Do you think my school will let me major in physics?

[Frzn]

Here's my situation

Just finished first year of school...I went into it thinking I wanted to do medicine so I took first year chem, bio, and non-calculus based physics. I got a B in mechanics (1st semester) and an A in E&M (2nd semester) and I decided that I really want to do physics.

Unfortunately to continue in physics I need to have calculus based first year physics. But the calc based courses all say that they "Cannot be held with *non calc based physics course*".

Now I should mention that on the physics major track at my school, to do the calculus based 2nd semester physics course (E&M stuff) you need a B in calculus based mechanics (1st semester) or B+ in non-calc based mechanics. Since I got a B in non-calc based mechanics I can't just go into 2nd semester calc based physics so I'll need to take the calc based first semester course in mechanics.

I'm going to contact the registrar or whatever, but what do you guys think? Are they going to let me in even though I technically can't hold credit in both types of physics? PS. I have calculus 1 and 2.

 

[kote]

Talk to an advisor in the physics department. Mention that you would like to declare as a physics major. Admissions shouldn't have anything to do with it, and the registrar will just read you the rules. There are all sorts of ways to get around the rules when it's appropriate, so go talk to the physics department.

 

[Frzn]

Talk to an advisor in the physics department. Mention that you would like to declare as a physics major. Admissions shouldn't have anything to do with it, and the registrar will just read you the rules. There are all sorts of ways to get around the rules when it's appropriate, so go talk to the physics department.

I'm actually not sure why I said admissions

I didn't mean to. I'll edit the post.

 

[jtbell]

Yes, talk to somebody in the physics department. They've probably had situations like yours before, and can work out something for you. The details vary from one school to another.

 

[Vanadium 50]

As jtbell says, the details vary. The most likely outcome is that you will be asked to take calc-based intro physics not for credit before you can advance.