Physics Majors who are premed/med students?

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except most philosophers these days stay away from math like its death....logic they like and i guess proofs which are math...but not calc...

Well I'll agree that most philosophers tend to not like formal logic and prefer to quote dead people.

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What's the homework like for physics majors? Is "20 hours a week, every week" the usual?

lower level, there's basically little homework.
at intermediate/upper level, the homework takes forever.
esp for advanced EM, damn its a hard class...
and then for classical mechanics, it takes forever-- my friend who was a genius would take about 12 hours....it'd prob take me like 30

very conceptual, in both the derivations and the problems
very mathematical, employing rigorous maths
 
20 sounds about right for my upper level classes. Ugh there was some nasty unnecessary math. My solid state prof gave us some hw assignments for Jackson's E&M (famous among physics grad students for having tough grad-level EM problems). One took 12 pages of work, including several instances of 9-dimensional integrals (you know, like if S is one integral, it was SSSSSSSSS). Why????
 
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20 sounds about right for my upper level classes. Ugh there was some nasty unnecessary math. My solid state prof gave us some hw assignments for Jackson's E&M (famous among physics grad students for having tough grad-level EM problems). One took 12 pages of work, including several instances of 9-dimensional integrals (you know, like if S is one integral, it was SSSSSSSSS). Why????

rofl. what in the name of physics has that many dimensions to integrate? what is this? string theory?
 
I'd say Physics is about as hard as Bio/Chem/BCH. Nothing too hard about it unlike Engineering. No problem-based projects, for example. Mostly didactic.

This varies widely from school to school. I have heard people say that physics is by far harder than anything else. At my school, chemistry was the devil and my Majors calc-based physics classes were cake walks.
 
rofl. what in the name of physics has that many dimensions to integrate? what is this? string theory?

I don't even remember. It was for a solid state physics class, but it also must have been EM-related because it was in Jackson.
 
The brothers thing just made me smile. You sound like a very nice person.

Why thank you. I do try to be.

What's the homework like for physics majors? Is "20 hours a week, every week" the usual?

20 is a little high from my experience. 15 is more typical but then again, that's 15 hours with 4 or 5 physics majors together ramming our brains against some blasted textbook. It can be less if you're extremely gifted but for the most part you can expect 15+. At my school at least.
 
So no female physics majors?

Only 1 in my class. 3 in the class above me. However, the one that's in my class is probably the second smartest person out of all the physics majors currently at my school.
 
So no female physics majors?
hi there.


same experience as you at first.. lots of sexism, and even some marriage proposals. i don't like attention, genuinely, so it was difficult to adjust but they got used to me and now its like "RESPECT SON"

i even wrote about it in one of my secondary essays about a "time i stepped out of my comfort zone".


and i had a very similar path to you as to figuring out i wanted to do medicine :) but wish i had remembered how to say it in my last interview. d'oh!

in my program there has been an average of 2-3 girls that are physics major in a given year. biomedical physics program is more like 60:40% with more females in the program. so that's fun.

anyway nice to meet you.. does your name have anything to do with fugazi?
 
hi there.


same experience as you at first.. lots of sexism, and even some marriage proposals. i don't like attention, genuinely, so it was difficult to adjust but they got used to me and now its like "RESPECT SON"

i even wrote about it in one of my secondary essays about a "time i stepped out of my comfort zone".


and i had a very similar path to you as to figuring out i wanted to do medicine :) but wish i had remembered how to say it in my last interview. d'oh!

in my program there has been an average of 2-3 girls that are physics major in a given year. biomedical physics program is more like 60:40% with more females in the program. so that's fun.

anyway nice to meet you.. does your name have anything to do with fugazi?

Woo represent. Nah afugazzi is a super nerdy x-files thing. Well once we start at med school it'll be >50% gals so no more minority for us :)
 
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I am a Biophysics major with a dual minor of math and chemistry. I was wondering if this would allow for a lower GPA. I currently have a 3.2 overall and a 3.6 science GPA. Then for ex I have 1 year research at the va and 500 hours in a ER. I was wondering if I was ready to apply or should I try to get into a masters program or complete another undergrad before applying.
 
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Physics majors are common. No major will give you a certain advantage in terms of admission. Not sure about MD/PhD programs for physicists.

According to the American Institute of Physics, in 2009 (all if the following data is from 2009 unless otherwise noted): 41,487 people applied to medical school. 207 of them were physics majors/already had a bachelors degree in physics.

