Wright. 2023. “Make Your Applications Count.” The SPS Observer, September. https://students.aip.org/observer/make-your-applications-count.
ETS. n.d. “GRE Subject Tests: Test Dates.” Accessed October 16, 2026. https://www.ets.org/gre/test-takers/subject-tests/schedule.html.
Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics. n.d.-a. “Admissions Information.” Accessed October 23, 2026. https://physics.gatech.edu/node/6019.
Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics. n.d.-b. “BS/MS in Physics.” Accessed October 16, 2026. https://physics.gatech.edu/node/8052.
MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Communication Lab. n.d. “Statement of Purpose.” Accessed October 23, 2026. https://mitcommlab.mit.edu/cee/commkit/statement-of-purpose/.
University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division. n.d. “Writing Your Statements.” Accessed October 23, 2026. https://grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/apply/statement-purpose.
White, Rachel. n.d. “Rachel’s Complete Guide to Graduate School Applications.” Accessed October 23, 2026. https://white3792.github.io/rachels-complete-guide-to-graduate-school-applications/.
Xavier University Department of Physics and Engineering. n.d. “Recommendation Letters.” Accessed October 23, 2026. https://www.xavier.edu/physics-and-engineering-department/further-reading/recommendation-letters.