@@AndrewDotsonvideos Maybe that is true, somr corner cases... TBH, US academic system is very confusing to me. At least Your videos give me some glimpse into its (from my POV) peculiarities. Thanks, and keep on great work!
I have an 11 year old daughter. She loves math and science, and a few days ago she ran home from the bus top to excitedly explain the pendulum experiments they did at school. Her room always looks like a train wreck. I would be very proud if she follows a path similar to your son’s.
@@stt5v2002 I am very proud of him for sure. My kids have exceeded all expectations a parent might have for their children. So glad to hear your daughter already has a love for the sciences. Sounds to me like she’s gonna go far! ~ Andrew’s Mom 💕
PhD student in Cyprus here (UCY). The system here is very similar to the US due to most of our faculty being people who got their PhD or have worked at some point in the US. You can either go for Master's or go straight to PhD to avoid having to complete a pointless (for PhD students) thesis in the middle for your Master's, but otherwise both will take courses for the first 2 years or more, with PhD students taking on more courses for extra specialization. TAs, qualifying and comprehensive exam as well as funding all work very similarly. Here's how the system here differs though: 1) Tuition fees are very low and they will be paid for by the department due to the number of Physics PhD students being very small. If you get a partial scholarship (meaning it will simply cover your tuition fees), then this will simply help your department by not burdening it further with your tuition costs. 2) To incentivize putting effort into courses full time and doing research, PhD students who have no full-time job will be given some considerable financial "aid" every semester. 3) TAs are assigned based on 3 criteria: (a) Whether you are a PhD/full-time gradstudent or Master's/part-time gradstudent, (b) performance in courses during undergrad and as a TA in gradschool and (c) scholarships. (a) means simply that PhD full-time gradstudents get the maximum of 2 courses to work as a TA on, while others get only 1 and this also affects the type of courses too, with the former generally being assigned "Physics proper" classes, while the latter get assigned Physics courses taught to students of other departments. (b) means that you will most likely teach a course you have done well as an undergrad and/or have taken before and did a good job with as a TA. This means theoretical physicists rarely get any lab courses as TAs and usually just teach an hour per week for each course, solving problems that the professors give them. (c) refers to how you get paid by the uni for your TA work. If you perform well *as a gradstudent* then you get more "scholarships" from within the uni and this translates to your monthly pay as a TA. For example, as a PhD student I get a "full scholarship" and a "partial scholarship", so I teach 2 courses and get paid technically higher for one compared to the other. 4) TAs are not allowed to grade exams or projects, just homework and labwork. Many professors do not have homeworks though, so it does make being a TA much more palatable. 5) Research does not happen necessarily by being assigned specific tasks or calculation by your advisor. Rather, when they feel you can contribute, they will give you papers they are studying on so you study as well, then you work it out to get up-to-date with recent research in the field. Then they will simply bring you on-board with what they're doing that is relevant to your field of interest and you can do some pretty serious work for a gradstudent. If there is something too advanced, they simply take it on on their own until you reach a level of comprehension for them to feel comfortable assigning you workload. 6) TA work does not stop at all at any point during gradschool unless you willingly do not apply for a TA job for a certain semester. 7) The comprehensive exam was changed in the last few years from a giant written exam on the entirety of the curriculum from undergrad and gradschool to a presentation before a committee of 4 professors (your advisors, 2 professors from similar fields and 1 from a different field) about your research topic, what you intent on studying, your physics understanding and overall how well you "get" principles and research philosophy. You will also submit a written text of what you presented so that it gets examined. It basically functions as a toned-down/alpha version of the PhD thesis defense you will take at the end of your PhD research and write-up. 8) Finally, the courses you take as a gradstudent are done somewhat similarly to undergrad. There is a core of courses you must take and then you take a certain number of "specialization courses" for your field, plus a mandatory out-of-field course. Your advisor will not force you into any course, but he will obviously make suggestions. For example, mine strongly suggested (and I wanted to take it anyway) grad-level Group Theory.
I'm doing a masters degree in germany and here "graduate student" means PHD and Masters. Masters is supposed to take 2 years and the exact definition of what is needed differs from university to university. At my university I have pretty much only elective courses, apart from one lab. The first year is basically spend collecting all the courses you want to do while the second is formally only for research for the master thesis. After you got a Master you can do a Phd but the phd positions are not always easy to find since you are treated as a researcher and paid for that. You also have to do the phd thesis while working as a teaching assistent and researcher in the research group of your professor.
After you get your Master's degree, how long does it take to get the PHD? I suppose it depends on how long you need to finish your thesis. Are your able to support yourself purely being paid as researcher? Rent in Germany can be brutal. Sorry if I am asking so many questions, I am just not sure what I want to study and if Physics or generally a Phd is the right choice for me.
@@Alan-hk8cl I'm from Portugal but things are pretty much the same in EU. The PhD is usually 2/3 years, and you usually (but not always) are funded, totally or partially, depending on the university/thesis project.
@@Alan-hk8cl the average is about 3 years, but I‘ve heard of people that did it in one year and others who did it in over 6 years. For me personally I‘m lucky enough that my parents can support me and I‘m still able to live with them so that I can save money. About the pay for the PHD positions: I know some PHD students and none of them complained that they couldn‘t support themself and I study in the City with the second highest rent in germany. The big plus is that you don‘t have to pay for the PHD, you get paid (not that the cost of german universities is bad, it‘s about 800€ per year)
So I'm doing a PhD in the UK, and for us the course is much more compact and research oriented. That means that there often aren't any core classes because it's assumed that you covered it in prior degrees. Any classes that I did take were optional, but my supervisor advises that I take certain modules to make sure I've been exposed to a wider range of approaches. Most of the work you do is self motivated learning without the support of a taught module with a heavy focus on where your research is going, so your first year is largely creating a literature review. As far as exams go, some universities have a first year exams, but a lot don't do exams for PhD levels, but there is a mini thesis each year to track your progress, and then of course the main thesis in the final year with a defence of that thesis (viva). The long and short of it is that any learning you do is to directly support your research, with little scope for other material. As far as funding goes, for physics at least, there are funding councils who pay university fees and give you a stipend of around £15,000 to cover any expenses you might have.
