physics course info!!

[sunnex3]

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i'm trying to fulfill the physics reqs at one of my local universities. however, i'm not sure which place will be worth the most for my $$, especially since none of these are state schools for me (they're mostly private)

does anyone know which of these schools would be the best? i'm looking for the school with a decent physics program, but isn't too difficult as i'll be working 2 part time jobs over the summer.

my choices are between:
georgetown
george washington university
american
catholic
marymount

they're all pretty pricy, so i just don't know which one to choose.
hopefully someone has some opinions!

 

[tpad40]

Can't give you much help on the individual schools but I can say that from past experience, summer courses are generally very different than regular year courses so it might be hard to compare (even if they are the same course number, etc.). I would try to find any online course info from last year - syllabus, schedule, etc. I took courses this past summer with a full work schedule (of mostly overnights, YAWN). Some things to consider:

-Minimal attendance required sessions - Some courses will have mandatory discussions sessions, etc. so if you have to work, you will be penalized.
-Ease of commute/parking/etc. - I racked up a lot of parking tickets (and they are hunting me down).
-Competence of school's registrar office - totally random, but when trying to get transcripts out to all your schools, this is actually a huge deal. One of my schools only accepted mailed written transcript requests and needed at least 4 weeks notice. Very annoying.

 

[sunnex3]

Can't give you much help on the individual schools but I can say that from past experience, summer courses are generally very different than regular year courses so it might be hard to compare (even if they are the same course number, etc.). I would try to find any online course info from last year - syllabus, schedule, etc. I took courses this past summer with a full work schedule (of mostly overnights, YAWN). Some things to consider:

-Minimal attendance required sessions - Some courses will have mandatory discussions sessions, etc. so if you have to work, you will be penalized.
-Ease of commute/parking/etc. - I racked up a lot of parking tickets (and they are hunting me down).
-Competence of school's registrar office - totally random, but when trying to get transcripts out to all your schools, this is actually a huge deal. One of my schools only accepted mailed written transcript requests and needed at least 4 weeks notice. Very annoying.

yeah...i've never taken a summer course either, but i'm trying not to take physics at my normal school as they're full of engineering people and it's not worth it to me to risk my GPA for physics.

in terms of transportation..they're all accessible by the DC metro, not a huge problem there. and my work schedule is pretty flexible (i'll be doing some overnights too).

i was just looking to see if anyone had any insight as to the physics at these various schools...

 

[flyhi]

yeah...i've never taken a summer course either, but i'm trying not to take physics at my normal school as they're full of engineering people and it's not worth it to me to risk my GPA for physics.

in terms of transportation..they're all accessible by the DC metro, not a huge problem there. and my work schedule is pretty flexible (i'll be doing some overnights too).

i was just looking to see if anyone had any insight as to the physics at these various schools...

Sunnex,

i cannot really help you with the physics courses, per se, but i grew up in that area and would have to believe that Georgetown and GWU (know the least about American) are going to be very competitive because of the medical students (may be better than engineering students though 😀). My stepdad headed up the GWU computer lab for 30 years and i have several siblings who have attended undergrad and masters programs there. If you can take the metro there, you are good as parking must be a super duper headache.

Georgetown has their highly touted Special Master's Program essentially for pre-meds trying to imporve their med school apps and it is said to be one of the better (best?) SMP's for this purpose. I think there is actually someone here who has gone through it or is attending now.

i know i'm being absolutely zero help, but i guess i am highly curious as to where you are attending now and how Georgetown or GMU could be more advantageous for you to take the class there? Don't the engineers take calculus-based physics? Check with the schools to which you are applying, but i'm fairly certain you do not need the calc based physics for most, if not all, vet schools. Is your school known to have a ridiculously hard Physics prof or something?

What about Univ of MD, or a satellite campus? Are you up in MD or in VA?

Anyways, GOOD LUCK.

 

[DVMorBust]

Don't the engineers take calculus-based physics? Check with the schools to which you are applying, but i'm fairly certain you do not need the calc based physics for most, if not all, vet schools.

Although if you have taken calculus and understood it, it would be so much easier conceptually than non-calc-based-physics...mostly 'cause calc is the math that explains physics.

I took non-calc-based, and now I'm taking calc, and every single day there's at least 4 occasions in which I think 'That makes so much more sense now."

 

[flyhi]

Although if you have taken calculus and understood it, it would be so much easier conceptually than non-calc-based-physics...mostly 'cause calc is the math that explains physics.

I took non-calc-based, and now I'm taking calc, and every single day there's at least 4 occasions in which I think 'That makes so much more sense now."

That does make perfect sense. I am taking non-calc based now and asked the prof a question on why we couldn't solve a problem a certain way and she said because you don't know X, which is the quadratic equation Y. Once she showed me the equation, it certainly made more more sense to me.

However, given this, i am in no way inclined to go and take calc-based because physics is not my friend 😡.

 

[DVMorBust]

That does make perfect sense. I am taking non-calc based now and asked the prof a question on why we couldn't solve a problem a certain way and she said because you don't know X, which is the quadratic equation Y. Once she showed me the equation, it certainly made more more sense to me.

