<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I am a current rising junior in BU’s astrophysics program. I welcome questions about anything ranging from choosing classes to research opportunities here at BU.</p>
<p>P.S. I am also here to advertise about my research advisor’s course Principles of Astronomy I.</p>
<p>Have you done any research with Harvard or MIT students and is there a strong community of research with other schools? Also, how much do the General Education requirements get in the way of becoming advanced in Physics in Boston University, such as taking graduate courses? Do you ever travel to do research with Astronomical stuff, or do you just use data sent in from outside sources for analysis? After Linear Algebra, does taking more Math courses become any more useful to the study of Physics, or is the usual Calc 1-3, Diff Eq, Linear Algebra sequence all one needs?</p>
<p>Is the Society of Physics Students active at your school, as in holds a lot of meetings? What Physics related stuff does the usual Physics/Astrophysics student do outside of class and research? Is it ever tough for someone to get the Physics course they want at BU or are there usually enough spots?</p>
<p>Lol, sorry if this is a lot of questions, I’m just really interested in Physics and BU. I probably won’t choose the Astrophysics route if I go to BU, though, just Physics, maybe pursuing Particle Physics or even Cosmology if I want to take the risk.</p>
<p>Just briefly, this week is final exam week for us.
Generally research is done under the mentorship of a faculty member, either through work study or in the form of BU UROP funding (<a href=“Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program”>Aaron Brakoniecki | Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program). For example, I just a received a UROP Fellowship to do research at Caltech this summer. I am mainly in the astronomy department, not in the physics department, but the kinds of opportunities exists in both place. I do interact with some people at Harvard CfA, but obviously not as much since I am only an undergraduate. But I am sure that professor who share similar research interest often get together and interact.
As for courses, you are right that the sequence you listed is the general one but some people take higher division physics and math courses during their senior or even their junior year. And I believe there are plenty of space of each class as I never had any problems getting the physics/science courses I wanted, even when I registered at the last minute. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>