Andrew, this is SO good! As a second-year I wish I had this 1.5 years ago. I’ll only add, from an experimental perspective, people always say your PhD WILL be longer for exp. physics vs. theory. I think that’s a misconception based on a loose average, and you should push yourself to finish in a timeline that works for YOU, whether it take more or less time than your peers.
I'm a first year master's student in Munich (Germany) and it's very different, we don't have a research advisor, we're only supposed to take classes until we find a subject for our master thesis and then we have to go ask professors to find someone to direct our thesis work, only PhD students can be TAs or RAs and get funding, it doesn't feel like research too much until the PhD
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who thought the first year in grad school sucked! And I’m also with you on writing up homeworks in LaTeX, useful for studying and helping you explain in words how you solved certain problems :)
Thanks for making this video, it was super helpful and informative! I am currently finishing up my undergrad and have been accepted to several grad schools that I need to choose from. This video helped me to get a sense of what my first years should be like and what to look for in those programs.
Waiting to hear back from grad schools, heard back from 5 but was only waitlisted at 2. Been watching Andrew since 2017 when I was a freshman and hope I'll get to be a grad student like him one day!
Latex gang represent 🔥 30 hours of hmwk minimum here too. Me and Juan still managed to barely scrape by with B's working pretty damn hard first year. Slacked off the second year in EM B by 40% and still managed to get a B 😑😑
I think a video on how funding works would be cool, and how much of what I spent is coming from my own pockets, excluding assistanships and scholarships.
I usually only watch your sketches. But like, as someone starting a phd in chemical physics next year and having no idea what to expect I actually needed this.
As a senior in undergrad physics who is currently waiting on grad school responses (and fellow brute-force homeworker), I REALLY appreciate this video. I like how it addresses some of the questions I’ve had that I haven’t gotten answered yet either.
@Vansh Antriksh dont worry mate, just remember to take up a subject you ENJOY studying otherwise you will lose interest and give up before you even do your best.
I feel the same way except I've already got a Bachelors and in an Engineering job I want to get out of. Feels like time is running out to change course.
Super interesting video. Senior math major here taking algebra, graph theory and programing and I find your channel really cool cause it’s orthogonal (math joke, ha) to what I do kinda. I think physics ppl are so smart cause i don’t know how you handle labs on top of math, I couldn’t. Keep it up
thank you, Andrew! this year I start my Ph.D. in the US. I'm from Chile, so this was useful. I did a master's in my country and things are pretty much the same (also Ph.D.'s).
I'm sorry I tried to be first Edit: Also thanks cos I like these kind of videos Second edit: I asked this question previously because I want to go to MIT or Caltech to get a PhD in physics, and you have helped a lot to explain more about this. Thanks!
I'm a senior studying physics, astronomy, and math at Indiana University. Last semester I applied to 16 programs because I see no future where I do not research astronomy. I have only heard back from 3 so far but, today, I got my first acceptance! I am just so excited to finally know that I get to continue learning!
In Brazil we learn almost everything in undergrad like solid state physics, fluid mechanics , thermodynamics, 3 courses in QM, relativity Special and general. That's why it takes a little more than other places. There is no "Gradschool" here, you go to masters almost always (except if you do a really good internship in undergrad and you're ready to do research at Phd, but it's rare). In masters you learn QFT and more QM and a more difficult version of eletrodymanics( like jackson and beyond), but you're doing research already. Phd is composed of specific classes and is more focused in you doing your own research. I don't know about other places but we don't sleep much with this routine.
I'm a bit late to the party but great video! I'll chime in as a 2nd year PhD student from Canada. Courses: Most programs here (in Ontario) will have you enter the program as a masters student as a first step. You'll have around 4 courses total to complete. The MSc is usually 2 years but if you complete all of your courses in the first year and your supervisor allows it, you can transfer to a PhD after your first year. Once you are in your PhD you are expected to take around two more courses. Direct enter PhD programs are somewhat rare here and your masters is sort of your "trial period." Funding: Unless you are taking a course based Masters, your funding here is guaranteed. When they send you an offer letter it outlines how much your supervisor will pay you every year and how much teaching assistant work you will get. The minimum is standardized but there are national and provincial level scholarships you can apply for that can be quite competitive, especially for theory students. Unless your supervisor has a lot of excess funding to "buy you out" of your TA, you will TA every semester you are here as a graduate student. Workload: I think those estimates are fair for your years in your MSc. It's less classes but the profs gave really hard assignments sometimes. Grades: At least at McMaster they (more senior grad students) say you fail a class if you get below a B+. Then its up to the prof how they distribute marks from B+ to A+. Qualifying Exams: Each university here is different but I believe we only have comprehensive exams. Here at Mac, you get assigned 3 to 4 books in your area (not necessarily things you took in courses). This happens in your second year of your PhD (just recently passed!). Research: I liked your message here. When you come in, everyone feels pressure to get started on research. But research is super overwhelming at the beginning. Papers are hard to read, your problems are a bit foreign (unless you did an undergrad project in it) and your course load gets in the way of diving into it. So it's all pretty much the same here. The one thing that is unfortunate here is that your funding is determined by your supervisor, so it is rare to switch supervisors here, and you are locked into your research field most of the time. The time to switch is after your MSc, but it doesn't seem as flexible as your describe.
Love your videos as always! I have a question: Would you say that you can have the same level of comfort in speaking with your professor in undergrad compared to grad school? I've heard that professors in undergrad are usually more strict because classes are usually bigger, they see thousands of students every year, etc., and instead in grad school, you can speak more freely to your professor. Is this true?
In Croatia we have 3+2 years (bachelors or masters), or integrated 5 years (only masters), then after that PhD. We don't do much research. If we are enrolled into 3+2 college, then we write small paper at the end on third year and get Bachelors, and a bit larger one at the end of fifth year for Masters. As far as I know, we can't be teaching assistants or research assistants if you don't have Masters.
