Undergraduate Definition and 624 Threads

If you can bear with me reading this thread, I'm looking for comments and general direction on where to go next. So in an ambitious attempt to hurl myself head-on into the world of mathematics, I managed to get involved in doing undergraduate research at my university. This is despite the...

I am a junior undergraduate student with speciality of physics in R. P. China. I am planning to have graduate study in US. I think that it will be of help to me if I can have undergraduate research experiences in American universities. On the one hand, I can show the American professors whether...

Hi all I am new to this forum and want to know if anyone has any advice on reading Academic Papers. I am in a Physics Undergraduate Program 2nd year (sophomore level?) I just finished Introductory Electromagnetism (Fundamentals of Physics level), Multivariable Calculus, and Linear Algebra...

Alright, a little background on me first; i attended a nationally accredited college and due to various circumstances, fell into major depression. I wasted about ~3 years of my life doing very little and ended up dropping/failing many of my classes for extremely stupid reasons (not showing up...

I'm sad to say that I got an F in an upper level class that I took this semester. I decided to try my hand at a graduate class (as an undergrad) and I severely mistook the difficulty and rigor of the class involved. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that I did so poorly in a class...

Hello, Next year I intend to enter into the Bsc Honours program in Astrophysics at either University of Calgary (where I live), University of Alberta, or University of British Columbia. My marks are as follows: AP Calculus: 100% Pure Math 30: 94% English 30: 90% Physics 30: 96% Social...

Hi, I am a senior in high school and I am in the process of applying to colleges. I want to major in theoretical or mathematical physics, and I want to know which schools are the best for this field of study. By "the best", I don't simply mean those schools that U.S. News ranks as top ten. I...

Hi, in 1 year i will graduate with a BA in Industrial engineering from a university in Peru. Unfortunately i have realized that I.E is not really for me. If i could go back in time, i would of studied either mechanical or electrical or chemical engineering or something to do with genetics...

I'm a 2nd year math major looking for a research position for next quarter (and perhaps beyond). Ideally I would be able to find a math professor to work with, but since I have no prior experience and have only taken a few upper div classes I'm not sure that that's realistic. I'm not even sure...

I want to obtain a degree in physics. Here is the list of colleges I'm applying to: University of Michigan University of Chicago Cornell California Institute of Technology Princeton Stanford Harvard MIT Are there any other colleges I should consider? Any schools in between Michigan...

Hi, this is a undergraduate student who is graduating in this Dec. Honestly, my GPA is quite low. Do u think that, does such a person like me still have the opportunity to pursue a master's degree in physics, or even a P.hD.?

Is it possible for me to get a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering or materials science, then go to graduate school from there to study nuclear engineering, or do you have to stay in the same engineering field throughout the entire period of study?

How is it like to do undergraduate research? what are you expected to do (in general)? is there anything I need to know? I am transferring to a university with research opportunities for undergraduate students and I am curious about this. I have never done research in my life and I am really...

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone knows about physics summer schools, prefarably in theoretical, quantum or particle physics and preferably in Europe? I'm a second year physics student from Finland and would like get to know these areas better to learn more about them and help me write my...

Hey guys. I am required to do a presentation in physics (obviously) for about 15 mins or so. They haven't specified any parameters so what the topic can be is flexible. I wanted to something along the lines of physics that could be used in some emerging technology e.g. spintronics. Any...

How do you learn the required math for undergraduate physics ? by reading Specialized Math texts or Mathematical methods texts ?

My country is 3 year undergraduate system. I think i am not able to get a double degree in math and physics in 3 years. The credits are not enough though i took 6-7 courses per semester. Normal workload is 5 courses per semester and i think a QM should be much more time-wasting than other...

Here's a very general question: how do you call the period after you've earned a Bachelor degree, but before you've started graduate (Ph.D.) school? As I understand it correctly you are doing doctoral research when you are working on obtaining a Ph.D., so is the period before you start...

Hello, I'm getting my B.S. in Physics at a liberal arts college. One of my graduation requirements is two semesters of a foreign language. I wanted some advice about what languages are particularly useful to career physicists. Here are some ideas I've had. Latin- useful for science...

Hello I'm reading Y. Manin's http://books.google.co.il/books?id=8NTWRFD5lZ8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=yuri+manin+introduction+to+mathematical+logic&hl=en&ei=cfp_TJ2vJ8KSjAeB-6xl&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false" and I've been having some difficulties. So...

I've written 2 papers one was more or less an expository on a difficult topic in group theory and the other one I just finished writing is a paper that introduces the basic concepts in elementary measure theory and then gives an original result from it. I submitted the first one to a journal but...

I heard Russian education makes high schoolers do 2nd year university math leveled questions (Things like ODE and Laplace Transforms, analysis, linear algebra, etc) while they're in grade 12. I'm not sure if this is true though but if they do, wouldn't that mean their undergraduate degree for...

Starting next semester, I will be taking part in a year long, accelerated math program, which if I finish, will allow me to get a master's degree in place of a bachelor's. My primary major is physics though, and I have been considering the possibility of substituting some of my required classes...

Let me explain my situation in short terms. 1. to get a degree here(malaysia), we'll need to work on an undergraduate final year project which is sort of alike thesis? basically an undergraduate research program. 2. I like theoretical or computational physics. Well, perhaps the math, quantum...

I go to NYU, and to remain in the honors program I am required to study abroad at least one semester (fall, spring, or summer). My university has study abroad "satellite campuses" where it's incredibly easy to study abroad. The problem is that the course offerings at these satellites are...

