Switching majors from Nuclear Engineering to Physics

[Monocles]

I'm going to be switching majors from Nuclear Engineering to Physics soon, because I think I really am a Physics guy at heart, but I planned on doing grad school anyways so I could switch over to Nuclear Engineering there if I really wanted to (I've heard that the reverse is harder). Right now I'm looking at my schedule, and there are no Optics classes required, and I'm currently not planning on taking any. Is this a mistake? If I study Physics in grad school will they expect that I have knowledge of Optics? My main reason for wondering this is that there are 6 undergrad Optics classes offered, just none are required.

If so, which Optics classes should I take? The ones offered are:

Geometrical Optics
Geometrical Optics Lab
Modern Optics
Modern Optics Lab
Optical Design
Laser Theory & Application

 

[sx70]

I don't think most places expect more optics than you get in your introductory (freshman and sophmore level) courses. That being said there are certain concepts in optics that you'll see in other forms in QM. The reinforcement never hurts. That stuff is all in the modern optics courses (I would guess modern is code for anything discovered after Fresnel). If you're not sure what you'll do graduate work in it is worth noting that there are optical experimental techniques used in atomic and molecular physics, plasma physics and condensed matter physics, so having some of these courses under your belt can save you having to take the courses when you're actually in grad school and trying to get a bunch of other requirements out of the way.

 

[Monocles]

Ah, OK, I didn't know about what sorts of applications Optics even had. I'll consider taking Modern Optics in that case. Thanks :)