Undergrad Definition and 909 Threads

Here's the issue: I am a junior chemistry major and the time has come for me to take a physics class called "Physics for Scientists". I have never taken a physics class before and I hear from my peers that not only is this particular subject extremely difficult, but so is the ONLY PROFESSOR...

So I know that this kind of discussion comes up somewhat regularly but I'm hoping to gain a better insight before I have to make a decision. I currently am finishing up my pre-reqs at a community college and am getting ready to submit my application for the university. For the longest time I...

I am currently high school Junior (soon to be senior) who plans to major in Chemical engineering. I know I want to go into research but I do not know what I want to specialize in. I plan to major in chemical engineering because it gives a good knowledge base for chemistry and physics both of...

I live in Texas, and I'm going on my senior year of high school. I've come to a problem, I don't know what college/university I should continue my education at. I've already decided what I hope to do when I'm older- qft and quantum gravity, but I don't know what place is good to further ones...

Hi all I am a second year maths and physics student from Australia. I am hoping to complete a PhD in an interesting area of theoretical physics. At the moment I am interested in particles and quantum information theory. Though it is worth keeping in mind that I am only in second year. I know a...

I am a high school student (still in grade 11) I want to study theoretical physics in USA or Switzerland but I am from the middle east (Lebanon) and I want to know what I need to be accept in theoretical physics what subjects I need and please tell me the grade for each subject I need example ...

Hello every one I am from Hong Kong. I am in my mid-twenties and I have a very bad result in my undergraduate degree in physics and it hinders me a lot in applying for a graduate degree. Theoretical physics (gravitation, quantum field, strings) is the field that I want to do research in for my...

I'm a high school student deciding where to go for undergraduate school, but it's a difficult choice between a really prestigious (and expensive) college compared to another school in the top 50 from US News in physics programs that is much easier in cost. I want to do theoretical physics...

Next fall I'll be a junior, and I'm wondering what classes besides physics I should take. I'm already on track to taking the necessary physics courses so that I can complete my degree. I'm just wondering what electives I should take. Introduction to computer science? Geology? Creative writing? I...

Hello, I have a few questions regarding acceptance to master's programs in physics. I started undergrad many years younger than my peers (I was 14). Due to a combination of poor discipline and time management skills, family issues, and mental health issues, my performance during my first three...

Hi, I'm a California resident who is also a Canadian citizen. I'm currently deciding between Berkeley, UCLA, and UBC (University of British Columbia). I would be majoring in physics at Berkeley and UCLA, while at UBC I would major in Engineering and hope to get into Engineering Physics. I'm...

I'm hoping you can give me some advice on undergraduate college choice for physics. Places being considered are Pomona, UCSB (CCS/Regents), UCSD (Regents), USC, Brandeis and possibly Reed. I know UCSB has an excellent graduate program, but would a smaller school such as Pomona or Brandeis be a...

Hi I'm finishing undergrad school at a university in Spain. It's taken me 5 years (was supposed to be 4) and my grades are mediocre (trying to reach a 7 out of 10). My university itself is a trainwreck, a disaster. Most of what I've actually, properly learned was during my year at Nottingham...

Hello,i always wanted to be a physicist no matter how hard of a time i may have finding actual research work,i am particularly interested in particle physics so my end goal would be a PhD in particle physics but i am having a hard time deciding whether to major in physics or engineering physics...

MIT University is good for taking both graduated and undergraduated physics courses ?

Hi everybody, I'm a second semester physics major who was fortunate enough to get a position in a research group at my school. What I want to do is get a head start on learning the physics that this lab studies. Currently, I'm in the honors section of basic E & M and I do well in class, not...

Hi, I am currently a junior in college majoring in civil engineering. I want to switch my major so I can get into a ph.d program for biomedical engineering. I've read the three best majors to get into biomedical engineering are electrical, mechanical, and chemical. Chemical engineering sounds...

Greetings! Having finished my A-Levels, some unforeseen circumstances had forced me to take 2 gap years before starting my undergraduate studies in Physics, and I hope to make these 2 years count by doing something meaningful. The first thing that comes to mind is work experience/internship...

I'm now at the second year of my MechE course. Until now, I've taken basic classes in physics, calculus, linear algebra and basic computer programming. I choose to undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering because I'm aware that it is a good and broad degree and it's a field that I like also. It...

I'm an international transfer student applying for UW Madison, Arizona State and Oregon State. My first choice would be Madison, but if I'm not accepted there, I'm going to one of the other two. The problem is, I'm not sure which has a better physics program. The rankings put Oregon state...

I'm a sophomore physics major and I've been filling out some REU applications, but I have an INC (incomplete) grade from last semester because I couldn't take a final due to medical reasons. The class was completely fine and I likely have an A-/B+, but I have to wait to take next semester's...

Hi all, I’m about to begin yet another freshman year this year majoring in mathematical economics (I know I wanted to major in mathematics but this is the closest I can get when taking into account prior learning credits being efficiently fitted into my new degree.) A little about myself: I...

I ask because I just received an offer from Cambridge and from a few great places in the US. I want to go on to do a PhD, probably in the United States. Finance isn't an issue. In your experience, does being from a place in the UK (albeit as great as Cambridge) put one at an automatic...

I am so fed up of majoring in IT. I have a decent GPA but I must say that I am miserable in the process. I was initially a Psychology major and that was something I was passionate about. I enrolled in Physics more than once and still do not have a firm grasp of the concept! Whether I utilize...

A few months back I bought Spacetime Physics by Taylor and Wheeler, I haven't read it, but I was planning to. Generally, I do love physics especially the math part. I'm also self-learning some courses in mathematics and I was wondering if it would be helpful to me to also start learning some...

