FAQs

So much! Of course, there are the obvious things like becoming a physics teacher or going to graduate school. But let's talk about the options that are less obvious. The question here really is - what are the strengths of a physics education? We think the three most valuable assets of a physics education are:

1. A deep understanding of the meaning and applications of mathematics: Math skills roughly equate to money. Students of disciplines with more mathematical training earn more, on average, over their careers than do student from less mathematical disciplines (e.g. see this US News and World Report article on this topic). Physics is the prime example of applied mathematics and will open an incredibly wide variety of opportunities with good salaries.
2. The ability to model the world: Companies like Boeing and institutions like NASA hire physicists to design communication systems and rockets. Engineering firms in The Netherlands hire physicists to model tidal flows around cities when designing dikes and dams. Financial institutions often hire physicists to help with market forecasting. Modeling is, in essence, a way of predicting the future using data and theoretical rules. The ability to see the future, even in a probabilistic sense, is an incredible power that will open many doors for you.
3. Hands-on experience with tools and equipment: Put simply, companies want to hire competent people with practical smarts as well as book smarts. Our physics program has multiple applied and laboratory courses that will require you to understand and use a range of measurement systems that build physical intuition.

Here are three good reasons you should consider joining us.

1. Small class size: Your upper-division physics courses will likely have about 10 students in them. This is a really optimal number because it gives you a good sized group of people to study with and yet is small enough that you can get personalized attention from your professors.
2. Balanced curriculum: Our philosophy of education is built around providing you with a good balance of theoretical courses where you will learn advanced mathematical methods to model systems, and applied courses where you will learn to work with your hands and understand real-world devices.
3. The people: Happiness is often strongly influenced by the people in your circles. We have a great group of students with diverse interests, and the faculty of the Physics Department are extremely dedicated to teaching and are here to help you achieve your goals.

Physics is indeed a challenging subject, but one that has hidden within it great mystery and beauty that is worth the effort.

The first thing to realize is that physics is not easy for anyone and that success in physics requires perseverance and grit. All previous students, which includes all professors, have struggled with physics. Your professors aspire to be lifelong students by conducting novel research where we continue continue to struggle with physics, so we get the student experience!

The second thing to realize is that struggle is an essential experience of a good education. Therefore, our overarching goal is to share with you what we find mysterious and beautiful, and to help you develop into a capable, insightful, and highly employable person by giving you transformative challenges. We want to see you succeed and are here to support you in your journey.

Success in physics depends on building a strong foundation in your introductory physics and calculus courses. Our advice is to put in a big effort your first year, establish a relationships with your professors by visiting them in office hours and, perhaps most importantly, form study groups with your peers and help build a culture of inquiry, learning, and late night philosophizing about the beauty and mystery of our world.

We have four majors in the Physics Department. Two of these are technical programs. The PHY major is the traditional physics degree program and our PEN major is for those who are more interested in engineering. The other two majors are adolescence education programs for aspiring high school and/or middle school teachers. Our APH major leads to a single-certification in Physics, and our APM major leads to dual-certification in Physics and Mathematics. The Academics tab on the menu has more information about all of this.

We are always thinking about ways to improve our course offerings and aspire to be responsive to changing student interests. For example, we have recently added a set of new courses: PHY 111 (Science and Pseudoscience), PHY 386 (Scientific Programming), PHY 404 (Physics Seminar), PHY 430 (Statistical and Thermal Physics), and PHY 445 (General Relativity), and have discontinued other courses in which there was low interest. Our Physics Seminar course, in particular, is designed to address topics of student interest - it focuses on reading and discussing peer-reviewed, scientific articles on subjects chosen by the students in the class. Some of the topics explored in Physics Seminar include measurements of the expansion of the universe, limits on the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy (SETI), and artificial intelligence. We also occasionally offer a Special Topics (PHY 429) course to meet student interests on topics that fall outside of our regular offerings, such as Nonlinear Dynamics, which will be offered in Fall 2025.

You will be assigned to a faculty member in the Physics Department who will serve as your academic advisor. We meet with each student every semester to track progress, discuss course options, and generally plan for your future, including discussing things like research internships. You can also get a sense of requirements and a sample 4-year course plan (this is a rough guide, your course sequence will depend on many details, which is why we have advising sessions) on the program info page for each of our majors: PHY, PEN, APH, and APM.

Whether or not we grant credit depends on your score, and we ask to have a conversation with you to discuss the pros and cons. Our advice is to generally caution students against bringing in AP credit for physics (and calculus) classes. Look at it this way: if you don't take the AP credit, the worst that will happen is that you might find our intro physics course (PHY 201) to be easy, though you might also be pleasantly surprised to find that college physics is somewhat more challenging than high school physics. There is also a good reason why you should take our PHY 201 course, even if you could get credit for it. Importantly, this is the course where you will make connections with your fellow physics majors and start to build your support network that will carry you through your time here.

You will need to work with our Advisement and Transition Office, who will ask you you to send official transcripts.

You must apply to and be admitted to an engineering program, just like any other student. That being said, we are not aware of any of our former students who were denied a spot at an engineering school. Be aware that admission requirements vary from school to school. Some institutions, like SUNY Stony Brook, have relatively high GPA requirements. You will want to plan ahead and keep this in mind as you study here.