What Electives Do Physics Students Usually Take?

[Howers]

Just curious, what do physicists usually take on top of the regular course work?

Myself, being enrolled in chemical physics have the following time table this year:

Organic Chemistry I & II
Advanced Calculus w/ Vector Analysis
Waves and Oscillations, then Electrodynamics
Physical Chemistry (aka Thermodynamics then Quantum Chemistry)
Abstract Math then Linear Algebra II

...

So I know most physics do the 2 maths and 2 physics, but what electives do you usually do?

I was thinking of taking a bird course next year... because this is pretty hard. Do grad schools care that u take 1-2 bird courses per yr?

 

[Andy Resnick]

What's a 'bird course'?

When I look at applicants to our program, in general I don't care about the overwhelming majority of courses because everyone takes them- and that includes many of the elective classes. If there's an obvious oddball, I'll ask why they took it- that includes non-physics oddball classes. I also always ask what their least favorite class was, why it was their least favorite, and what they would do differently to prevent that situation for reoccuring.

 

[Howers]

Bird course: a course you can fly by with no effort, ie. a easy filler course.

What I mean is I want to do say 3-4 real physics classes and have an extra I don't really have to study for. I can't handle doing 3+ sciences anymore, so I'm wondering if filling them in with off topic courses would affect grad status.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Oh. Ok.

Well, personally, it makes no difference to me when interviewing candidates. OTOH, if the off-topic courses are structured in a coherent way that reflects an underlying interest in a particular field of study, that's potentially interesting and useful because it shows that the applicant has curiosity as well as focus.

 

[mace2]

I am completing my second year..

This semester:
Linear Algebra
E&M
Mechanics & SR
Quantum
Astronomy

and 4 labs to go along. It's tiring!