Should I Choose 2.5 Years of Physics or 5 Years of Engineering?

[Spherical Cow]

I was a mechanical engineering major that recently switched into physics. Given my late start, I'll be taking most of the physics curriculum in 2.5 years. Is this enough time to adequately prepare for PhD work? Since I'll be taking quantum my senior year, I probably won't take the GRE until after I finish the class. My physics adviser recommended taking a gap year after undergrad before applying to PhD. But I'm uncomfortable with this idea and would rather stay in school during this time.

Would it be more beneficial for me to just finish mechanical engineering major while still taking the essential physics courses, then co-term in engineering, giving me an additional year to apply for the physics PhD? This is essentially a question of: 5 years of engineering or 2.5 years of physics.

Either way, I will have taken: 1 quarter modern physics, 2 quarters intermediate E&M, 1 quarter intermediate mechanics, 3 quarters quantum mechanics, and 2 quarters statistical mechanics. With the physics major, I would have additional lab courses and electives.

 

[bjnartowt]

I think that whatever you decide to do, you should aim to accomplish the following:

1) get research experience in physics. Get a feel for the issues that arise when you do research, and develop your own style of responding to them.
2) do well on the Physics GRE, which you can do by knowing the contents of any Freshman calc-based physics book (e.g., Walker, et al.) cover to cover by working problems, plus paying attention in your quantum, E & M, stat mechs, and mechanics courses (which presumably use Griffiths). Know optics and relativity cold: this is an area you can stand out amidst most test takers. Also know a few factoids about particle physics (again, at the level of freshman physics, which sometimes talk about particle physics).
3) if possible, get some experience with grading physics papers, or even better teaching physics labs, holding help sessions, or lecturing physics classes. Ask your local physics department if you can help them grade stuff...although, you might not be able to get paid for it right off the bat...
4) take your physics classes and, of course, do well in them. To do well in them, try to figure out your approach to a physics class as early as possible (since the approach to engineering classes is way different than the approach to physics classes). To simulate that, try and imagine what it would be like if you had to do x amount of problems before date y, and practice facing that "scenario", so to speak. Think of having an A- or B+ as a bare-minimum requirement to look good in your PhD application. Even better would be to have all A's, of course...but that's pretty obvious.
5) A less-obvious way to strengthen an application: try to be at the top of your class by a significant amount in anyone's class that you want a letter of recommendation from. Then, go to that prof and say "Can you write on my letter of recommendation that I was at the top of your class?" I'm told that goes a long way.

I hope things transition smoothly away from your conversion from the dark side...err, I mean, engineering, to physics!

 

[Spherical Cow]

I'm applying for spring term courses and will soon be declaring, so I'd like to renew this thread again. I'm not sure if it'd be useful to post my entire four year curriculum, so I'll summarize. If I continue with mechanical engineering, I still plan to take the necessary physics courses to prepare for a physics PhD. But if I switch to physics, I'd have more space in my schedule for physics electives. The benefit of going with mechanical engineering is the option to coterm, which will give me an additional year to prepare for the PhD. If I pursued physics, my adviser said I'd likely be taking a gap year to prepare.

This summer I'm hoping to work on an experimental project in accelerator physics. If my interests are in experimental physics, I'm thinking mechanical engineering might not be that bad of an idea.