"Back door" into physics for a math major

[insupliquitous]

I have a BA in math. Took no physics courses. In the few years since I graduated I've self studied a lot of physics in my spare time and have a desire to pursue a formal education in it.

I understand it would be almost impossible for me to get into a masters in physics unless I went back and took a bunch of core physics undergrad courses as a non-degree student somewhere.

Is there a "backdoor" that allows me to leverage my math background to go into a masters where I might be able to combine math and physics? For example, is it possible for me to do a masters in applied math and somehow focus on mathematical physics? Are mathematical physics graduate courses actually commonly offered through math departments? Or would I be better off doing pure math in that case? Is there some sort of "applied physics" masters out there that might assume little background in physics?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I agree with the guy who said you should pick one field and focus on it as soon as you can if you want to go to grad school. The best grad schools are hyper-competitive and the sooner you can lock into a path and pursue it with relentless drive (get as much undergrad research experience as possible) the better. I see having spread myself too thin as a major mistake. Note that from what research I've done, tenure-track professorship positions in your (our) fields of interest are extremely competitive. You basically have to be willing to move anywhere in the country for one

You should listen to this guy's advice.

 

[Choppy]

I'm not aware of any backdoors. I'm afraid.

I do recall some graduate students from the mathematics department taking graduate physics courses when I was a student, but this was in supplement to their math programs, and they would have needed permission from the instructors and to have taken the prerequisite courses at some point.

But the fact that you haven't taken any physics courses yet is a big concern. While one can take you at your word that you've done a lot of self-study, there are several challenges with this when it comes to someone making an admissions decision for a program.

The first that comes to mind is that there is usually a lineup of people for admission to physics graduate programs who have taken, and done well in, all of the prerequisite courses. So it's next to impossible to bump them out of the line in favour of someone who doesn't have the prerequisites.

Further, there are a lot of people who have "self-studied" to one degree or another. I'm sure some of them cover the material sufficiently. But a lot of them only think they have covered the material. And they haven't had much, if any, feedback to know if they're understanding the material well, and developing their skill set correctly. So putting someone into a graduate course based on their reported self-study is more often than not setting that student up for failure.

Also, graduate programs are really about setting students up to become researchers. So one thing that admissions committees look for is some evidence that a student will be successful not just in the coursework, but in a long-term, rigorous investigation. To this end they're looking at, for example, experience doing a summer internship, a senior thesis project, volunteer research experience, etc.

It's probably also worth mentioning that frequently graduate students are hired as teaching assistants. And it's really hard to convince someone to hire you to instruct in a lab you haven't actually taken.

Anyway, I'm really not trying to rain on anyone's parade. I'm just trying to give a realistic picture of the hurdles involved here.

 

[CrysPhys]

OP: The "backdoor", if it exists, would be an interdisciplinary mathematical physics grad program offerred jointly by the math and physics departments. I did a cursory search and didn't find any, but you should do a more detailed search.

E.g., there are interdisciplinary grad programs in chemical physics offerred jointly by the chemistry and physics departments and in biophysics offerred jointly by the biology and physics departments. Take chemical physics as an example. If you have an undergrad degree in chemistry, you would apply through the chemistry department, and have the opportunity to do remedial work in physics before proceeding to the grad chemical physics program. If you have an undergrad degree in physics, you would apply through the physics department, and have the opportunity to do remedial work in chemistry before proceeding to the grad chemical physics program.

Note, however, that chemistry undergrads who pursue such a program would likely have taken some undergrad physics courses, and physics undergrads pursuing such a program would likely have taken some undergrad chemistry courses ... that's how they know they want to pursue an interdisciplinary chemical physics program in the first place. But in your case, you took NO undergrad physics courses, so you'll likely have a tough go at an interdisciplinary mathematical physics program (assuming one exists).

 

[Frabjous]

You will see differential geometry math professors publish on general relativity. I assume that there are other areas of theoretical physics where this also occurs. The question is whether these sorts of profs will take on students lacking a physics background. There are a lot of math-physics double majors.

A couple of the remaining Millenial Problems are physics based.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Prize_Problems

 

[gmax137]

Is there a "backdoor" that allows me to leverage my math background to go into a masters where I might be able to combine math and physics?

This was more feasible 40 or 50 years ago, when there were half as many people in the world and probably a tenth (or fewer) math Bachelors.

I had a different scenario than yours, but back then, I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to grad school; they talked me into it. Those days are long gone.