Hi Andrew! I am currently doing a physics internship at JLab and I want to say thank you for giving me so much advise! I was at one point doing a bio degree and decided that mathematics and physics was what I really wanted to do, and watching your video on transferring from VCU to ODU inspired me to pursue what I really want to do. Thank you.
Did two undergrads, one in USA, one in Europe - doing master's in Europe right now, just got accepted to PhD program in the USA :) Incredibly excited, but it seems like a totally different system in the states for grad school. For me, the one-year master's degree (in Serbia) entailed taking two specific courses related to the research I am doing. For these courses, I have no lectures at all, no homework - I just received some general literature, was free to learn from any sources I preferred, and was expected to reach out to professors when I have questions. The exams also vary in style - in differential geometry I had a standard written exam, and then I had a seminar to give on a topic the professor gave me. Whereas in my condmat-mathphys course, my exam is entirely oral and is requires me to connect a bunch of research that has not been synthesized in this way before. The general expectation is that you finish your courses in the first semester (though you can take your exams whenever you're ready). In the second semester, we do our research - whether or not the goal is to publish depends heavily on the department. Some departments feel master's students will rarely generate new ideas worthy of publishing, and instead, they spend time reproducing results and reformulating them in new ways - as a way to test whether the student is truly interested in the field, and to prepare for potential doctorate level work. Whereas other departments find small enough projects that a master's student could realistically accomplish in roughly a semester's worth of hard work (this is the case in my department). Question: do students who have received a master's degree generally do the two years of coursework when they enter a US PhD program?
About the collaboration thing. Here in germany, since the first class we were always encouraged to work in groups, because the lecturers usually make the assignments so hard, that they dont expect you to solve it alone or completely
Great video really informative. I am a physics major with a double minor in may and comp sci and for my last math class I have the choice between pdes complex variables and dynamical systems. I plan to go to grad school for particle/nuclear physics so I wanted to know what you think what class would have the most benefit for me.
@7:29 "hardly ever solved things the smart way" HA. We have all been there! Looking back from 30 years later though, I can say that I probably learned more by doing that.
I'm probably going to pursue a math phd but unfortunately our friend Jens isn't doing a phd so here am I am watching someone named Dotson talk about physics. He seems like a great guy. Fugacity.
So I am doing a PhD in String Theory in the UK, it's quite different here. The first year of a PhD in the UK you jump right into research, though you might also do a few masters level courses at the same time. You realistically have to have a masters before you go to grad school here. I also want to add a warning, from my own mistakes, if you are in the UK and want to go into more formal theory what ever you do, do not do an integrated masters! Instead you should really aim to do one of the several one year taught masters in theoretical physics that exist in the UK, such as part iii maths. I made the mistake of doing an integrated masters, not realising how heavily that can effect your application. I had no PhD offers after that year despite good grades, and ended up doing part iii the following year. I could have saved that year and a lot of money by just going straight into one of these masters. Edit: I forgot to add that a PhD is quite a bit shorter in the UK, normally only 3.5 to 4 years. I suspect this is mostly as you are expected to already have a masters going in.
@@otakudnp3880 Depends on the particular university, it can depend quite a lot. Most universities like you to take take a couple of classes that are more specialised that you might have done in your masters. For example I took some courses from the maths department on algebraic geometry and algebraic topology, as I need them for my research but it is not usually taught in physics masters. At the same time, I didn't need to take any exam for the courses, I just had to attend the lectures.
As someone hoping to get into theoretical cosmology PhD programmes in 2022 seeing this really just saved me. I've applied to do a one year MsC in theoretical Physics at Edinburgh. But I wasn't sure if I get an offer whether to do that or continue my integrated undergrad masters and save money (I'm scottish so integrated would have been free). I'm really glad to have seen this, MsC definitely sounds better now. What was your experience of the part iii, I looked at applying but it looked a bit intense for me tbh. Thank you so much!
@@euanmackay7362 Part iii was both the best and worse thing I have done! It's a lot of work, but I hadn't appreciated how good you need to be to be successful in theoretical physics until I did that course. I would recommend you apply if you can, not that Edinburgh is bad choice but it is nice to have as much choice as possible after you start hearing back. I'd also recommend you take a look at the Oxford MMathPhys course, I run some of the problem classes for that and I think it is much better than part iii.
@@Airsofter4692 I'll definitely think about applying to both. I already live in Edinburgh and I'm not keen to move during the whole pandemic thing tbh. I don't want another source of stress haha. But you're right to be honest it's worth applying and then I can consider my options when I hear back!
I´m planning on doing a civil engineering degree. I want to work in the industry and not do research as I´m not confident enough to see myself ever teach someone or grade papers. Perhaps the confidence grows as you do your courses but I don´t see myself as a teacher. Great video as always Andrew!
Good suggestions for anyone in grad school: time management, type EVERYTHING, collaborate, regular meetings with agreed on conclusions. Did this around 50 yrs ago in another field.
I am a second year physics undergrad student here in (munich) germany and planing to go deeper into theoretical particle and astrophysics in the future. My university however not only offers the normal master degree in physics, but also theoretical astrophysics and they both are a different master program. I am still not sure however on how the future of the latter looks like despite of already knowing my interest. What do you think if I were you? Would you just apply for the usual Physics master degree and then wait untill you get into Ph.D program to persue that field deeper or just directly take that theoretical astrophysics master program?
Tip for physics grad applicants: CMP does not get many US citizen applicants. You could probably get in as "interested in CMP" and switch, if that isn't what you are actually interested in. Although, you should just go into CMP ;)
Oh that's great to hear! Cause I'm quite interested in condensed matter physics actually. But I thought it was competitive since its related to quantum computing and a lot of people would want to go into that.