In 2009-2010, 6,017 bachelors degrees in physics were awarded. 79% of those were earned by men. Of those 6,017: 25 were from Cal Tech, 76 UC-Berkeley, 39 U of Chicago, 14 Emory, 27 Purdue, 16 LSU, 79 U of Maryland, 80 MIT, 5 UALB, 23 Columbia, 58 U of Washington. (this is just a random selection of schools.)
 
I am curious what Engineering major would require quantum. I majored in physics and my boyfriend and many other friends were electrical and computer engineering majors. Are you talking about modern physics, which is typically taken in your freshman or sophomore year? Or do you mean the integral heavy, Rabi flopping, Born approximation, excitation and emission (;)) quantum? I've never heard of this in EE, but maybe it's in Chem-E? I don't know any Chem-E majors.

Also, to possibly take this thread in a new direction beyond which is harder--eng or physics--any women here who majored in physics? I was pretty heavily active in our physics club, and I have to say it was quite the boy's club. The men in there would often make sexist jokes and just seemed way socially awkward. I don't know if this is just something about people in the hard sciences being awkward, or if it's just what you get when you stick a bunch of men together...

It's what happens when you get a bunch of men together! :)

I just roll my eyes.....
 
I didn't major in it (came to math and physics at the end of undergrad--my advisor didn't believe women could do math), but I'm taking a lot for my research and PhD requirements. My classes are mostly men (mostly professors taking the courses for more experience in the numerical-sorts of methods), although there's another girl in our program who's really cool, and my upper division courses in undergrad were mostly men, as well.
 
What's the homework like for physics majors? Is "20 hours a week, every week" the usual?

10-20 hrs every week per upper division physics or math (required for physics) class. Most physics majors take at least two (3 not uncommon) of these each term.
 
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I'd say Physics is about as hard as Bio/Chem/BCH. Nothing too hard about it unlike Engineering. No problem-based projects, for example. Mostly didactic.
Disagreed. Anyone who states that physics has "no problem-based projects" has obviously never built a neutron detector and implemented it in Notre Dame's particle accelerator lab investigating high-energy nuclear reaction studies - something I did during my time doing research as a physics undergrad. Also, the implication that something is easy unless it is a problem-based project is ridiculous. Say that to a theoretical physicist and... Well, he/she probably won't have the physical prowess or upper body strength to do you much damage, but they would write you a violently-phased derivation of Schroedinger's that would make. Your. Head. Spin.

Seriously though, I have majors in Physics, Chemistry, and Spanish, with a Math minor, and the upper level Physics classes were conceptually the hardest classes I have ever had in my life - particularly Quantum Theory. We got four multi-part homework problems each week in Quantum, and each problem would take 4-8 hours to complete. Of the ten physics majors in the class, two dropped and four had to retake it. The class average on every exam ranged from 40%-60% - and these were people that were simultaneously acing Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and misc. engineering courses. Our professor started the class off by stating that it was the hardest class offered at an undergraduate level, and nobody ever disagreed. Also, I had friends who doubled in Physics and Engineering and regularly said that the Physics major was the more difficult of the two.

As for whether it helped or hurt - as long as you are well-rounded and show that you can do well across the board with the premed courses and MCAT sections, it will only help. If all you are is a Physics major and got crappy grades, it'll probably hurt you, but that is true of any major + poor grades combination. Standing out in any positive way is always good, and there is no way that Physics is a common enough major for med students that it would help you blend in. I know there are other Physics-descended med students out there, but I have never met one in person...
 
I am a Biophysics major with a dual minor of math and chemistry. I was wondering if this would allow for a lower GPA. I currently have a 3.2 overall and a 3.6 science GPA. Then for ex I have 1 year research at the va and 500 hours in a ER. I was wondering if I was ready to apply or should I try to get into a masters program or complete another undergrad before applying.

That is def. a low overall GPA, but most schools have a stated cutoff of 3.0, and it could help that your science is higher. You might not get into a top-tier school, but I bet you could get in somewhere - especially if you absolutely rock the MCAT. I would study for and take the MCAT and just go for it if I were you...

Best bet - ask medical professions advisor who knows you and see what they think.
 
I'm female and majored in physics in undergrad. We had ~2 women per year as physics majors but the women tended to all stick it out and graduate where we always lost a few of the men to other majors each year.

When I applied I didn't get asked any questions about majoring in physics, but I did physics and biology research in undergrad and was asked about the physics research at every single interview. It was different when I was asked about my physics research because they tended to ask questions more about what I did on a daily basis rather than about the big picture importance. Although I did have one interviewer that had also majored in physics and we spent the entire interview talking about physics and his undergrad research (and I got in there!)
 
