North Carolina State University's Physics Program

Cloudtail

Hello,

This is my first time using this forum (I have read on it before but never posted). I am most likely to be going to NC State and I was wondering if anyone knew how good their physics program is and in what areas they focus on. I would like to major in physics with a minor in mathematics. I have looked at their site, but I would like some feedback from the community. I have also looked at the courses they offer, but I don't know what to compare them to. Thank-you.

Cloudtail

Visceral

Welcome to PF!

I am a undergraduate in physics and math at NC State, so I feel pretty qualified to comment. The physics program here is above average in my opinion. I would say its probably the best in the state...except possibly Duke. The most notable areas of research that stand out are probably Astrophysics, and Experimental/Theoretical Nuclear Physics(including particle). There is actually a reactor on campus as well, so there is collaboration between the nuclear physics and nuclear engineering department(which is very good as well).

I would definitely recommend you check NC State out. The faculty are friendly and are here for the students, but also provide a rigorous curriculum that will push you. The main core courses are the hardest ones. These would be:

PY 411/412-Mechanics 1 and 2
PY 414/415 Electromagnetism 1 and 2
PY 413 Thermal Physics
PY 401/402 Quantum Mechanics 1 and 2

These are the main upper level challenging courses. The intro level freshman courses 201/202/203 are hard as well and are literally in place to weed people out(as they have successfully done to my freshman class, which was half the size it was in 202 after 201.) I have a pretty good knowledge of all the physics classes offered, as I probably know someone who has taken the courses I have not, so feel free to ask any more questions about the program.

diligence

LOL keep telling yourself that ;) You guys can claim engineering, but beyond that, let's be honest now :))

...just messing around, i've considered switching to state...then i came to my senses :)

Cloudtail

Okay thanks Visceral for all of the information. I know this next question might be a bit off topic, but are there any books that you would recommend for quantum mechanics and general/ special relativity? I'm currently attending SCC (Sandhills Community College) to save money and I plan to transfer to NC State after two years. The SCC library has a very limited amount of books on these topics and if they do they are from pre 1950. I do not know if these would be fine to read or if the ideas would differ from the current ones. Thank-you.

Cloudtail

Visceral

Ahhhh....I just wrote out a really long response and my computer installed a windows update without warning me!...So this response will be a little more compact.

I'll be honest with you, I have not been exposed to SR/GR or QM yet. Currently, I am taking PY 202 and 411. You first get exposed to SR in PY 203, Modern Physics. Here is the text they use for that course

http://books.google.com/books?id=tpU...page&q&f=false

it also covers into QM.

Heres also a good thread you may find helpful.

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=207997


Also, I started off at a community college first then transfered in. I know NCSU is expensive, but if possible I would get there as soon as you can. A LOT of my CC courses ended up not transferring over, so I somewhat had to "start over" once I transfered in. Of course you could make extra sure this does not happen, but there probably are not make physics/math courses that will transfer and be counted here at NC State. Keep that in mind.

Good luck

Cloudtail

Alright thank-you for all the help. NC State and SCC have a special agreement for transferable courses/credits, so I know that my classes will be transferable. Thank-you also for the link to the books, the main thing I just wanted to make sure was that I didn't get a text that was outdated or the book was not well written.
If you don't mind me asking, when you transfered, were two foreign language classes required? (Example: Spanish 1 and Spanish 2). On the transfer policy it says that two foreign languages were required. I just wanted to clarify.
Also, good luck with your studies and career.

Cloudtail

Visceral

Yeah I think you have to have two foreign language classes to transfer in...but maybe not. I took mine in high school and that counts.

Hope to see you make it to NC State.

oh, one last thing. This is for diligence.

NCSU Physics>UNC Physics ;-)

Aero12

Is anyone here familiar with the online offerings of Physics for Engineers and Scientists (PY 205/208)? Even labs are delivered through distance. Has anyone taken these? Are they up to par with their traditional brick & mortar sections?

madmack692

I meant to mention this in my 3000 word essay response to your other question but I forgot...

Most online classes in engineering are tough due to the labs. This is probably why undergraduate engineering courses are rarely offered online.

The only online undergrad engineering programs (ABET) are from the university of north dakota. http://distance.und.edu/

I actually applied there (it was the only way that they would evaluate my transcripts).

They wouldn't take the calc 1-3 and eng. physics 1 and 2 for some reason. Also, (and this was a red flag for me) they charge out of state tuition for an online degree. You also have to actually go to the campus for three weeks during summers for the labs.

They are very nice to talk to and even have an online real time Q/A forum.

Might be an option for you if you need to take the math / physics, but I certainly wasn't going through that again.

I don't know how the world would judge an online BSME degree. I am sure applying to grad school wouldn't be an issue since there is no difference between the online / at campus degree from UND.

I dunno... wouldn't hurt to look into it.