Recent content by ballistikk

I know this is an old thread, but I'm wondering about the current prospects too, and what kind of jobs Phds can pursue if they need to go outside the field.

Yep, that's it. The level of modern physics you'll see on the PGRE is most likely covered there.

Get an extended edition version of a freshman physics text and work through the 40-something chapters. Then go over the practice exams and their solutions (grephysics.net). I also got the flash cards from Case Western and they're great, although some of the material is more advanced than...

Did you do any preparation for it? The PGRE is all about speed and memorization, mostly from material of the 100 and 200 levels. If you went in there planning to attack the way you would an upper level HW set or exam, I can see how you'd mess up. Take it again or apply to schools that don't...

At the very least, know the techniques from Cal II, plus Stokes, Green's, and Residue Theorem. Just recently, I had to drag out the Mean Value Theorem to solve a delta function problem.

Wow, I honestly thought I was alone in these observations. I once had a question about one of my HW problems involving a proof and my professor said what basically boiled down to, "The book is old and well-used so the author must be right. Now get out of my office."

Usually I try to read it over and over again for a few days. If that doesn't work, then I go to the campus library and try to find other sources that might help. If THAT doesn't work, I'll try to find some source on the internet that breaks the concept down in the simplest, dumbest terms...

Okay, thanks a bunch. I had a feeling I was overthinking the situation and missing the forest for the trees. I'll talk to my advisor and see if I should be concerned with rounding out an advisory committee.

I did a search but didn't see a thread related to this query, so here goes (and forgive me if this is an utterly idiotic question). I'm in a Physics Masters program (first semester) and before recently I didn't have a concrete idea of the research I wanted to pursue. After months of...

I was given an assignment involving finding the head to tail bunch differential acceleration of a beam of muons loading onto an RF cavity, and it occurred to me that my understanding of the concept might be keeping me from working the problem. Can someone concisely explain it to me?

As long as I have the math down pat, nothing's been too difficult.

Anyone...?

I'm leaning more and more towards this option, but I'm wondering if it'll ultimately be worth it. In your experience, will the MBA ultimately lead to a higher salary and/or more leadership than a MS alone?

Yep, it's pretty much a requirement everywhere. And yep, you will do a lot of calculating without knowing WHY. Modern physics texts are teasers for the material you'll encounter in later semesters, and most of them let you know beforehand that some of the derivations are beyond the scope of...

I've been doing research into the field as a possible career, and I usually see careers in the post-Bachelor and post-Master's catagories, but not post-Doctorate. Is a Master's degree what's usually required for the higher paying jobs in the industry, or do most require a Phd?