Hello,
I am planning to apply to graduate school to study neuroscience in the fall, and am thinking about courses I could take to prepare myself. One thing I am concerned about is that as a freshman I claimed AP credit for the full physics sequence (two semesters, two labs) required by my undergraduate program. Now I am wondering whether an absence of physics education at the college level will make my application seem weaker to competitive programs.
I have taken only 1 other upper division physics course, which was not required by my degree, but am considering taking an electricity and magnetism course to repair this possible perceived gap. That being said, I do not believe personally that my physics knowledge is lacking, so if I did this it would be purely for appearance’s sake. If I did not take the physics course, I would take another neuroscience course, which is more directly related but less likely to be perceived as a weak point in my application. Which do you think would be a better choice?
Thank you!
If you are applying to neuroscience programs, why do you think the physics sequence will make a significant difference in your application? Are you interested in doing research at the intersection of neuroscience and physics?
If you aren’t specifically interested in physics research in neuroscience, then don’t worry about this too much - I know for sure that there are lots of successful neuroscience doctoral students with less than the equivalent of two semesters of physics. You’ve got the upper division course, which if you did well in proves you’ve got the basics down well enough to perform at the upper-division level. I think you’re fine.
Well, I have looked at a few program requirements and some say that they want you to have 2 semesters of physics. However, they don’t say whether they would care if you claimed credit, and it’s true that the upper division course should show some mastery of the basics in case they don’t trust the AP. Thank you for your input.
Your research experience/interests (and how well it fits with the research interests with potential advisors) matters more than anything else, unless, like @juillet said, you’re interested in research at the intersection of neuroscience and physics. If your school gave you 2 semesters worth of credit for physics based on your AP scores, then you have 2 semesters worth of credit for physics. Beyond that, it shouldn’t really matter, and I doubt anyone will care.
Regardless, why not just email those programs and ask them?
That is a direct approach that I had not considered, thank you for the tip! I think I will do just that.
Medical schools care about this - they won’t let you use AP credit to fulfill their pre-requisite requirements. But in my experience PhD programs are far more flexible. They’re more concerned about your overall qualification for the program and research than exactly what boxes you ticked to get there. Heck, I’m starting a computer science PhD in the fall with an undergraduate degree in neuroscience.