Expert: Daniel Mazur - 4/21/2009

Question
QUESTION: SIR,
    I have done bachelor degree of science and now i want to do masters in experimental physics.actually i want to do masters in physics and want to go in research line.presently i live in India and i want to know about institutes all over world who supports this course and in INDIA too.I need some help for my career also.

Thanks in advance


ANSWER: Dear Gaurav,

the information about institutes all over the world is all over the internet and nobody can possibly do the information search and collection for you. It takes days and weeks and we all have to do it by ourselves - I had to, some 8 years ago. I changed your question to Public as I have received several questions very similar to yours.

As I have already written in some of my responses here, there are no institutions that would keep and regularly update a collection of this kind. Study programs are changing all the time at the same rate governments change and technology develops... You could try to contact libraries in India, who should at least receive updated info from Indian universities. The best is to sit at the Internet for a few weeks with a map in one hand and a notepad in the other and search all the universities' websites, navigate to physics departments and find the information about their study programs, requirements, tuition etc there.

I cannot help you more that telling you this. I do not even know at all, what "Bachelor degree in science" means, because I only ever encountered degrees in physics or chemistry or biology etc separate, never put together into a "science" bundle. To give you any advice regarding the suitability of one masters program or another for you, you'd have to tell me some details about what you studied and what you know.

Don't hesitate to ask me again if you have a specific question.

Good luck!
Daniel



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sir,
    i have passed the bachelor degree a three year degree course with physics,chemistry and mathematics as a subjects.now i want to do a masters with physics as a subject. i want to know about the courses of masters offered?that was my last question.i have heard about masters in experimental phyics.i have searchec it in india but did not find it.i do a favour if any one ibstitute who offers such a course in your knowledge?

Answer
Hello,

there is no major called "experimental physics", if that is your question. You need to find a major within physics first that you want to specialize in: astrophysics, particle physics, geophysics, biophysics, solid state physics, plasma physics,... and there are others. As you choose a diploma (Masters thesis) topic, only THEN you choose an experimental, theoretical or computer simulation project and you pick some optional subjects to aid your performance in experiments or in theory or in programing computational clusters. When you afterward apply for a job or for a Doctorate program, you will already profile yourself as an experimentalist or theorist...

Both experimental and theoretical physicists within the same major (like the "solid state physics" for example) receive the same principal education, only in the optional subjects they differ. Theoretical physics sometimes has a separate program, where they learn a little bit of everything. If you have been searching Indian physics departments for "experimental physics" program, you couldn't have got any result.

Had you talked to a physics professor about this, he or she should have told you this. Best if you visit a nearby big university and ask to see their research labs and departments in general and ask for some introduction to what they are doing there. This will give you an idea and maybe then you will be able to decide, what part of physics you would be interested in most. I hope this clarifies things a bit for you.

Cheers!
Daniel