<p>Hello, I'm a rising high school senior interested in applying to Reed College and my main passion is Physics. My main interests in Physics revolve around Particle Physics and Cosmology, though Particle Physics is something I might enjoy a bit more. Both of these fields require a lot of Mathematics, so for many of the schools I am looking at, I am considering adding a major in Mathematics. However, my interest in doing a ton of Mathematics in college is not just for utilitarian purposes, for I am also interested in Math for its own merits.</p>
<p>Reed's page for Mathematical Physics states that the thesis should clearly bridge both subjects, and I am wondering how hard that might be. On the other hand, a double major in Mathematics and Physics would lead me to having to do two separate theses, though each one itself might be a bit easier as I could focus solely on Math for the Math thesis and Physics for the Physics thesis. The academic representatives or leaders at Reed probably created the Mathematics-Physics major to do away with this problem, but do any of you who have experienced this system at Reed know if someone has done each Math and Physics major independently of each other?</p>
<p>Do any of you know a Reed student who has studied Physics and Math and either done a Physics Math double major or a Mathematics-Physics major? Theoretically, I could fit in the courseload for both choices, though Mathematics-Physics would maybe require a few less courses.</p>
<p>Near the end of my senior year I'd like to be taking the most advanced courses in each subject (Completing the Classical Mechanics, Electrodynamics, and Quantum Mechanics sequences as well as taking courses in General Relativity, Elementary Particles, and doing a special topics course in Physics for my Physics major, and going all the way up to Topics in Advanced Analysis, Topics in Algebra, and Topology for my Mathematics major). I think I'd be able to start on that track pretty quickly as AP Calculus AB might prepare me for starting in Introduction to Analysis, and I might thoroughly study Physics enough to start in the second introductory course in Physics (Electricity and Magnetism). Also, side question, how common is it for a Physics student to start in Electricity and Magnetism? The course sequence for Reed Physics students starts out pretty sparsely, requiring one take one course at a time until one finishes Modern Physics (A second year course) before jumping into many of the more advanced courses.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading and giving me any useful information and advice you can. Reed's Physics program looks very interesting and amazing to me and I hope I can have the possibility of studying there next year.</p>
<p>Also, how common is it for students to overload each semester (Taking 5 units vs the technical max of 4.5)? From what I read, you can petition and it won’t cost anything extra, but part of my goal to surpass the usual requirements and recommendations of the Physics and Math programs is to get as much breadth and depth as possible, and that might require taking 38-40 courses over my 4 years vs 32. I also heard that Reed doesn’t offer financial aid for the 5th year of undergraduate study, so that would make taking 5 years of college tough, but I also want to graduate in 4 years just to get ahead in Physics as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>If it adds any extra information, I want to do a PhD in Physics, but I would be open to the idea of doing a PhD in Mathematics if I end up liking the subject enough wherever I go.</p>
<p>40 courses is probably pushing it. Even if you overload for 6 semesters, which is the theoretical maximum if you want to graduate in four years, you’ll still only take 38 courses. (But get 39 units.) And Reed’s graduation requirement is 30 units, not 32.</p>
<p>I know a student who double-majored, albeit not in physics and mathematics, and graduated in four years. She overloaded the whole time she was at Reed save during freshman year, I think. (She may have eased up for a semester as a senior, I’m not sure.) And she wrote two theses in one year. So it’s certainly possible.</p>
<p>However, I think this student was uniquely motivated and capable, perhaps because she was an international. Most Reedies automatically assume writing two theses in a year and/or overloading as a senior is absolutely impossible.</p>
<p>Finding common ground between mathematics and physics shouldn’t be that hard. Even if it is for you, however, I think you will be strongly discouraged from double-majoring by your advisor/the two departments. Double majors are seen as a last resort for people who have two widely disparate interests and don’t want to pick between them. If your two desired majors are in any way compatible, as math and physics are, you will be encouraged to combine them into one interdisciplinary major/thesis.</p>
<p>@Ghostt Thanks for the advice. I’m not sure if an interdisciplinary thesis would be harder for me than any regular thesis, I just thought it had the possibility of it. I’m sure I could still find fun in it, and maybe an example would be combining topology or analysis with a study on some curvature of space, or something like that. I’m not sure however if clearly bridging the two subjects means coming up with original discoveries in both areas and then combining them, though.</p>
<p>@slights32 Sure, it may seem a bit far-fetched, but my main passion is Physics, and Physicists should have a PhD. I want to prepare myself best for admissions to graduate schools so that I can have the best chance at getting the position at a lab/university that I desire. Reed’s site said that if one wants to pursue a degree in Mathematics-Physics, one would have to consult with the department as quickly as possible. This is contingent on me attending Reed, but I’d have to worry about it in the next year or two, not the next 4 or 5.</p>
<p>@slights32 I have focused on undergraduate admissions a lot. This hasn’t been my first post on CC given my post count, and one doesn’t always think of dinner when dessert is on the horizon. I’m not trying to sound rude or anything, just trying to be clear. Since I have already researched stuff on admissions a lot and have been doing things to prepare myself for the application process, I have been asking curious questions that also deal with my interests at different point in the future. So I focused on undergraduate admissions first, and now I’m thinking about other things while still focusing on the first thing.</p>
<p>My main point was made in the first couple of sentences. The rest is just tangent and elaboration.</p>
<p>@AboutTheSame I didn’t receive an admissions decisions yet. I don’t know if that was sarcasm or if it was a positive comment on the way I described stuff.</p>
<p>@Cosmological. I like your intellectual energy and ambition. You would fit right in at Reed. The curriculum beyond your major field will be a relief but add dimensionality to your thinking. I recall my brother once commented that although the students worked really hard on pretty much everything at Caltech (except, of course when they weren’t working!), the physicists (he was one of them, also went on to earn his PhD in physics there) enjoyed the humanities courses. It wasn’t because the courses were easy but because they gave a chance to reflect on broader issues rather than constant problem-solving. (Frankly, I think a cosmologist ought to think about the world and universe from a deeply philosophical perspective.)</p>