Theoretical Physics?

Podge_irl · 09-06-2011 01:20AM

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I believe that this coming year, TPs will be able to choose any sophister maths courses they have the prerequisites for, so in theory you could not do QFT/GR (the 4th year TP maths courses) and instead do pure/statistics/CS maths courses, if you wanted.

They're not really doing theoretical physics though then, are they? It was possible for people in TP in my year to not do GR AND QFT (though I think both should be prerequisites) and one guy even managed to get his TP degree without doing either as he had a broad curriculum course or some other such nonsense.

PurpleFistMixer · 09-06-2011 12:23PM

Podge_irl wrote: »

They're not really doing theoretical physics though then, are they? It was possible for people in TP in my year to not do GR AND QFT (though I think both should be prerequisites) and one guy even managed to get his TP degree without doing either as he had a broad curriculum course or some other such nonsense.

Not really, no. But you can get a degree in Maths while doing almost entirely statistics as well, so who knows any more. Who even knows.

aas · 09-06-2011 01:35PM

I'd think less of a degree if it didn't have some sort of broad curriculum thing really, especially in Maths where it's comparitively easy to teach yourself new material. Are the GR/QFT courses as maths-based as the abstract algebra ones or would you be required to have some interest in physics to enjoy them?

Justin1982 · 09-06-2011 03:30PM

aas wrote: »

I'd think less of a degree if it didn't have some sort of broad curriculum thing really, especially in Maths where it's comparitively easy to teach yourself new material. Are the GR/QFT courses as maths-based as the abstract algebra ones or would you be required to have some interest in physics to enjoy them?

Any of the TP courses like GR and QFT given by the maths department are very maths based. You spend a large amount of time just doing the foundational maths like tensor algebra before you even begin to look at GR or QFT. QFT is a damn tough subject. Try teaching yourself the subject using just one or two of the top text books and you'll get bogged down pretty quickly. Same with GR I think. GR seemed a lot easier to learn from the lectures than from some of the books.
I think there would have to be something wrong with a person if they didnt enjoy GR and QFT. When you finally work through all the maths and equations and end up with things like Einsteins Field Equation and Feynmans diagrams you'll get quiet a kick from it.

Justin1982 · 09-06-2011 03:44PM

I_ate_pizza wrote: »

Because I've been trying for years now.
In maths those mistakes aren't as bad. they usualle cost me an A though..
and occasionally I tend to misread something really important which messes up most of my exam..

I was really trying to improve this as this was the last thing I wanted in my finals to happen, so I did my very best to stay calm write carefully and neatly.
But once again it didn't help.

I understand that everyone does silly mistakes to some extent but this is just not normal anymore, it can't be that I end up going the right road calculate + instead of a - and that for about 40 times, I ended up scaling from 0.2 - 0.4 - 0.6 - 1 ...
It really annoyed me and I felt like crying looking at my paper especially because the whole thing cost me alot for my overall grade..

And my teacher telling me that I might want to rethink my future plans is prette demotivational

Dont question your ability. **** the Teacher. If you honestly want to do TP in Trinity then put it down as your first choice. If your good enough to get the grades to be acccepted for the course then your good enough to do the course if you put some work in.
Dont worry about mistakes and clottyness. The smartest guy I ever met while doing TP was the most clotty idiot I ever met and I dont know how the hell he graded so well with so little effort cos his work looked as messy and error ridden as can be imagined.
The only thing that I would warn people about when thinking about TP is just to be sure you want to do it. And to do it for 4 years! If your constantly distracted by other things then you might not make it or if you loose interest easily then thats not going to help either.
You have to do some programing, a lot of pure maths, some TP maths and some experimental physics courses. There is no shocks after that.

aas · 09-06-2011 03:49PM

Justin1982 wrote: »

Any of the TP courses like GR and QFT given by the maths department are very maths based. You spend a large amount of time just doing the foundational maths like tensor algebra before you even begin to look at GR or QFT. QFT is a damn tough subject. Try teaching yourself the subject using just one or two of the top text books and you'll get bogged down pretty quickly. Same with GR I think. GR seemed a lot easier to learn from the lectures than from some of the books.
I think there would have to be something wrong with a person if they didnt enjoy GR and QFT. When you finally work through all the maths and equations and end up with things like Einsteins Field Equation and Feynmans diagrams you'll get quiet a kick from it.

Yeah sorry, I should have put a paragraph between my two sentences. BC is offered in second and third year for maths students; in second year you take it instead of things like Advanced Stats II and in third the Hillary term options are fairly restricted without it. And thanks for the information!

mr_brightside · 20-06-2011 10:25PM

Justin1982 wrote: »

So I'm now working in a finance job that I hate but I wouldnt change a thing about the 4 years in TP.

