Physics College Courses

Woden

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts

I'm just so excited that it worked out so nicely, I can't wait till I get into 3rd level stuff, I'm hoping to do Theoretical physics and maths in maynooth.

unrelated an off topic but why maynooth, is there specific maths, physics combination that is only available there? would you not consider tcd or ucd?

data

PrecariousNuts

I just like the sound of the maynooth one, its a 3 year honors degree with 13 in a class for 500 points. The course topics sound superb.

Theoretical physics in TCD is 520ish points and doesn't have all the maths options but I have it down as second choice.

UCD is not considered at all mainly because it will take forever to get out there every morning, where as TCD requires one bus to dame street and maynooth is a quick train trip.

Do you know something that I should know about something?

PrecariousNuts

Oh what would you guys think of MH205, theoretical physics and computer science?

I'm working on the basis that all you need for theoretical physics is a pen and paper, surely facilities wouldn't really matter?

I'd appreciate any info/gossip you have heard, it could influence my decision.

Thanks.

Woden

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts

Do you know something that I should know about something?

not at all just making sure you have considered your options, i study at ucd myself and i have friends that do the theoretical physics there. Tbh i don't know what quality the course is overall compared to those in other colleges. i do know however that it is four years.

you mentioned that the maynooth one is 3 years. i'd look to see what it encompasses compared to a four year course. see if it crams in more stuff in 3 or wether you end up doing less. just make sure your covering what you want to cover.

basically what i'm saying is that you can cover a lot in one year and you don't want to miss out on something that would be beneficial for your degree

data

PrecariousNuts

1st year

3d geometry
mechanics
maths methods
probability and statistics
calc and applications
special relativity
lagrangian mechanics ??
quantum physics
multivariate calc ??
rotational dynamics
maths computing
infinite series
combinataries
number theory

2nd year

fluid mechanics
topology
classical mechanics
ring and field theory
maths methods
applications of topology
comp physics
set theory and cardinality
special relativity
group theory

3rd year

topology
statistical physics
numerical analysis
quantum mechanics
general relativity and cosmology
complex analysis
commutative algebra
differential geometry
dynamical systems
galois theory
probability and statistics
comp physics
electricity and magnetism

Woden

seems fairly packed to me

lagrangian mechanics is alright it typically defines a lagrangian of L = T - V iirc, i.e kinetic - potential energy for a number of systems, you work with spherical and cylinderical coordinates and stuff and from working with this some differential equations you can work out various things about the system. find out about some conserved quantities and such.

don't know about the other one with the question marks though.

PrecariousNuts

Theoretical Physics and Computer Science

1st Year
Mechanics
Special Relativity
Math Methods
Quantum Physics

Principles of Computer Programming
Computer Systems
Algorithms and Data Structures
Searching and Sorting

2nd Year
Math Methods
Mechanics
Electricity and Magnetism
Statistical Thermodynamics

Algorithms and Data Structures
Computer Architecture
Operating Systems

3rd Year
Langranian and Hamiltonian Mechanics
Fluid mechanics
Comp Physics
Math methods
Special Relativity
Special Functions

Languages and compilers
Networks
Databases
Software eng
Artificial intelligence
Theoretical comp sci

4th year
Quantum mechanics
General relativity and cosmology
comp physics
thermo/stat physics
electricity and magnetism
distributed systems

neural networks
complexity theory
computational linguistics
graphics
autmated reasoning
formal methods

Plus additional options

1st and 2nd year students may also take maths/experimental physics



I think they both sound excellent, regardless I believe I have won the CAO.
1st one was 500 points, comp science 300 points.