@@darylryanchong9099 well, yeah. I'm not gonna guarantee that it will get you into Harvard, but it will help pad your CV vs the foreign students (many who have master's coming in)
Andrew what do you think about an educational/tutoring twitch physics stream? I've been streaming lately and it's really fun to help the people that stop by.
Hello andrew i am in grade 11 and am planning to attempt the notoriously difficult JEE exam to get into the best engineering colleges in india, altoigh mich of your content on this channel is beyond me but i do want to point out that JEE exams have a massive syllabus so much so that some of the concepts are from college level courses they are just dummed down or just skimmed over for the exam but when we go to college here we first retake those concepts in a little more depth or college oriented view and then only get into college stuff.
When I was a grad TA (math not physics, in the nineties), I was only grading exams, not homework, but I did have office hours (and sometimes review sessions) as part of my job. Also, it was natural to get a master's on the way to getting a doctorate (possibly unique to the department, I frankly don't know.) Clearly, there is a lot of variation among institutions. I went to "a" University of California, and I don't even know what it's like at the other ones. tl;dr There are differences between colleges, so do some research when applying.
I'm from Taiwan. Typically in Taiwan, a master's degree is demanded in order to get into the phd program. Usually students start to prepare for grad school from the second semester of year three in undergrad. Students can get into a master's program via either tests( including paper and oral) or by recommendations of your school/professor ( which considers GPA, internship, senior thesis etc.) btw I have no idea about how to get into a phd program. Also, part of the students attend researches in one~three labs or attend grad level classes(gr, qft etc.) for preparation of studying overseas.
How do you take your notes in LaTeX? Do you actually type out LaTeX code in overleaf every time you write something or do you use those VSCode or Vim snippet tricks to type LaTeX faster?
I am an undergrad physics student studying in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Obviously, I haven’t taken any graduated level classes, but I just wanted to mention that in my university we take physics 101 and 102 during sophomore year I really don’t know why we take it so late but yeah.
hey Andrew, I started watching you in 2019, I was in grade 11 . In fall I will be going to university as an undergrad for physics . Thank you for helping me along the way. Godspeed
Physics student from India here. We don't have the system of Grad School. After High School we have three most prevalent options - 1) A 3 years Bachelor's degree then a 2 years Master's degree after which we can apply for PhD 2) Integrated 5 years Master's program after which PhD 3) After Bachelor's there's also Integrated Master's-PhD program with first 2 years is the MSc and then you continue with the PhD The problem is that the curriculum for all these options are mostly outdated and very rigid. We don't get to choose much. Papers are almost always pre assigned. Also until the Master's the only research we get to do is a final MSc project. Only full time PhD and some Integrated PhD programs are funded. And the best thing, at every stage we have to take nation wide competitive exams. Anyway your insights and info is always helpful to get a perspective. Thank you Andrew.
I studied in the US for my undergrad and now I'm studying grad school in Germany. In my opinion I don't like how grad school is organized here. You're expected to get a research advisor after you've done all of your courses, which may be fine with others, but having research experience during my undergrad makes me really impatient because I want to do research now! Also, Germany does not curve tests, but rather they give about one to two months to study for your final exam. I've always studied a lot and for some reason even having one to two months of studying still doesn't feel like it's enough for me. My grades are definitely worse so far :(
Your Venn diagram implies that there are Master's/PhD students that are not Gradstudents....
Ahahah yea
Damn it.
I was wondering the same, it should have been a flow chart sorta thingu
@@AndrewDotsonvideos Maybe that is true, somr corner cases... TBH, US academic system is very confusing to me. At least Your videos give me some glimpse into its (from my POV) peculiarities. Thanks, and keep on great work!
@@AndrewDotsonvideos well the term does not exist in some places of the world. Here in romania we dont have "gradschool" we have just master and PhD.
DON'T stope making these. They are a huge help for perspective.
28th! We could have used these organizational skills when you were in middle school 🏫 Better late than never. Haha ~ Love Mom💕
Your child is awesone
Love from india😊
We stan momma Dotson 🙏🙏
I have an 11 year old daughter. She loves math and science, and a few days ago she ran home from the bus top to excitedly explain the pendulum experiments they did at school. Her room always looks like a train wreck. I would be very proud if she follows a path similar to your son’s.
@@stt5v2002 yes you should be proud
@@stt5v2002 I am very proud of him for sure. My kids have exceeded all expectations a parent might have for their children. So glad to hear your daughter already has a love for the sciences. Sounds to me like she’s gonna go far! ~ Andrew’s Mom 💕
Me a first year student: hmm yes this information is vital to me right now
1:03 Sorry to see that they obviously DON'T teach Venn diagrams in grad school.
Probably the easiest thing not to mess up and I messed it up lol
@@AndrewDotsonvideos Sign of a true physicist sir
@@AndrewDotsonvideos just pretend it is a joke and say you meant for it to be that way.
6:00 "Don't just pretend you don't do it, and you're going to change this week"
I feel attacked, lol
Hahaha telling it like it is.
Literally put me in the mindset to stop slacking off. Im gonna go work on homework now
PhD student in Cyprus here (UCY). The system here is very similar to the US due to most of our faculty being people who got their PhD or have worked at some point in the US. You can either go for Master's or go straight to PhD to avoid having to complete a pointless (for PhD students) thesis in the middle for your Master's, but otherwise both will take courses for the first 2 years or more, with PhD students taking on more courses for extra specialization. TAs, qualifying and comprehensive exam as well as funding all work very similarly. Here's how the system here differs though:
1) Tuition fees are very low and they will be paid for by the department due to the number of Physics PhD students being very small. If you get a partial scholarship (meaning it will simply cover your tuition fees), then this will simply help your department by not burdening it further with your tuition costs.
2) To incentivize putting effort into courses full time and doing research, PhD students who have no full-time job will be given some considerable financial "aid" every semester.
