Elective Courses

The Graduate Curriculum changed as adopted by the faculty in May 2005. The new requirements changed the 2004/05 class. Students who entered before Fall 2004 will be allowed to fulfil their requirements using either this new Graduate Curriculum below or the old Graduate Curriculum.

In addition to the core curriculum, the Department of Physics requires Ph.D. students to complete a distribution of intermediate and advanced graduate courses. The role of the distribution courses is to ensure that even as students specialize in a particular subfield, they also develop a familiarity with other fields of physics, providing a broader understanding of our discipline.

The selection of courses must meet the following two conditions:

  1. At least three graduate courses in physics or allied fields approved by the student's advisor;

  2. At least two graduate physics courses not in the student's primary area of research.

A course may serve to satisfy both conditions. Students are encouraged to exceed the minimum requirements when possible. These rules are intended to make explicit the philosophy of the advanced graduate course of study. The DGS is ultimately responsible for enforcing these rules.

Students currently taking courses, and having started in 2003/04 or before, will be allowed to fulfil their distribution requirements using either this system or the old system.

Note: n graduate courses really means 3n units and "graduate" means 2xx or 3xx courses, although some 2xx courses are not graduate courses (ask the DGS).

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