Saturday, July 21, 2007

To my "compatriots"---an email to some common questions

My friends,

I am glad to receive emails regarding some application questions.

I have got some similar emails before, and I guess I will keep receiving them for the coming years. Therefore, I decide to publish my "answers" to those questions on the website, though they are only my narrow thoughts.

First, I am happy to choose UC Santa Cruz to continue my exploration on Physics, it's really a good small town for some one who loves ocean and forest. Plus, people are nice and warm-hearted here(most of the time), they won't lose patience to listen to my poor English.

Next, it's not too far to the Chinese civilization. 45 minutes driving distance to the nearest Chinese supermarkets, because it's close to the "Silicon Valley". The Asians' population at UCSC was said the lowest among UC system, but still very high, because it's CA.

In the Physics/Astronomy department at UCSC, there are some Chinese(7?), some are graduates while others are post-doc. The Physics Department recruits 10-15 graduate students each year. Depending on the bugdet, it will recruit 1-2 international students every year. I don't think we have any students without funding here. Normally, the first year students do TA, then depending on their choice, they may do RA or TA for the future years. I think it's a good practice to be a TA, because I can practice my English muscles.

In the Physics Department, we have several directions: High Energy and Cosmology, Experimental and Theoretical Condensed Matter. I am a condensed matter guy. I feel that every year, the population of new grads who are in favor of those research directions changes a lot. Therefore, I really can't say which direction has the best chance. I choose experimental condensed matter that year, just because I like it. If you like experimental condensed matter, we have several groups: one is doing neutron scattering, one is doing EXAFS, one is dong ARPES(these groups don't do experiments at UCSC, two of them do experiments at SSRL or LBNL, one at Argone or Los Almos, they do data analysis at school.); the other two labs are doing something like materials. If you get here, you can do one year rotation among any labs you are interested in.

Any way, if let me choose this year, I will still choose condensed matter.

If you have more questions, just send me a email.

By the way, I guess you just send emails to those whose names look like Chinese, however, some of them are domestic students, not international students, so they really know nothing about your questions.
Good luck!

So if you have further questions, I am happy to add more words on my website.