- Hey, do you want a chance to win
a free college t-shirt?
Here's what you have to do,
subscribe to the Crimson Education
YouTube channel, comment what your dream
school is, why you wanna go there,
and what t-shirt you want.
Alright, let's get the video started.
- Hey everyone, I'm Shreyas,
I'm a second year graduate student
studying planetary sciences here at Cal Tech
and I'm studying the chemistry and physics
of planetary and pre-planetary systems.
(upbeat music)
- Yeah, so I'm studying for my PhD
in planetary sciences and what that means,
we basically study planets inside and outside
the solar systems, so what's going on with them,
what are they made of, what do they look like,
how can we better understand where they came from,
things like that.
And my specific research right now is focused
mostly on extrasolar planets,
planets outside of our solar system,
and I'm really interested in figuring out
what they're made of, kind of what are they like,
how big are they, how massive are they,
what are their compositions,
and also kind of why they're that way,
like what are the specific physical and chemical
processes that made them that way.
Yeah, so I got interested in this kind of research
as an undergraduate.
I was studying astrophysics and computer science
at Columbia University in New York City,
but before I kind of decided on my majors
I was really kind of indecisive about
what path I was gonna take because
there was so many aspects of science
that were interesting to me.
I was super into chemistry, physics,
like the whole thing, right?
And something I really love about planetary science
is that it brings together all of these disciplines
and you can sort of draw from knowledge
in each of these areas and kind of
turn them into some new knowledge
and I think that's really beautiful.
So, structurally the PhD program is
kind of a five or more year situation
where in the first two-ish years you're kind of
working towards your masters degree.
The first year is a bit distinct so
you're taking a lot of classes, but you're also
working on two separate research projects
that are supposed to be orthogonal to each other
in content, which is of course challenging,
but it's a challenge we all signed up for
enthusiastically.
And then we have our qualifying exam
at the beginning of the second year
and then we finish our classes and then
from there on it's just research.
In addition to our requirements for taking classes
and researching, one of the other things
we have to do is to TA classes,
and you don't have to do this your first year,
but every year after that you're required to TA
at least one class, so last term
was my first time TA-ing here.
I TA-ed the planetary physics course,
actually in this classroom and that was super super fun
to do.
Mixed undergrad/grad class and learning about
the physics of orbital dynamics
and how planetary systems interact,
how planets in planetary systems interact
with one another.
(happy music)
Alright, yeah, so right now we're at the
turtle pond at Cal Tech, one of my favorite spots
on campus.
If I need a break or something I'll just walk
over here and like, sit on a bench
and you know, just think, or I'll bring a paper
and read it, or you know, any other
number of things.
It's just a relaxing spot on campus.
And the turtles are always fun to see around.
So, there was definitely a big adjustment
from being an undergraduate in New York City,
you know, all the big buildings and stuff
to coming out here to California and,
you know, totally different climate,
totally different things that I'm working on.
It definitely was really different.
Probably the largest thing that I had to focus on
was learning how to manage my time more effectively
to be quite honest, 'cause you know,
as an undergraduate you have a lot of
agency over what you do, but
you also have obligations to like, you know,
five, six, seven classes that you're taking
every term, and so it becomes a little challenging
to schedule time to do other things,
whereas here in grad school,
that problem grows exponentially
because not only in your first year are you taking
classes, but you're also doing --
you're heavily involved in research projects
and then on top of that you might be TA'ing
some term and it's a lot to sort of
juggle and balance, but one tries to find a way.
(calm music)
Yeah, so, the fellowship that I recently
was awarded is called the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
for New Americans.
And what it entails is kind of encapsulated
within the name I think.
So, it's a fellowship for new Americans.
It's meant to celebrate and support the development
of new Americans, whether that is
immigrants or children of immigrants or refugees
or what have you,
and to further support their contributions
to the American society
and it's been really, a cool experience to
be awarded this really prestigious fellowship
and to meet all the people with
all their incredible stories during the interviews.
The --
what it comes with is, I'll be flying
to New York in October for the PediaSource
fellowship conference where I'll meet
all the other fellows and we'll discuss
basically what it means to be a new American
and how that's influenced our work
and additionally it comes with a financial kickback
that's always really nice, but I think
kind of the primary thing that I'm gonna
take away from this fellowship is the community of people.
I was really really humbled when I was reading
sort for the announcement for the fellowship
and looking at all the other folks that
were awarded it, just reading their stories
and it was really a lot to take in
and it's a lot to live up to, but
I think I'm ready for it.
Yeah, so right now we're sitting in front of
the Hameetman Center,
which is the newest building here on campus.
It's a student center so, lots of things
happening here, from student performances
and practice rooms to the Red Door coffee shop
and the Cal Tech store where you can buy things like this.
Yeah, it's a great place.
I think the most surprising thing
about studying here, has just been
that there's always something really cool happening,
like on campus, like people are working
on really insane and incredible things here.
So there's always an opportunity to learn
and I think that's really something
that makes this place quite incredible.
So the application process for me was,
I submitted all the sort of statistics like,
my transcript, my GRE score, my subject year
rescore, although that's becoming
less and less required of programs
as time goes on, which I think is a good thing.
Additionally, you have to get recommendations
from your teachers or mentors, maybe three
is what you're looking for, it's kind of a sweet spot.
And additionally you have to write essays.
So, what I wrote about in my essays was basically
how I envisioned myself fitting into
the research culture at Cal Tech,
and specifically talking about
the different professors I'd be interested
in working with and why their research
was interesting to me,
and how experience that I had gotten in undergrad
would help me fit in and transition nicely
to a graduate career here and I think that
the essays are a really really big part
of your application and demonstrating
that you're able to fit into the research culture
is a vital part of your application.
I think something that I wish I had
thought more about, and that I learned
to think about when I got here,
was kind of the human aspect of doing a PhD.
You know, you don't think about it as much
when you're applying to programs,
all you're really focused on is, oh,
is this place a good fit for me academically,
do they have the right research stuff,
but I mean, remember that this is
gonna be like, five plus years of your life, right,
you're gonna be going somewhere
and spending time there, a lot of time there
and it's important that you choose a place
where you like the people that you work with
and you like the environment,
and you feel comfortable in that space
because, again, it's a large part
of your life that you're dedicating
to this endeavor.
(upbeat music)
So if you liked this video and
wanna learn more about top colleges,
make sure to like and subscribe.