However, given this, i am in no way inclined to go and take calc-based because physics is not my friend 😡.

Ha! Physics is one of those 'love or hate' classes, kinda like O-chem. I wish I had taken the calc-based, instead...I meant that now I'm taking calculus (which, really, if I was planning on taking calculus it would have made sense to take physics after, but this is how much I dislike math courses).

Sometimes, though, I think it would have been easier to take calc-based and teach myself calculus than the non-calc-based physics...oi. I loved that class, but I worked harder in it than any other.

To get back on track - I'd second the notion of getting course materials from previous years. Anything you can find out - book used, testing format, syllabus, etc. - will give you a clue as to how the classes compare.

 

[sunnex3]

i'm currently at Penn, and i know that all the physics profs (regardless of whether its non-calc or calc based) are RIDICULOUSLy and i mean ridiculously hard, so i'm not really willing to put myself through that especially since physics was terrible for me in junior year of high school (i barely scraped by with the grade that i got)

i took BC calc in high school and also 1st semester calc in college (Freshman year) so i don't really know how fresh my calculus knowledge is, which is why i'm considering taking non-calc, since i haven't taken calc in a while and i don't really love physics all that much.

also, i'm in VA but very close to DC. (i can pretty much go anywhere by metro)

 

[Ben and Me]

My brother was thinking about taking physics at Georgetown this summer--according to him, it isn't too hard...he was going to take it there instead of at his small liberal arts college because he thought it would be easier. He has a friend at Georgetown and she has told him that it (summer school physics) has the reputation of not being too bad.

He decided not to take it there though because the tuition alone was $8500, plus living expenses. He's taking it at UNC instead, which is better for him since he's applying to med school there.

 

[DocDVMD]

Just letting you know my opinion on the matter. At Cornell they also drill it into your head that the physics department is notoriously difficult and that you should take it over the summer for sure. However, I found this to be untrue. Sure, the class was challenging, but it was definitely possible to do well. If I were on an adcom I would look more favorably on a student who took difficult pre-med classes at her own college or university along with her other courses during the semester and did decently well than someone who took the "easy" way out and took it over the summer elsewhere. Save your money and take it at Penn!

That being said, if you REALLY think you won't be able to do well, take it at a good state school where you can get a tuition cut (NOT a community college).

 

[sunnex3]

i'm taking it outside of Penn mainly for 3 reasons
a) it's not required for my major (i'm a Bio major)
b)i did TERRIBLE In physics in high school and had only 1 year of it - most of the kids who are taking physics at my school are either engineering majors OR have taken 2 years of physics at high school
c) i would like to take it over the summer so that i can take other upper level bio courses that are interesting to me, rather than taking up room in my schedule for physics.

definitely NOT taking it at community college, i'm taking it at George Mason University (which has recently become more well known as a school because it was one of the final four during those college basketball championships several years ago)

does anyone really think it's that terrible to take courses over the summer? Malcolm Keiter, the dean at the Penn Vet School, said that it's very common and isn't a problem, but now I'm not so sure

 

[DocDVMD]

Understandable reasoning, but I still urge you to rethink it a bit before you jump in. I also didn't mean to scare you into thinking vet schools won't like you taking it at another school, haha! I'm sure it would be fine, but I also would think it would be better to take it at Penn. You still have a few years before you have to decide, so experience classes at Penn more, and try to get the real scoop from people who are similar academically to you. For instance, I always heard that auto-tutorial classes were awful here (esp. Physics), but I figured that it might be due to the fact that many students have poor time management skills. I took Biochem auto-tutorial and it worked nicely-it was a difficult course, but I did learn a lot and wasn't totally swamped like other students made it sound like I would be.

Also, I took Physics at my school even though it wasn't required for my major (in fact, none of the pre-vet pre-reqs were), I didn't like Physics in high school (don't compare to high school, college is completely different!), and I still had plenty of time to take upper-level bio courses (even though I graduated a semester early).

 

[sunnex3]

i guess just a lot of my friends(mainly pre-med/engineering students) have taken physics (non-calc and calc based) and have scared me sh**less about it. i've heard unanimously that even the non-calculus/calculus based physics (both) are easily some of the hardest courses on campus (during academic year and the summer)

also, i really don't have that much time to decide! i guess i sounded like a freshman? but i'm almost done with my sophomore year! meaning i only have like a year to decide 🙁

 

[quakk]

i would take physics wherever you can get it for the least amount of money (read: community college, if it's accepted by your vet school, and i'm pretty sure it is).

the physics you'll be taking hasn't changed in 400 years. they teach it pretty much the same everywhere. and if you're not a calc wizard, take the non-calc physics. make things easy on yourself. i guess sometimes i look at things and think about a physics equivalent (e.g. blood flow through the circulatory system mimics ohm's law - v = ir), but rarely will you ever use that physics again in vet school.

it's a hoop. set it low and jump through it. just make sure it's high enough to be acceptable to your schools of choice.