Hello, I am inquiring about which degree would be better for me, and also the difference between the two (if I were to do physics as intended).
I am an Australian Year 12 student who’s family is moving to the US next year, and I am looking to begin study in the 2017 Fall term. I am mainly a science & maths centred person, taking physics, chemistry, the highest level maths and the one directly below it (as it is a prerequisite), English literature and Japanese second language.
I lean towards my STEM subjects quite heavily and even have considered studying an engineering degree. My dilemma is that, while I want to learn aspects of engineering I do not want to solely study it. So, I am looking for some information on how each degree differs and a brief summary of how they would be if one wanted to focus on physics.
Thank you in advance for any help!
@Dropbear Hi! I’m also an Australian seeking to study Physics, but I’m a year ahead of you and have applied for Fall 2016 admissions, so I had this exact problem last year. I even took almost the exact same classes as you - I had Economics instead of Japanese and took 2u Maths a year early in yr11.
Okay, as for how to make sure you study a mainly Physics course load with a AB/BSE degree, it really depends on how much physics you want to do and also what type of physics you’re interested in. But first, a disclaimer: If you really want to do physics and nothing but physics, Princeton isn’t the place for you. It’s liberal arts so you have to take humanities and social sciences courses no matter what degree program you’re going for. If you are under BSE, you are required to take a smaller number of these ‘extra’ courses than you would if you were under AB. However, there isn’t any way that you can graduate with a BSE with a concentration in Physics - your concentration will have to be in a field of engineering.
So if you decide to go with BSE, you’ll definitely be able to pick and choose from all the avalible engineering courses the most physics-based course combination, and then you in effect will be studying physics. Now here’s where what field of physics you’re interested in comes in; if you’re interested in optics, electricity, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics etc. you’ll be able to piece together courses in these fields of physics to fulfill the requirements of a BSE degree. However, if you’re interested in astrophysics, quantum physics, nuclear physics, particle physics etc., it’ll be very hard to fulfill the BSE requirements with courses in these areas of physics since they are more distant from engineering. Basically, the physics you’re interested in must fall within the engineering departments’ course offerings if you want to study under BSE.
However, if you decide on AB, then all fields of physics offered at Princeton will be up for grabs. You don’t have to worry about finding physics courses you enjoy that will also fulfill engineering requirements - you’ll be studying a natural sciences degree and concentrating in Physics or Astrophysics. You will however have to take more of the ‘extra’ classes in humanities and the social sciences than you would with a BSE.
So in the end, there’s really 2 questions:
- Are the fields of physics you’re interested in offered by Princeton’s engineering departments?
- How many non-STEM ‘extra’ classes are you willing to study?
I hope this helped! Feel free to message me privately if you want to know what I chose/how I made my decision, or continue this thread here if I wasn’t clear on anything!