SFU Honors Physics vs uAlberta Physics Major

[ingrammatical]

Hi PhysicsForums,
I just finished my second year at a Canadian community college (Langara) with a 3.8/4.33 gpa for the year and am currently weighing my options for universities. The universities I'm considering are uAlberta, SFU, and uVic. As I understand, the physics programs at these universities are ranked uAlberta > SFU > uVic. However, I did rather badly in my first year at the CC, and because of this, I am ineligible for the Honors Physics program at uAlberta.

My question is which path would be better to actualize my grad-school intentions, attending honors physics at SFU or the general degree program at uAlberta?

 

[theBin]

Hi PhysicsForums,
I just finished my second year at a Canadian community college (Langara) with a 3.8/4.33 gpa for the year and am currently weighing my options for universities. The universities I'm considering are uAlberta, SFU, and uVic. As I understand, the physics programs at these universities are ranked uAlberta > SFU > uVic. However, I did rather badly in my first year at the CC, and because of this, I am ineligible for the Honors Physics program at uAlberta.

My question is which path would be better to actualize my grad-school intentions, attending honors physics at SFU or the general degree program at uAlberta?

I suggest you to do the proper self preparation and the prerequisite courses, maybe at UA ( www.athabascau.ca) in order to start a degree specialized in physics because opportunities of career as teacher in Canada.

 

[ingrammatical]

I suggest you to do the proper self preparation and the prerequisite courses, maybe at UA ( www.athabascau.ca) in order to start a degree specialized in physics because opportunities of career as teacher in Canada.

Is this your way of saying I have no chance of grad school admission? Because transfer credit is not the problem. Langara transfers just fine to major universities in BC (see bctransferguide.ca).

To reiterate, my question is whether it would be more advantageous for me to do the honors program at a smaller school (SFU) or the non-honors at a larger university and try to get research experience outside of the undergraduate thesis.

 

[theBin]

Is this your way of saying I have no chance of grad school admission? Because transfer credit is not the problem. Langara transfers just fine to major universities in BC (see bctransferguide.ca).

To reiterate, my question is whether it would be more advantageous for me to do the honors program at a smaller school (SFU) or the non-honors at a larger university and try to get research experience outside of the undergraduate thesis.

Cambridge dictionary defines "graduate school" as "a college or a college department where students who already have a first degree are taught". I think that, by "a first degree", they meant a first bachelor degree. Thus with a completed & succeeded college diploma in sciences, no honest university will consider a demand of admission in a post-bachelor (also known as graduate studies) program. ________________________________________ I assume that by "research experience outside of the undergraduate thesis" you mean experience: 1) at the laboratory or factory or blasting/explosin site of an employer; 2) in student's training course at the work place. Both have as much value as a thesis, at the condition that an engineer (in physics or in mechanics or in electricity) supervise you and assigns some readings to do in a professional handbook/reference-book. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It is better to do a specialized, or a honors in physics B.Sc. for whoever plans to work several decades in the research in physics. The master in physics is required to open your own laboratory or investigation agency. The Ph.D. is required for teaching, supervising persons preparing a thesis, and writting a university textbook _the inescapable functions of a university professor_. Go to SFU where you will succeed and be much appreciated.

 

[ingrammatical]

I've also gotten an acceptance from UBC now, but I can't attend honors there either :(
I need to decide by june 1st, can someone who's not a bot help me with this decision.

 

[Vanadium 50]

can someone who's not a bot help me with this decision

Do you think ingratitude will motivate people to reply?

 

[ingrammatical]

Sorry vanadium, but theBin's posts didn't really strike me as indicative that he had really read more than the title

I suggest you to do the proper self preparation and the prerequisite courses, maybe at UA ( www.athabascau.ca) in order to start a degree specialized in physics because opportunities of career as teacher in Canada.

nor this

Cambridge dictionary defines "graduate school" as "a college or a college department where students who already have a first degree are taught". .

TheBin's posts on other threads are similarly unhelpful

 

[Vanadium 50]

So your position is that your ingratitude is fully justified? Do you think that will motivate people to reply?

 

[StatGuy2000]

To the OP:

I'm not that familiar with the honours program system at U Alberta or UBC (my alma mater is U of T, which has a different system related to honours programs), but my understanding is that whether you quality depends on one's grades in their first year (roughly equivalent to classes you've taken at community college).

If I were you, I would suggest you attend the honours program at SFU, which is an excellent school. However, before you decide I would suggest that you ask the registrar or other people at U Alberta and UBC to see if it is possible to transfer from a general program to an honours program (in some schools, this would be possible contingent on the grades you earn while in the general program).

 

[ingrammatical]

To the OP:

I'm not that familiar with the honours program system at U Alberta or UBC (my alma mater is U of T, which has a different system related to honours programs), but my understanding is that whether you quality depends on one's grades in their first year (roughly equivalent to classes you've taken at community college).

If I were you, I would suggest you attend the honours program at SFU, which is an excellent school. However, before you decide I would suggest that you ask the registrar or other people at U Alberta and UBC to see if it is possible to transfer from a general program to an honours program (in some schools, this would be possible contingent on the grades you earn while in the general program).

Thanks for the reply statguy,

I already talked to the UBC physics dept, they said that I "can try to appeal to Science Information Centre at the end of your 2nd year at UBC [but] there is no guarantee." The impression I got from my response is that even if I make good grades there are no promises - which is a bit iffy for my liking. I'm still waiting on a response from uAlberta about the same question.

Honestly though, your response makes me feel a lot better about attending sfu. Several of my friends are going there for engineering, but I was a little worried about the quality of the physics program since it's a lesser known school.