Any physics majors?

Post Reply New Topic

As some of you may know, I am a sophomore biology major. This year I'm taking the two-semester Newtonian physics sequence (as required by the biology major), and opted to take the calculus-based sequence as apposed to the lower-level physics that I also could have taken. To my surprise, I actually did well in the class and the lab and found it quite interesting and overall, a much better experience than I anticipated (since, as any of you college students know, it seems that physics is up there with organic chemistry as one of the most universally-hated classes, so I expected the worst).

I want to be a scientist, and knew that I wanted to go into either physics or biology (I love both subjects) upon entering college, but in the last months leading up to starting my sophomore year, I decided that I lacked the logical/mathematical aptitude for physics (I tested into algebra, not calculus on the placement test) and thought I would be much better at biology. Now, I think I may have had it reversed, with my poor memory being nothing but trouble in biology and evidently being better at physics than I thought, so after the Spring semester I want to change my major to physics and eventually go to grad school in that subject.

Right now, as a sophomore, I'm taking the equivalent of a freshman-level physics course load (calc I & II and physics I & II), so I'll be taking an extra year, but that will give me time for a minor in math. I know there are quite a few physics majors here, so do any of you have any advice to give for the years ahead? How was your experience doing a physics major (and taking the intimidating electromagnetic theory and quantum mechanics course load)?

I would love to give you good advice, but I did very badly (just scraped a third) as things turned out, so I'm not sure what to say. I personally screwed up by not being good enough and/or interested enough in the maths, and in thinking that I'd automatically do well at things I was interested in (solid state stuff, astrophysics) without trying. So basically, learn maths, and don't slack on the fun stuff. Knowing Maxwell's equations off by heart, and what they mean in practice, is a Very Good Thing, too; you need to know all the div grad and curl business but the overall calculus shouldn't get too horrendous until fairly late in the course.

Heh. Best of luck!

Start projects and homework early.

Do your homework even if it doesn't count. A lot of my professors took test problems almost exactly word for word from some of our text books.

Understand proofs and work through them without looking at the book.

Become friends with your professors. Its a big boost to your application for grad school if you have an good recommendations from your professors. They can also help you get research positions at your university, which is also helpful to have on a grad school app.

Make friends in class and study with them. It's ridiculously helpful to study with people who are interested in the same things as you. You might make some lifelong friends as well.

If I think of some more I'll post them. Good luck with your degree and don't give up!!

Maths >> Physics. Thats all I really need to say.

I only completed the undergrad level (for health related reasons), but as far as having a bad memory I did find it to be that way -- that you end up memorizing a small set of equations/concepts, but learn how to 'unfold' them to apply to any given situation (ostensibly), as opposed to remembering pre-derived equations and remembering how and when they apply. The former way is good for scope and flexibility, but the trade off is speed which can sometimes matter more to employers (esp. for engineering type jobs).

I found QM the heaviest-duty course. EM wasn't so bad; the math was more straightforward IMO. I rationed my easy elective courses so that I'd have one every semester; the workload always seemed to be the hardest part. I was told by every grad student I talked to that grad school is easier in terms of that.

You've got to check the job market for physics degrees and decide if you can live with it -- it's been bad for since the early 90's which doesn't seem widely known. At the time I graduated (in the 90's) the advice was "study it because you love it, because few will ever work in the field."

There was a "biophysics" major when I was in college IIRC...? something to check out maybe.

Biology has more fun research going on now... But yeah, there's a lot of memorization that's required in the earlier classes.

For the record, I at one point thought I wanted to be a physics major. But then microbiology came along, and I didn't feel like going into engineering.

Most of that fun research is pretty much going in the Biomathematics direction, which is left more than open by doing a Physics degree.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I know career-wise, moving from biology to physics is a foolish choice, but I guess it is what it is. I don't really like applied physics, biophysics, and engineering and would be more interested in going into theory (this is why I would like a math minor). I always thought that astrophysics and relativity were interesting, so who knows.

What do you mean by this?

Its easier and opens up the same options. In short, unless you are brilliant, then you run the risk of dropping a degree grade by taking Physics. Its certainly that way in my uni anyway.

This is interesting, but I'm not quite sure that I understand. So upper-level mathematics courses are easier than their physics equivalents? And how does a math degree open up the same options, wouldn't you need a physics foundation (i.e. classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermal physics, quantum mechanics) enter into a graduate physics program? I know some theoretical and mathematical physics programs are held by math departments (or offered as concentrations in a math PhD). Is this what you mean?

I apologize if these seem like stupid questions, but I'm new to this. I was three semesters into a bio degree being trained in similar research and I knew how everything worked, and now I feel like I'm starting anew (which I basically am).

I just know from my first year experiences studying in both departments - I assume though looking at the courses to come that you will be expected to do more in Physics than Maths. Certainly my unis degree results bear this out and I would argue the intake for both courses would be similar.

Within my maths dept I could if I wanted study mathematical physics, which opens up a load of theoretical type higher year courses. The only main area studied massively in a Maths dept that I know of on particle theory, but then I am not an expert on this nor your system. If you want real help the best thing to do is always to go and see an adviser.

Hmm - I can tell you so far at around the 3 semester point that I am nowhere near the research end or the cutting edge stuff in Maths.