MPhys Degree in UK for US Grad School: Advice Needed

[spacetimedude]

Hello guys,

I am currently studying at a university in the UK en route to a MPhys degree (currently 3rd year). I was wondering if anyone has any information regarding if it is worth doing additional year for a MPhys degree in the UK if I am going to apply to the US for graduate school (I am an international student, not from either US or UK so it is much easier for me to get funding for graduate school in the US)?
Do universities in the US care that I took graduate level courses in my final year despite the fact that I will probably take them again when I enter graduate school?

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DEvens]

You should contact the universities you are considering applying to and find out what they think. Google is your friend. Find the admissions or guidance department for the schools you will apply to. Ask them what their admissions requirements are for the degree you intend to apply to. Ask them what other possible things you could do to increase your chance of admission, and your chance of success in the degree.

Also, regarding funding: Ask them what scholarships you should apply for. Many scholarships will not consider you unless you apply to them.

 

[artfullounger]

Most places will give you some kind of diagnostic exam (I think either a reduced version of the qualifying exam or the actual qualifying exam) to see where you stand and then you work with your advisor to select courses appropriately. Certainly I think most physics grad departments have a small enough cohort that you won't just get lost in a mass of postgrads and told to do exactly those x courses if you've already done them before.

More generally you should do the MPhys rather than BSc because a) if you end up deciding to stay in the UK for postgrad, you can go directly into most PhDs assuming you have appropriate marks and b) the 4th year dissertation/project/thesis/whatever you end up doing will be good research experience, both for your application and to gauge whether you are ready/cut out for academia.

It also gives you a slightly more flexible year to explore different areas you may want to do grad work in.

 

[spacetimedude]

Thank you for the replies. I really appreciate it.