You'll probably turn into a bit of a nerd and possibly become very anti social as a result of this course. Most of the people I studied with in TP were a bit like that anyway.

You had me right up untill this... I've Theoretical Physics down myself but have a few questions/concerns.

Has anyone done this course in Maynooth? What's the difference with Maynooth and Trinity, which is 'better'? People are talking about transferring from TP to maths in Trinity, that presumably applies in Maynooth as well?

I suppose what I'm most worried about, on a purely shallow level, is what sort of people I'll be spending the next three years with... While I know that maths people aren't automatically nerds who aren't any fun, can't help but think that they won't be as much fun as the desired college experience... somebody please tell me I'm very wrong...

Another concern, as somebody said here, is that the job options aren't great. what exactly can you do with a TP degree? Without going into finance say. Everyone says research, but what exactly is that like? The way I see it you can teach maths/applied maths/physics, or go into finance, anyone help me on this either?

As you can see I could do with a bit of help here.. answers to any or all of these questions would be much, much appreciated

EuropeanSon · 20-06-2011 11:31PM

mr_brightside wrote: »

You had me right up untill this... I've Theoretical Physics down myself but have a few questions/concerns.

Has anyone done this course in Maynooth? What's the difference with Maynooth and Trinity, which is 'better'? People are talking about transferring from TP to maths in Trinity, that presumably applies in Maynooth as well?

I suppose what I'm most worried about, on a purely shallow level, is what sort of people I'll be spending the next three years with... While I know that maths people aren't automatically nerds who aren't any fun, can't help but think that they won't be as much fun as the desired college experience... somebody please tell me I'm very wrong...

Sorry, no can do. There are a high proportion of people who don't interact with humans in our class (JF Maths). Besides that 30% or so though, everybody else is pretty normal. Plus, you won't really be spending all your time with them anyway. I spent far more time with the Hist and Trinity Hall people this year than with Maths people.
That said, TPs are orders of magnitude more nerdy than Maths. :P

Another concern, as somebody said here, is that the job options aren't great. what exactly can you do with a TP degree? Without going into finance say. Everyone says research, but what exactly is that like? The way I see it you can teach maths/applied maths/physics, or go into finance, anyone help me on this either?

As you can see I could do with a bit of help here.. answers to any or all of these questions would be much, much appreciated

Only Medicine has a higher graduate employment rate than TP. As Aoibheann said, meteorology is one example, as is any career path that involves good insight and analysis etc. Employers love Maths/TP students for these reasons. there are also computing related things.
Research is generally limited to the very good, as far as I've seen.

Edit: Trinity is better. I imagine the course contents are similar, but TCD's reputation adds a lot of value, especially as we are now in the world top 20 for Mathematics.

Maybe_Memories · 21-06-2011 12:27AM

EuropeanSon wrote: »

There are a high proportion of people who don't interact with humans in our class (JF Maths).

Really? Only one person comes to mind for me

EuropeanSon · 21-06-2011 12:13PM

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

Really? Only one person comes to mind for me

That's because you haven't been in class enough to notice the others.

PurpleFistMixer · 21-06-2011 12:52PM

EuropeanSon wrote: »

That said, TPs are orders of magnitude more nerdy than Maths. :P

In only the best of ways.

Also there are plenty of normal TPs.

I was mildly apprehensive about picking maths/TP because I was a bit worried about what sort of people might also be doing it (in retrospect this is a ridiculous concern, given I am probably one of the nerdiest people in my year). Then I realised that I was the sort of person who might be doing it, and that everyone else might also be thinking the same thing. So it'll be grand.

Also, there are far more prospects than teaching/finance, as people have already said. Research is stuff like working in a university (which likely involves incidental lecturing etc.), or a dedicated research institution (ie CERN, DIAS, blah), or for industry (ie Intel, anything that uses physics or maths).

mr_brightside · 21-06-2011 02:29PM

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Edit: Trinity is better. I imagine the course contents are similar, but TCD's reputation adds a lot of value, especially as we are now in the world top 20 for Mathematics.

Yeah but isn't there supposed to be more to college than the course, the lifestyle and whatnot, seemingly the craic'd be better in Maynooth? also Maynooth'd be way cheaper and even gives a grant if you get over 500 in the leaving, which is a big factor nowadays..

Justin1982 · 21-06-2011 05:36PM

mr_brightside wrote: »

You had me right up untill this... I've Theoretical Physics down myself but have a few questions/concerns.

