First Year College Physics Major: Expectations & Resemblances

[joej24]

What should you expect as a physics major when you first enter college? Is there some resemblance in academics from high school classes?

 

[lisab]

Well in the first year you usually take calculus 1 & 2, and physics 1 & 2. Of course there are other courses you'll have to take, maybe more math classes and/or other science courses, like chemistry. Also you'll have general education requirements, such as English and history.

I don't know how rigorous your high school was, but most students find the first year of college to be difficult, academically, compared to high school. Additionally, the sudden independence is difficult for some students to adjust to - no one is there to remind you to go to bed, or to wash your clothes for you. Coping with the joys and responsibilities of being on your own can be tough. Lots of young people have trouble with it, which can negatively affect their studies.

 

[joej24]

Sounds tough.. Do you have any advice that'll help the transition be smoother for someone still in high school?

Also, is calc 1 & 2 one course? How many classes are recommended and /or allowed for someone in college?

 

[Anonymous217]

If you took a lot of AP classes, you'd actually think the transition gives you a LOT more free time. The only thing that makes college harder is the self-responsibility (that is, you probably won't have daily homework and weekly quizzes to keep you in check for your courses nor will you be given as much class time per course). I've found that as long as you spend as much time studying in college as you did for all your AP classes, then you'd manage your first year fine.

This is what I've experienced anyways.

 

[lisab]

Sounds tough.. Do you have any advice that'll help the transition be smoother for someone still in high school?

Also, is calc 1 & 2 one course? How many classes are recommended and /or allowed for someone in college?

I think if you start now practicing being independent, it can help. Doing things like your own laundry, setting your own sleeping schedule, that sort of thing. The one thing new college students often don't manage well is their sleep. And trying to do homework is tough when you haven't slept well for the last 2 or 3 nights!

Calc 1 and 2 are two separate courses. Each college has a their own definition of "full time" - usually it's 12 credits. Also each college sets the upper limit for how many credits a student can take. You should check the college's web page for more information (although I realize they don't always organize their web pages very well!).

 

[joej24]

How intense is the workload? Some college students I've talked to told me they get less than 5 hrs per night. Is this because of the intensity of the classes/ homework? Or is 5 hrs considered a LOT of sleep in college?

 

[zif.]

How intense is the workload? Some college students I've talked to told me they get less than 5 hrs per night. Is this because of the intensity of the classes/ homework? Or is 5 hrs considered a LOT of sleep in college?

Look at it by credit. Take the number of credits and multiply by three. That's the average number of hours you should expect to spend on school per week, including class time.

That's if you plan to do well. Expect time spikes around exams. Example:

A standard course load at my uni is around 15 credits.

This means 15 hours per week will be spent in lecture, and around 30 more hours spent on homework and studying.

This semester I took 17 credits. I always had the opportunity for a full 8-9 hours of sleep every night, but I sometimes cut it down to 6 hours because I was reading a novel or hanging out with friends. Also, except for exam time, I always had my Friday night and Saturday clear. I put in a bit of extra time every day during the week so after class on Friday I was free until Sunday morning.

Friday nights are for going wild. Saturday's are for recovery and taking it easy. Saturday night is for light socializing and getting to bed before 2:00am. Sunday is for getting up before noon, going to the library, and getting to work.

 

[physics girl phd]

zif. essentially gives a pretty good timeline there... but as a physics major, expect that sometimes going wild on a Friday night (especially as you move forward in your degree program) will mean bringing your radio into the department and completing some electronics lab. Expect that (if you want to be a good, competitive student (in either graduate studies or job prospects) Saturdays will sometimes be spent in a professor's research lab (or for catching up on homework that would have been done while you were instead in the lab on afternoons when you didn't have class scheduled). Sundays might be a good time to rest by work on the gen-ed credits, like English)... maybe while watching Sunday morning cartoons or afternoon golf.

And, like lisab says... the biggest challenge may be sleep (or, I'll add, it may be avoiding peer-pressure to do things that will otherwise be self-destructive).

 

[joej24]

Are general ed credits(english, history) that easy? My English class is somewhat rigorous in my experience in high school. Or are general ed classes few compared to classes relating to your major, explaining why G.E. s require less work.

I should work on getting more sleep. I sometimes struggle to get a good night's rest even though I'm not in college yet.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

The one thing I can say about the general ed credits, is to make use of the resources available to you when selecting a course/professor. They are (for the most part) common sense, but the wrong professor can ruin your GPA. Keep in mind, that in some of these courses there are no definite answers, you are graded on your opinion. God help you if your opinion doesn't match that of an arrogant professor. I only have one B, and I got it in English Composition!

 

[Pengwuino]

Are general ed credits(english, history) that easy? My English class is somewhat rigorous in my experience in high school. Or are general ed classes few compared to classes relating to your major, explaining why G.E. s require less work.

I should work on getting more sleep. I sometimes struggle to get a good night's rest even though I'm not in college yet.

General ed courses are pretty easy. The instructors don't want to teach them and often are taught by graduate students who have more important things to worry about.

Being in charge of your life is definitely the biggest hurdle. Like others have said, no one is there to wake you up in the morning, make food for you, do your laundry, etc. In the actual courses, you're completely on your own. If you're failing, you will fail. If you miss an important deadline, you have to deal with the consequences. It's definitely a different environment. You also sometimes hear of parents complaining to teachers and students begging for an A in high school, you never ever hear about that in college.