I would find it pretty hard to not get 300 points, and if all goes well 500 will be reasonably easy too.

planck2

If you think your good enough to get 500 points then there is now way on earth you should be considering doing theoretical physics through an arts degree at Maynooth or a Theoretical Physics and Comp Sciencein Maynooth. You should be doing it at Trinity or UCD. If you your that good take yourself seriously and go somewhere that is known for the excellence of its students and lecturers . I'm in UCD doing Theoretical Physics and I'm to say most of us don't even rate Maynooth when it comes to Theoretical Physics. The best lecturers are in UCD and Trinity. There are a lot of downsides to Maynooths Theoretical Physics course. First of all you don't do any experimental physics in first or second year, there is no high energy particle physics course, there is no mention of a course in thermodynamics, solid state physics or atomic and molecular physics. Theoretical Physics involves a lot more than just requiring a pen and paper and facilities do matter.

dudara

I don't know anything about the theoretical physics course in Maynooth, but to do theoretical physics, I would be recommending UCC, UCD or Trinity. I'm a graduate of UCC myself, and while the course has changed since I graduated to a Physics/Astrophysics course, it's still highly regarded, and is mainly theoretical work.

However, you need to select a course that gives you a very good solid foundation in all areas of physics. In response to the previous poster, I wouldn't consider high-energy particles fundamental, but a good thermodynamics/statistical mechanics course is essential. Any course you choose should have a good computing module, because physicists need to be able to write code to solve any problems they encounter.

Also, even though you might not become an experimental physicist, lab work is very important to teach you the fundamentals of scientific writing and the scientific method. So make sure the course you select offers good lab work.

I remember being back in your shoes, wondering what the hell I would do. I chose physics, and it's something that I would never change. Studying physics is not just about quantum mechanics and optics. It's a way of thinking and viewing the world. You learn to keep your mind open and view things analytically. So if you chose to go down the physics path, I wish you the very best of luck.

The problem here is that even your secondary school physics teacher cannot offer good insight into which course to chose as very few physics teachers actually have a degree in physics. But if you contact the university departments, they will be more than happy to arrange to send information to you, and perhaps even offer you a visit of their facilities.

planck2

High energy particle physics is a core final year subject in experimental physics at UCD. Thermodynamics is a core 3rd year subject in Maths Physics and Experimntal Physics and yes a knowledge of computer programming would be a good thing as well

PrecariousNuts

Oh, I didn't know theoretical physics in maynooth was through an arts degree. I just didn't want everything to count on +- 5 points to decide if I would meet trinitys 515 point requirement. I definately have that course in trinity down as number one but I never even considered UCD for some strange reason... I better recheck. Thanks for the advice!

PrecariousNuts

Was just looking around UCDs website, bit of a pain to be honest and the course does actually seem to be more rounded and broader, which is a good thing. I noticed it has hovered around the 350-450 mark for the past 5 years although it didn't show the 2003 points. B2 in physics should be easy enough and hopefully the same with maths...

Any more insight would be (valuable)/0 to me, thanks for your time.

dudara

TBH honest, to do well in Physics, you need to be A standard in both Maths and Physics.

Woden

don't be put off by the lower points of the TP at UCD. points dropped for TP a few years back due to the introduction of the mathematical science course which may have take potential students for the TP into the MS. just remember the points don't reflect the difficulty of the course just the number of spaces available.

PrecariousNuts

I'm delighted with the lower points as a matter of fact. I hate the fact that I have to rely on subjects like english and german to pull me through, I'm happy enough with 3 A's in my science subjects and a high B in maths. I'm praying to god that they don't suddenly rocket this year.. I should have no problems with the difficulty either, I'm a big fan of physics and while it might not apply to college level stuff, I find this LC course very easy and I am going through another textbook on better stuff myself.

Woden

well if ya fancy checking out the ucd recommended text for first physics its fundamentals of physics by halliday, resnick and walker, 6th edition is the latest.

the first year tp course in ucd is fairly standard i.e. no different from what a 1st science student does. you'll do four subjects in which you'll have choice of one. so you have to do maths, exp physics and maths physics.

planck2 the chap above entered as a typical 1st science student and moved into TP as thats ok as he had all the requirements. planck did chemistry in first year as his fourth subject. Have to say i don't think i'd recommend this even though i'm half a chemist myself. I think that you'd be better off doing computer science, the programming will stand to ya in later courses.

while this stuff above is individual for ucd of course, take from it what ya will

data

planck2

Data is right about the chemistry. I would recommend doing the computer science. Don't be put off by the distance, I know a girl in second year business and legal in ucd from castleknock. Its a bit of journey in the morning, there is nothing more i can say, it's your decision now.