Disagreed. Anyone who states that physics has "no problem-based projects" has obviously never built a neutron detector and implemented it in Notre Dame's particle accelerator lab investigating high-energy nuclear reaction studies - something I did during my time doing research as a physics undergrad. Also, the implication that something is easy unless it is a problem-based project is ridiculous. Say that to a theoretical physicist and... Well, he/she probably won't have the physical prowess or upper body strength to do you much damage, but they would write you a violently-phased derivation of Schroedinger's that would make. Your. Head. Spin.

Seriously though, I have majors in Physics, Chemistry, and Spanish, with a Math minor, and the upper level Physics classes were conceptually the hardest classes I have ever had in my life - particularly Quantum Theory. We got four multi-part homework problems each week in Quantum, and each problem would take 4-8 hours to complete. Of the ten physics majors in the class, two dropped and four had to retake it. The class average on every exam ranged from 40%-60% - and these were people that were simultaneously acing Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and misc. engineering courses. Our professor started the class off by stating that it was the hardest class offered at an undergraduate level, and nobody ever disagreed. Also, I had friends who doubled in Physics and Engineering and regularly said that the Physics major was the more difficult of the two.

As for whether it helped or hurt - as long as you are well-rounded and show that you can do well across the board with the premed courses and MCAT sections, it will only help. If all you are is a Physics major and got crappy grades, it'll probably hurt you, but that is true of any major + poor grades combination. Standing out in any positive way is always good, and there is no way that Physics is a common enough major for med students that it would help you blend in. I know there are other Physics-descended med students out there, but I have never met one in person...

Great post. You hit the nail on the head regarding conceptual difficulties.

However, I don't think the accusations made in this thread are worth defending. Yes our work his hard but to each his own. I would lose my mind majoring in psychology, for example. Or Marine Biology. Kill me now. It's all about personal interests and I would find the work in either of those majors difficult because I don't like the material. :)
 
Great post. You hit the nail on the head regarding conceptual difficulties.

However, I don't think the accusations made in this thread are worth defending. Yes our work his hard but to each his own. I would lose my mind majoring in psychology, for example. Or Marine Biology. Kill me now. It's all about personal interests and I would find the work in either of those majors difficult because I don't like the material. :)
:beat:

Lol, seriously though, why? Marine Biology is extraordinary and if you are involved in that sort of research, it can be very conceptual (as all research is, at the higher levels of bureaucratic hierarchy). Psych is awesome, plenty of crazy conceptual stuff going on there. I mean seriously, look at Freud, you have to be one heck of a conceptual lunatic to come up with the ideas that he did. :p
 
I got asked straight up what plancks constant was in an interview.
I guess it was just supposed to make me squirm but I just rattled off the value and he just ended the interview. Accepted w/scholarship.

I thought the value of all constants was one until you plugged it in mathematica or matlab and checked the units?

I was a physics major in undergrad and am now an MD/MA bioethics student. I have met a few radiologists at the university hospital who are MD or MD/PhD, all physics bachelors (though that's more a coincidence). Physics is at least a science (compared to the liberal arts) but it doesn't confer any advantage in admissions. If anything, it made it more difficult. I had all A's in biology and chemistry classes, but B's in physics classes, which was normal for our major. Physics is tough to get an A in and since it isn't necessarily a premed track, there is no grade inflation. That's fine as long as admissions know that. If not they see a lower GPA and scoff.

As far as 1st year med has gone, it's a double edged sword. I joke that everything I HAD to know as an undergrad could fit on an 8x11 paper, but that the ability to solve complex problems was the hallmark of physics. For that reason, I struggle memorizing facts, yet I understand all the concepts quickly. Medicine is not hard...it's just relentlessly dense.

I have noticed that studying for shelf exams and even looking into boards next year has been nice. The big comprehensive exams don't necessarily test the nitty gritty details that your classes can (since they JUST tough you all those interleukins...you should know them all). National tests tend to ask multi-step problems that can't be answered with brute memorization. You see gold rings in the iris? Wilson's? Not an option. You have to know the mechanism. In fact, most of the time I can describe the mechanism, but can't remember the name of the disease. So the physics mind lends itself to that.

My final comment is that physics was VERY disconnected from human application. Originally I liked physics because I watched too many NOVA specials as a kid or had dreams of being the cool version of Sheldon Cooper or something, but there was no life in it. Patient interaction (and the science behind the stuff that heals them) is much more interesting and rewarding. Sadly, most of the complex math you learned, or all the time you spent understanding where the electron was AND how fast it was going fades with all the anatomy structures you cram in your head. Unless you plan on doing a PhD or going into radiology, your physics education will just be a piece of paper on the wall, and what you use to pick up on freshmen.

You'll love med school though.
 
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