/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.6674889]

Physics undergrad students or those who've finished undergrad Physics,

As a freshman who just completed his first two introductory Physics w/ Calc. classes (Mechanics, E+M) with high marks and a strong interest in the subject, I was wondering exactly how quickly the pace of work is going to increase in these upcoming 3 years. Obviously, the material gets considerably harder and the problems only more intricate, but is success in these two intro. courses any indicator of aptitude for the subject of Physics? I ask because I have diverse academic interests and am even planning on double majoring in Mathematics, but I simply don't know for which subject I have the most aptitude. Will there ever be a time I still try my best and am absolutely swamped with work to a point of late-night frustrations and stress? How much "work" did you have to put in and is it comparable to the amount you put into Physics 1 and 2?

Thanks /sci/

(Pic unrelated; I don't even really like the guy)

[Anonymous No.6674890]

>>6674889

this depends on your uni

[Anonymous No.6674894]

>>6674890
Can you elaborate? I go to a top 20 public school with a predominantly respected undergrad Engineering program.

[Anonymous No.6674900]

>>6674894
>>6674890

To be more clear, the Engineers have to take these same introductory Physics courses, along with Maths students and a few other students. It's actually in their curriculum.

[Anonymous No.6674901]

Don't double major OP. If you really can't make up your mind just minor in one or the other. You're better off mastering one instead of being a jack of all trades.

[Anonymous No.6674906]

>>6674901
The more I hear about this the truer it seems to ring, for some reason. what about double majoring in something more hobby or interest-based, like History or Economics? It wouldn't be considerably more work and I'm sure it would help me out for graduate school, right?

Also, since Physics is very obviously mathematically-oriented, why wouldn't a double major help in the long term?

[Anonymous No.6674915]

>>6674906

A double major will never hurt; however, the short of it is, is that grad schools don't give a shit if you double majored. They want to see Grades, Recs, and Research/Research Poetential. Don't put to much work load on yourself for less reward.

If you want to go directly into industry after undergrad than major in something practical along with math or physics.


I.E Double Major in Math & Finance

Trust me on this...You won't regret it. Just pick the one you're more passionate about. I was always passionate about math from the start; however, I know many who couldn't decide. Just make a choice. You won't regret it.

[Anonymous No.6674918]

>>6674906
You really don't want to have a work overload. This causes you to really have to focus on both courses at the same time. A better way would be to get a minor in one of your subjects. As >>6674901 says it's better to be a master in one major but it really all depends on your work ethics, capabilities, and intellect. Try deciding again after the second year and see if it helps.

[Anonymous No.6674939]

>>6674901
I doubled in physics and engineering as an undergrad.

It was fun.

[Anonymous No.6674942]

>>6674915
>>6674918
> is that grad schools don't give a shit if you double majored. They want to see Grades, Recs, and Research/Research Poetential

I understand completely. However, my concern with double majoring is more of whether it will help me intellectually with graduate school, not so much admissions. Thanks for the advice.

Yet, that brings me to my next point: how good of an indicator would you all say that good performance in intro. physics and maths classes is for subsequent classes? Like I mentioned before, I'm having more of a "choice-crisis" in determining my major and later graduate path, and my interests go everywhere from Physics to History and in between. Frankly, it's hard to say that I know Physics is definitely my subject of choice and that I have the most aptitude for it among my interests. For some reason I don't feel as if I have the maturity to decide which subject I want to pursue.

[Anonymous No.6674949]

>>6674942

If you're doing well now you will probably do well later. It's more about passion than "brains". I know more on the math end than the physics, but course material will get harder, but you should be able to handle it.

Just pick something, and try to stick with it. It feels great when you actually have mastered something.

[Anonymous No.6674955]

>>6674942
Go to an open house or maybe talk with a guidance counselor. I wish I chose to do this at least before I chose my major as I ended up doing 3 different things before ending up on my current one. In terms of graduate school you're completely right about it helping you at that point. But based off your second paragraph it appears you're not truly confident in your career choice. Graduate school is a pretty scary place. >>6674949 is right about it being more of the passion as you need plenty of motivation to get you through that lego paved hell.

[Anonymous No.6674969]

The learning curve in a given class doesn't become steeper, and the word only becomes harder in comparion to shit you did before, in the same way that you thought learning trig, or algebra, or calculus for the first time was hard. There are a few exceptions like statmech or complex analysis. Still, be prepared to hunker down and actually fucking study and do your coursework. None of that namby-pamby "I'll do it 2 hours before the class" horseshit. It's going to suck if you can't apply yourself.

Oh, and be very comfortable with calculus and linear algebra. As comfortable as you are with regular algebra now. Know what that shit means, know how to carry through unit analysis through triple integrals, and learn how to be creative in creating and applying calculus methods. You're going to fucking suffer otherwise.

t. Astrophysics major in his last year of his B.Sc.

