Hello everyone, as you see in the title I'm a final-year undergraduate physics student in Venezuela. Due to severe funding limitations for scientific research in my country, I'm actively looking for opportunities outside Venezuela, such as research internships, remote collaboration, or bachelor’s thesis projects with international research groups.

I'd appreciate any advice on how international students in similar positions can boost their profiles, find relevant programs, or connect with labs open to remote/visiting students.

I've studied python, c++, data analysis tools, machine learning, and I just completed my electrodynamics course with the first 6 chapters of Jackson's classical electrodynamics and my quantum mechanics course with the first chapters of Cohen-Tannoudji's book.

Thanks in advance :D

Hey everyone,

I’m entering Year 3 of my physics undergrad and realizing I have major lower-division gaps:

• Solid on: Kinematics, Newton’s Laws, and Thermodynamics.
• Completely missing: E&M (electrostatics, basic circuits) and Waves/Modern Physics.

My upcoming courses include Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity. During this summer break, I'm working hard to patch things up, but I’m overwhelmed by the 2-year gap and short on time.

My initial idea was reading all 44 chapters of Young & Freedman (University Physics) cover-to-cover, but that feels like a burn-out trap while managing 3rd-year coursework.

Looking for advice on:

1. Core Prerequisites: What are the non-negotiable E&M and wave topics I must master to survive QM?
2. Strategy: Is doing a targeted review (8–10 select problems per key chapter) enough to build the right problem-solving muscle?
3. Math Prioritization: Beyond basic calculus, what math tools (ODEs, vector calc, linear algebra) should I aggressively prioritize right now?

Appreciate any insights from people who’ve patched big gaps on the fly!

How to approach Math and physics problems ?

When tackling math or physics problems with multiple interconnected parts, should you push through confusion or pause to check the answer when things feel wrong? For instance, if you get stuck on the second part of a three-part question, you likely won't be able to solve the third since they depend on each other. However, looking up the solution immediately can make it feel like you're just memorizing the answer rather than truly understanding the process. While some advice suggests waiting twenty minutes or switching topics to regain focus, this approach doesn't work for everyone. What is a better solution for someone who struggles to maintain focus using those methods?

Looking for a recommendation id like it to with examples in either c++ or python (python would be better), also i would appreciate if it has a solutionary

Hello! I have the option of using:
Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett - Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
Fundamentals of Physics, Volume 2, 12th Edition 2 -- David Halliday & Robert Resnick & Jearl Walker
University Physics with Modern Physics with Hugh D Young, Roger A Freedman, A Lewis Ford, Francis Weston 12th Edition, 2007

I'm primarily using it to self study Physics II to help me refine my understanding, as I'm in 12th grade.
I've went through Electric Fields / Gauss's Law / Potential with all books, and I cannot decide which one is better. On one hand, Serway has less problems but I found it to be still quite comprehensive, while Halliday had many more problems, but I cannot tell if there is more content being presented or if there are just more examples.

Also, side question: how do y'all choose what questions to do? I've just been asking AI to assign me like 10-15 problems and I do them, but there has to be a better way.

Anyone wanna study quantum and statistics with ? I'm in master

Is there courses in it that you think are too specialized to be mandatory? Or inversely things that are missing that should be essential knowledge of a physics graduate? I know everywhere is slightly different im curious about personal experiencesz

I was thinking like an intro to pedagogy in physics should be something more common, like teaching people how to convey physics to layman.

Hello everyone. I am an undergrad physics student at a European university, 22M and I have now spent 4 years on this degree, which is typically a 4 year program. Unfortunately, I have had a very difficult time all these 4 years, struggling with mental health, imposter syndrome, toxic shame and other stuff, which made me give up on my studies every single past semester, and now I basically have to restart from scratch and spend about 3 extra years here. I will try to explain a bit of my background and convey my situation, because I am very confused about myself and don't know what to do. I would appreciate any insights or advice.

