How can i learn about physics / mathematics after graduating

[darksilence]

First of all i must admit that i am not sure if it fits into academic guidance or career guidance category.

I am senior student of physics in my country's one the best universities. This was the bright side. I am 26-27 years old, i am about to graduate in 1.5 years. I was always considered as intelligent by others (but not by myself) but always managed to get distracted. I had many of experiences i can want, i did lots of interesting things irrelevant to what i should. I even offered a job which i plan to accept after i graduate, not very bright one but still respectable.

I have some A's and mostly C's, have taken lots of selectives from other departments for just to get the feeling. But distributed in 8 years, i don't feel like i know anything even for the courses i pass with A. Physics fascinates me, its mostly something hard, its always something which i have to do for 200 pages in a week but i can 2 page/hour, and not spend more than 10 hour that week. I always feel the fun and stress together. But i really feel sorry about i didn't learn as much as i hoped, i lost my precious time which will never return back.

I have a gf which a plan to marry after graduation, and for that reason probably i won't study even graduate school (or i might study but not in ideal conditions; working/having sex, not resting, distracted, long working hours and some drinking sessions are also given because i know some about my future work and wife).

I know i have given lots of specifics about my situation. I feel jealous every time when somebody is talking about some mathematical method x, or i feel depressed every time when i read some textbook of physics with there is some reference to the information i have no idea at all. All the mathematical methods, spaces, techniques are talked here are pain for me. Even the solved examples in some introductory quantum mechanics book with some kind a (lnN! ~= NlnN - N + O(0)) things inside which i don't know makes my mode suicidal. I have to learn these things somehow.

Please help me, by offering solutions, strategies, motivation. I really don't need to rely on these information to go on living but i feel like incomplete without.

Thanks in advance, Kaan.

 

[heatengine516]

I know i have given lots of specifics about my situation. I feel jealous every time when somebody is talking about some mathematical method x

Consider yourself lucky. Those people probably won't be having sex.

 

[Astrum]

Consider yourself lucky. Those people probably won't be having sex.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or just stupid.

Please help me, by offering solutions, strategies, motivation. I really don't need to rely on these information to go on living but i feel like incomplete without.

Thanks in advance, Kaan.

In regards to what? You already have a job set-up, and you say that you don't want to go to grad school. So what do you want us to tell you? Here's a two step solution for you.

1. Find a textbook
2. Study said textbook

 

[R136a1]

I'm not sure what you want to improve in the first place. Do you want better grades? Do you want to master the material better? Do you simply want to feel better about yourself?

Your post strikes me as a bit vague. I think it's important to say very concretely what you want to accomplish. Your post mentions a lot about how you feel and what your situation is, but what concretely do you want to do in the future? And what do you think are the barriers for achieving said future? What have you tried so far? What worked, what didn't? And why?

 

[R136a1]

Consider yourself lucky. Those people probably won't be having sex.

Troll rating: 1/10.

 

[heatengine516]

I have a feeling that came across wrong. But seriously, TS is about to graduate from one of the best universities in his country with a Physics degree but hasn't learned anything about Physics? And will be too busy having sex and drinking to go to/study in grad school? That's what I was joking about.

To OP: If you want to be good at and understand physics, then study physics. Although life does get in the way (getting married, taking a job that may not have been your dream job), you will still have opportunities to study. Many people self study. You will have a degree in Physics from a top university, you've already been giving advice to people on this site. I think you will have no problem studying and learning from any physics textbooks of your choosing. Study on your days off, or during downtime at work even.

Not to mention I'm sure there have been many PhD receivers that postponed formal education to work or to study on their own. If it is what you love and what you are passionate about, then think of ways to hold on to it. Study with textbooks on your own until you have an opportunity down the road for you to have enough time to enroll in graduate school.

 

[Astrum]

I have a feeling that came across wrong. But seriously, TS is about to graduate from one of the best universities in his country with a Physics degree but hasn't learned anything about Physics? And will be too busy having sex and drinking to go to/study in grad school?

Ha, yeah, that came across wrong. Don't worry, I eye-rolled too. Reminds me of a scene from MacBeth!

Macbeth: What three things does drink especially provoke?
Porter: Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance; therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it Mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
MacBeth: I believe drink gave thee the lie last night.

 

[TheKracken]

Maybe you should go buy a textbook, and start studying. I am not sure how having sex and drinking have anything to do with it. Are you saying you are going to be too busy because of that...I really don't like your post at all.

 

[darksilence]

Thanks for replies, sex or drinking wasn't the real point anyway. They were elements in the set defined as "responsilities and distractions".

Problem consists of two phases; i do really love what physics about (at least as far as i know about it) although i am not sure if i have what it takes and this feels like biggest loss in my life, secondly i carry guilty of easily spent free time of years and still dreaming of possibility of recovering at least some of it.

My problem doesn't include following things; earning my life with my mastery of physics, or being a genius physicist like Gauss etc.

Just i feel like i am living an incomplete life as long as i can't fully understand it. it is more philo-psychological problem than a practical one. In a way i guess it is misery of a failed physicist.

 

[R136a1]

Thanks for replies, sex or drinking wasn't the real point anyway. They were elements in the set defined as "responsilities and distractions".

Problem consists of two phases; i do really love what physics about (at least as far as i know about it) although i am not sure if i have what it takes and this feels like biggest loss in my life, secondly i carry guilty of easily spent free time of years and still dreaming of possibility of recovering at least some of it.

My problem doesn't include following things; earning my life with my mastery of physics, or being a genius physicist like Gauss etc.

Just i feel like i am living an incomplete life as long as i can't fully understand it. it is more philo-psychological problem than a practical one. In a way i guess it is misery of a failed physicist.

So, you just want to know physics because you're interested in it, and not necessarily because of some job and grad school? My issue now is that you already studied physics. For some reason, you did not retain much from these classes. Can you identify why? It would be useless for you to study textbooks and some physics if you'll just forget it.