AS 151 2007 Project--Revised 8/31/07

Due by Monday 12/17/2007 at 10 am.

              Imagine that you have decided to apply to the Ph.D. program in astrophysics at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Arizona, or Harvard University.  As part of the graduate school application, you are asked to write an essay on your purpose of study at Texas, Arizona, or Harvard. 

              Look at the web site describing the astronomy research and/or faculty at one of these universities.   Find the departments with Google. Pick a project that you find interesting, that you would want to work on.  (In 2006, we used Berkeley, Cornell, and Yale because they had great web sites, but it's important to change every year.  You might find it helpful to look at Berkeley, Cornell, or Yale if you have trouble surfing the Texas, Arizona, or Harvard sites.)

              Write an essay from a paragraph to a two-page limit that says your purpose for graduate study is to begin a career in research in the field of the project you have chosen.  Explain what aspects of the research topic interest you.  You should cite an interest in working with a specific faculty member.  Your job in the essay is to convince the graduate admissions committee that you understand the topic and to convince the professor you’ve cited that she/he would want you to join his research group.   B.S. won’t work.  You will probably find the web pages very advanced, but don’t worry about the advanced details of the topic.  Your essay will be graded based on an AS151-level understanding of the topic you’ve chosen.

              You must also hand in one of three things that are related to your essay:

• A paper copy of the Texas, Arizona, or Harvard web page describing the research group, professor, or topic, or
• A paper copy of the professor’s personal page, or
• A paper copy of one of the professor’s recent publications on the topic you’ve chosen.  Many faculty pages have links to copies of their papers.  You can also use the NASA Astrophysics Data System at http://adswww.harvard.edu to find their papers.

Your essay will be graded partly on how well it relates to the web page you hand in, and mostly on its overall effectiveness.  The assignment is limited to only three graduate schools to make it easy to grade fairly, but the schools have a wide range of projects.