The Physics Dispatch

The Physics dispatch was born from a need. The idea for the newsletter came to me in the spring of 23 when I was desperately searching for REUs and research positions that were taking international students for the summer. The process was just like when I was applying to colleges three years ago, but this time I had to battle with ridiculously low acceptance rates going as low as sub 0.1%. The experience left a bitter taste in my mouth and talking with fellow students and friends who went through something similar helped me realize the gap for a resource like this where the Department of Physics was failing to match the needs of its new and diverse student body.

During its inception I was reading the book the infinite game, and I was greatly motivated to come up with a purpose for this idea of a newsletter. I ultimately settled on ‘helping making physics an easier degree to navigate’. Physics by itself is not hard because of the content, it is hard because the degree requires you to devote your 24 hours into thinking about it and preparing yourself for it which forces the students to forego other pursuits. So with this newsletter I wanted to alleviate one of those time consuming grinds of trying to find a research position.

What started off as inventory of research positions, has now naturally grew into a full fledged newsletter including alumni interviews, faculty interviews, and student success stories proudly sitting at around 400 subscribers.