[Anonymous No.6675007]

>>6674901
>>6674901
But I double majored in physics and math, and I'm actually 2 Physics classes over what is required for physics degree alone. I covered the entire physics curriculum and will finish the core curriculum for math next semester.

[Anonymous No.6675025]

>>6674900
they say that, but my schools engineering department is a bunch of money grubbing dicks. Very few of my math physics major classes count as engineering creds...

[Anonymous No.6675110]

It depends on the university. At a lot of universities, the first year physics classes are made to be so incredibly difficult that there's a high fail rate, and those who passed had to work their asses off. They do this because the engineering department wants the engineering students to be experts at basic physics. Then in later years, the course material is a lot harder to understand but as long as you work hard you'll do really well.

[Anonymous No.6675117]

>>6675110
>engineering department wants the engineering students to be experts at basic physics.
Isn't having hard introductory classes usually just a way to weed out as many people as possible because only a limited number of people can take the lab at the same time?

[Anonymous No.6675243]

>>6674889
Physics PhD student here at a pretty good university.
Don't do it. Go get yourself a computer science degree with your math degree. Make some money. Learn more useful skills. Be more capable of expressing intellectual creativity. Learn to be a good programmer and the world will respect you. Learn to be a good physicist and you will put yourself on anxiety medication and will be signing up for food stamps.
If you're actually interested, just learn it on the side as a hobby. But don't actually do it.

[Anonymous No.6675266]

>>6675243
fake and nigger

[Anonymous No.6675336]

>>6674889
I mean, classical mechanics such as statics, dynamics, and E&M is pretty straightforward and easy. It all boils down to F=ma. Even the Navier-Stokes equations or the Bernoulli equations boil down to F=ma. But once you hit Modern physics, good luck thinking the exact same thing. I hear that that's the weed-out set of courses for phys majors, and justifiably so, since suddenly you're using those ODE and PDE you learned when you took calc II/diff eq to solve for phys problems. Schrodinger's equation is a PDE, as is the heat equation, as is vibrations, either on a string or on a membrane. And then when you hit the blackbody radiation, particle in a box, the hydrogen atom, you start to ask yourself, when did phys and chemistry combine? They've always been the same apparently, at least at the atomic level. You then pick up on some quantum mechanics, introductory of course, and some other crap that I don't know about.
>tl;dr: you better like physics if you're going to major in it

[Anonymous No.6675341]

>>6675336
and this only refers to Modern Physics I, II, which are the introductory courses to physics majors. The other classes include: Thermo, intermediate classical mechanics I and II, E&M I and II (which is the phys 1 and 2 with calc courses you took, but with calc 3 involved, effectively turning those classes into really difficult classes), quantum mech I and II, and all these classes require a lab.

[Anonymous No.6675347]

I'd say it just gets easier with time, and the rate of aha-moments go down.

[Anonymous No.6675373]

>>6674894
Major in engineering and math. Save physics for graduate school. You'll thank me later.

>>6674901
>You're better off mastering one instead of being a jack of all trades

That statement is completely retarded, you take the same classes as if you didn't double and then some so you're obviously better off. You classes don't magically become more watered down just because you're doing other stuff.

Also, you don't truly master anything at the BS level anyway.

>>6674906
>The more I hear about this the truer it seems to ring, for some reason

Don't listen to him. There is a very tiny sliver of truth in it but it goes more along lines of someone that is unsure whether they can be good at anything tries to double down by using multiple majors to multiply their job options; i.e. someone majoring in finance, film, and geology. When the majors complement each other, they are seen as a good thing. If they aren't then it's usually a situation where one is usually considered the "main major" and the other is seen as a minor that got carried away by their interests. Multiple majors being looked at as "jack of all trades" are fairly rare and you know it when you see it.

>Also, since Physics is very obviously mathematically-oriented, why wouldn't a double major help in the long term?

Yes. You'll find a math major is paradoxically far more important than the physics major once you enter graduate school. I've met a few physics professors who would even go as far as recommending students study math over physics in undergrad.

>>6674918
>You really don't want to have a work overload

When the classes are easy sophomore stuff, you'll probably be find with overloading your schedule a bit. The important thing is keeping your grades up, understanding the material, and eventually getting some research experience in.

[Anonymous No.6675401]

>>6675336
>But once you hit Modern physics, good luck thinking the exact same thing

Quantum physics is just same Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulation of mechanics (equivalent to Newtonian) applied to waves.

>>6675341
Not everyone goes to your university dumb ass.

[Anonymous No.6675413]

>>6675401
>Quantum physics is just same Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulation of mechanics (equivalent to Newtonian) applied to waves.

Someone on /sci/ actually knows what they're talking about? I must be in the twilight zone.