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/sci/ - Science & Math

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1814297

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:25:55 2010 No.1814297 [Reply] [Original]

prepare anus for tl;dr...

Sup /sci/, oldfag here (25 years old). I play/teach music for a living, dropped out of college when I was 20, but I'm starting to think about going to school for either mathematics or physics (basically because science is god-tier). I have pretty much no life and only work like 25 hours a week, so would be trivial for me to spend like 4-5 hours a day on this project.

So this is my the general outline of my plan:

1)Relearn basic trigonometry and calculus from textbook while simultaneously taking first year college physics open course (mechanics and e/m). (first 8-12 months)
2)Proceed to multivariable calculus and linear algebra, along with more rigorous second-year physics courses (next 8-12 months)
3)Decide whether I like physics or pure math better. pursue more advanced courses/textbooks in either (12-20 months)
4)take either physics or math GRE, hopefully get and apply straight to a graduate program (obviously not top-level, but maybe 2nd or 3rd tier graduate program), and see if I could be accepted.

I wanted to ask if anyone could recommend good starting textbooks, or comment on the feasibility of the plan I have devised, or suggest a better order to do things. Thanks, /sci/.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:26:55 2010 No.1814307 You're too old for grad school in either discipline. Sorry, but brain power peaks at 26.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:27:55 2010 No.1814316 Oldfag? Pfft, I've seen older claims. Afraid I can't make any suggestions for textbooks, brah'.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:29:55 2010 No.1814325 >>1814307 0/10. OP, you NEED Spivak for Calculus. I always recommend it for people who have been out of the game and REALLY want to learn, not just pass a course.

>>

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:34:55 2010 No.1814355

>>1814307
>brain power peaks at 26.

I agree, but my brain power was pretty high to begin with. I scored 1580 on the old SAT, and (I think) 800 on the math and physics subject tests. Even if my brain has degraded to, say, a 1300 or 1400 by age 28, it still means I could get into a middish-tier graduate program, and possibly live out my life as a humble low-tier researcher or professor. That's all I have in mind.

>>1814325

Alright, I will add find a Spivak torrent and begin that for first year.

>>

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:35:55 2010 No.1814362

>>1814307
You mean brain speed, and it peaks at 27. You still get smarter, you brain just doesn't keep accelerating the speed at which it works, and eventually will start a long, SLOW, decline in speed. You will still be getting smarter over all for a good long time though, and wiser as well.

>>

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:36:55 2010 No.1814368
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KA Stoud 6th edition for textbook

click picture,download all lectures,watch lectures,work through textbook

MIT Open courseware
berkeley webcast
stanford on youtube
yale on youtube
rest are on torrentz.com (try not to download TTC lectures) from pirate bay. that is all

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:38:55 2010 No.1814386 Don't forget to brush up on ALL elementary math at Khan Academy. Math is not like a bicycle.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:38:55 2010 No.1814388 File: 1.37 MB, 300x200, 1284025474082.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>1814297 >take either physics or math GRE, hopefully get and apply straight to a graduate program No program will accept you without an undergrad degree.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:40:55 2010 No.1814402 >>1814388 I'm hoping that if I manage to score in the 90th percentile on the GRE and meet personally with the faculty at the institution they will make an exception. It's not unheard of.

>>

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:41:55 2010 No.1814413
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1. If you think you can blow through some of these courses, try surveying them instead of full enrollment. This way you can get a good overview of whats expected or has changed since you went to college last, and not have to worry about attendance / homework etc.

2. If the college you go to is more up to date on technology, fuck textbooks. I'm taking some pre-reqs right now at a community college (an underfunded one at that), and basically everything you need is put up by either the teacher on the school site, or is fairly easy to find online using various tools.

3. Alright bad news time. Unless you BLOW PEOPLE THE FUCK AWAY with your performance / knowledge pre-grad, it's going to be hard as hell getting into grad programs.
Yeah academia sucks balls, its getting better, but very very slowly, particularly in the hard sciences.