Has anyone done this course in Maynooth? What's the difference with Maynooth and Trinity, which is 'better'? People are talking about transferring from TP to maths in Trinity, that presumably applies in Maynooth as well?

I suppose what I'm most worried about, on a purely shallow level, is what sort of people I'll be spending the next three years with... While I know that maths people aren't automatically nerds who aren't any fun, can't help but think that they won't be as much fun as the desired college experience... somebody please tell me I'm very wrong...

Another concern, as somebody said here, is that the job options aren't great. what exactly can you do with a TP degree? Without going into finance say. Everyone says research, but what exactly is that like? The way I see it you can teach maths/applied maths/physics, or go into finance, anyone help me on this either?

As you can see I could do with a bit of help here.. answers to any or all of these questions would be much, much appreciated

Dont mind me, there is a lot of very normal people in TP and Maths at the start. I think they usually drop off in years one and two. I definitely met some of the most interesting people when doing TP but I wouldnt consider them to be the cliched normal types. If your sociable at all then you'll definitely meet best friends for life in TP but I did find that the class broke up into groups very quickly and after that the groups didnt mix really. Just dont be expecting too many nut job alcoholic party animals. That usually follows after you graduate

Jobs wise, TP/Maths looks like the least attractive when considering prospective careers afterwards but the reality is far different even during the current recession. Your going to end up having a particular set of useless skills which actually make you very attractive to employers. Hedge funds, Banks, Telecoms, Administration companies, blah blah blah...... all will straight away take a good look at your CV if you have a maths/tp degree.
A lot go into further study to enable to get higher end graduate jobs or just into research if you have a decent degree at the end.
The only thing that TP's are usually weak on at the end of a degree is the interpersonal skills end of things. Thats more personality side of things but seen as TP doesnt really focus on developing that side of the graduate, it can be a flaw when looking for a job.
TP in Maynooth is a well below TP in Trinity. A maynooth TP degree counts for the same as TP in Trinity but as for course content and difficulty, 3rd year TP in Trinity is at the same level as a graduate of TP in Maynooth. Take a look at the Maynooth course content. There is a large range of courses given in Trinity that arent given in Maynooth, professors are more reputable in their fields in Trinity and they seem to give harder courses as a result. Plus from trying to do a Masters in Maynooth in Maths department, I never met such a bunch of wallies. You'd swear they didnt want students in there in the first place

Very badly organized. My friend did a masters in physics department and he said the same. Its way too laid back in there. Although that might suit certain students who have no interest in doing really specialized high end courses like QFT in year 4.

EuropeanSon · 21-06-2011 06:00PM

mr_brightside wrote: »

Yeah but isn't there supposed to be more to college than the course, the lifestyle and whatnot, seemingly the craic'd be better in Maynooth? also Maynooth'd be way cheaper and even gives a grant if you get over 500 in the leaving, which is a big factor nowadays..

Trinity has a much better and more varied student life than Maynooth, I'd imagine. There's all the alcohol fuelled mayhem you could want, you don't have to look for it, this is college, there'll be phenomenal craic wherever you go. There are also more societies, more sports teams, better facilities, more students, more amenities (being in Dublin)... etc. Name it, and Trinity probably has more of it.

Maybe_Memories · 21-06-2011 07:34PM

Let's not forget the most important point of all...

Trinity has Pete and Colm O'Dunlaing

mr_brightside · 22-06-2011 01:50PM

On a related note, does anyone know if Theoretical Physics is a course on it's own in UCD, ie not through science... I didn't come across it when i was originally applying but it seems to be there, can anyone clarify this?

22-06-2011 01:53PM

mr_brightside wrote: »

Yeah but isn't there supposed to be more to college than the course, the lifestyle and whatnot, seemingly the craic'd be better in Maynooth? also Maynooth'd be way cheaper and even gives a grant if you get over 500 in the leaving, which is a big factor nowadays..

Maynooth has an open door policy and I found the staff much friendlier and more helpful

Fad · 22-06-2011 04:45PM

mr_brightside wrote: »

On a related note, does anyone know if Theoretical Physics is a course on it's own in UCD, ie not through science... I didn't come across it when i was originally applying but it seems to be there, can anyone clarify this?

UCD has no denominated science courses anymore, recent were gotten rid of (No idea why....)

EuropeanSon · 22-06-2011 05:47PM

Fad wrote: »

UCD has no denominated science courses anymore, recent were gotten rid of (No idea why....)

TP is a B.A as far as I know.