3) TAs are assigned based on 3 criteria: (a) Whether you are a PhD/full-time gradstudent or Master's/part-time gradstudent, (b) performance in courses during undergrad and as a TA in gradschool and (c) scholarships. (a) means simply that PhD full-time gradstudents get the maximum of 2 courses to work as a TA on, while others get only 1 and this also affects the type of courses too, with the former generally being assigned "Physics proper" classes, while the latter get assigned Physics courses taught to students of other departments. (b) means that you will most likely teach a course you have done well as an undergrad and/or have taken before and did a good job with as a TA. This means theoretical physicists rarely get any lab courses as TAs and usually just teach an hour per week for each course, solving problems that the professors give them. (c) refers to how you get paid by the uni for your TA work. If you perform well *as a gradstudent* then you get more "scholarships" from within the uni and this translates to your monthly pay as a TA. For example, as a PhD student I get a "full scholarship" and a "partial scholarship", so I teach 2 courses and get paid technically higher for one compared to the other.
4) TAs are not allowed to grade exams or projects, just homework and labwork. Many professors do not have homeworks though, so it does make being a TA much more palatable.
5) Research does not happen necessarily by being assigned specific tasks or calculation by your advisor. Rather, when they feel you can contribute, they will give you papers they are studying on so you study as well, then you work it out to get up-to-date with recent research in the field. Then they will simply bring you on-board with what they're doing that is relevant to your field of interest and you can do some pretty serious work for a gradstudent. If there is something too advanced, they simply take it on on their own until you reach a level of comprehension for them to feel comfortable assigning you workload.
6) TA work does not stop at all at any point during gradschool unless you willingly do not apply for a TA job for a certain semester.
7) The comprehensive exam was changed in the last few years from a giant written exam on the entirety of the curriculum from undergrad and gradschool to a presentation before a committee of 4 professors (your advisors, 2 professors from similar fields and 1 from a different field) about your research topic, what you intent on studying, your physics understanding and overall how well you "get" principles and research philosophy. You will also submit a written text of what you presented so that it gets examined. It basically functions as a toned-down/alpha version of the PhD thesis defense you will take at the end of your PhD research and write-up.
8) Finally, the courses you take as a gradstudent are done somewhat similarly to undergrad. There is a core of courses you must take and then you take a certain number of "specialization courses" for your field, plus a mandatory out-of-field course. Your advisor will not force you into any course, but he will obviously make suggestions. For example, mine strongly suggested (and I wanted to take it anyway) grad-level Group Theory.
In my country people usually do a masters degree first before a phd
Where r u from
I'm from India
@@theorist_1 I'm from Ireland.
@Hans von Zettour Ireland, in europe beside the UK
@@henrybrowne3685 which planet, you didn't specify that either
@@coin5207 it's on Mars dumbass
I'm doing a masters degree in germany and here "graduate student" means PHD and Masters. Masters is supposed to take 2 years and the exact definition of what is needed differs from university to university. At my university I have pretty much only elective courses, apart from one lab. The first year is basically spend collecting all the courses you want to do while the second is formally only for research for the master thesis. After you got a Master you can do a Phd but the phd positions are not always easy to find since you are treated as a researcher and paid for that. You also have to do the phd thesis while working as a teaching assistent and researcher in the research group of your professor.
After you get your Master's degree, how long does it take to get the PHD? I suppose it depends on how long you need to finish your thesis.
Are your able to support yourself purely being paid as researcher? Rent in Germany can be brutal.
Sorry if I am asking so many questions, I am just not sure what I want to study and if Physics or generally a Phd is the right choice for me.
@@Alan-hk8cl I'm from Portugal but things are pretty much the same in EU. The PhD is usually 2/3 years, and you usually (but not always) are funded, totally or partially, depending on the university/thesis project.
@@Alan-hk8cl the average is about 3 years, but I‘ve heard of people that did it in one year and others who did it in over 6 years.
For me personally I‘m lucky enough that my parents can support me and I‘m still able to live with them so that I can save money. About the pay for the PHD positions: I know some PHD students and none of them complained that they couldn‘t support themself and I study in the City with the second highest rent in germany. The big plus is that you don‘t have to pay for the PHD, you get paid (not that the cost of german universities is bad, it‘s about 800€ per year)
This was a fantastic video. Well organized, well executed, friendly and I enjoyed it a lot. I appreciate having this community to learn from
Perfect timing with this video! Hoping to hear back on my application within the month.
Thank you Andrew, that was so informative indeed.
Expect lots of pain, and feeling dumb .
So I'm doing a PhD in the UK, and for us the course is much more compact and research oriented. That means that there often aren't any core classes because it's assumed that you covered it in prior degrees. Any classes that I did take were optional, but my supervisor advises that I take certain modules to make sure I've been exposed to a wider range of approaches. Most of the work you do is self motivated learning without the support of a taught module with a heavy focus on where your research is going, so your first year is largely creating a literature review. As far as exams go, some universities have a first year exams, but a lot don't do exams for PhD levels, but there is a mini thesis each year to track your progress, and then of course the main thesis in the final year with a defence of that thesis (viva).
The long and short of it is that any learning you do is to directly support your research, with little scope for other material.
As far as funding goes, for physics at least, there are funding councils who pay university fees and give you a stipend of around £15,000 to cover any expenses you might have.
Meanwhile just had my first day of class for my second graduate semester in math and one of my professors goes: "So do you guys know set operations?"
Hey man, advice from someone like you is very awesome and appreciated! Cheers man!
Andrew, this is SO good! As a second-year I wish I had this 1.5 years ago. I’ll only add, from an experimental perspective, people always say your PhD WILL be longer for exp. physics vs. theory. I think that’s a misconception based on a loose average, and you should push yourself to finish in a timeline that works for YOU, whether it take more or less time than your peers.
That's a good point! I think the average is approaching 6 years now.
I'm a first year master's student in Munich (Germany) and it's very different, we don't have a research advisor, we're only supposed to take classes until we find a subject for our master thesis and then we have to go ask professors to find someone to direct our thesis work, only PhD students can be TAs or RAs and get funding, it doesn't feel like research too much until the PhD
Yup this is the situation with India as well.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who thought the first year in grad school sucked! And I’m also with you on writing up homeworks in LaTeX, useful for studying and helping you explain in words how you solved certain problems :)
lol wouldn’t be able to tell with all those A’s you got!
