Switching to Theoretical Physics

dog_pig · 25-09-2009 12:32pm #1

I'm currently supposed to be starting engineering on Monday but since I put it down on my CAO in late June I've had second thoughts and realised that I would be better off doing TP. My tutor told me to speak to someone in the maths department about it and I was directed to a lecturer. I know that I have to wait until I'm in college to start the official application process of switching course but I wanted to know whether I could sit in on the TP lectures if it was likely that I would be able to switch so as not to miss out on too much material. He told me that it wouldn't be wise to do that as the course is probably full and that I would have to wait and see if someone who is supposed to be doing TP doesn't show up.

Is there any way of finding out whether the course is actually full? I know that its infamous for having people drop out or switch course in the first few months but I'd rather not miss out on the first weeks of lectures as I don't want to be behind and have a huge amount to catch up on if I am eventually able to switch.

dan719 · 25-09-2009 2:48pm

Two Questions;

Do you have the points?

Do you really want to do TP?

If the answer to both the above is yes, then put your application to the senior lecturer first thing monday morning. A space will become avaliable withing two weeks, if the last few years are anything to go buy. You can sit in on maths lectures without too much hassle but you are not *supposed* too. In courses such as Special Relativity and lab courses, you obviously won't.

antiselfdual · 25-09-2009 3:31pm

Actually labs are the only thing you won't be able to go to, no-one will notice in any physics or maths lecture (well one of the maths lecturers will notice because he memorises every face and name of his students before the course starts but he won't mind). You'll also miss out on the first few weeks of online Physics assignments but these don't count for a lot. Someone in my year moved from Maths to TP just by only attending TP lectures/tutorials until they let him in so there's some precedent. And it'd be very surprising if nobody left TP before Christmas at the very latest...

dan719 · 25-09-2009 6:40pm

antiselfdual wrote: »

Actually labs are the only thing you won't be able to go to, no-one will notice in any physics or maths lecture (well one of the maths lecturers will notice because he memorises every face and name of his students before the course starts but he won't mind). You'll also miss out on the first few weeks of online Physics assignments but these don't count for a lot. Someone in my year moved from Maths to TP just by only attending TP lectures/tutorials until they let him in so there's some precedent. And it'd be very surprising if nobody left TP before Christmas at the very latest...

Is Pete back so, then? I meant it would be difficult for him to attend lectures in S.R (i.e. the TP only course) as it would be so small that a lecturer may notice.

antiselfdual · 25-09-2009 7:10pm

Spec Rel is still about 30-40 people, also lecturers who aren't Pete won't know who's actually in the class and won't check... It's not like there's a rollcall to keep the TPs in line...

Aoibheann · 25-09-2009 8:19pm

dan719 wrote: »

Is Pete back so, then? I meant it would be difficult for him to attend lectures in S.R (i.e. the TP only course) as it would be so small that a lecturer may notice.

We have Pete for... *checks* Analysis this year, yup.

dog_pig: I'd say you'd get away with going to special relativity in the first few weeks no both, there's roughly 35 of us taking the course so they probably won't notice an extra person! Fingers crossed you get to transfer into TP, like the guys said going by previous years it doesn't sound like it'd be a problem!

Jonathan · 25-09-2009 9:23pm

Out of interest, why do you want to move from Eng to TP?

dabh · 25-09-2009 10:31pm

antiselfdual wrote: »

Spec Rel is still about 30-40 people, also lecturers who aren't Pete won't know who's actually in the class and won't check... It's not like there's a rollcall to keep the TPs in line...

Well there was a lecturer three years ago who checked out the photo albums on the bebo profiles of the incoming SF Maths and TP class hunting out identifiable photos of the incoming students. Makes you squirm, doesn't it? The official photos on the Student Records system (the ones that appear on the student ID cards) are not adequate for making reliable identifications.

Podge_irl · 25-09-2009 11:52pm

dabh wrote: »

Well there was a lecturer three years ago who checked out the photo albums on the bebo profiles of the incoming SF Maths and TP class hunting out identifiable photos of the incoming students. Makes you squirm, doesn't it? The official photos on the Student Records system (the ones that appear on the student ID cards) are not adequate for making reliable identifications.

I could make a wild guess at who that might have been...

You'll be able to attend all the TP lectures if you so want. The lecturers will not know there is an extra person there, and even in the unlikely event that they do they won't give a ****e.

dog_pig · 26-09-2009 2:01am

Jonathan wrote: »

Out of interest, why do you want to move from Eng to TP?

Well my initial decision to do engineering was a bit rushed anyway; I realised after doing the leaving cert that I enjoyed maths and physics a lot more than I thought beforehand. So after a quick scan of courses and from talking to a few people it seemed that engineering was the right choice.

