Good with math, but poor with physics?

[homeomorphic]

Graduate programs also require you take a set of obligatory physics courses. If you get a B- (less than 3.0 on a number scale) in Physics II, then what would you expect to get in Classical Mechanics, Theoretical Electrodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, all required by graduate schools? Surely, your GPA would be below 3.0, or even 2.5, which would not be enough for a grad school admission. Thus, your point is moot.

Baloney.

There are tons of stories of people who didn't do well in some classes and then managed to turn it around. To some extent, I fit that description, myself. I got two C's in "easy" math classes, early on, but had above a 3.9 gpa in my last two years in undergrad.

 

[-Dragoon-]

Thus, your point is moot.

I don't even want to go to graduate school in physics, I just find it something interesting to think about from time to time. I'll still be taking classical mechanics, E&M, and quantum despite what people like you think. I don't care if I do terrible in them, I just want to see what they are about and see the math applied to those rigorous topics.

 

[-Dragoon-]

Physics is more than just an application of math. It's a part of math. The roots of a lot of math are in physics. It's possible to be a successful mathematician without knowing any physics, but I don't know that I would recommend it. Eventually, if you go far enough in math, there are parts of physics that will just be "more math"--as I've been saying, no different from the rest of math, except as some weird superstition that you have in your mind that they are completely different subjects. You can look at some things from a very mathematical point of view, if you want.

Even when I was studying electrical engineering, I thought the theory side of it was the same thing as what I'm doing now, studying math. I use the same sort of thought processes to understand all of it.

Thank you for all these tips, I've always been interested in the more mathematical aspects of physics and proving theorems rather than doing pointless computations (I can easily prove and derive most equations out of my textbook), I am just not exceptional with the computations. I find computations to be tedious, useless, and very boring which might explain why I'm not very good at doing them.

 

[Dickfore]

I don't even want to go to graduate school in physics, I just find it something interesting to think about from time to time. I'll still be taking classical mechanics, E&M, and quantum despite what people like you think. I don't care if I do terrible in them, I just want to see what they are about and see the math applied to those rigorous topics.

Good for you.

 

[SophusLies]

Graduate programs also require you take a set of obligatory physics courses. If you get a B- (less than 3.0 on a number scale) in Physics II, then what would you expect to get in Classical Mechanics, Theoretical Electrodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, all required by graduate schools? Surely, your GPA would be below 3.0, or even 2.5, which would not be enough for a grad school admission. Thus, your point is moot.

lol.. This is just not true.

My case is similar to homeomorphic's in terms of getting better as time went on. My early class grades weren't very good but almost all of my upper level physics and math classes were a lot of A's. For me, the ideas in higher level math and physics classes were much clearer than intro classes.