What % of Physics students ultimately learn quantum field theory?

[Simfish]

It's not a requirement at my school's Physics PhD program (it's a graduate-level pass/fail course), so I'm curious as to whether or not other schools have the requirement, and how many students ultimately opt to take it.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Undergrads? Probably a very small fraction, except in the most superficial way. I can teach undergrads to manipulate Feynman diagrams, but to really understand what's going on takes substantially more time and effort.

PhD's? To first order, all of them.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

PhD's? To first order, all of them.

I wonder could you say the same for graduate GR?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Almost certainly not. QFT is used in many subfields, unlike GR.

 

[mal4mac]

It wasn't an option in the (UK) course I took - I was forced to study medical, solid state, and nuclear for advanced options (yawn). In my astronomy MSc I had to demand to do a cosmology project - to learn some GR. If you want your course to get you to the frontiers of knowledge, check out the options very carefully before you apply! Modern capitalist society wants most physicists to take courses that will generate immediate returns in industry, not those that pique your interest most... Be careful even if there seems a wide choice on paper. I read an article that Cambridge were limiting the numbers who could choose the "sexy" options. So be careful even if the options are there on paper...