Actually, you DO hear about it. The story usually abruptly ends with "So I told him/her to get the hell out of my office" though.

Just remember, your professors and instructors are professionals doing a job, they have professional expectations to be held to and they have similar expectations of you as a student. They aren't like high school teachers whom, while also professionals, don't have expectations of students to act professionally as well.

That being said, it's really not as bad as some people make it out to be. You'll quickly adjust, figure out the rules and expectations, and forget all about what it's like to be in high school... unless you live in dorms or a frat house. If you're a physics major or any other serious student, watch out because many people DO NOT drop the high school mentality and have no interest in studying or growing up. These people will wreak havoc on your academic career if you let them.

 

[zif.]

Even if you do live in dorms or a frat house... You shouldn't be studying in your room anyway.

Always study in the library or other quiet corner where no one goes.

Sleep with earplugs if you need to, and learn to say no when people are trying to get you to come drinking.

 

[Chunkysalsa]

but learn when its time to say yes to go out for a night of drinking.

College is a fun time and don't let stress buildup to high. Let loose sometimes (if you can afford to, and really you should have time to hang out with friends at least once a month)

 

[erok81]

How intense is the workload? Some college students I've talked to told me they get less than 5 hrs per night. Is this because of the intensity of the classes/ homework? Or is 5 hrs considered a LOT of sleep in college?

I work full time and attend school just under full time (10hrs) and I never get less than 6 hours. It is usually between 6 hours +/- 30 minutes.

 

[Ryker]

I work full time and attend school just under full time (10hrs) and I never get less than 6 hours. It is usually between 6 hours +/- 30 minutes.

Well, but 6 hours isn't really a lot, in fact, it's little, so I'm not sure that will ease his worries.

 

[flyingpig]

I pretty much lived in the library in the past four months, skipping showers occasionally and not changing clothes for weeks

 

[Pengwuino]

I pretty much lived in the library in the past four months, skipping showers occasionally and not changing clothes for weeks

Gross. This is overboard.

College life and especially grad school can be tough, but if you're neglecting basic hygiene, you're doing something wrong.

 

[flyingpig]

Gross. This is overboard.

College life and especially grad school can be tough, but if you're neglecting basic hygiene, you're doing something wrong.

Look it's not like I want to, I just didn't have the time. At one point I got addicted to studying and camping at the library and I was too lazy to wash my clothes.

 

[joej24]

Did you at least brush your teeth?

 

[Leveret]

Did you really not have 10min a day to take a shower? Honestly, the improvement in your self-confidence and general peace of mind would probably have been worth losing 10min of sleep.

How much work you have and how much sleep you get during your freshman year of college really depend on what how rigorous your high school was compared to your university. Case in point: my AP Calculus BC teacher in high school was amazing, and gave me a rock solid foundation in mathematics. Incidentally, I was able to breeze through Calc 2, studying maybe a few hours total over the course of the semester. On the other hand, I slacked off a bit during AP Chemistry, and had to spend a good amount of time on some parts of General Chemistry once I got to college. The statisticians here will quickly point out that causality remains unproven, but I don't think anyone would disagree that the correlation is there.

On another note, figures like "workload per week ~= credit hours x3" or "2 hours per credit hour per week" get thrown around a lot, and you may want to take them with a grain of salt. While they are certainly plausible as averages, the distribution has been pretty wide in my experience. Some people float through the first year with time to spare, while others end up with their noses to the grindstone all day and night. There are few ways of predicting what your own experience will be; you might be better off planning for the worst until the first exams, then using your scores on those to gauge how much you can let up.

 

[Ryker]

Did you really not have 10min a day to take a shower? Honestly, the improvement in your self-confidence and general peace of mind would probably have been worth losing 10min of [STRIKE]sleep[/STRIKE] studying.

Fixed that for you.

 

[JesseC]

@OP

Wow... reading some of the comments you'd think going to college (or University as its called here) was no fun and solid work!

The hardest thing by far will be BALANCING the amazingly fun social life you'll be dropped into with all the work you're expected to do as a physics student.

I emphasise balance because you probably don't want to be a loner with no social life at university, which has the potential be the greatest time of your life. At the same time you don't want to fail your course. Everyone has a different balance, and its up to you to find your own.

The second hardest thing, which was already mentioned is becoming newly independent. But frankly you'll be with a bunch of other people in the same situation, so you'll figure something out even if you live off last nights takeaway pizza for a week.

As for courses, (I presume its the same in the US), 1st year is partly about bringing everyone up to the same level, and they probably will seem more challenging than high school. But again you won't be alone in experiencing that.

 

[Choppy]

I agree with JesseC here. First year (and all subsequent years) are all about finding a balance.

People have different experiences in first year depending on their high school experience.

One "trap" to be aware of is that high school is often not that challenging and so there are many students who are used to getting good marks with minimal effort. In fact some people even develop an attitude where they believe their intelligence is so innately powerful, studying is a sign of weakness. This obviously doesn't fly once you hit a courseload that really challenges you.

There are times when you will be extremely busy - where you don't do laundry and have to wear stuff that's "still sort of clean." But there will be other times when you can get caught up on chores. I've never personally been so busy that I couldn't shower and I managed to make it through undergrad, grad school, and a residency while balancing other activities like volunteer work, a part-time job, and a time-sink hobbie like writing.