Curricular changes that affect Spring 2018 registration for sophomore courses

October 19, 2017 News

Beginning in the Spring 2018 semester, several changes have been made to the suggested ordering of courses in the physics major.

  1. PHY 238 has moved from the spring of sophomore year to the fall of junior year.
  2. PHY 230 has moved from the spring of sophomore year to the spring of junior year.
  3. PHY 476 (Mathematical Methods in Physics) has moved from the fall of junior year to the spring of sophomore year.
    For Spring 2018, sophomores should sign up for PHY 497 Section 2 to enroll.
  4. PHY 441 (Physical Electronics Laboratory) has moved from the fall of junior year to the spring of sophomore year.
    For Spring 2018, sophomores should sign up for PHY 497 Section 3 to enroll.

Sophomores should sign up for PHY 497 Section 2 and Section 3  instead of PHY 238 and PHY 230.

The recommended sophomore Physics courses for Spring 2018 are:

  • PHY 200 – Career Prep, unchanged from before
  • PHY 223 – Special Relativity, unchanged from before
  • PHY 497 Section 2 (math methods, which will take the place of the PHY 476 requirement)
  • PHY 497 Section 3 (electronics lab, which will take the place of the PHY 441 requirement; the writing intensive lab requirement will be fulfilled by the mechanics lab which is taught in the junior year)
  • MAT  259 – Differential Equations, unchanged from before
  • the previously recommended engineering sequence course (for EPS majors) or science elective (for BS students), and
  • an HV/SC & E elective course for your gen ed requirement.

To plan ahead, please note the changes in the Fall 2018 recommended Physics courses (courses in italics may be renumbered):

  • PHY 442 – no longer a spring course but now a fall course in junior year
  • PHY 454 – Electricity and Magnetism I, unchanged from before
  • PHY 238 – Mechanics
  • an MAT elective, unchanged
  • a HV/SC & E elective, unchanged

If you have questions about these changes, please contact your advisor. Please note that course numbers for the physics sequence are likely to change by Fall 2018, but the course content will remain as it is listed here.