New & Prospective Students

The physics major contains four emphases: 

• Engineering and Industry Emphasis
• Education Emphasis
• Graduate School Emphasis

Helpful Documents:

• Advice on planning out your four year course schedule
• Class Planning Spreadsheets: Starting in the Fall of an EVEN numbered year, Starting in the Fall of an ODD numbered year.
• Priority of classes pertaining to the requirements of the Physics Major

Why Study Physics?

The following chart from the American Institute of Physics provides a more detailed representation of the career options available to students majoring in physics.

In addition, please see the American Physical Society Why Study Physics page. 

As the career poster shows, the discipline of physics teaches skills and ways of thinking that are valuable in many professions, including, but not limited to, traditional physics.  In a technologically complex and rapidly changing world, it is especially important to have the kind of broad, flexible education that a physics major or minor provides.  In addition, physics is an interesting field!  Physics deals with questions ranging from the formation of galaxies to the mechanical properties of DNA.  As part of their education, physics students learn to:

• • Develop analytical and quantitative reasoning skills, and apply mathematical techniques to a wide range of problems

• • Use computers for calculation, graphing, modeling, designing, and problem solving

• • Design experiments and use many different types of instruments, including electronic and computer-controlled instruments, to gather data

• • Interpret and analyze complex experimental data

• • Work with, and help to develop, new technologies

• • Evaluate answers before trusting them

• • Develop and strengthen communication skills