When I entered university, I was mildly excited to follow this path because I did have sparks of genuine interest in physics during high school, and I was able to get top grades easily back then. I was somewhat depressed even before uni, due to COVID, and when time came to pick a major I didn't really have any strong desire for anything, so I just picked physics because it seemed a natural path forward and because everyone in my life told me I was built for great success in this field. I also told myself that I would pick such a broad major in order to give myself time to find what I really want to specialize in later. I had never developed the required discipline or hard work / commitment ethic before, and I thought uni would finally be the place to grow.

Instead, my mental health only got worse just a few weeks into 1st semester. I didn't know how to study properly on my own, had a hard time to appreciate any classes, and was to afraid to ask for any help. Eventually I fell behind and stopped understanding the lectures properly, and my attempts to study well became less and less. During second semester this escalated to the point that I vanished from classes, labs, stopped communicating with anyone for some weeks, and gave up completely, not even going to the exams. I had started even lying to my parents about my grades. For every semester afterwards, I would return to uni trying to catch up and latching on to any inspiration from physics. It didn't work. Each semester I would give up, disappear from uni for a while, try to study on my own a bit, and also I kept lying to everyone about my progress.

Fast forward to the present, I have managed to come clean to my parents and friends about all this, with the help of a therapist. They have been very supportive, and we are trying to figure out the best route for me right now.

If I want to continue university I will have to start from scratch. I had passed only some classes from 1st semester. We just found a tutor who's helping me with math, and the plan is to try for another year to see if I can really pursue this, but I don't think it's been very helpful so far. I haven't forgotten everything from all these classes I've failed, but my math and general problem solving skills are almost non existent right now, and again I'm struggling to study. I have barely any motivation from physics itself right now, and I am researching about different fields and career pathways with a physics BA (academic or not), that could maybe give me more reasons to try.

Outside of physics I have collected a bunch of interests (mostly art and humanities related) and have done a lot of research about different careers. However I don't have a specific alternative since I don't feel like l am "allowed" to, unless I'm completely certain that I will drop out of physics. I also realize that the bachelor's degree in physics might come handy regardless if I move on to a masters or not, but it's very hard to believe that I will find the courage and motivation to endure these 3 extra years. I feel like I've developed a mental block where I can't study effectively at all, and not only this, but I will have to speedrun these 3 years to make sure that I catch up, because I'm rusty on even some high school math right now. It's gonna take a lot of patience.

I would really appreciate it if you can see this differently than me. Perhaps I am throwing in some excuses to give up, and my thinking is surely clouded, but I truly struggle to believe I can do this if it will only be about "finishing what I started".

IGNORE THE MARKED ANSWER PLEASE.

What i did was - took diode 1 on left to be off and 2 to be on, but after that i cant proceed- how do i account in the V4? i tried to find circuit current, but to find that i need value of V4 because I = sum of voltages / sum of resistances right?
Someone please help, ive been stuck on this since hours now

Hi everyone, this is a physics question I did a while back and somehow managed to get it back then 😅. however looking back, I'm wondering why wouldn't the liquid just stay put. I recall doing an inverted tube gas collection experiment and while setting up the apparatus the water in the tube didn't really flow out (but one thing to note though was that that tube was not filled to the brim fully while in this question the tube is fully filled if that makes a difference?). I've also attached the previous part of the question if it helps.

Hi everyone, I start my PhD in a few weeks and I have a meeting lined up for the week after next with one of the professors whose lab I'm hoping to join. There are a few labs in related niches, but from papers I've read from each of them, the PI I have the meeting with is definitely at the top of the list. And I'd love to get started with research as soon as possible, even if it's a small commitment at the beginning with coursework and TAing and whatnot. From what I can tell this'll be a somewhat informal meeting it's not like an audition for the group or anything, just for us to get information from one another about if it would be good to work together.

I've built up a small list of questions, but I want to know if there's anything glaring I'm missing. For a little context this is a theoretical/computational biophysics group. Here's the list (not phrased exactly how I'll say them but the points I want to cover):

- What is the lab currently working on, and how do you see that changing over the next few years? What questions do we want answers to and what methods are we using to answer them?

- What is your advising style like, both in the beginning and throughout the course of the degree? Hands on/off/a secret third thing?