Woden

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts
I'm tempted to put down that UCD course as second now, but I just know getting out there in the mornings will be a serious pain from Castleknock.

castleknock bah thats not too bad you can get the 37x in the morning will be just a one bus jobbie, and then it departs belfied at 16:50, 17:10 and 17:30 i think

you'd make it out of the labs for the last one perhaps . no i don't work for dublin bus but i do get that bus home sometimes, as its typically quicker then the 10.

its all well and good choosing college course based on its location. but don't let it be the deciding factor. if i choose based on location i would have went to trinity (at the time i didn't think i would have got the points and i was told not to do science in tcd by some people that worked there, but i still would have put it down as my first choice if going on location).

choose it based on the course, i'm not saying go to ucd, go to trinity or whatever but base your decision on the course and what not, not the convience of being on the maynooth line

hope you know what your getting yourself in for though all the TP's are weirdo's , even us normal science nerds get to look down upon them. take planck there he's the only one that is half normal. i only hang out with him out of pity

PrecariousNuts

Yeah that joke "What do science students use as a contraceptive?... Their personality" always cracked me up.

Seriously though, you're right about the location thing. I probably will figure something out, but the next problem is the points...

planck2

Some of us aren't that bad data. there are one or two normal people in the class, me included.

Woden

Originally posted by planck2
Some of us aren't that bad data. there are one or two normal people in the class, me included.

its ok planck your not normal but i still love ya

chump

You'd be mad not to study at TCD.

I can't imagine that any other university in ireland has the same standard physics facilities and lecturers as in TCD. Come and have a look around. The physics department is the highest earning research department in the college and has -numerous- top-class lecturers and researchers and they've just thrown up a new building of which the physics dept. will have a floor r 2 on, even though they already have the best facilites on campus.

I'm in the 3rd year EP and I'm not even into physics and I have no doubt that if your a physics nut you couldn't find a better spot...

PrecariousNuts

Yeah I changed the CAO and put it down as number one in TCD and number 2 in UCD

Sev

Well, speaking as a 1st year TP student in TCD, and rapidly approaching my end of year exams, I'd say that I've enjoyed the course so far. I'm in my element as far as im concerned, I cant really picture myself doing anything else. First impressions tho, is that theres a whole lot of maths, although thats what I expected and hoped for. Maths is definitely the major component in the first year anyway. To give you an example, we have 6 end of year exams. 5 of them are maths exams, and we have one physics exam (2 papers). In fact we do the bulk of the first year pure maths course, most of our lectures we sit are with maths students.

In fact, the pure maths students do 6 courses in total, 111 - algebra, 121 - analysis, 131 - "so called" mathematical methods, 141 - mecahnics, 151 - statistics and 161 - numerical anlysis. As TP's we do them all too, bar one of them, statistics, but if youre so inclined, there is apparently nothing stopping you from sitting the 151 lectures too. Of course as TPs, we have the physics courses too. The Physics course that we do is essentially the same Physics course that you would do if you were to do Physics through the TCD general 'Science' degree choosing physics as a choice in your first year. The only thing we do, that Science/Physics students dont in first year is a course on Special Relativity (which is very cool).

This leads to a definite distinction tho to be made in the 1st year course. We dont do a serious of lectures about 'Theoretical Physics', at least not in first year anyway, but we do a whole lot of lectures on 'Maths', and a whole lot of very different lectures on 'Physics'. Laying the ground work I can only assume.

We would sit all the maths lectures with Pure maths students, and TSM students doing Maths + <something else> of course they would know nothing of the alternate life of lectures on physics that we also sit with the general science students (and students doing advance materials).

I must admit tho, that a lot of the first year physics course isnt entirely interesting. For example we do a couple of experiments in the labs that would be on the leaving cert course, eg. the pendulum, convex lens, concave mirror. And a lot of the course material in lectures is repetition of what we've done in the LC physics course (I can only assume, because we sit lectures with science students who have chosen to do physics, and LC physics is not a requirement for them, of course most of them have probably done it.)

