Should I Major in Physics Without Prior Experience?

[Carnivroar]

I would do physics if you really want to know how the world works, if you look at a cloud and wonder why its white or if you really want to understand electricity or magnetism. I would only do physics if you really like it. And I learned the hard way the difference between math and physics.

What do you mean?

 

[vhbelvadi]

Any more than 5 years would be a bit too much don't you think?

The average time taken to graduate is around 6 years in the US.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't three years the average graduation time outside the US? And that would make five years a bit too much as Carnivroar puts it.

 

[Carnivroar]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't three years the average graduation time outside the US? And that would make five years a bit too much as Carnivroar puts it.

Probably because they don't have to take all these stupid liberal arts courses we have to here in the states. My first 2 years were nothing but that.

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Also, I decided to go for comp sci + physics. I registered for the calc-based physics. A math major would eventually get too theoretical and that's not exactly what I want. Thanks for all the answers, I'm glad I came here.

 

[vhbelvadi]

I think I'm losing it... when you say graduation, you mean either a masters degree or a doctoral one? In the US you directly go from a Bachelor's degree to pursue a PhD then, I suppose; or do you have to compulsorily get a Masters degree first?

 

[Ryker]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't three years the average graduation time outside the US?

No, it's not.

 

[vhbelvadi]

OK, I get it.
Outside the US, things are a little different: there's a Bachelor's degree and a compulsory Masters degree before you start your doctoral studies. Those last two degrees are, on an average three years each, making it a whole of six years.
So @Carnivroar, you're not spending too much time after all!
@Pengwuino, I stand corrected.

 

[micromass]

No, it's not.

For a bachelor, certainly yes. I got my bachelor in 3 years and my masters in 2 more years.

 

[vhbelvadi]

For a bachelor, certainly yes. I got my bachelor in 3 years and my masters in 2 more years.

Yes, that's quite what I meant. A BSc, an MSc and a PhD in a country like, say the UK, is 3, 2 and 3 years respectively. I was referring to each of them separately.

 

[Ryker]

For a bachelor, certainly yes. I got my bachelor in 3 years and my masters in 2 more years.

Yeah, but that's far from saying the average graduation time is three years, though. In a lot of countries undergraduate studies used to or still take four years, and even then students in average don't actually graduate in three or four years. For example, back home the average graduation time is about six years, even though prior to the Bologna change, students were supposed to graduate in four (plus one) years. So since there's invariably going to be more students that take longer than the prescribed time to graduate than those that take less, there's just no way you can get that average graduation time down to three years, even if all systems implemented the three-year undergraduate degree.

 

[vhbelvadi]

I think so long as you do something worthwhile all those years, it really doesn't matter how long you take to graduate! Not that it should cross ten years or anything ;-)

 

[Carnivroar]

I think that most people don't do double majors and still graduate in 4-5 years. And many of them switch majors and end up having wasted a lot of time.

I'm going for a double major and double minor. 5 years is actually little considering the amount of work I'm doing. But I'm also going to have to take classes every summer.

And if it takes another year to make my physics B.A into a B.S I'll go for it also.

 

[cragar]

What do you mean?

I just thought since I was good at calculus I would be good at physics. But it was a big wake up call for me. But not to scare you or anything physics is really fun and interesting and you take away a lot of good stuff from it.

 

[Fizex]

If you're planning to go to physics graduate school then you really need to spend summers doing REU's

 

[Carnivroar]

I just thought since I was good at calculus I would be good at physics. But it was a big wake up call for me. But not to scare you or anything physics is really fun and interesting and you take away a lot of good stuff from it.

Ah, I see. I got an A in calc 1, but I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Carnivroar]

If you're planning to go to physics graduate school then you really need to spend summers doing REU's

If I go to graduate school it will be for engineering, not physics. I hope a physics B.A will be sufficient to get me in, along with a comp sci B.S.

 

[Ryker]

Wait, so why aren't you going to study engineering then?

 

[Fizex]

Best preparation for engineering graduate school is an engineering degree. Physics -> EE might be easier than the other engineering disciplines.

 

[Carnivroar]

Wait, so why aren't you going to study engineering then?

There is no engineering at my school. I go to a public liberal arts college. Besides, engineering is just an option I'd like to keep open.

 

[Carnivroar]

Is this schedule too heavy for next semester?

Calculus 2
Calculus 2 lab
Programming 2
Itroductory physics 1
Elementary Discrete Structures & Applications to Computer Science

18 credits

 

[HeLiXe]

I did calc 2 and programming at the same time and there was no problem. I just dropped my Physics w calc I because I did not have enough time to teach myself, but I will take it again in the fall. Never had the fourth class. It looks like you would have to spend a LOT of time studying and doing homework/ writing up labs.

 

[Carnivroar]

I did calc 2 and programming at the same time and there was no problem. I just dropped my Physics w calc I because I did not have enough time to teach myself, but I will take it again in the fall. Never had the fourth class. It looks like you would have to spend a LOT of time studying and doing homework/ writing up labs.

I heard that the last class (Elementary...) is very easy so I'm not worrying about it.

"Writing up labs" -- for which class do you mean? Calc 2 lab should be very very easy, I hardly did anything for my Calc 1 lab and I got an A-. We just mess around with the Maple software.

 

[HeLiXe]

oh ok..yes I was thinking the calc II lab and physics labs. In my programming class we also had labs, but that consisted of making programs, nothing like writing up a lab report lol. It took me 1-4 hours for the programs depending on the complexity, although I did spend 8 hours on a program once because of the flowcharts, external design, and other stuff that was associated with the program. I have differential equations this semester and am using Maplesoft as well--lots of fun although I wonder if other software is better for what we're doing... like CAD, etc. I have no clue!