Physics Graduate School Admission Results

I'm currently a WashU master's student and my subfield is astro. My current PI directly notified me via email that the admissions committee could not admit me into their PhD program due to the highly competitive applicant pool. I'm really disappointed with this result because I literally don't know why. I have been working with my current PI as soon as I was admitted to WashU since August 2023. I wish everyone applying to WashU this cycle the best of luck :( Personal background: Undergraduate: earned from a prestigious UK university, First-Class Honours Degree (GPA 3.85/4.00 after WES evaluation), 1 year of research experience (4 different projects in total, including 1 UROP summer internship at Imperial College London), 3 preprints on arXiv, 2 strong LoR from my undergraduate project advisors; Graduate: currently earning my master's at WashU, GPA 3.43/4.00 (physics major GPA 3.62/4.00), 1.5 years of research experience (master's thesis project), currently writing my first-author paper, 1 strong LoR from my current PI.

AMO-ex; the committee arranged a 10-minute interview (no presentation)

My current PI knows the PI I am interested at UA, exactly same field of work I am doing right now

AMO / Quantum Simulation

Did an REU at MSU in Material Science and Engineering. No GRE. CMP Exp

I completed my undergraduate program earlier this year, and this is my second year in a row applying to Ph.D. programs (I made it into none last year). I spent one year prior to college working with a research group at a university back home. I worked continuously for all four years of college with another research group in the same subfield as that in which I hope to pursue doctoral research. I attended three NSF-funded summer REU programs, and presented at two research symposia. GPA within the physics major was around a 3.9. I received honors, and completed a year-long senior research thesis parallel to my other research involvement with yet another research group.

Oversea student, undergraduate in the UK, but shouldn't matter Potential PI emailed me to schedule an interview on 7 Jan, 2025. An unofficial offer (funding not secured yet) made at the end of the interview

A professor reached out to schedule an interview next week.

Initially in their master’s program