But they do teach everything from the ground up.. and thats a promise. The lecturers, especially the maths ones will not introduce any new topics at all, unless theyve strictly proven it, and a serious of proofs that build up to it. Everything's very rigoruous, exact, especially the 121 course and the 111 course. 111, algebra youll find is quite bizarre, a serious change from anything youve done previously, all about group theory, fields, isomorphisms, galois extensions and all this crazy new terminology, concepts and notation youll havnt seen before. You'll find the maths quite difficult indeed, in fact. I really do believe its quite the hardest material I can see anybody to be expected to learn in their first year (in the realm of science anyway).

And the TPs themselves... smart cookies (and lazy cookies too). They're all clever motherukcers, the lot of them, but they play it down. Although you have to expect that if youre going to do a course with such an intimidating title. Also, first weeks of college, you meet a lot of new people, one of the first questions youll always ask or be asked is "so,what course are you doing?" And its always new and interesting.. the reaction.. when you say "Theoretical Physics". The TPs are a pretty sound bunch tho in fairness, nobody is in any way unlikeable, a few of them are quiet, reserved.. you know the like, the smart ones usually are.. then of course a few of them are just so flambouyantly crazy you gotta like em, the rest are pretty normal. I guess you could say I have my circle of non-TP friends.. and then there's the TPs (theyre quite cliquish).

Of course the best thing about doing any course in Trinity is of course.. Trinity. Right, smack, in the centre of town.. and the social life is good. You finish lectures, and just hang around in the pav or sit around in the GMB.. and town is always your oyster. The surroundings are just slick, and im yet to see the clobblestone courtyard in snow.. something I again look forward to this winter.

Anyway, thats 1st year Theoretical Physics ala Trinity. I hope its been enlightening, my work is done. Let us know what you decide on.

Sev

Btw, this is the TCD Maths department prospectus on Theoretical Physics & Maths.
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/official/Prospectus/Prospectus.html

PrecariousNuts

Hey thanks for taking the time to type that one out Sev, it sure sounds interesting. I'm aiming for ~500 points so hopefully I will get the course. What was the cutoff mark this year can you remember?

Is there many people doing the course, or is it a nice small number where you can get to know everyone? I love maths so I will be in heaven it seems.

DS

Anyone know anything about the Physics and Astronomy course in NUIG? (GY312)

Sev

I think the points were something like 480 last year, I dont really know tho. I think theres around 30 or so in the class. You get to know everybody in TP anyway. But in maths lectures there is about 60 (cos we sit them with the maths people). likewise theres about 80+ in the Physics lectures. And it turns out theres actually 2 Physics exams at the end of this year, a Paper 1 and paper 2.. goddamn.

Sev

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention.. of the 30 or so TPs there are (maybe less), there are only 4 girls. But theyre cool (there were 5 to begin with, but one transferred to Science)

Nala

Originally posted by planck2
There are a lot of downsides to Maynooths Theoretical Physics course. First of all you don't do any experimental physics in first or second year, there is no high energy particle physics course, there is no mention of a course in thermodynamics,

No experiments in a Theoretical course. Funny that.
I know people doing the Theoretical Physics w/Maths course in Maynooth and they did do Thermodynamics.

Woden

Originally posted by neev
No experiments in a Theoretical course. Funny that.

Not really i reckon you would be crazy to do any type of theortical course without getting some practical experimental experience in the first couple of years, if only so you can learn how to write a report/journal if nothing else.

M@lice

I'm finishing my 1st year of Theoretical physics & Mathematics in Maynooth.

1st of all everything that planck has said about the degree is completely unfounded!

I have completed my 1st module on thermodynamics & i will have the option of studying it further in 3rd year if i so wish.

I have also completed a module on mathematical computing and will be doing computational physics next year.

As regards it being through arts thats not true either. I have to agree its more like an arts degree being 3 years & being "arts" subjects but you cannot get this degree through arts. Its tow double honours subjects namely double maths and double maths physics whereas the arts degree is 3 subjects & you may only choose 1 double.

