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Department visit: what would YOU want to know?


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I will be responsible for meeting with prospective students (and their families) who are visiting our department. 

I want to prepare a good list of things that could be relevant for them. 

What information would YOU, as a parent taking the student to their campus visit, want the department to present? (department specific and not about the school as a whole)

 

I already have on my list:

what people can do with the degree

what our graduates do after graduation

departmental scholarships

undergraduate research

all classes in the major taught by faculty, not grad TAs

all classes in the major guarantee a spot in the semester they need to take the course

overview over the curriculum

number of majors/class sizes

individualized advising

Society of Physics Students 

 

Of course they can always ask questions, but some people may not know what questions to ask.

So, what else would you suggest I should include?

 

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I think most of the biggies have already been listed. A more I can think of

Do your professors volunteer to be mentors for UGs?

Where have students from your dept been accepted for REUs?

 

Not a typical question, but how does the dept work with students who arrive with an atypical background and need more than the standard 4 yr sequence? Independent study? Access to grad courses?

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Will a typical high school calculus (or diff equations, depending) class be good enough, or should the student re-take the class at the university to succeed in this major?

 

I don't understand this question. A typical high school class in whatever subject never waives the requirement of the college classes required for any degree program. Unless students have AP credit (which is not a "typical" hs class), they must take calc (or whatever other required subject) at the university.

 

Is that different anywhere else? Are there colleges that waive required math classes because the student had a regular high school class in the subject?

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I don't understand this question. A typical high school class in whatever subject never waives the requirement of the college classes required for any degree program. Unless students have AP credit (which is not a "typical" hs class), they must take calc (or whatever other required subject) at the university.

 

Is that different anywhere else? Are there colleges that waive required math classes because the student had a regular high school class in the subject?

 

I'm not an expert; my oldest is only in 8th and I've been reading about high school planning and college visits. I've read reports from students (not here, on CC and elsewhere over the last few months) saying that they wished they had taken calculus at university even though it wasn't required of them. What situation exempted them I am not sure, perhaps AP or DE or some other school policy.

 

As a personal anecdote, I took AP Calc in high school, earned top scores on the exam, and am still grateful someone gave me the advice to take the university calc course before embarking on my degree. It was much more dynamic and interesting, and integrated well into the rest of my required courses. The downside was having to take more credits that I wished in order to finish on time. So I was coming at it from that angle as well, and if I were visiting I would ask what was suggested for this particular program.

 

I'll rephrase my question: Would you recommend a student who would be exempt from taking calculus at the university take it anyway if pursuing a physics degree?

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I don't understand this question. A typical high school class in whatever subject never waives the requirement of the college classes required for any degree program. Unless students have AP credit (which is not a "typical" hs class), they must take calc (or whatever other required subject) at the university.

 

Is that different anywhere else? Are there colleges that waive required math classes because the student had a regular high school class in the subject?

Many students go from high school calc I to the college equivalent of the next course. You don't repeat algebra in college so why repeat calculus, is the logic.

 

So if calculus is required many people will expect that if they have taken calc I and II and are in the following math class, that would be sufficient to enroll in a course requiring calculus.

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I probably wouldn't include this info in a presentation, but I'd be prepared to answer the questions, "How many of your students who start out as physics majors end up switching majors?"   and  "What courses are considered weed-out courses or important milestones toward a successful degree?"

 

When I was in college 25ish years ago, I was a biology major, and close to half of the biology major students ended up switching majors after Organic Chemistry I, which was considered a weed-out course.   Many of those students became psychology majors.

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I have a senior and my biggest questions right now are about advising. I know you listed individualized advising. I want to know how that works, how easy is it for the student to schedule advising and access the advisor, etc.

 

My ds will go to college with 36 hours of de across a variety of subjects. His college uploaded the courses to his portal and they are accepting all the credits toward his degree. That is great! But it really, really messes up the suggested eight semester sequence. We are doing a visit in March and I want to know who will be advising him and how it will work. I am really looking for someone to say they will be committed to helping him navigate that.

 

Also, my ds is interested in a special early grad school admission through his college. The requirements are stated but I want to know how many students have been successful taking advantage of this program. What rough percentage of those that head down this path actually get the early grad school admittance? If your department has any special programs I would want to know how successful students are at completing them.

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I like the fact that your classes are taught by Professors. I have explained to my DD what a blessing that is. I have also explained to her about class size, especially in General courses for Undergraduates. How nice it would be if the Professor actually knew your name. How nice it might be if you could work with a Professor on something. Not to be taking English 101 in an auditorium with 100+ students, but in a classroom.

 

So, typical class size for Freshmen would be high on my list.

 

The ranking of the school with employers, for various Majors the school is strong in, would be useful information to prospective students. For example, I worked on a temporary contract assignment for a very large Aerospace company years ago. The first time I was there, I was told that they had a list of approximately 50 universities. If one wasn't a graduate of one of those universities, their badge did not have the title "Engineer" on it.  Their diploma might have said "Engineering", but not their badge.

 

ETA: Success of graduating students finding their first professional job would also be interesting.

Edited by Lanny
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Do physics majors have room in their schedule to take advantage of overseas studies offered by your university?

Is there a separate application process for admission to physics major (like at some engineering schools)?

Is it difficult for students to get a spot in some key classes?  (I've heard at the UCs students may be wait listed for courses necessary for their major or to graduate.)  

When is the latest one can reasonably begin the course sequence of a physics major?  

 

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How tight is the course plan? Can a student struggle first semester or first year and still complete the degree?

 

Do students typically have to validate or take summer courses to graduate in 4 years (evidently it's common for CS students at my son's college to take discrete math over the summer at a CC and transfer it in.

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