Pursuing PHD in BioPhysics - An Undergraduate Student's Journey

[lucid_dream]

PHD in BioPhysics...

To tell you guys a little bit about myself, I am an undergraduate student at an average university (like in your top 70 for undergraduate programs).
By the time I will be 22, I will have graduated with 2 masters (one in math, one in physics), three majors (math, physics and chemistry) and 2 minors (computer science and statistics). I am close to finishing and am confident that I will have a 3.8 G.P.A.
I have virtually no extracurricular activities except research.

I am wondering what the possibility of me getting accepted into an ivy-league PHD program in physics is. I ask because I want to pursue a career in research, and have been told university positions are extremely competitive. I'm very smart, but I am no genius. I do not think I can rely on publishing ground-breaking papers. Do you guys think I can get a job as a university professor with a PHD from your average university?

 

[eri]

You do not need to earn a masters in physics before applying to PhD programs. You can apply with a bachelors degree and earn the masters en route. Since this is the way most people do it, it can be harder to get in if you already have a masters degree. And two masters is certainly a waste of time. Everyone applying to the top graduate programs (and not all the ivies have great graduate programs in physics - and some non-ivies have much better programs) has very high grades and test scores and some research experience. Admissions are a crap-shoot.

Yes, you can definitely get a great job (research, professor, etc) with a degree from a lower ranked school. Myself and about 10 friends have graduated in the last few years from several schools ranked over 100 for physics. 4 of us did postdocs at NASA, several won prestigious fellowships, others did postdocs at top schools, a few are now civil servants at NASA and 4 of us are professors at universities.