The Start of My PhD Journey
This past spring, I completed my Master’s program at California State University Northridge (CSUN) and graduated with my M.S. in Physics. With this major educational accomplishment acquired, I was determined to continue my academic career. My goal is to become a professor while doing my own research at a university, and to pursue this goal I applied for Physics PhD programs during the fall of 2022. My focus was to apply to universities in Southern California, which were only a handful. I applied to the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), University of California Irvine (UCI), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California Riverside (UCR), University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and University of Southern California (USC). Getting into a PhD program is difficult, and to only apply to a few makes your odds at getting into one less likely.
The first time I applied to PhD programs was during my final year of my Bachelor’s program in the fall of 2020, which for those who don’t know, it is definitely possible to do! Unfortunately, I was not accepted to any PhD program during this time. I understood that my application was not the strongest. I did not have much research experience, which is desirable for a Physics PhD program. But I did not let this keep me from pursuing a PhD. I finished my B.S. at CSUN and continued there for my M.S. where I focused on strengthening my application. I built-up my professional and academic portfolio by participating in peer mentoring programs, acting as a Teaching Assistant for six physics lab classes, and proudly developed and published my thesis from the three years of research experience I had under my belt. Some of these things I will continue to talk about as I continue to write about my experiences later on in other posts!
The hardest part of the application process was waiting to hear back from universities; this felt like the longest couple of months. The anxiety and uncertainty began to overwhelm the majority of my classmates and me. It wasn’t until the Spring months of March and April when application results were rolling out. This was the moment of truth, whether I continued my studies or faced the reality of life after graduation. At the time, I knew that I wanted to go to UCI or UCLA. At UCI, I had a mentor to continue researching with, and at UCLA, I had met a professor whose research was very interesting to me. I was rejected from UCLA, UCSB, CalTech, and UCR, but was accepted into two PhD programs, UCI and USC’s Physics PhD programs. This is one of my biggest achievements in my academic career! Now it was time to decide which university and program I would be attending.
Both universities had a set date for visits to learn more about the program, research opportunities, and campus life. I decided to visit USC first, a university I never thought I could get into. The faculty and staff at USC were extremely kind and welcoming. One of the parts I enjoyed the most was the diversity within the department, I felt like I belonged there. Visiting UCI was tough. I felt like I was going there knowing I wanted to attend USC. I was visiting UCI hoping they would change my mind and choose them as my university of choice. Although nothing was wrong about UCI, I did not feel the sense of belongingness like I did at USC. At the time of the visit, my research interests had also changed, and UCI did not have many opportunities in the field I wanted to do research in.
After what felt like a tough decision for my career, I decided to accept USC’s PhD Physics program. The critical factor of this decision was what research opportunity I would obtain from USC. My undergrad and graduate research experience was made of Biophysics research, an area I grew a lot of interest in during my Master’s program. Once accepting USC’s admissions offer, I solely focused on finishing strong in my classes and thesis defense. I graduated with a successful and published thesis and with the highest honor in being awarded as the Outstanding Graduate Student in the entire College of Science and Mathematics at CSUN.
After graduation, the accomplishment of an admissions offer and acceptance still felt surreal. The imposter syndrome was kicking in. Imposter syndrome is when you feel doubtful about your achievements, and can sometimes make you feel like any accomplishment has happened out of sheer luck. I began to question my capabilities as a future PhD student. How I was going to do this? Was I cut out to do this and was this really happening? It’s one of the worst feelings you can get; strong doubt in yourself. But I knew that I was not alone in this transition. I have my friends, family, and especially my fiancé who always believe in my abilities. I also have the Calbridge program who has helped in supporting me throughout my time at CSUN, where I had a cohort of students also transitioning into PhD programs who felt as I did. The academic year was getting closer, and I gave myself the time to reflect on all I had done up to this point. It took some time, but I found the confidence in myself to say I can do this. Then the excitement started building up, and the preparation for a new program began.
I am currently half way through my first semester as a PhD student, and it is one of the most exciting experiences. Having gone to visit earlier in the year, I had already met most of the students in my classes on the first day! The curriculum has definitely been challenging, but luckily I have the background and knowledge for it from my Master’s courses. I have been having a great time meeting new students. The faculty and staff continue to be supportive and friendly. I am doing my best to participate in any activities outside of my classes. For example, USC has the PhD Academy, a program meant to set the PhD students up for success in their studies by providing workshops about topics to help us out throughout the PhD process. Every PhD student comes in as a cohort, the group of students from the same year, so immediately we gain the ability to network with students outside of our field of study. Although I love and enjoy physics as much as my classmates, having friends outside of your field of study can help take your mind off of classes and ease some stress.
Overall, my experience as a PhD student has been amazing thus far! I played soccer with my classmates against CalTech’s physics students, I am mentoring an undergraduate student at USC, and just went on a retreat to the Wrigley Institute at Catalina Island with my department! I am excited to continue sharing my experiences and how it continues to go. As we are getting close to the graduate school application season, I want to talk about the process of applying, what documents you should prepare, how to research the universities/programs and what they have to offer. It is a long and tedious process writing the necessary essays and studying for entrance exams but it can be done! Let me sign off with this, if you are planning to apply this time around (or maybe even in the future), it is a great idea to start preparing now!
And like always, thank you for taking the time to read through my post!
Luis Davila