MSc in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces at Imperial College London

[mal4mac]

It would be a path taking you away from your goal. Like trying to become a master of cricket by taking baseball classes. You need to get onto a course like QFFF to have any chance of doing research in QFFF. Read the description of required qualifications to get onto such a course *carefully*. You may find an MSc that would 'convert' you from an electrical engineer to a QFFF specialist. But IMHO it would be a waste of time taking the MSc you mention. Far better to start 'almost from scratch' and do sufficient undergraduate courses/indeopendent strudy to get you onto a QFFF course.

Note the MSc you mention might get you into areas like, say, modelling plasma flows that require only the physics an EE is likely to have been picked up. That's theoretical physics, so if you want to do that then your path might work out. But i get the idea you want to do QFT, and to do that you ..er.. need qualifications in QFT. Then again, you might after ten years get tenure as a 'theoretical electrical engineer' in a physics department and make a sly move into QFT. But that would probably destroy promotion prospects... it would be like a famous baseball player joining a minor league cricket team 'just because he can'.

 

[getPhysical()]

Got an email from Imperial on Friday. I've been accepted to the course, starting in October. Very happy - by the sounds of it, it's going to be a challenge!

Is there anybody here who's actually attended this course? Would be interesting to get a veteran opinion on things like quality of teaching, exams, general happiness factor, female-male ratio etc etc

[ tex ] \frac{f}{m} \to\epsilon \iff g \to\infty [ /tex ]

,where g is the geek factor

?

 

[Azrael84]

I got in, but have no way of funding it, as I believe there were only 3 scholarships from the student opportunites fund, and I didnt get one. How are you all paying for it?

 

[getPhysical()]

I'm doing it part time - working 3 days a week to pay for the fees. Are you home/EU or overseas?

 

[Azrael84]

Im home. Will you be able to live on just 3 days a week of work though? and wont it take ages to complete the course?

 

[getPhysical()]

3 days a week should be manageable. The course takes 2 years part time, so that's manageable too.

 

[Azrael84]

2 years, not so bad I suppose. Personally I don't know how I'd survive on 3 days~£150 a week maybe? so £600 a month (unless I landed a really good part time job). Living in London, where the rent will be more than that alone. Plus having to pay the fees.

Guessing you must have landed a pretty good part time job!

 

[mal4mac]

2 years, not so bad I suppose. Personally I don't know how I'd survive on 3 days~£150 a week maybe? so £600 a month (unless I landed a really good part time job). Living in London, where the rent will be more than that alone. Plus having to pay the fees.

These are good points. Why not take a year out, do a PGCE, and become a part-time physics teacher? Also, when you fail to get a professional career as a string theorist*, you will then also have a respectable career to fall back on...

*OK, you might succeed, but better to cover all bases, especially the most probable ones!

 

[manstein057]

I've posted this somewhere else recently, hopefully I'm not breaching any rules by pasting it here.

Hi all ,
I recently finished the MSc in QFFF part-time while working full-time in investment banking. My background is a BSc math degree from Imperial.
I spent most of my time self-studying and took vacations for the exams. I went to almost no lectures at all and I wish I had because I would have enjoyed this degree a lot more.
Most rewarding aspect was the thesis which has some remarks I have not been able to find in the literature.
My interest in physics is not related to my field of business in investment banking and I only took this degree for personal intellectual satisfaction. I wouldn't do a PhD in theoretical physics. This degree has, however, increased the range of tools I normally use (mathematical methods etc...)
I can't say how it compares to Part III. I went to a few lectures in Cambridge when I visited a friend and it seems to me that the level of difficulty is comparable. However, there is a lot more to choose from at Cambridge whereas there's a more limited range of courses at Imperial. I believe this was Imperial's Theory Group response to Part III as most lecturers at Imperial are Cambridge educated.
Hope this helps.