<p>I'm interested in knowing what physics major is like at cornell. I'm not very interested in research-oriented programs. I'm interested in what the regular curriculums are like and how well they teach and cover topics. If anyone goes to cornell or is a physics major, please drop an advice!</p>
<p>well, what do you want to know about physics? are you interested in physics or AEP? i have a couple of friends who are physics majors and they say that AEP is DEFINITELY a lot more intense than just a physics major in arts & sciences.</p>
<p>but otherwise, classes for physics majors and AEP largely overlap and the professors who teach physics here are really REALLY good at what they do.</p>
<p>Courses</a> of Study 2008-2009: College of Arts and Sciences</p>
<p>Here are the physics courses offered. What I personally know of is the intro sort of sequence for engineers and physics majors. Engineers take 1112, 2213, and 2214, while most physics majors are expected to take the honors levels of these courses, 1116, 2217, 2218.</p>
<p>what’s AEP? I’m applying to Cornell physics (class of 2014) and I plan to get a double major (physics + astronomy)</p>
<p>AEP is Applied and Engineering Physics which is a major in which Cornell ranks #1 according to US News. Since it ranks #1 in that, I can’t possibly imagine that Cornell’s other physics fields are bad at all. The thing is that for AEP, you have to be in the College of Engineering whereas Physics is in CAS.</p>
<p>Our arts and science physics program is quite good. Though Cornell is specifically known for its engineering physics program. Not entirely sure how different the two programs are content wise, they take different classes after the basic physics sequence but I assume it mostly covers similar material. Engineering physics probably gets into more applied stuff.</p>
<p>The way I see the difference is it is AEP’s curriculum is more rigid. More of the upper-level courses needed are predetermined for you and require you to exposed to more of the fields in physics. For a Physics major on the other hand, the 3000+ level core courses are the same as AEP but more advance courses allows your own selection. So it really comes down to which program would you prefer. Doing Physics would not short change you for grad school and vice versa.</p>