Navigating the World of Modern Physics: My Experience as a New College Student

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the experiences of a new college student navigating the complexities of modern physics and the academic environment. Participants share their thoughts on the differences in educational depth between high school and college, as well as the challenges of feeling behind in knowledge compared to peers.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses concern about feeling behind in knowledge of modern physics compared to peers who have already taken related courses.
  • Another participant notes that high school education typically covers subjects at a much shallower level than college, suggesting that university students engage with material more deeply.
  • A participant questions whether peers discussing modern physics can actually perform the necessary mathematics or experiments, encouraging a focus on understanding rather than fear of the unknown.
  • Advice is given to ask peers questions to leverage their knowledge, with a caution that their understanding may not be as deep as it appears.
  • The original poster discovers that modern physics is not part of the first-year curriculum, which alleviates some pressure to catch up immediately.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that college education involves a significant increase in the depth of study compared to high school. However, there is a lack of consensus on the actual depth of understanding among peers discussing modern physics.

Contextual Notes

Some limitations include the original poster's uncertainty about their preparedness for college-level physics and the varying levels of understanding among students discussing modern physics.

Who May Find This Useful

New college students in STEM fields, particularly those transitioning from high school to university-level physics and related subjects.

LENIN
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I just enroled in my collage yesterday. It was qouit cool and I had a great conversation with some of the students that also enroled. They where the students I meet at the national physicsa competition earlyer this year. It was cool to meat theme agein but I got a bit scered theye where all talking about moderen physics as dou it's the simpelest thing in the world. Theye all already wisitet classes on modern physics and string theory. But I hardlly know enything about theme.

How much of this stuff did you know whene you entered collage? Am I really that far behind.
 
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well i think at most high schools you do only one course of each subject in each school year. so, say you do one math course. at university you can do FOUR (or more!) math courses in each TERM! & you can do that for at least a couple years. that's how far beyond the 'average person' a university graduate is, assuming they actually learned something.

i assume it would be similar for english, history, etc students also. a girl i work with is just starting her 4th year of an english degree, & does roughly 1 novel, or shakespeare play (or some other equivalent) each week, in 5 courses, each term. that's something like 45-55 books per term she studies. she says she's collected/studied some 600 books so far & she still has 1 year to go. how many people do you know have 600 books on just one subject?
 
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they talk modern physics but can they do the math/experiments. Don't fear what you don't know...you should have ample time to read up on stuf.
 
Len,

I recommend asking them LOTS of questions! Use them as a resource and learn from them. You may also discover their understanding is superficial.
 
Thanks Tide I think I will do that. And anyway I just looked thrugh my textbooks for the first year of collage and I found out that there is no moderne physics in the first year (it starts at the end of the second year). It's just mechanics, thermodynamics and some fluid statics. There isn't even any electicity before the second year. So I have qouit some of time to catch up on the moderne physics stuff.
 
Tide said:
Len,

I recommend asking them LOTS of questions! Use them as a resource and learn from them. You may also discover their understanding is superficial.

ya maybe they're total bs-ers, and like to think they're really impressing people when talking about that stuff.
 

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