Expert: Daniel Mazur - 9/3/2009

Question
Sir,
   I am  doing my second year of electronics and communication engineering in PSG College of Technology(ranked no.14 in India). But my interests are in Physics, particularly in quantum mechanics, particle physics and astrophysics. But my family pressure drove me into engineering. You see, in India it's a common belief that one can earn a lot if he/she gets into engineering. Now my plans are to do MS in Physics in USA, for my options in India are almost nothing (Universities in India generally don't admit students with engineering background, into their advanced Physics courses). For my preparations for Physics subject GRE, I've started of with 'The Feynmann Lectures on Physics'. I'm almost half the way trough it. Now my problem are this. As I'm getting into my advanced part of the engineering course I am finding it difficult to manage my Physics. Since I'm concentrating more  on Phyics my grades in engineering have also come down. I know that this is a problem which i have to tackle myself but still I'm seeking your advice. Could you kindly tell me what would be the right strategy to go ahead. Could you also suggest me some preparation tips.

Answer
Dear Balakrishnan,

My sincere apologies for answering this late.

Even in the USA, where you are allowed to start a Physics M.S., you will have to spend a lot of time catching up with undergraduate physics and related maths. Depending on what you are trying to achieve, the Feynman lectures may not be the best book to prepare from. It is considered by majority as a resource to get new angles of views on physics that one already knows(!), but bad for first-time learners. In the States we used the "Fundamentals of Physics" textbook by Halliday,Resnick and Walker in teaching the first 3 semesters of general physics, so I can recommend it. But I am sure there are other suitable textbooks as well.
Secondly, I don't know how much maths you learn in your engineering program, but around the world it is generally less involved than the maths for physicists. You will need to check for yourself if this is the case and study the parts that your courses may be lacking.
Thirdly, general physics (covered in Feynman lectures) covers 3-4 semesters out of the 4 years of college. There are then many specialized courses that you will have to study as well: classical mechanics, electromagnetism and optics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, special relativity, ... Of these one gets the scent during a general physics course, but to complete the college level one needs to study them well beyond the basic, almost high-school level.
Lastly, preparing for Physics GRE is a good idea. While for admission to a Masters program you need to only take the general GRE (verbal, analytic and computational part), you always have to pass another exam at the beginning of your program in the States, the Masters' Qualifying Examination (QE). The QE covers all the undergraduate physics (plus some necessary maths topics), in which it is similar to the Physics GRE, even if the actual implementation of QE varies between universities.
To the problem of falling grades I can only advise you to still take the engineering as your priority, because good grades are one of the admissions criteria of graduate programs at US universities.

Good luck,
Daniel