Indian Colleges offering B.Sc Physics (H)

ManishR

i have completed high school with 64% overall (P-75,C-64,M-45).
and i live in jaipur, rajasthan. i am interested in theoretical & mathematical physics and pure mathematics so i want to do B.Sc. Physics (hons)

can you please name the collages where i can get admission through entrance test ?
i know only Chennai Mathematical Institute.
so any other collages ?

one question, are there (good) collages affiliated with Delhi University where i can get admission ?

metalrose

There's the presidency colleges - Kolkata and Channai branches.
And then there's DU, St. stephens being the best for physics and science in general followed by many others like Hansraj, Ramjas etc...

But with those marks, you won't make it into any good DU college, not in the first 2 rounds I suppose, and never in St. Stephens.

And if you can't get into St. Stephens, there's really no point in going for DU because it is popular more for its student culture than academics. I am a 'Dilliwallah' so I know better.

Presidency colleges, and chennai math. Inst. have their admission tests, I guess. So you could prepare for them and give them a try but your chances of making it there too would be quite bleak as they are pretty top notch inst. and the competition would be quite fierce.

The other option you have are the IIT's and the IISER's.
The IIT's offer integrated 5 year M.Sc. in physics, which means it is a five year course without any intermediate B.Sc. degree, so that at the end of the course you pass out with an M.Sc. and can then straightaway apply for a Ph.D. anywhere in the world.

The IISER's are new institutes totally devoted to pure sciences. They too offer the 5 year integrated course.

Google in "IISER admission" to get to know their admission process.

I guess you must already be familiar with the IIT admission process, and you could give it a try but if you haven't started preparing for the JEE until now, your chances of making it are pretty bleak so even trying for JEE would be quite counterproductive. I am not discouraging you from doing so, though.

So as of now, I guess your best bet are the IISER's and the presidency and chennai math ints.

And it's amazingly tough to make it into any of these.

India doesn't have much of an option in the field of pure science.

I too wanted to pursue B.Sc. in physics, but because of such limited opportunities, couldn't make it anywhere, and so settled in for an electronics engineering course at an IT institute in Delhi. But I have enough time to study undergrad. physics on my own and am doing just that.

I plan to apply in the US for a Ph.D. in physics after I am done with my engg.

Ask more if you like.

ManishR

thanks for your answer.

i am already preparing for CMI & NEST and 12th exam (phys & math).

i forgot about presidency collages. thanks for reminding me.

i could not clear even fourth cut off list of DU.

i am also thinking of the same but with bsc hons physics. thats why i asked about any "good" collages.

so are there any collages beside the collages that are mentioned on DU website ?

metalrose

I don't know of any other colleges, and I guess there are no other "good colleges". Whatever's there, it's for everybody to see and I don't think there are any colleges which are not mentioned on DU website.

St. Stephens and a couple of others are the only worthwhile colleges if you want to get into DU. But as you said, you couldn't clear even the fourth cutoff.

I might rather suggest something else. If you have taken a drop(which I suppose you have), then a great idea would be to reappear for your 12th boards.
Not all the subjects, you can reappear for the ones you scored low in.

And the only colleges in DU are the ones I told you of.

Anyway, DU really isn't worth it honestly. DU is really all about a great student culture.

The university and colleges are closed half the time due to protests and strikes. Don't expect to really learn anything at all in the class.
The classes are a joke more or less.
You will have to study on your own totally.
And that would be quite a difficult job in a hostel and especially in delhi.

It would be great if you could make it into CMI or IISER's or NISER or presidency though...


Or the last resort you may have would be to do what I did....settle for an engineering course, preferably electrical/electronics engg. because electrical engg. is more or less like being an applied mathematician/physicist. There's whole lots of common mathematical ground in Electrical engg.(EE) and physics.

And if you are in a professional engg. institute, the environment is incomparably more conducive for academics than DU.

And most of the guys from India who go for Ph.D.'s in physics to US and all, come from an engg. background.

So if you don't make it to a good enough college, it would be better to take up an EE course in a "good" or a decent level engg. college and especially a "private" engg. college and simultaneously study physics for your GRE and other master's level exams in India and abroad.

Even for engg., going to a govt. run college, (apart from IIT's and a few others) is an equal waste as going to DU.
Only private colleges like VIT, JayPee etc. will provide you a professional environment conducive for academics.

Ask anything else you might like to...

Reshma

That is quite an arbitrary generalisation. Can I ask how you arrived at it since I know quite a lot of counter-examples?

Sourabh N

@Reshma As he said, "most" of the guys, which is true given the popularity of Engineering in India (Kids get forced to do Engg after school because they have no say/are brainwashed, by the time they finish Engg, they realize their true aim and pursue it).

@OP Pretty much what metalrose. IMO, if you are comfortable with physics basics, CMI exam wouldn't be "tough" (speaking from experience). By basics, I mean, thorough with, say, Halliday Resnick Walker and/or Sears Zemansky Young, HC Verma and fairly comfortable with Irodov (just reading the damn dark-age-font book, not even solving the problems)

If something didn't make sense there, I'll be happy to clarify.

metalrose

Due to the lack of enough opportunities in the field of pure science in India, many people are forced into engg. and many are forced due to parental pressure and quite a lot of these guys go in for grad. studies in the field of science after their B.Tech.'s.

I know plenty of examples. Infact I have so far not come across any one from a B.Sc. background.

But obviously that doesn't mean there aren't any. Just that a great deal of guys pursuing Ph.D's abroad can be found to be from engg. background, not that I have actually done a survey or anything, but that's based on my personal experience and the general trends in the education scene in India.