However after giving it more consideration I saw that the stuff I enjoyed in physics (astronomy, special relativity, black holes etc.) wouldn't really be covered in engineering. On top of that there seems to be a huge range of subjects in engineering and that would be too similar to school for me. I'd prefer just to have the two subjects offered in TP - physics and maths.

fh041205 · 26-09-2009 4:17pm

Just a word of warning. There is a HUGE amount of maths in TP. Almost half of your first 2 years I think. So be prepared. Also, 3rd level maths is nothing like leaving cert. You really have to work at it a lot more than for the Leaving cert. If you look at the people section of the maths department website, a goof few of them have lecture notes up from previous years which would be worth having a look at.

Podge_irl, I think I could give you 3 guesses and all 3 would be right. I also can look forward to my first lecturer with said person on Monday!!

antiselfdual · 26-09-2009 4:33pm

fh041205 wrote: »

Just a word of warning. There is a HUGE amount of maths in TP. Almost half of your first 2 years I think. So be prepared.

Two-thirds of first two years and half of last two, as a point of information.

gamma23 · 28-09-2009 9:03am

Special Rel is at 10am in the SNIAM if you see this in time and wanna come along (it doesn't matter if your late at all), talk to the SU too, the education officer helps people wanting to change course and he just finished TP.

Fringe · 28-09-2009 10:27am

gamma23 wrote: »

Special Rel is at 10am in the SNIAM if you see this in time and wanna come along (it doesn't matter if your late at all), talk to the SU too, the education officer helps people wanting to change course and he just finished TP.

Oh crap....

Is that not the one that starts a few weeks later?

Aoibheann · 28-09-2009 9:16pm

Nope, the 9am is the one that doesn't start for weeks I think..

28-09-2009 10:47pm

Tell me, somebody, 9am or 10am start tomorrow? I've lost my timetables somehow...

Aoibheann · 28-09-2009 11:03pm

10! 9am start is only for the weeks after reading week. *nods* Our first lecture tomorrow is Mechanics, it's in the Synge Theatre at 10am.

Then we have a 2pm Physics lecture in the Schrodinger, then Linear Algebra at 5pm in CLLT.

I swear, I'm making everyone a timetable for every individual week, nobody knows what's going on.. :pac:

antiselfdual · 28-09-2009 11:19pm

You also have a Doughnut Reception at 7:30pm in the SNIAM.

*assumes TPs are confused enough to believe this is not shameless society promotion but an integral part of their course, involving tori.

28-09-2009 11:25pm

Thanks Aoibheann, you're the saviour as usual!

And the doughnut reception sounds pretty good, I'll probably make an appearance.

Aoibheann · 29-09-2009 12:05am

antiselfdual wrote: »

You also have a Doughnut Reception at 7:30pm in the SNIAM.

*assumes TPs are confused enough to believe this is not shameless society promotion but an integral part of their course, involving tori.

Surely doughnuts are an integral part of every course? I'd say I'll be there. Doughnuts are necessary. *nods*

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Thanks Aoibheann, you're the saviour as usual!

And the doughnut reception sounds pretty good, I'll probably make an appearance.

Oh aye, it's my cross to bear. I get the feeling I'll still be explaining timetables to people in final year.. >.<

Heggy · 29-09-2009 12:49am

What sorts of doughnuts are there? I'll probably wander along and get my €2's worth.

On a more on topic note, I'm also thinking of switching from PCAM to TP. Hoping it won't be too hard, though the PCAM bursary looks so attainable. Decisions!
I'm also pretty sure us poor sods in PCAM DO have the 9 o'clock start tomorrow. :mad:

Podge_irl · 29-09-2009 1:16am

antiselfdual wrote: »

assumes TPs are confused enough to believe this is not shameless society promotion but an integral part of their course, involving tori.

Every doughnut reception I attended had doughnuts of a decidedly zero topological genus.

Our first lecture tomorrow is Mechanics, it's in the Synge Theatre at 10am. Then we have a 2pm Physics lecture in the Schrodinger, then Linear Algebra at 5pm in CLLT.

That's all? Jaysus, they're going easy on you this year.

Aoibheann · 29-09-2009 9:26am

Podge_irl wrote: »

That's all? Jaysus, they're going easy on you this year.

Yeah, we seem to be ridiculously easy on hours 'til the 6th week of term onwards. Then it gets *slightly* messier I think.

We do seem to have fewer physics lectures than I expected, but they did tell us to follow the PY1T10 schedule only. I thought we were doing most of the same physics course as the physics stream of science, but they seem to have a fair few more hours.. Although I guess we're be separate from them when we're doing special relativity and they're doing motion I think, which appear to be the first sets of lectures.

dog_pig · 29-09-2009 3:47pm

Could someone please show me the physics timetable for TP?