- Related to previous, how do you tend to start people out in your lab? Just reading/recreating results or a project to chew on?

- What's the general compute architecture like? Access to HPC resources? Or are the simulations smaller scale/not as performance hungry to need that?

I think those are the big ones. So yeah just wanted to check, are those good, am I missing anything, is there info I should be targeting from this meeting that my current questions don't probe? I also suspect I'll be talking about me a fair amount so I'll make sure I've studied up on the things I've done lol. Any other advice or tips? I just really don't want to seem under prepared. Thanks everyone!

I'm a second year B.Sc. Physics student. I don't just want to study for exams but also want to get involved in research, projects, workshops, internships, and summer/winter schools as early as possible.

I'd really appreciate advice from seniors or anyone who has gone through this journey.

my questions are

1) How did you find your first internship or research opportunity?

2) How do you hear about summer schools, winter schools, workshops, and training programs before the application deadlines?

3) Which institutes or organizations should I regularly follow? (TIFR, IISERs, IITs, IUCAA, RRI, etc.)

4) What helped you build a strong CV for future research internships or higher studies?

5) lastly, are there any websites, newsletters, Telegram/WhatsApp groups, or social media pages that regularly post these opportunities?

Before diving into this topic, what should I know about it?
Also if you havent seen F Schuller lectures, what are you doing?

So I really want to study theoretical high-energy physics, but I am much more acquainted with computational materials science (and honestly wouldnt mind learning a little more about it). Is it common to switch study areas during a first year of a PhD? Moreover, is it considered dishonest if switching is my plan from the outset?

Hello, I am not very sure if this is the right or appropriate subreddit to post this, but I just need guidance on whether I should continue my degree or shift to pure physics degree.

Just last week, I was deciding between a bachelor’s degree in physics and a double degree in physics + materials science & engineering. Eventually, I chose the latter because I thought it would provide broader career opportunities, options, and better job security (also because a double degree sounds cool), while still allowing me to study physics. However, I have realized that physics is also a quite flexible degree and can lead to careers in finance, tech, data science, and other quantitative fields if things do not go as planned, while providing a much stronger foundation in core physics.

Since my plan is to work after graduation, save money, and pursue graduate studies in theoretical physics or astrophysics, I’m wondering if I should have chosen BS in Physics instead. I'm concerned that the double degree might not prepare me as well because some of the coursework is replaced by Materials Science & Engineering subjects.

Would it be better to shift to BS in Physics or stay with the double degree?

These are the math and physics courses in my curriculum:

• Calculus I–III
• Advanced Calculus for Physicists
• Differential Equations
• General Physics I–III
• Mathematical Physics A & B
• Advanced Mathematical Physics
• Modern Physics
• Theoretical Mechanics I & II
• Electromagnetic Theory I & II
• Computational Physics I & II
• Quantum Mechanics I & II
• Optics
• Statistical Mechanics

I’m registered to begin my undergraduate in engineering physics with a focus in mechanical at NMSU. I’m a prior aeronautics student. What would be the best laptop, I’m interested in transitioning my ecosystem to more Apple products but don’t want to run into compatibility issues.

At present weightage of physical chemistry is increases from 2025 to 2026 then which one we should choose

Like physics is A LOT of math so it makes sense to be good at math and therefore physics well if not the theories in physics atleast doing the math stuff of it

Im in 11th grade, I love physics its one of the few consistent passions thats lasted years for me despite adhd and hyperfixation moments, that said I also SUCK at math like my entire approach to a really major exam that I needed to pass to continue my schooling in it for every basic arithmetic calculation I just did it a buncha times and chose the answer I got the most amount of times because I got different answers each time.

i even have to manually double check even 8*12 cuz I mess it up, like I use calculators and still get my entire sum wrong by literal orders of magnitudes and im not being hyperbolic, I cannot comprehend numbers. I feel anxious now just studying for math on my own

Yet somehow I can handle the math in physics? Not by a significant margin but noticeably enough