Great informative video. My experience is very similar. Covered all the basis really well!
Thank you for making these quality videos.
This was a very nice overview. Thank you!
This is really helpful information for someone who’s starting to look at going to grad school right now
Thanks for making this video, it was super helpful and informative! I am currently finishing up my undergrad and have been accepted to several grad schools that I need to choose from. This video helped me to get a sense of what my first years should be like and what to look for in those programs.
Waiting to hear back from grad schools, heard back from 5 but was only waitlisted at 2. Been watching Andrew since 2017 when I was a freshman and hope I'll get to be a grad student like him one day!
Working with others always requires explaining why you think you are right/wrong, or they are right/wrong. This reinforces understanding!
Hadn't really thought of that before, good point!
as a junior undergrad videos like this are so helpful. keep it up please!
Latex gang represent 🔥 30 hours of hmwk minimum here too. Me and Juan still managed to barely scrape by with B's working pretty damn hard first year. Slacked off the second year in EM B by 40% and still managed to get a B 😑😑
Sounds about right
I think a video on how funding works would be cool, and how much of what I spent is coming from my own pockets, excluding assistanships and scholarships.
I usually only watch your sketches. But like, as someone starting a phd in chemical physics next year and having no idea what to expect I actually needed this.
Fugacity.
Meet me in our communal green bean garden for a fight to the death.
@@AndrewDotsonvideos Okay.
@@PapaFlammy69 👍
Nice! More content!
As a senior in undergrad physics who is currently waiting on grad school responses (and fellow brute-force homeworker), I REALLY appreciate this video. I like how it addresses some of the questions I’ve had that I haven’t gotten answered yet either.
Again an informative one from this channel as expected as always 😀😀👏👏
Thanks!
*I am in grad school and I have no idea what to expect anymore. But this was still helpful.*
Your videos have been super helpful. I am starting a PhD in experimental particle physics at the university of Nebraska Lincoln. Great stuff bro!
My excitement for studying physics and the anxiety I experience when thinking about the future path that still lies before me are clashing.
@Vansh Antriksh dont worry mate, just remember to take up a subject you ENJOY studying otherwise you will lose interest and give up before you even do your best.
I feel the same way except I've already got a Bachelors and in an Engineering job I want to get out of. Feels like time is running out to change course.
I also feel the same way!
Thanks for the explanation! Graduating physics student here still stressed about this 😅
Super interesting video. Senior math major here taking algebra, graph theory and programing and I find your channel really cool cause it’s orthogonal (math joke, ha) to what I do kinda. I think physics ppl are so smart cause i don’t know how you handle labs on top of math, I couldn’t. Keep it up
VERY informative, thank you.
Just got into physics grad school. Instantly thought of your channel
thank you, Andrew! this year I start my Ph.D. in the US. I'm from Chile, so this was useful. I did a master's in my country and things are pretty much the same (also Ph.D.'s).
Thanks for this video.
I'm sorry I tried to be first
Edit: Also thanks cos I like these kind of videos
Second edit: I asked this question previously because I want to go to MIT or Caltech to get a PhD in physics, and you have helped a lot to explain more about this. Thanks!
*Andrew you rock!*
Extremely informative
I am going to apply for PhD next year
This really helped me a lot
Thanks for making this videos
Did you get in?
Everyone talking about the Venn diagram thing , But I guess cooler thing is that you got the standard model lagrangian as your background .
I'm a senior studying physics, astronomy, and math at Indiana University. Last semester I applied to 16 programs because I see no future where I do not research astronomy. I have only heard back from 3 so far but, today, I got my first acceptance! I am just so excited to finally know that I get to continue learning!
This is perfect I'm just the person who needs this
In Brazil we learn almost everything in undergrad like solid state physics, fluid mechanics , thermodynamics, 3 courses in QM, relativity Special and general. That's why it takes a little more than other places. There is no "Gradschool" here, you go to masters almost always (except if you do a really good internship in undergrad and you're ready to do research at Phd, but it's rare). In masters you learn QFT and more QM and a more difficult version of eletrodymanics( like jackson and beyond), but you're doing research already. Phd is composed of specific classes and is more focused in you doing your own research. I don't know about other places but we don't sleep much with this routine.
I'm a bit late to the party but great video! I'll chime in as a 2nd year PhD student from Canada.
Courses: Most programs here (in Ontario) will have you enter the program as a masters student as a first step. You'll have around 4 courses total to complete. The MSc is usually 2 years but if you complete all of your courses in the first year and your supervisor allows it, you can transfer to a PhD after your first year. Once you are in your PhD you are expected to take around two more courses. Direct enter PhD programs are somewhat rare here and your masters is sort of your "trial period."
Funding: Unless you are taking a course based Masters, your funding here is guaranteed. When they send you an offer letter it outlines how much your supervisor will pay you every year and how much teaching assistant work you will get. The minimum is standardized but there are national and provincial level scholarships you can apply for that can be quite competitive, especially for theory students. Unless your supervisor has a lot of excess funding to "buy you out" of your TA, you will TA every semester you are here as a graduate student.
Workload: I think those estimates are fair for your years in your MSc. It's less classes but the profs gave really hard assignments sometimes.
Grades: At least at McMaster they (more senior grad students) say you fail a class if you get below a B+. Then its up to the prof how they distribute marks from B+ to A+.
Qualifying Exams: Each university here is different but I believe we only have comprehensive exams. Here at Mac, you get assigned 3 to 4 books in your area (not necessarily things you took in courses). This happens in your second year of your PhD (just recently passed!).
Research: I liked your message here. When you come in, everyone feels pressure to get started on research. But research is super overwhelming at the beginning. Papers are hard to read, your problems are a bit foreign (unless you did an undergrad project in it) and your course load gets in the way of diving into it. So it's all pretty much the same here.