What I will say about the course is that pure maths is a much more important element than in in any of the other TP degrees. Now i don't want to get on TCD's case but from what i've heard they don't have a "pure" pure maths department with the emphasis being more on applied maths then on the study of maths purely for the sake of maths. & i doubt that you'll do as much maths in the UCD degree either because their TP degree is more similar to their science degree. Far as i know it would be the maths science degree that would be more comparable to the TP degree we do hear.

As for the the theoretical physics with computer science well i reckon thats more like the science degree. You don't get to do double maths or double maths physics in 1st year so thats thermo gone i'm afraid.

So as far as i'm concerned if maths is more your thing and you also enjoy physics and don't want to separate the two of em till later down the line then the TP degree with maths in Maynooth is the ideal one to choose. If your into computers then the Computer science degree is also good but tbh you might as well do a science degree anywhere and pick your option properly. Shoot you can even do computer science & maths physics through arts here.

The individual attention here is great in this degree as well. There are only 4 of us this year! oh and 1 girl may i add.

As for the lack of labs well it means we only have 18 hrs a week! If your more into the experimental side may i recommend physics with astrophysics. Me i like to concentrate on the maths so the lack of labs has been more of an advantage than a hinderence.

Right now i'm looking forward to topology, group & ring theory next year. I'd be interested to hear to how into algebra the tcd dudes get actually. This year we did number theory & linear algebra. I'd say you do more calculas.

Oh might i add that i got €1000 for studying here as well which was quite a sweetner i must say!

Oh & i get the train from coolmine every morning so i'd be in the same boat as you Nuts.

So if your leaning more towards maths (like i was) Maynooth is probably the best degree the country has to offer IMHO. If its defenitely maths you into i've heard Cork is the best.

& i didn't realise there was such a rivalry thing going on between the ucd degree & the Maynooth degree. All i have to say to that is WE KICKED YOUR ASS IN THE MATHS INTERVARSITIES!!!! But cork were the winners by a large margin

GuanYin

Should have split this long ago.

Data you should know better!

Next time, new thread

dudara

But cork were the winners by a large margin

yeah baby yeah

Sev

Originally posted by M@lice
Now i don't want to get on TCD's case but from what i've heard they don't have a "pure" pure maths department with the emphasis being more on applied maths then on the study of maths purely for the sake of maths

Well.. there is a pure maths course in Trinity. Not Physics, not Theoretical Physics, just plain old 'Maths'. They do 6 courses in their first year, Algebra, Analysis, Math methods (generic maths), Mechanics, Statistics and Numerical Analysis. All I can really tell you is my own experience of studying maths in first year.

As TPs we do all of those courses bar one, statistics. For a 1st year TCD pure maths student, the only course they do that in any way resembles applied maths is 141, Mechanics. Which is basically applied maths. Which as 1st year TPs, is also the only course we do that in any way resembles applied maths. Most of our 1st year lectures are in maths.

Originally posted by M@lice
Right now i'm looking forward to topology, group & ring theory next year. I'd be interested to hear to how into algebra the tcd dudes get actually. This year we did number theory & linear algebra. I'd say you do more calculas.[/B]

Yeah we did a lot of analysis (in 121), fundamentals of calculus and the like, the dreaded epsilon.. limits, convergence series, continuity, open sets, complex numbers, differentiation and riemann integrals etc. ie. a lot of very boring extremely tedious rigorous derivation of the most god awfully obvious and not so obvious. We had a year long course on algebra too (111), which began with peano's axioms and proving that 1+1=2 and we did a lot of group and ring theory ended the year with Galois theory when it all got pretty nasty. And in 131 we did a fair bit of linear algebra, matrices, eigenvectors etc. and other calculussy stuff.. lagrangian this, jacobian that, hessian this. The Mechanics course (141) was all harmonic oscillators, central body motion and angular momentum. And in 161, numerical analysis, was computery, they spent much of the year teaching us C, and how to write programs to solve equations, ie. Newton-Raphson, Euler Method, Runge Kutta...

