Is Complex Analysis a must for grad school applications?

[chahmquahk]

Is taking complex analysis before graduate school apps a "make-or-break" deal if one is looking to apply for theory? I am currently deciding whether to take it junior spring or defer it to senior spring. As it has come up in my research, I have studied some of it, but I'm wondering if it must be on the transcript in order to show one is serious about doing theoretical physics. I would be taking a class on either topology or Galois theory instead.

 

[radium]

You don't have to take a class on it in the math department, but you should know it. I learned it in a graduate class on mathematics used in physics (I'm a theorist). The way it is taught by mathematicians is very different than the way physicists use it.