Drotzer said:
Thank you for your help. That is good info. Clope. That sounds like a great setting.
It's an ok setting.
The math requisites for the major, for instance are extremely lacking, for instance they don't require linear algebra.
Depending on the teacher, you're sort of screwed for the class, regarding understanding not necessarily your grade.
For instance the friendly but horrible lecturer teaches thermodynamics and math methods in physics, the consensus from several generations of people (so it's not just some bad students) is that no one learns from him.
The only reason i did reasonably well in our math methods class with him is that I knew the math beforehand. Depending on the class and teacher it's suggested you know the material before even taking the class (I can tell you which ones if you like).
The technical electives are not systematic nor conductive to getting students practical job skills outside of grad school. There's no required computer programming courses though you will need to be exposed to it doing the reports for modern physics and senior lab. There also isn't an advanced circuit/electronic class. Another problem is that a lot of the lecture modules are taught as studio physics or modeling physics where math is downplayed and the material is presented dumbed down and half-assedly, leading to student problems in upper division courses.
The department is full of flaws but has the potential to be good, which is why I said I was discussing with the SPS to bring these concerns to the head of the department and see if any changes can't be made to better the student body's experiences here.
On top of the flaw we still send graduates to some very good schools, two friends of mine went to MIT and UMichigan for their PhD studies.
Just letting you know what you get into if you decide to come to FIU.