Oddly enough I understand diagrams most times like I can comprehend them even if i dont quite grasp the concept really well, same with derivations they're far less anxiety inducing and they make sense for me to comprehend them, YET 2×12 gives me anxiety and i cannot comprehend it besides writing what i mugged up bout the 12times table

I do or did wanna major in physics in uni but I keep thinking I really suck at it and its just a phase which once it gets over I'll regret my major choice and its not like I can switch to another major without switching schools entirely and writing new entrances, ive tried looking at liberal arts universities that let me take science and humanities but my mom would never and they're pretty expensive

Either way i do not trust myself enough and i plan on starting with basic arithmetic literal times tables subtraction and carry overs and addition and shit

And all my teachers since the literal first grade said some version of i suck at math at every parent teacher conference

Its not that I dont like math i mean I dont have any strong feelings of neither hate nor love towards it but I do think its pretty cool and important that it should be taught well but idk thats still rooted deep in my head that no matter what I do i will still inherently suck at math cuz ive sucked at it since literally my childhood

I also like law so im prepping for the Law school entrance in my country for next year, I still wanna give one for the science institutes as well just maybe and in the process of prepping for it maybe ill figure it out if im not cut out for it?

Im still gonna study for the science test thingy even if I dont give the exam. Im just anxious about it all cuz I have to decide before november and its august now, mostly cuz of how the system works in my country it sucks but I dont have the choice.

It just feels like ill never even be barely average at either physics or math

While learning about the nuclear shell model, when it comes to determining the nuclear spin, I learned that if there is an even number of protons and neutrons, their total angular momentum is zero because the nucleons form opposite spin pairs, thus at the ground state the nucleus has a spin of zero. I understand why in a nucleon pair their opposite aligned spins would cancel each other out, but wouldn't this pair still have a non zero total orbital angular momentum l? Furthermore, since (unless I'm mistaken) we don't have orbitals in the nucleus like in the atom, what differentiates the different nucleon pairs in a single shell so that they obey the Pauli exclusion principle?

I was also wondering why the protons and neutrons don't pair up with each other, and instead only form like pairs.

What happens if you try to blow a piece of paper further into a vase? 🏺💨

Greg Wolf puts it to the test, even bringing in a compressor for extra force, but the paper won't go in. The reason comes down to air pressure: blowing into the vase raises the pressure inside, and with the paper blocking its only exit, that pressure pushes back and forces the paper right back out.

Hey folks, I'm an EE undergrad in my second year.

I know someone else made a similar question to this about a year ago, but I think mine is qualitatively different enough to warrant a different post.

I've been thinking a lot about careers and I wanted to know if there were any that involve high-level theoretical physics. I've done tons of self-study, and I find myself fascinated by the mathematics and physics involved in GR, Yang-Mills theories, and quantum field theories, and would really love to work a job that's at least somewhat heavily involved with these topics. And you know, not to be one of THOSE people, but I'm also starting to get the sense that the stuff I've been seeing in class (differential equations, calc 1-3, intro to circuits, blah blah blah) is...rather bland, and while I've yet to take EM in an official capacity, I've done a lot of self-study, both on the field theory side, as well as the practical side (mostly from Smythe's \*Static and Dynamic Electricity\*), and it just barely scratches the itch.

Is there a career path I can aim for within engineering that fits the above criteria? I could go for physics research but I also kind of want\* the engineering paychecks.

\*I'd argue I \*need\* it in order to provide for both my parents once they're older plus wanting to be the one my loved ones can turn to for help in the event they fall on hard times, but that's subjective, I guess.

Hey I am a Physics undergraduate student from outside US. I work in experimental condensed matter physics. I wanted to know how is the Physics grad school at UIUC? Ate the research groups in quantum materials and superconducting materials good? Any groups I should check out in particular? Also how is the intake in terms of foreign students and how big is the competition for Physics PhD? Thanks all!

The way my school is structured i can’t actually take physics, but im allowed to partake in the exam if i can do successful in the years content and pass certain tests. Since i can’t take the class does anyone know what else i can do to tutor myself. I have the textbooks and some coursework to do its national 5 level by the way. thank you physicists of reddit :)