Hey all, I am looking for some advice about what school to attend for undergrad in physics. Here is my list thus far: UC Berkeley Cornell Rice Notre Dame UIUC UT austin UCLA UCSB Umich UF Here are my stats: First year at community college, but I earned 43 credits in High school so I am a little...

Hello. I'm a first year physics student (just about done with my first semester). I've heard it is possible for undergrads to get involved with a professor's research, and I'm wondering how one should approach a professor about this. Is it just a matter of striking up a conversation about it...

I was recently accepted into 5 universities Penn State University ( 2 years at Behrend then 2 years at main), Ohio University, Waynesburg University, Kent State University, and the University of Akron. I got into the physics programs in all of those schools. I was wondering which school would be...

Hi folks, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. I'm a new undergrad physics student and I'm having trouble figuring out how to 'do' error analysis. (I had a quick look through some similar posts here & am still none the wiser.) I'll use my recent lab experiment on Resonance in a Tube as an...

Can't see where I'm going wrong here - would greatly appreciate if anyone can point it out! I've gotten the other parts of the question right, so I know that: ω = 125.66 rad/s A = 2.50 * 10-3m k = 3.49 rad/m The wave is moving in the +x direction. The general equation for the position of a...

I've just finished a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours. My academic supervisor submitted my honours research paper to a conference being held next year. In short: The extent of my supervisors contribution was approving my requests for purchase orders. I devised, built and ran the experiments...

Hello all! I am second year undergrad at a university in US. I planned to major in chemistry and took five chemistry classes (organic and inorganic) and worked at an organic chemistry lab in my first year, but didn't really like it. After searching through all areas in chemistry and physics, I...

Hey guys, I'm just wondering if it's normal to feel this way. "Depressed" isn't the right word (a bit overdramatic), but I keep seeing people around me with "senioritis" who can't wait to graduate and move on. My fellow students keep talking about how they want to fast-forward time until May...

In what seems like another life I was a Theater Performance undergrad at a state university. I withdrew after 2 1/2 years in the program after I realized that I really didn't want to be an actor after all (turns out I kind of hate actors, go figure). Anyway, long story short, I am currently...

I'm an applying high school student. I know something about the field so don't worrying talking about the subject itself just assume I know how research works. I want to know how does it feel like to be a student in UCSB physics department if you want to have high-energy particle physics as...

hello all, I just wanted to check my worded interpretation of this otherwise messy result is ok:

I'm a first year physics and astrophysics double major. My schedule has me taking Differential Equations next year and Linear Algebra the following semester(or vice versa, I haven't asked my advisor which to take first). After that there are no required math courses to complete my degree. What...

It's the middle of the semester of my first year and I'm finding this math course extremely difficult. The course is essentially teaching real analysis and they labeled the course honors calculus. I am finding the professor is not teaching the material well which made me find some supplementary...

Hello everyone, I am brand new here in the PhysicsForum and this is my very first message. So it's apleasure to meet likeminded people sharing the same interest and probably also profession. The latter is also the reason why I finally registered in this forum and I sincerely hopethat I am given...

Hi all, during my degree (which of now I am in the master's year) I have to do a year long research project. This project I had to select from a list of which only one of them was quantum mechanics related (for a theorist), of course this made it popular and I didn't get my first choice and...

Hello fellow good people. I feel like i am suffering from a delima in my life and for my future, so i am reaching out for any guidence. I'm currently a junior at the University of Texas at austin studying my BS in physics. I transferred recently, and it is going stellar for me to my surprise...

I'm a junior in high school and I'm starting to look into colleges. The one that I'm most drawn to is Wesleyan University in Connecticut. I want to major in astronomy and physics, perhaps with a minor in planetary science. Wesleyan offers all of those courses, but does anyone know if they are...

I'm 17 years old and going to be applying to colleges next month. I plan to major in physics. My UC/CSU GPA is a 3.8 (probably will be a 4.0 or higher by the end of this semester due to AP and community college courses), whereas my accumulative weighed GPA is a lousy 3.2. Therefore, my only real...

So I'm applying to both US Universities and UK Universities... My main choice in the US is most likely going to be Cornell; my main choice in the UK is definitely Oxford. Obviously there is no guaranteed entry into either institutions, but hey, let's be optimistic. Regardless of where I am, I...

I am currently considering either a BSc (Applied Math and Computer Science) or BSc(Computing) at a distance learning university called UNISA. From what I can see the former is the one I think would be best as it has the best math courses between the two(Computing only has Linear...

Hello, I’m doing my first year of bachelor degree in physics in Italy and I would really like to get some research experience before my third year. Do you know any (international) summer research opportunity for a physics student who completed his first or second year of studies? I would be ok...

How hard is it to get through university studying physics? Do you lose your social life and spend crazy amounts of time on it or is it managable? Also is it a big problem if you are missing the basics and can you ever catch up during Undergrad?

I've just completed my degree in maths and physics and am going for a maths masters the following year. Am I likely to loose any sharpness in this time? Without really knowing what modules I'll be doing and even if I did, each lecturer seems to approach a specification/ prioritise certain bits...

The university I go to offers a lot of undergrad research opportunities and I am currently trying to get one. I read about every physics professor in the department that does research and then I read some of their papers and researched them some more. I narrowed it down to a group of about five...

Hey! So I graduated with a BS in Biochemistry and I was originally considering medical school but after studying the horrible mcat for 3 years, I decided I had enough of that. Furthermore, I really lost interest in any aspect of patient work. However what has always interested me since I was a...