<p>I would really appreciate your advices if you are a physics major or you want to leave general impression about studying physics in college.</p>
<p>So, basically, talk about experiences, what to expect, difficulty or rigor of physics classes, general impression, etc. in physics dept.</p>
<p>Oh, also, add some good's & bad's of UVA physics, not regarding your bias or prejudices of prestige of UVA (meaning just talk about physics dept.) For example, you can talk about which area of physics UVA specializes at. Or, what kind of topics does UVA cover? Can undergrad take advanced courses like general relativity? What kind of classes are for undergrads and what others are for grads?</p>
<p>sup man, I am a physics major at UVa. This is only my second year, but I have taken and will be taking some of the more advanced classes so I can hopefully tell you more what its like from an advanced perspective as well.</p>
<p>The classes are pretty tough. The teachers expect you to do the work and study, but IME are usually good at helping out when you have issues. That said, there are some teachers that SUCK at helping out, and some that are amazing at it. Usually there are weekly homework sets which vary in rigor based on the class but don’t expect to take them lightly except in the very intro classes if you are REALLY good.</p>
<p>I have been impressed with the teachers I have had, but the bad ones exist and can be very unhelpful. It depends btu there are enough good teachers to give the impression that the teaching quality is overall fairly strong.</p>
<p>I guess one bad thing would be the prestige. UVa physics gets kind of lost in the mix because UVa is famous for being so good at other things. That said its a great education and you can get into very good grad schools if you are a good student, but it doesn’t have the undergraduate name drop factor.</p>
<p>Specializations in undergraduate physics don’t matter so don’t concern yourself with them. Towards the very end of your undergraduate career you can possibly specialize in computational or experimental or optics or something but that will be something you worry about much later. At the graduate level, UVa is tops in Nuclear and AMO, but not really anything else. This isn’t a concern because at the undergraduate level you should be concerned about educational quality and undergraduate experience, as well as strength of education in other areas, all of which are quite strong here.</p>
<p>Undergrads often take high level classes here! Its common for advanced undergraduates to take graduate courses in their final classes. There are also 500 level grad/ugrad classes that mostly 4th years take but can be taken by anyone. That is where general relativity falls, and I know someone who took that first year! I’ll be taking Quantum Computing as a second year. Since there are many faculty, the class selection is huge! There are tons and tons of different really cool physics electives that you won’t have room to take :). If you are advanced you can fit more of them in usually undergrads take 2-3 before graduating. These include Optics, Photons, QCQI, gen rel, computational physics, and some others.</p>
<p>Thanks ehiunno (or Brielin)! I didn’t expect someone to post on my thread because I kind of assumed not that many people go to UVA for physics. But I guess not, if I try to look for them. Anyway, thanks for your detailed advice.</p>
<p>So, just as a personal question, what areas of physics do you like to learn more about so far? I’m guessing you’re pretty excited about taking Quantum computing. Only thing I know about Quantum mechanics is only in verbal descriptions and few basic discoveries like photoelectric effect and heisenberg’s uncert. princ. And just to let you know, I’m not crazily good at physics yet. But I hope to study more; that’s why I want to go to UVA or other places.</p>
<p>I’m also considering U of Maryland, College Park, but I’m not sure where to choose or where I can be safely admitted. After comparing course listing and schedules, I now realize the courses and depts are pretty much the same for any undergrad universities for physics. But I still want to have some sort of understanding of each college’s physics dept, so that I don’t regret and be prepared also.</p>
<p>So, were you instate student when you applied? I’m instate so it would be so good as in tuition and physics dept. I actually live in northern VA, so UMD is a little closer but OOS tuition kind of discourages me.</p>
<p>And does UVA offer any AP credits for physics? I know HS AP physics course will only let me skip really basic courses. If you got credits for any, which classes did you skip at first?</p>
<p>Oh, and you gotta tell me about the guy who took GR in the first year!
And again, a little personal question, but what area of physics are you going to take more when you go on to grad school; and, do you plan to go to UVA grad school for physics?</p>
<p>There are more questions that I want to ask, but I’ll save it for later. So get in touch. Thanks again for the info & advice so far!</p>
<p>I think there are about 20-30 majors that graduate each year, and the number of majors starts out higher in 2nd-3rd year so there aren’t too many of us. I am mostly interested in AMO, and I am really interested in QCQI from what I have read. I am looking forward to the class a lot.</p>
<p>You are right, the basic undergrad education is pretty standard, but UVa is nice because you can take some cool electives. My buddy that took GR his first year, well, he is special :p.</p>
<p>I am in state and I am not sure what I am going to study in grad school yet. Hopefully I will be able to take some more advanced electives so that I can find out what I like the best.</p>
<p>also, if you have really specific or personal questions, feel free to PM me.</p>