And thats a quick summary of the maths we did in first year TP.

planck2

I'm not saying anything more, us tps are all in the same boat. By the way, mathsoc in ucd this year was **** because the auditor did nothing, she held no events and any way what are the maths intervarsities a measure of. my friend has never done them and he 's got over 96 for three years in a row and looks likely to do it again

ApeXaviour

I was in your boat near my leaving cert too.. What do I chose.. I love physics so I figured I'd do TP. Got an A in each of the sciences and a B1 in Maths (I'll never 4get that 2002 paper2 grrr...). Same as you reckon youll get.

Anyway yeah I wouldn't go choosing TP unless your really into the maths. It's not so much entirely to do with physics you see IMHO, more of a specialisation in an area of maths and closer to a pure maths course.

University physics is more like LC maths than university maths. The latter is very abstract with a whole lot of well... intangable wingdings. Whereas with the former ya mostly stick to good old numbers, derivations and formulae plus the extra of a whole load of kickass technology.

After talking to people and realising this I switched my choice from TP to the general course in TCD in which I chose physics as one of the three subject choices within it.
As Sev said the physics courses in it are the same bar the odd lecture here and there, hence I know many of the TP's (second year, sorry sev I don't know you .

Anyway don't think we don't get our share of maths either.. 3 courses of it as opposed to the 6 in TP.
Also you said you find LC physics easy. Methinks this maybe why you are wanting to choose TP, for a bit of a challenge neh? Yeah don't worry, you won't be short of a challenge in the TR071 course.

As my third subject I chose chemistry (but geology was also open). And if you do this you find that a lot of it overlaps and it broadens your understanding. The chem gives you a good basis in materials. This is what they want too as TCD physics research is mostly in the Advanced materials and nanoscience (nanorobotics) areas. Of which you could do very of little with TP.
By the way in 3rd year you specialise into one subject (for me Physics or maybe Astrophysics).

My point is: from what I've read of your comments I identify with you a lot and think that honestly you would probably be happier doing natural science and specialising in Physics for your degree.

PS: don't let the points fool you, (430 ish last year as far as I can remember). This is because there are 300 places in the course. And speaking of points this is then a safe bet. I wasn't frettin about not gettin into this course like I was with TP.
Choose wisely...

rainbow kirby

If you're thinking about TP in UCD you'd want to be REALLY dedicated... I'm just finished my 2nd year doing MS, to be honest i kinda regret doing it. Probably because I hate statistics with a passion... First year TP/MS/general science isnt too bad, I did maths, computer science, maths physics and experimental physics (which is a possible set for 1st TP) Maths isnt hard once you learn proofs and keep up with the work, maths physics is fun, the mechanics section is basically LC applied maths plus a little bit (orbit equations and stuff), experimental physics? i don't like labs, but again its not too hard if you work at it. Computer science? I started studying for this 4 days before the exam and i got 86%. 2nd year is the evil bitch from hell though. I just couldnt get my head around most of maths physics. Lagrangians, quantum mechanics, special relativity and some other weird stuff, not helped by lecturers so boring you just want to whip out a game boy and zone out. Statistics (not for TP) - i dont even want to think about the fact that i'm going to have to spend the summer studying this crap. Maths? The analysis courses arent too bad. The 'Introduction to Analysis' course after christmas is a bit tedious, but not too hard. 'Calculus of Several Variables' is the handiest maths course. Vector spaces and group theory were nasty, though I suck at abstract algebra. The number theory section is interesting enough. Hope I havent scared you too much!

ApeXaviour

Yeah Kirby, apart from the analysis and statistics thats much of the maths that we do in the general science course when maths is chosen as one of the three 1st and 2nd year courses.

IDM

Apexaviour, what year are you in at Trinity ? Well what year are going in to, rather ? Just finished my second year in Science. Planning on doing Chemistry next year. I'm the lone American. That should round it down

ApeXaviour

I just did my second year too. Lone american eh? I think I know you. You "were" doing advanced materials right? I'm sorry man I can't for the life of me remember your name... Ask Dave O Dwyer I'm terrible with them name things.
I don't wanna put my own name out but I'll narrow it by I'm the ginger fella who grew a big ginger beard. It was shaved off for the exams though. I think I was talking to you outside the mansion house before one of the chem exams.

btw if I got you wrong I apologise.

