<p>Hi CC members.
I'm an internation applicant and I haven't figured out yet how this Undergraduate thing works.
Well, in Germany you say, I wanna study Physics and you do....</p>
<p>But in the US, I've heard that you have to take courses, that don't realte at all to physics.
So at what stage can you focus on the subject you really want to study?</p>
<p>THX!</p>
<p>If you want to study Physics...you declare your major in Physics. In addition to the classes you take for your major you also have college graduation requirements..these are "core" courses that are not related to your major but meant to broaden your eduction.</p>
<p>Yeah, and in Germany if you want to study Physics in college you take an admission test in Physics. Here you take SAT or ACT regardless of what you want to study. It's messed up!</p>
<p>For how long do I have to broaden my horizon?^^</p>
<p>How much percent of my studying time do I have to waste on that?</p>
<p>It depends on what college you end up at as some have more than others....in addition, some of the requirements for your major will satisfy core graduation requirements so that lessens the amount of additional coursework you have to do.</p>
<p>I was also against these core classes...but in the end I had a lot of fun with them and was able to take classes I might not have otherwise considered.</p>
<p>If you're completely against taking additional core classes for your major and want to spend 3-4 studying only Physics and having 100% of your classes related to Physics...stay in Germany or consider studying abraod in another European nation with a similar university system.
If you end up choosing to study in the U.S.A, know now that you will most likely end up taking (especially freshman year) classes unrelated to your major, and this is true at most major universities and Liberal Arts colleges.</p>