Undergraduate Program
Junior Matters
Senior Matters
Important Dates - Jr & Sr
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How to declare your major in physics
Early Concentration
Although there is no official way to declare yourself a physics major with the Registrar Office before the spring of your sophomore year, you can declare your major with the department as early as you want by talking with the Department Representative or the Recruitment Officer. If you know that you want to be a physics major, it might be useful to talk to one of them about the best plan of studies to meet your needs and interests. As an early concentrator, you can take advanced courses as a sophomore, and write a Junior Paper during your sophomore year. You will be included in the department mailing list, and be informed of departmental events that might be of interests to you. You still will need to officially declare your major in the spring of your sophomore year, following the regular procedure for declaring a major.
Procedure to officially declare a major.
During the spring of your sophomore year, during a designated time frame, you will schedule an appointment with the physics departmental representative, and present your Internal Transcript and two copies of the Course Enrollment Worksheet (to be printed off the web). The Dep Rep needs to sign both copies of the Course Enrollment Worksheet. You leave one of the signed copies with the departmental representative, and keep the other copy for use when selecting courses in SCORE. A.B. sophomores choose their concentration on the Registrar’s website at http://registrar1.princeton.edu/
Physics Department Representative:
Professor Edward Groth
Jadwin 264, phone 8-4361
email: groth@princeton.edu
Recruitment Officer:
Professor Peter Meyers
Jadwin 316/396, phone 8-5581/8-5576
email: meyers@princeton.edu
WHY PHYSICS?
Physics continues to be one of Princeton's greatest strengths. We have a faculty with diverse interests, ranging from high energy physics, mathematical physics and cosmology to condensed matter and biophysics. Our program is distinguished by our commitment to teaching at all levels as well as to encouraging students to pursue independent research through summer internships, and junior and senior independent work.
Why major in physics?
- Physics is a great education. An old aphorism says that a good undergraduate education should teach you how to think. We'll do more than that: we'll teach you how to think like a physicist, a very valuable commodity that you cannot acquire through any other major! A physics background is much appreciated in many other areas of science and technology, as well as in economics, finance and consulting. Look around on the PU campus: many of the professors in the sciences have a physics background. Almost every technical field draws strongly on physics for its underlying theoretical, mathematical and experimental techniques. No other major offers so many options! (It does not work the other way around: it is not so easy to get into graduate school in physics from majoring in another area of math/science.) Our students who choose to go on to graduate school in physics (a majority) go to first-rate universities, and often become leaders in their fields. Students who use their physics training to pursue careers in diverse fields such as mathematics, biology, engineering, computer science, law, medicine, and business do equally well.
- Physics is exciting. If you are interested in the laws behind the complexity of the world and in the big questions about the universe, pursuing a physics education in one of the world’s leading centers of research and discovery will be an exciting and rewarding experience. Our program of studies is rigorous and demanding, but if you find the physics courses you have taken so far interesting and manageable, you are certainly up to the challenge.
- Quality faculty. There's nothing like learning a subject from distinguished practitioners. (Actually, that's a great reason to do almost anything at Princeton). This is a place where you can take physics courses from professors who are leaders in the field, and then spend the summer working for people involved in some of the most sophisticated experiments in the world or attempting a hard-core calculation on one of the most challenging questions in theoretical physics.
- Individual attention. Princeton has an excellent faculty-student ratio in physics: it's only slightly less than one-to-one! This has a particularly positive effect on junior and senior independent work, where our majors get deeply involved with active research. The senior thesis is most often an effort to do original work, the student's highest attempt to come to grips with science as a living, breathing subject. It is not unusual that a published paper may result from this work.
- Research opportunities. The department has an excellent record of involving interested students in research, both during the term and through summer jobs. It is not uncommon for senior theses to spring from summer work. Moreover, with so many physicists working in other departments in science and engineering, it is possible to do independent research projects with other physicists on campus. We have a rather open policy: as long as your project has a strong physics component and is approved by our department, you are welcome to pursue it.
- Commitment to teaching. There is a strong commitment to teaching at all levels in the department. We have multiple tracks for introductory physics and a curriculum of more advanced courses that will serve you well whether you are aiming for graduate school in physics, or have a pre-med orientation, or intend to go into business, industry, or public affairs. As long as our students meet the physics requirements, they are free to pursue other interests outside of the department (there are many certificate programs available to them) or take our very advanced graduate courses. We are well aware that physics is a very broad and diverse field that ranges from the most abstract mathematics to the most technical aspects of engineering. Our department is committed to meet the needs and interests of a varied student body.
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