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Maths and Theoretical Physics Course Thread TR031 TR035
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Hey, ive just done first year of TP and i felt i struggled a bit but i got a decent mark in the exams, does the course get any worse as you go on or is it managable, im thinking of switching to science and i want to get as much info as possible!
Any reply would be very helpful!
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Hey, ive just done first year of TP and i felt i struggled a bit but i got a decent mark in the exams, does the course get any worse as you go on or is it managable, im thinking of switching to science and i want to get as much info as possible!
Any reply would be very helpful!
TP gets significantly harder in 2nd year, if you're not prepared to put significantly more work than you did in first year, either change course, or be prepared to fail a few subjects.
I don't mean that in a dickish way, but just to prepare you for what's ahead. I put in an amount of work commensurate to what I did in first year, and I have several repeats now (going into 3rd year TP).0 -
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I remember being taken aback by how hard TP was when I was in first year. It might just be a general "going from school to college" sort of thing, though. College was the first time I'd ever had to study really, so that was a bit of a struggle. I continued having to study for the rest of the degree, but I can't really hold that against it (in fact it is probably a good thing) and it never became unmanageable or anything. Not sure if that was the source of your difficulties though, so maybe this is no good to you.Hey, ive just done first year of TP and i felt i struggled a bit but i got a decent mark in the exams, does the course get any worse as you go on or is it managable, im thinking of switching to science and i want to get as much info as possible!
Any reply would be very helpful!
Anyway, re: the difficulty: it does get harder each year, but any course should theoretically do that. In retrospect (just finished 4th year TP here) I think the jump from 2nd to 3rd year was the worst, but that's mostly because the physics suddenly got harder (also more interesting!). There are some pretty tricky courses in 2nd year maths (Advanced Mechanics in particular) but they are ultimately doable if you put the work in. I guess it's up to yourself though. If you're interested in and passionate about the subject, difficulty shouldn't be such a big deterrent (especially considering you said you did well in first year) imo, but TP to Physics isn't that big a jump content-wise anyway (just much less maths, but prospects afterwards are probably similar enough).0 -
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PurpleFistMixer wrote: »
I remember being taken aback by how hard TP was when I was in first year. It might just be a general "going from school to college" sort of thing, though. College was the first time I'd ever had to study really, so that was a bit of a struggle. I continued having to study for the rest of the degree, but I can't really hold that against it (in fact it is probably a good thing) and it never became unmanageable or anything. Not sure if that was the source of your difficulties though, so maybe this is no good to you.Hey, ive just done first year of TP and i felt i struggled a bit but i got a decent mark in the exams, does the course get any worse as you go on or is it managable, im thinking of switching to science and i want to get as much info as possible!
Any reply would be very helpful!
Anyway, re: the difficulty: it does get harder each year, but any course should theoretically do that. In retrospect (just finished 4th year TP here) I think the jump from 2nd to 3rd year was the worst, but that's mostly because the physics suddenly got harder (also more interesting!). There are some pretty tricky courses in 2nd year maths (Advanced Mechanics in particular) but they are ultimately doable if you put the work in. I guess it's up to yourself though. If you're interested in and passionate about the subject, difficulty shouldn't be such a big deterrent (especially considering you said you did well in first year) imo, but TP to Physics isn't that big a jump content-wise anyway (just much less maths, but prospects afterwards are probably similar enough).
Exactly an answer i was looking for! i think ill try stick at it, being able to do the maths from TP might be more useful after college rather trying to learn it all then!
Seeing as your finishing what sort of thing are you looking to do, keep studying or go look for a job, i keep getting asked what will i do after and i kinda want to see what sort of options i have! 0 -
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Currently I'm headed for more academia - I'm going to do a masters in maths in Cambridge for a year. This is a somewhat popular choice for TPs (there will be 3 from my class doing it) so perhaps unsurprising. There are a fair few continuing in academia, doing PhDs in TCD or masters elsewhere etc., largely in physics. Off the top of my head, I know someone is doing a masters in biomedical engineering and a few are doing a high performance computing masters, so it's not all pure physics or anything. Re: non-academia, someone else from my class is working in SIG now and I'm sure there are others doing similar-ish things, but that's all I know. Asking "what are you doing next year?" in fourth year is often not a good idea so I didn't poll my class on this.Seeing as your finishing what sort of thing are you looking to do, keep studying or go look for a job, i keep getting asked what will i do after and i kinda want to see what sort of options i have!
To be honest, regarding post-college prospects I feel that TP has it better than experimental physics. Unless you want to go into very experimental physics or want the added experience in some specific field of the larger final year project that EPs do, I think TP gives most of the same physics-based opportunities that EP does, but also maths-based ones as well. That said, a lot of PhD programs etc. I've been looking at just ask for a degree in "physics, engineering, maths, or related disciplines" or whatnot, so the difference between TP and EP is really incredibly marginal unless you want to go into something very mathsy. In fact I'd say the difference is so small that your biggest concern should be "which one of these courses will I enjoy more?", if it wasn't already. : P0 -
Seeing as your finishing what sort of thing are you looking to do, keep studying or go look for a job, i keep getting asked what will i do after and i kinda want to see what sort of options i have!
Well I started in TP, and switched to Maths after second year, and I'm working as a trainee actuary in Irish Life now. As Purplefistmixer said above there's people in finance and similar, not just from the Maths side but from TP too, it certainly keeps your options open. Another lad I know who did TP in Maynooth is also doing actuary now, and there's plenty of trading, trading analyst, risk analyst etc etc going for TP grads and the likes, on top of the more academic/sciency route.
So it definitely keeps your options open, there's very little you can't do with TP/maths0 -
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