The one thing that is unfortunate here is that your funding is determined by your supervisor, so it is rare to switch supervisors here, and you are locked into your research field most of the time. The time to switch is after your MSc, but it doesn't seem as flexible as your describe.
First year of grad school in physics has been nothing but pain.
For me its been undulating between pain and boredom. I haven't really started research yet but I hope it's more exciting and that I have more agency.
much love
Thanks for the video!! I'm doing a coop in theoretical nuclear physics right now, but I'm hoping to study plasma physics in grad school. 🤞
Andrew boi youre awesome
Hi andrew i am from india
And you are my role model😊
Love your videos as always! I have a question: Would you say that you can have the same level of comfort in speaking with your professor in undergrad compared to grad school? I've heard that professors in undergrad are usually more strict because classes are usually bigger, they see thousands of students every year, etc., and instead in grad school, you can speak more freely to your professor. Is this true?
In Croatia we have 3+2 years (bachelors or masters), or integrated 5 years (only masters), then after that PhD. We don't do much research. If we are enrolled into 3+2 college, then we write small paper at the end on third year and get Bachelors, and a bit larger one at the end of fifth year for Masters. As far as I know, we can't be teaching assistants or research assistants if you don't have Masters.
Hi Andrew! I am currently doing a physics internship at JLab and I want to say thank you for giving me so much advise! I was at one point doing a bio degree and decided that mathematics and physics was what I really wanted to do, and watching your video on transferring from VCU to ODU inspired me to pursue what I really want to do. Thank you.
Awesome! Who are you working with?
Thank you so much
I just got accepted to a PhD program doing CME, thanks for all your advice Andrew :)
Congrats and good luck!
Did two undergrads, one in USA, one in Europe - doing master's in Europe right now, just got accepted to PhD program in the USA :) Incredibly excited, but it seems like a totally different system in the states for grad school.
For me, the one-year master's degree (in Serbia) entailed taking two specific courses related to the research I am doing. For these courses, I have no lectures at all, no homework - I just received some general literature, was free to learn from any sources I preferred, and was expected to reach out to professors when I have questions. The exams also vary in style - in differential geometry I had a standard written exam, and then I had a seminar to give on a topic the professor gave me. Whereas in my condmat-mathphys course, my exam is entirely oral and is requires me to connect a bunch of research that has not been synthesized in this way before.
The general expectation is that you finish your courses in the first semester (though you can take your exams whenever you're ready). In the second semester, we do our research - whether or not the goal is to publish depends heavily on the department. Some departments feel master's students will rarely generate new ideas worthy of publishing, and instead, they spend time reproducing results and reformulating them in new ways - as a way to test whether the student is truly interested in the field, and to prepare for potential doctorate level work. Whereas other departments find small enough projects that a master's student could realistically accomplish in roughly a semester's worth of hard work (this is the case in my department).
Question: do students who have received a master's degree generally do the two years of coursework when they enter a US PhD program?
great video :D takin my first math methods course and am absolutely loving it but jesus mary if the homework’s aren’t brutal (like 10 hours each week)
About the collaboration thing. Here in germany, since the first class we were always encouraged to work in groups, because the lecturers usually make the assignments so hard, that they dont expect you to solve it alone or completely
Typora and/or obsidian. Learn basic md/html/css + tex and you'll fall in love with those
Hes back!
Great video really informative. I am a physics major with a double minor in may and comp sci and for my last math class I have the choice between pdes complex variables and dynamical systems. I plan to go to grad school for particle/nuclear physics so I wanted to know what you think what class would have the most benefit for me.
Complex variables would be super useful.
@7:29 "hardly ever solved things the smart way" HA. We have all been there! Looking back from 30 years later though, I can say that I probably learned more by doing that.
I'm probably going to pursue a math phd but unfortunately our friend Jens isn't doing a phd so here am I am watching someone named Dotson talk about physics. He seems like a great guy.
Fugacity.
Hey Andrew would you reccomend doing a co-op in your undergrad or focusing on just your studies
So I am doing a PhD in String Theory in the UK, it's quite different here. The first year of a PhD in the UK you jump right into research, though you might also do a few masters level courses at the same time. You realistically have to have a masters before you go to grad school here.
I also want to add a warning, from my own mistakes, if you are in the UK and want to go into more formal theory what ever you do, do not do an integrated masters! Instead you should really aim to do one of the several one year taught masters in theoretical physics that exist in the UK, such as part iii maths. I made the mistake of doing an integrated masters, not realising how heavily that can effect your application. I had no PhD offers after that year despite good grades, and ended up doing part iii the following year. I could have saved that year and a lot of money by just going straight into one of these masters.
Edit: I forgot to add that a PhD is quite a bit shorter in the UK, normally only 3.5 to 4 years. I suspect this is mostly as you are expected to already have a masters going in.
So, do students have to take classes mandatory in their PhDs in UK?
@@otakudnp3880 Depends on the particular university, it can depend quite a lot. Most universities like you to take take a couple of classes that are more specialised that you might have done in your masters. For example I took some courses from the maths department on algebraic geometry and algebraic topology, as I need them for my research but it is not usually taught in physics masters. At the same time, I didn't need to take any exam for the courses, I just had to attend the lectures.
As someone hoping to get into theoretical cosmology PhD programmes in 2022 seeing this really just saved me. I've applied to do a one year MsC in theoretical Physics at Edinburgh. But I wasn't sure if I get an offer whether to do that or continue my integrated undergrad masters and save money (I'm scottish so integrated would have been free). I'm really glad to have seen this, MsC definitely sounds better now. What was your experience of the part iii, I looked at applying but it looked a bit intense for me tbh. Thank you so much!
@@euanmackay7362 Part iii was both the best and worse thing I have done! It's a lot of work, but I hadn't appreciated how good you need to be to be successful in theoretical physics until I did that course. I would recommend you apply if you can, not that Edinburgh is bad choice but it is nice to have as much choice as possible after you start hearing back. I'd also recommend you take a look at the Oxford MMathPhys course, I run some of the problem classes for that and I think it is much better than part iii.