Hey, I'm going into physics in the fall for my first year. I'm going to be living at home and commuting to and from campus (about a half hour bus ride). My question is how often does a physics student use their laptop in class? I'm on a budget and I'd rather spend my money on a desktop and...

Hello. It seems that a demand of renowned international graduate colleges is having research experience and even publications in your undergraduate years. How does one actually get to this? Does one simply contact a professor and offer their services? I've only had the first year of bachelor...

Hello there. I am a high school student with a passion for physics. I want to study physics in university and have applied to several universities in the UK. However, I've been recently told that the UK do not emphasize a lot on research...and that it would be better off for me to go...

I am about to head into my junior year as a physics major, and I was hoping to get some advance on which area of specialization I should focus on. My goal in the end is to get my PhD, focusing my research on particle physics, yet I'm not sure which undergraduate specialization would be most...

Does anyone know a good problem/exercise book in general undergraduate mathematics, the stuff covered by Arfken&Weber of Riley, Hobson and Bence: basically, vector algebra, analysis (real and complex),differential equations, algebra, vector analysis and maybe some geometry (analytical and...

So essentially, I have not come to a decision in spite that today, May 1st, I must inform the colleges that accepted me where I am going to study for the next four years. My choices are: MIT, Harvard, Yale and Princeton. I am at my wit's end; here is the gist of it: a) I want to study...

hey all, I am not using the template, bc this isn't a standard problem. I am doing a few beer related physics tricks for my phy 252 research project at Arizona State, and I need help with one in general. Why does, when you hit two beer bottles together (one on top of the other)...

Hello all, I am currently emailing a professor asking if he would be willing to mentor me and take me under as an intern. Unfortunately I do not know what is etiquette to state in an email such as this. Ultimately I am asking to meet and discuss the matter but I am unsure how to propose the...

All of my friends are applying for the Ivy leagues and other renowned universities as an undergrad and all of them of course plan to go onto other equally renowned universities for graduate school. So here is my question, once you do get your graduate degree (Masters or Ph.Ds), how much do...

If I go to Arizona State University to major in Physics w/ an Astronomy minor, get good grades (GPA ~3.0 to 3.3), do some research, and get good letters of recommendations, do graduate schools look at what school you went to for the admissions process? In other words, do astronomy graduate...

Hello, I am attending the University of Pennsylvania next year as a freshman, majoring in physics. UPenn has a program where physics undergrads can earn both their BS and MS within 4 years. I plan to earn my doctorate in physics one day, specializing in theoretical particle physics, and...

Hello Friendly Community! I recently was accepted to Yale College for undergraduate, and I was wondering what people's impressions of it were, either anecdotally or personal experience? I am particularly wondering about quality of teaching, I have heard horror stories about teachers not...

Hey guys, I'm currently facing a dilemma. My top choice has always been Princeton because I was always more interested in a math concentration rather than a physics concentration and Princeton has amazing opportunities. However, Princeton costs $15,000 more (Berkeley is a full-ride along with...

Does anyone have any recommendations of a good book(s) for a first undergraduate-level course in Statistical Mechanics?

Hey guys, just wondering whether anybody knows of any good, clear books on quantum mechanics for a 1st year undergrad that would take me through my whole 4 year course - with introductory fundamentals of quantum physics through to the modern advances. Any advice would be appreciated :smile:

Hi all, I was just hoping to gather some advice for a research project. I am currently a junior, and I have asked to do some research with one of my professors for next year. The problem is that he does research in several fields, and I don't really have preference to any of them yet. I...

Choices, choices. I was offered NSERC positions from both places for 16 weeks in the summer, and obviously I have to pick one. The research topics are similar and both interesting to me, and the pay is almost the same. All I know is that these two universities are both famous and have...

Is Hertfordshire good for undergraduate physics? Hey all I am going to learn physics at Hertfordshire Uni and i hope to master in theoretical physics at imperial .The physics rank for Hertfordshire is low and their course structure is quite different when comparing to other...

In case there are people who might be interested in this but didn't realize either its existence or deadline, the deadline for SULI application is coming up fast - Feb. 1. http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/SciEd/erulf/about.html Zz.

Hi all, Like the title suggests, i am interested in finding a topic in topology that would serve as the basis for a research paper. Since i am currently taking a first course in Topology (Munkres), i am basically looking for something that is not too advanced. So far i haven't been able to...

Dear all, Upon completing my 1st year's American Degree Transfer Program in Malaysia, I've encounter several problems during my uni application. 1). Is there any well-ranked yet affordable university available for Aerospace Engineering (AE)? 2). Gaining my admission in Embry-Riddle...

Hello! I am going to study theoretical physics in next year so I want to know is there any big difference between study in a high rank university and in a low rank university?( I mean for a undergraduate degree)Because of the tuition fees, I am an international student by the way...

So here's the deal. For undergraduate studies, Canadian universities do not require a letter of recommendation to be sent, some have told me via e-mail explicitly they do not require them, and some even state on their websites not to send anything beside transcripts. Do you think it could be...

I am a Canadian living in BC. I am a senior and going to university next year. However, here is my big dilemma. I plan to go to Graduate school in the States, but the undergrad school I will be going to - University of British Columbia - is not very well known in the States. So I might go...

i'm a senior in high school right now, and i have the academic ability to get into some good schools, unfortunately my family does not have the fiscal ability to send me there (even with financial aid), so i will be attending UF next year. Still a good school though. I'll be a math major. My...