u/I-AM-MA

Mainly focusing on 3 categories:

• Grades & "prestige" of your undergrad/ masters uni (for people that did masters)
• The amount of maths taken (both formally e.g shows up on transcript, and audited courses and self learning)
• Pre phd research experience and how closely related it was to your field

I dont mind exactly what your field is (preferably hep stuff) , im still early in bsc and just trying to take in as much info as possible.

My background in case anything can give me some advice: first year physics bsc at a very good uk uni (not oxbridge or imperial) , first year content is pretty standard.

Next year ill try to take some courses from the maths department , ill ask about real analysis, linear algebra , group theory , geometry, and topology (analysis module with foundational stuff like compactness connectiveness etc) , and multivariable analysis ; I will decide based on availability ( i am aware that groups and lin alg are the most important ones then multvar anal).

This summer i will do a 6-8 weeks project under an academic in modelling (mostly python stuff)

I'm looking at a qr position listing and they ask what's your expected annual compensation

How does one answer this, just whatever you find to be the average after googling, and maybe on the lower end if theres a range given ? Im assuming it includes bonuses

This is for aquatic by the way, so if anyone does have a reliable range for them , that would be appreciated because i dont know how accurate the value give by a google search is

UK student, not really that interested in moving but after seeing a few us internship positions that dont mention visa sponsorships i got a bit curious.

Do companies usually offer any type of sponsorship, well do you even need anything major for internship since theyre not full time roles?

Im a physics bsc student based in the uk, afaik its standard for us unis to accept phd students straight from a 4 year undergrad of 3+1/2 bsc and msc.

Here from what ive seen (well its from courses at fairly well known unis) the masters courses all include first courses in gr and qft and very oftenly have more advanced or adjacent modules that build up from qft or gr depending on what you want to do, which is done on your 4th year

I know in us unis you can take grad courses i think? im not too sure about how this works, but is it common for an undergrad student interested in theoretical physics phd to have already done a course in qft or gr or whatever high level content theyre interested in thats not part of the standard undergrad curriculum?