@@Airsofter4692 I'll definitely think about applying to both. I already live in Edinburgh and I'm not keen to move during the whole pandemic thing tbh. I don't want another source of stress haha. But you're right to be honest it's worth applying and then I can consider my options when I hear back!
I enjoyed it.
Get a load of THIS guy
Hi andrew i think i am going to study physics next year thanks to you! but i still need a laptop, what type would you recommend
I´m planning on doing a civil engineering degree. I want to work in the industry and not do research as I´m not confident enough to see myself ever teach someone or grade papers. Perhaps the confidence grows as you do your courses but I don´t see myself as a teacher. Great video as always Andrew!
Good suggestions for anyone in grad school: time management, type EVERYTHING, collaborate, regular meetings with agreed on conclusions. Did this around 50 yrs ago in another field.
2:00 Memories of Jackson coming back.
I am a second year physics undergrad student here in (munich) germany and planing to go deeper into theoretical particle and astrophysics in the future. My university however not only offers the normal master degree in physics, but also theoretical astrophysics and they both are a different master program. I am still not sure however on how the future of the latter looks like despite of already knowing my interest. What do you think if I were you? Would you just apply for the usual Physics master degree and then wait untill you get into Ph.D program to persue that field deeper or just directly take that theoretical astrophysics master program?
Tip for physics grad applicants: CMP does not get many US citizen applicants. You could probably get in as "interested in CMP" and switch, if that isn't what you are actually interested in. Although, you should just go into CMP ;)
BAND STRUCTURE
Oh that's great to hear! Cause I'm quite interested in condensed matter physics actually. But I thought it was competitive since its related to quantum computing and a lot of people would want to go into that.
@@darylryanchong9099 well, yeah. I'm not gonna guarantee that it will get you into Harvard, but it will help pad your CV vs the foreign students (many who have master's coming in)
Andrew what do you think about an educational/tutoring twitch physics stream? I've been streaming lately and it's really fun to help the people that stop by.
Hello andrew i am in grade 11 and am planning to attempt the notoriously difficult JEE exam to get into the best engineering colleges in india, altoigh mich of your content on this channel is beyond me but i do want to point out that JEE exams have a massive syllabus so much so that some of the concepts are from college level courses they are just dummed down or just skimmed over for the exam but when we go to college here we first retake those concepts in a little more depth or college oriented view and then only get into college stuff.
When I was a grad TA (math not physics, in the nineties), I was only grading exams, not homework, but I did have office hours (and sometimes review sessions) as part of my job. Also, it was natural to get a master's on the way to getting a doctorate (possibly unique to the department, I frankly don't know.) Clearly, there is a lot of variation among institutions. I went to "a" University of California, and I don't even know what it's like at the other ones.
tl;dr There are differences between colleges, so do some research when applying.
I love this! Even though I'm not a physics person! But I do feel like my physics knowledge has grown
I'm from Taiwan. Typically in Taiwan, a master's degree is demanded in order to get into the phd program. Usually students start to prepare for grad school from the second semester of year three in undergrad. Students can get into a master's program via either tests( including paper and oral) or by recommendations of your school/professor ( which considers GPA, internship, senior thesis etc.) btw I have no idea about how to get into a phd program. Also, part of the students attend researches in one~three labs or attend grad level classes(gr, qft etc.) for preparation of studying overseas.
I'm a pharmacy student and yet here I am
Out of curiosity, have you taken general relatively? If so what was it like?
more grad school videos pls!
So
Much
Grading
Worst part of TA-ing for sure
How do you take your notes in LaTeX? Do you actually type out LaTeX code in overleaf every time you write something or do you use those VSCode or Vim snippet tricks to type LaTeX faster?
do you have a video on how you type up your homework ?
Hey Andrew please review the International Olympiad in Theoretical Physics (Not sure why I cant post the comment with the link, just search it up)
POGGERS!
I am an undergrad physics student studying in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Obviously, I haven’t taken any graduated level classes, but I just wanted to mention that in my university we take physics 101 and 102 during sophomore year I really don’t know why we take it so late but yeah.
What are your thoughts on integrated PhD (master+PhD)?
Here in Bengaluru, India, M.Sc. Physics is 2 years - 4 Semesters, 16 Papers, 8 Labs, and a Project. We are graded for 10 GPA per semester.
hey Andrew, I started watching you in 2019, I was in grade 11 .
In fall I will be going to university as an undergrad for physics . Thank you for helping me along the way.
Godspeed
Awesome!
Nice!
Hey Andrew, how true is it that people jump from one postdoc to another cause there are no jobs enough?
Physics student from India here.
We don't have the system of Grad School. After High School we have three most prevalent options -
1) A 3 years Bachelor's degree then a 2 years Master's degree after which we can apply for PhD
2) Integrated 5 years Master's program after which PhD
3) After Bachelor's there's also Integrated Master's-PhD program with first 2 years is the MSc and then you continue with the PhD
The problem is that the curriculum for all these options are mostly outdated and very rigid. We don't get to choose much. Papers are almost always pre assigned.
Also until the Master's the only research we get to do is a final MSc project. Only full time PhD and some Integrated PhD programs are funded.
And the best thing, at every stage we have to take nation wide competitive exams.
Anyway your insights and info is always helpful to get a perspective. Thank you Andrew.
I am 15 years old and love to you from India.
So ATLAS or CMS? Which is better?
I studied in the US for my undergrad and now I'm studying grad school in Germany. In my opinion I don't like how grad school is organized here. You're expected to get a research advisor after you've done all of your courses, which may be fine with others, but having research experience during my undergrad makes me really impatient because I want to do research now! Also, Germany does not curve tests, but rather they give about one to two months to study for your final exam. I've always studied a lot and for some reason even having one to two months of studying still doesn't feel like it's enough for me. My grades are definitely worse so far :(