Civilian_Target

Just finished my 2nd year in Physics in Queens Uni, Belfast, pretty good and comprehensive course so far.

Almost did Theoretical Physics in Trinity, but changed my mind about 2 weeks before I sat the LC and decided to go to Belfast instead, and its great.

I got the points for TP in Trinity as well, and I was pleased to see that when I turned the course down, the points requirement dropped by 5. Good to know you've helped someone out...

Bullockshaver

Could any 1 here tell me about the Physics& Astrophysics degree in Ucc ? What potential job opportunities are there? Is the maths very difficult in the course? My leaving cert physics will be an A1 for sure but my maths a B2 id say. Is this standard of maths good enough for the course!

dudara

I did the old Physics course in UCC and graduated 2000. The main complaint I had throughout the course was that the maths required for the course was not taught in conjunction throughout. You need vector calculus for instance for electromagnetic theory in 2nd. Yet this wasn't taught until 3rd year by the Applied Maths dept, and even then that was an optional honours unit.

If you do the course, you will need to be decent at maths as it mainly is a theoretical course. The bog-standard maths units taught alongside aren't of much use. But there are some very good extra honours maths and applied maths units that are vry useful.

Bullockshaver

You seem to have avoided the ever important question of are there many job opportunities on completion of the course.

dudara

You do phsyics, you're spectacularily unqualified for any job. But companies like Eircom, mobile operators etc will hire you because of the set of skills you've accquired from studying physics for 4 years. You might never work in physics again but the problem solving and idependance that you acquire are valued.

I got offered jobs from Eircom, Ericcson and Meteor when I graduated. However, I decided to pursue a PhD and and coming near to the end now.

Out of my class of 8, only one went straight into employment for Eircom. The rest of us took up Masters, PhDs and one guy took a HDip.

That's my take on it, any others got something to add?

In promotion of UCC, the department is like a family. When I was an undergrad there was constant support and good craic. all the staff will know your name. Since the astrophysics unit was added on (something that I have no time for, a waste of physics) the number of undergrads has swelled, but it will still be a small department.

IDM

Yeah, you got me, apexaviour. I remember who you are. You were looking for some insight on what might come up on the physics exams, hehe.

Yeah, I was doing AM but have opted to do just Chem instead. You're gonna do Physics, right ?

Bullockshaver

Thanks for the reply but im still unsure between the Physics& Electronic engineering and theres only two days left for the CAO form. I presume that every company of a technical nature has a purely physics person for problem solving. My decision rests on your shoulders( only messing) Ish! With a PhD what opportunities are there?

dudara

Once you get a good degree, post-grad opportunities are pretty open. Your fourth-year project might point you in a direction that you might like to work more in, or it might help you decide that you never want to see it again.

I'm actually doing my postgrad in the electrical engineering department, so I've seen both sides. I've developed a lot of respect for the electrical engineers in UCC as the course is intense and detailed. They learn an awful lot, and the CAO points do not reflect the difficulty of the course. It's a very good degree with good employment prospects again, now that things are picking up.

Personally though, I've never regretted doing physics. It's extremely satisfying and the purest of the sciences. Once you have a degree in Physics, you can honestly say that you've achieved at a high level. But it is not for the faint-heartd.

I can't decide for you, just that both courses are hard, but very rewarding.

ecksor

On that note, I know a guy (my boss actually) who finished the engineering degree (electronics I think, although could have been electrical) in UCC about 15 years ago and he claims it had the highest points in the country at the time because it was known as a degree which didn't limit your career options in any real way and covered an awful lot of good stuff. Whether that has changed much/any since I don't know, but based on dudara's impressions it may not have.

ecksor says: Do a degree you find interesting rather than a degree you think will get you a job.

dudara

the points have dropped dramatically because extra places were made available on the course at the exact time interest dropped. So UCC were left with places that they couldn't fill as no one had applied.

The course is varied and wide-ranging. It's an electrical and electronic degree whic means it covers from the large scale (ie power generation) to the small scale (microelectronics).