Anyway it goes, good luck man! Everybody should be looking to improve themselves, and knowledge is power.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:42:55 2010 No.1814420 >>1814386 It kind of is though.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:43:55 2010 No.1814427 >>1814413 True on the 3rd point. Looking past the numbers and at the candidate is something the hard sciences are NOT good at. It's a lot safer to take someone with a high GPA from a decent institution, provided they have some decent rec letters.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:44:55 2010 No.1814431 >>1814368 why shouldnt i download TTC lectures from the pirate bay?

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:44:55 2010 No.1814432 >>1814420 I think that's true for some, but others might be very rusty. Better to play it safe.

>>

Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:48:55 2010 No.1814464
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>>1814402
No, it is unheard of.
It is possible for someone with an undergrad degree, to take years off and the go to grad school later in life.

It is IMPOSSIBLE for someone with absolutly no undergrad degree to get into a grad physics or math program. You have absolutly no qualifictaions at all. Even if you do perfect on the GRE, you must relize that there are tons of students who take that shit, and do perfect (or near perfect), and they have undergrad degrees.

If you meet with a professor, they are just gonna tell you to get a undegrad degree. LMAO.

Unless you someone come up with some brillant orginal research on your own, you are shit out of luck, and grad programs wont even look at you.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:49:55 2010 No.1814466 Dear Sisyphus, "The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart." Love, Albert Camus (Regardless of what happens, keep that quote in your heart, and never forget that we are here for you. Always.)

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:51:55 2010 No.1814480 >>1814464 Then I suggest OP go get an undergrad degree. I've seen older souls come to class for the first time. Much older.

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:53:55 2010 No.1814495 File: 9 KB, 198x237, 888.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] > 25 years olds > no degrees > wants to go directly to grad school HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA I see there is another joker in this thread You need to get an undergrad first

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:56:55 2010 No.1814519 >>1814495 He knows. No need to pour it on him. Three cheers for a future /sci/entist! HIP HIP HIPPOCRATES!

>>	Anonymous Mon Sep 27 23:58:55 2010 No.1814534 Just get in school OP, it's not so bad. I'm 26 and only in my third semester.. Hopefully have a proper career by the time I'm 30 LOL.

>>

Anonymous Tue Sep 28 00:01:55 2010 No.1814549
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>>1814297
It is gonna require a whole lotta work on your part to even be considered for a grad program without an udergrad. YOu would have to be somekinda fukcing prodigy.

It could be done though, with enough effort. However that fact that you are 25, with no degree, kinda proves you are a fukcing slacker. I dont think you will make it OP.

Sorry.

>>	Anonymous Tue Sep 28 00:01:55 2010 No.1814552 >>1814431 since you are american they will completely fuck you on copywrite grounds,prepare anus for corporate insertion if you do.

>>

Anonymous Tue Sep 28 00:29:55 2010 No.1814721

'Sup, OP here.

I suppose the necessity of having an undergraduate degree would extend my plan by 24-36 months, but I don't think I'm going to change the gist of the plan if I end up following through with it. I would simply enter the cheapest college I could find at around month 24 of the plan, then attempt to efficiently stack courses on top of each other to finish an undergraduate degree in two years. Given that I would basically be taking courses in material I had already learned, it would be fairly straightforward to take a large number of courses, then finish with a GPA between 3.5 and 4.

>Even if you do perfect on the GRE, you must realize that there are tons of students who take that shit, and do perfect (or near perfect), and they have undergrad degrees.

I dunno man, these are the statistics I am looking at:

It says here* that in 2008 36.8% of all applicants to science graduate programs were accepted. I bet that for the top quarter of the GRE physics or math subject exams, the entrance rate is closer to 70 or 80%. I feel like if I were able (obviously this is all contingent on this ability) to score in that upper percentile bracket on the individual subject GRE, then on top of that apply to a lower tier school than I "should" have been applying to based on my score, it could be a possibility.

*http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/R_ED2008.pdf