RoughRoad

Same is the condition with me. I am in 12th grade, and am from Mumbai.

It's high time from me now. I have always wanted to become an astrophysicist, but now I guess I will end up doing engineering like the mojority. Just wanted to ask whether it is possible to pursue a degree in physics or astronomy while pursuing engineering?

Reshma

Speaking from personal experience, i.e. me having undergrad background in science from a non-IIT university and post-grad education in IIT and now (ironically) in Engineering research, I have experienced both the worlds. So just wanted to say there isn't a very high difference in the course content as such between the two, apart from the structuring of the courses. And the bulk of students doing post-grad studies in IIT, in science and engineering are from other universities i.e. non-IIT. So, just wanted to clarify to all that science colleges in India aren't as bad as they are made out to be.

I do know people with B.Tech/B.Eng pursuing MS/PhD in the Engineering stream since they require only the general GRE which doesn't test any engineering skills per se. For PhD programmes in Physics, US schools are very selective about admitting someone with an Engineering degree unless he/she demonstrates additional skills in Physics such as high Physics GRE and relevant research experience.

Sourabh N

AFAIK, most Indian colleges (IIT included) have similar course structure (except CMI, of course). Did you notice any difference in teaching though? (I probably know the answer, but just extending my sample space)

metalrose

@reshma

I agree with what you say.

On the side notes, which IIT branch?

And do they at all have any group researching in the fields of pure science?
I mean condensed matter physics too happens to be "theoretical" , yet it's not as fundamental to physics as say, particle physics or quantum physics.

So do they, at IIT, have any research groups that are into, theoretical physics or mathematical physics with stress on newer stuff like string theory and all?

Reshma

That is again highly subjective, people complain of bad teachers no matter where.

One major difference or advantage in the course work structure in IIT is that, there isn't too much weight-age placed on the final exam results.

Reshma

Don't want to go public, but currently the #1 in India and begins with B...

You will be surprised to see how much pure science research goes on in the IITs, in fact many of the Profs in the EE department have a Physics background. The strongest departments apart from EE are Chemistry and Physics. Mathematics departments are in a different league altogether though.

Sourabh N

Ah well I meant the weighted average of good teachers vs bad teachers.. yes there are bad teachers, but one or two good teachers make studying physics at a particular place, worth it.

metalrose

How?? din get that....

Reshma

So let's not derail the thread and focus on what the OP is asking. I will try to keep my discussion generic and not focus on any specific universities.

You say you want to study theoretical and mathematical physics, but what concerns me is your high school maths score. 45 is not really an impressive score to begin with. College level courses are bound to be different and difficult from your high school. Whether you enroll in an Engineering programme or a BSc programme, the first semester will have advanced courses in Mathematics and Physics. Also, most universities will also have a bunch of these so-called "weeder courses" in the first year, and the drop-out rate is usually very high in the first 2 semesters.

Taking a hypothetical situation, that you do get admitted into a BSc Programme, you will have to maintain really good grades in all your subjects especially the Physics courses if you intend to get anywhere near a career in Physics. When I finished my class 12, my grades could have easily got me into a top-notch engineering college, but I had decided to pursue pure sciences early on. Fortunately, there were plenty of students in my BSc class who had made a similar decision and most are currently doing quite well in their Physics careers, both in India and abroad.

So what are the options for a person post-BSc Physics?

• Passing with a First class in BSc Physics is almost a given (at least for the general category) to be eligible for MSc programmes. Most universities have an entrance exam/interview in addition to the minimum grade requirements in BSc.
• For reputed MSc programmes, there are exams like IIT-JAM for MSc in one of IITs, the IISc integrated MSc-PhD programme, TIFR integrated MSc-PhD programme to name a few.
• One can specialise in a specific stream of Physics only in their MSc, sometimes even after MSc depending on the university. For e.g. IITs do not offer specialised MSc in Physics but in their final semester thesis project, students usually focus on a specific area of Physics, like condensed matter, particle physics, nuclear physics etc.
• During the duration of the MSc, it is of paramount importance that one seeks opportunities for research internships either in the industry or even in academic institutions. I know it is difficult to get research experience in BSc, but there is no excuse for not finding one in MSc. Institutes actively recruit MSc students for doing short term projects in the summer. This will also help you identify your real world Physics skills.
• By the time students finish their MSc, they usually have a good idea on what stream of Physics they want to focus, in their future Physics career. Depending on that, one can apply to PhD programmes in India and abroad. At this point, things really depend a lot on the individual's interest in specific research groups.

So can a person with an Engineering degree pursue a PhD in Physics? The answer is yes, but still a lot difficult compared to a person with a BSc or MSc in Physics, since most entrance exams for Physics PhD test at least 3 years of undergrad knowledge in Physics. Also the number of spots for PhD and its funding is very few in almost every country and the prospective research group must be really convinced about your candidature, and they will not select someone who is likely to drop-out mid-way through the programme.

samad.kidwai

Hi,

I'm currently in 12th PCM; really interested in Astrophysics or more specifically Cosmology and was wondering what was the best route to take for that ?

When I was in the U.K; I saw several uni's that had B.Sc Physics + Astrophysics or B.Sc Space Science + Astrophysics; with you taking more credits/modules in your preferred area; so what would be the most similar course to that here ? I couldnt find B.Sc Astrophysics anywhere; i'd really appreciate it if someone could guide me regarding that .

I suppose B.Tech Aerospace would be quite different from Astrophysics.. coz most places that had B.Tech Aerospace didnt teach General or Special Relativity which is of paramount importance in Astrophysics


thanks; looking forward to any tips/ hints...
Samad