Preparation for Theoretical Physics

Sleepwalking

Hi guys,

I'm interested in doing the Theoretical Physics course at TCD however my path is slightly different to the usual Leaving Cert > College transition.

I have already been to third level education before (computer science), however due to medical condition I was unable to finish the course.

Currently I'm doing QQI level 5 science course that covers maths, chemistry, physics, biology etc, I chose to do it to get a fairly decent amount of fundamental knowledge about science as I have not covered it during the Leaving Certificate. The course allows you to get into institutions like TCD and UCD through 8 distinctions, however it is only applicable to the general science courses or science streams in TCD which Theoretical Physics is not a part of.

The QQI course does not prepare me well mathematically, I'd like to cover higher level maths & applied maths before entering the course as it is heavily reliant on it. I'm in contact with some of the students doing Theoretical Physics at TCD(doing work experience in physics department) and in order to do well, guts are telling me that my ability to do math should be significantly improved. Perhaps taking another year to improve my abilities would not be a bad idea though I can't seem to find any course that would only cover mathematics and physics that could get me up to scratch in a single year. Students doing TP learn to program in Python which I already know fairly well as coding is within my skill set - to my advantage.

Another matter that I would like to bring up is the application itself. My application could be submitted as a mature student in 2019 or I could apply through the CAO using my QQI results in 2018 to the Physical Sciences stream(heard of instances where people choose to do TP by talking to admissions).

Two things to discuss:

Should I take another year to solidify my knowledge and learn more math?
How should I go about application process (options are: QQI, Mature Student, Perhaps TAP course?)

Physics and maths are interests that make me get off the bed in the morning and I'd like to study them further, though I need a slight push in form of information. Obtaining problem complex solving skills and learning physics is what I want to get out of the course. Making wrong decisions is fairly easy so research should help me in making decision I will not regret.

Apologies if the post is lengthy, but rather a straight forward one. Most of the replies on boards are dating back 2005-2010 therefore creating a new topic felt like a decent move.

Appreciate all the replies, will reply fairly quickly to you all. Thanks.

GalwayGrrrrrl

I’m not an expert in this but what strikes me about your situation is this- the other students starting theoretical physics will have higher maths and physics from leaving cert. Could you look at the syllabus and past exams for those courses and identify your week points? Maybe then get “grinds” from someone who does these for leaving cert students. You don’t have to sit the exams but it would level the playing field a bit. I’d apply now for next autumn (not sure of best route).

Sleepwalking

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

I’m not an expert in this but what strikes me about your situation is this- the other students starting theoretical physics will have higher maths and physics from leaving cert. Could you look at the syllabus and past exams for those courses and identify your week points? Maybe then get “grinds” from someone who does these for leaving cert students. You don’t have to sit the exams but it would level the playing field a bit. I’d apply now for next autumn (not sure of best route).

Thanks for the input. That's correct and I thought about it as well, leaving certificate certainly does have higher standard @ maths. I'll be doing extra physics and maths over the summer to compensate that. Thought about doing Applied Maths as well as its pretty much course in mechanics.

Cheers.

Sleepwalking

Wondering if someone could elaborate on Theoretical Physics course in TCD or UCD.

It's difficult to find any answers online. Cheers.