Fad · 22-06-2011 08:52PM

EuropeanSon wrote: »

TP is a B.A as far as I know.

In UCD? No.

TP is done through science, you can do mathematical physics and maths as BA arts subjects (MathPhys might have been gotten rid of, not entirely sure), but I'm almost 100% certain the TP is a B.Sc

EuropeanSon · 22-06-2011 11:22PM

Fad wrote: »

In UCD? No.

TP is done through science, you can do mathematical physics and maths as BA arts subjects (MathPhys might have been gotten rid of, not entirely sure), but I'm almost 100% certain the TP is a B.Sc

Oh I've no idea about UCD, I meant in Trinity.

Aoibheann · 23-06-2011 12:04AM

bluewolf wrote: »

Maynooth has an open door policy and I found the staff much friendlier and more helpful

Than Trinity? I have to say, I've found the lecturers (and the rest of the staff in the maths dept) to be extremely helpful. Sure, the answers you get are a bit vague on occasion (I find many mathematicians to be rather vague :pac:), but some of the staff have gone out of their way to help myself and my fellow classmates on a regular basis. When I was researching the course (TP at the time) prior to beginning, I had the chance to meet one of the lecturers to discuss it and that was invaluable! When I was considering transferring from TP to Maths (which I eventually went through with), a couple of lecturers chatted with me about my options, why I was considering switching, so I knew at the end that I'd made the right decision. I've known a few lecturers to spend several hours explaining material to students outside of class.

Oops, went on a bit of a rant there, I just think the staff here are generally pretty great.

Oh, and the TP degree from Trinity is indeed a BA, whereas it's a BSc in UCD. It's much of a muchness though, tradition on Trinity's part etc etc..

Podge_irl · 25-06-2011 07:04PM

Maynooth and Trinity undoubtedly both have their plus and minus points. I had a friend in Maynooth doing TP and the stuff he was doing in first year was at a similar enough level to what I was doing at the time.

However, unless things have changed, Maynooth don't give courses in QFT and GR which are both fairly vital to being a theoretical physicist.

luciemc · 26-06-2011 01:39AM

Just read through this thread, going away on Tuesday so have to make a decision in the next day or two and I am so so confused.

I love maths and I love physics. I am pretty sure I would love TP equally.. Haven't had any problems with physics, maths or applied maths for Leaving Cert and I know they are no real reflection of my ability but I don't have anything else to go by:(

The problem is that I know I don't want a job directly related to physics.. I'm not some physics genius and I don't see myself doing research for the rest of my life. I've read some basic books on quantum mechanics and the likes and I know I wouldn't be able to hack the feeling of insignificance I get after reading them ...or watching documentaries.. (I'm a bit of a secret nerd)

I know that TP can lead to a job in finance and switching to maths after two years seems like a nice idea too... But I kind of feel that something along the lines of Maths and Economics would be a better option? Getting straight into what I want to do for the rest of my life? I didn't do economics for the leaving but a few of my friends have said it's not too difficult and that I'd catch up no problem. Is this true or would I be at a disadvantage? I am interested in economics to a certain extent but I highly doubt I'd enjoy it as much as I would physics. I'd hope to specialise in maths in my fourth year. Physics would then just be a hobby I suppose?

I'm ranting... PLEASE HELP?

Oh and also, is there any way of studying either French or Spanish on the side? I haven't heard of anyone doing this but I'm pretty sure it's possible in UCD? I'll try keep one up myself anyway but it'd be nice if I could.. Sorry for all these questions and I hope I'm asking them in the right place.. Any help would be much appreciated!

Podge_irl · 26-06-2011 03:28AM

You won't be at any major disadvantage in the finance/economics field of things with a TP/Maths degree over a Maths/Econ TSM. Depending on the job, the principles of economics can be learned, but a mathematical aptitude is something that is intrinsic and something employers look for.

There are courses in all the major languages in Trinity that you can do and they can actually end up adding up to 5% to your marks in first year. I started off in the French one though didn't particularly enjoy it so left it. They tend to be very popular to begin with so it's important to express your interest early on.

martin18 · 04-11-2024 12:09PM

Hello, I'm aware that this is an ancient thread but it is by far the most helpful one addressing Theoretical Physics, so I hope it's okay to post my question here.

I'm looking at TP in Trinity as my first choice. How strongly should I be considering UCD in this field? I'd definitely need accommodation to go to UCD, whereas I can get to TCD on the train pretty easily. Maynooth is even better - within cycling distance - but not sure about the relative reputations of the three universities in the field.

Would appreciate feedback from anyone with an idea about this. Thanks a million.

Theoretical Physics?

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