I'm going to try to attend some TP lectures if I can.

Edit: Also if someone could give me the book list as well it would be great.

Aoibheann · 29-09-2009 7:34pm

Well we appear to have no physics the rest of this week, excluding our lab tomorrow. There *will* be a lecture following that lab in weeks 8-10 and 12, but not until then.

No physics on Thursdays or Fridays.

Monday we currently have a 2pm lecture, it'll be in the Schrodinger theatre from this coming week. We will also have a lecture at 10am (SNIAM LT) from week 6 onwards, but again not yet!

Tuesday we have a 2pm in the Schrodinger. We will have a 9am physics lecture from weeks 8-12 (Schrodinger), and a 3pm lecture (SNIAM) from week 6 on.

Books-wise: University Physics which we're getting free next Monday \o/ is the one to buy, apparently borrowing the maths ones from the library is sufficient (Elementary Linear Algebra, Applications Version - Anton/Rorres for Linear Algebra and An Introduction to Mechanics - Kleppner and Kolenkow for Mechanics were two of the textbooks recommended by lecturers to us. I'll update you with ones for Advanced Calculus and Analysis when we actually have lectures in them.

)

dog_pig · 29-09-2009 8:47pm

Aoibheann wrote: »

Well we appear to have no physics the rest of this week, excluding our lab tomorrow. There *will* be a lecture following that lab in weeks 8-10 and 12, but not until then.

No physics on Thursdays or Fridays.

Monday we currently have a 2pm lecture, it'll be in the Schrodinger theatre from this coming week. We will also have a lecture at 10am (SNIAM LT) from week 6 onwards, but again not yet!

Tuesday we have a 2pm in the Schrodinger. We will have a 9am physics lecture from weeks 8-12 (Schrodinger), and a 3pm lecture (SNIAM) from week 6 on.

Books-wise: University Physics which we're getting free next Monday \o/ is the one to buy, apparently borrowing the maths ones from the library is sufficient (Elementary Linear Algebra, Applications Version - Anton/Rorres for Linear Algebra and An Introduction to Mechanics - Kleppner and Kolenkow for Mechanics were two of the textbooks recommended by lecturers to us. I'll update you with ones for Advanced Calculus and Analysis when we actually have lectures in them. )

Brilliant, thanks for the help!

Is it just TP that gets University Physics free?

Aoibheann · 29-09-2009 8:54pm

dog_pig wrote: »

Brilliant, thanks for the help!

Is it just TP that gets University Physics free?

No worries, any more questions about the timetable, just ask.. everyone else does! :pac:

Erm, TP, Physics through Science and PCAM get it I think.. If you're switching you might want to check to make sure you get it!

We're getting it next Monday at 2ish so maybe ask then?

Podge_irl · 30-09-2009 6:28pm

Aoibheann wrote: »

Yeah, we seem to be ridiculously easy on hours 'til the 6th week of term onwards. Then it gets *slightly* messier I think.

We do seem to have fewer physics lectures than I expected, but they did tell us to follow the PY1T10 schedule only. I thought we were doing most of the same physics course as the physics stream of science, but they seem to have a fair few more hours.. Although I guess we're be separate from them when we're doing special relativity and they're doing motion I think, which appear to be the first sets of lectures.

We had all the physics lectures bar the SR substituted for Physics of Motion thing they do, but I don't really remember how many lectures that amounted to. I do remember that we had a horrible Tuesday with 7 hours of lectures in a row.

Aoibheann · 30-09-2009 11:07pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

We had all the physics lectures bar the SR substituted for Physics of Motion thing they do, but I don't really remember how many lectures that amounted to. I do remember that we had a horrible Tuesday with 7 hours of lectures in a row.

We only seem to ever have a few lectures in a row, maximum. As in that hasn't actually happened yet, labs excluded, but we've not that much physics (a couple of lectures and the labs) until roughly halfway through the term, then we get quite a few more. Never 7 though - I think the TP course must have been seriously cut down from previous years though!

And yup, we're the same, Special Relativity in place of Motion. It just so happens that the physics students are mainly doing that atm (I figure anyway) so we only share a handful of lectures with them until a little later on.

dog_pig · 01-10-2009 12:17am

Well I'm just waiting on an email from the head of the maths department to see what the story is now

dog_pig · 02-10-2009 8:41pm

I've spoken to Dr. O'Donovan and he's let me attend TP lectures up until when I know for sure if I can switch or not.

So first lecture on Monday is MA1111 Max5 VlD at 1PM?

Switching to Theoretical Physics

Comments