Is this a bad idea? EP at OSU, non-accredited

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>So basically I’m not quite sure what exactly I want to do with my life. As of now, I’m interested in either doing some sort of aerospace engineering or a Ph.D in some type of physics (yeah, I know it’s dangerous to suggest a Ph.D when I’m not even in college yet, but I’ll still throw it out there). I decided that engineering physics would be a great way to see a little of what goes on in both worlds; however, I am not too comfortable getting a non-accredited degree for the obvious reason of finding a job (even though I plan on going to grad school, I would still feel much better knowing that I could get a job with a BS).</p>

<p>I got into UIUC (which has an accredited program), but they’re giving me no financial aid and the OOS tuition, in my opinion, is ridiculous. I think the only other option I would consider is Case (also accredited), but it is still approximately 12k more than Ohio State…</p>

<p>Suggestions are strongly welcome!!</p>

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<p>I’m an engineering physics major at OSU. It’s a great program, I think their lack of accreditation is because they do it differently from most other schools’ EP programs that I’ve looked at. It’s not a sign of a lack of quality, OSU is a top-25 engineering college and a top-25 physics college. It’s the biggest research school in Ohio so you can get plugged into some interesting research at the undergrad level (a must, though nobody tells you this).</p>

<p>The advisors and teachers and faculty and facilities are all first-rate for physics. Go to OSU.</p>

<p>By the time you’re midway through the classical mechanics series with Prof. Kilcup you’ll see you made the right choice.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply! How would I go about getting into some of this interesting research? Would I ask a professor if it’s okay to shadow them?</p>

<p>Also, are you in the honors program? If so, which honors classes did you take?</p>

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<p>Just became an honors student (I’m a transfer, only been here a year) so I haven’t taken any honors courses but they have an honors series for calculus (in the math department), an honors series for quantum mechanics, and an honors series for electricity and magnetism. I took my calc sequence at another school, but people say the honors courses are hard but rewarding. The honors quantum class uses a graduate-level text.</p>

<p>You supposedly get involved in undergraduate research by emailing a professor, yeah. You just find a research group. I haven’t had any luck yet, though I’ve only contacted two professors. Word of advice, don’t try to use humor in an email unless you know the professor well enough to predict how they’ll respond. I had a positive response from one professor until I cracked a simple, harmless joke in my follow-up email and haven’t heard back (that was a few months ago).</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice, for I would totally be the kind of person to crack a joke, but now I know better haha. ;)</p>

<p>Do you only take one honors course per semester, or can you take more? For instance, could I take an honors physics and an honors calculus class? Or should I ask, would I want to if I could?</p>

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<p>I haven’t heard of any restrictions like that. Fall semester I’ll be taking the honors quantum and honors e&m classes, since they are offered at the same time then there must not be any restrictions on honors classes.</p>

<p>Be forewarned, the honors calculus sequence is for <em>prepared</em> students only, like you’ve already taken AP Calculus BC. It’s not exactly Harvard Math 55, but it’s not for people who haven’t already been exposed to the concepts. Same goes for the honors physics 130 sequence (that’s OSU’s calc-based into physics sequence, it’s what you take <em>before</em> taking the classical mechanics sequence of which there is a single, non-honors-but-still-hard version taught by Prof. Kilcup). It’s very proof-heavy.</p>

<p>Like I said, I haven’t taken it myself.</p>

<p>And I just heard back from another prof that he is already has too many students as it is in his group, so the search continues…</p>

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<p>So I’ve recently discovered that OSU’s EP program will be ABET accredited (from here: <a href=“https://physics.osu.edu/semester-information[/url]”>https://physics.osu.edu/semester-information&lt;/a&gt;). I will probably be going here now… Any advice?</p>

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<p>You must be 100% comfortable with calculus, differential and integral. You don’t have to have every theorem memorized but you must be perfectly at ease with the algebra involved.</p>

<p>After (or during) the regular calc-based physics sequence that all STEM majors take you start the classical mechanics/mathematical methods sequence taught by Kilcup that I mentioned before. It builds up any area of your math skills that are lacking, as I believe you can start the sequence with only the second calc class under your belt. Taylor series, complex numbers, simple linear algebra, multivariable calc, etc., you’ll cover it all alongside the physics. You have both a dense math tome and a dense physics tome that will be your girlfriends for that year. It’ll make a man out of you! Homework assignments are drawn from both books.</p>

<p>Thing is, math classes teach you “proper math,” but in physics you often have to use little “cheats” like the fact that the sin(x) and tan(x) are both approximately equal to x for small values of x, lots of little tricks like that to make otherwise intractable problems solvable. Other math tricks like dimensional analysis for guessing the correct formula for a problem or looking at limits are helpful too. The classical mechanics sequence is almost entirely symbolic, meaning you don’t have a lot of questions like “a mass of 1.7 kg slides along a ramp at angle 32.1 degrees with a frictional coefficient of 0.2 and length 1.2 meters, at what time (in seconds) does the block come to the end of the ramp?” Rather it will be “a mass m slides along a ramp at angle theta with a frictional coefficient of mu and length L, at what time t does the block come to the end of the ramp?” The point of working symbolically like that is:</p>

<p>1) it’s actually easier, PROVIDED YOUR ALGEBRA IS STRONG
2) if you solve the numerical problem numerically, you only have <em>one</em> solution to <em>one</em> problem. But if I solve it symbolically, so I get something like t=m*cos(theta)/sqrt(mu) then I can see what happens to t if I let theta go to pi/2, or mu approaches 0, or whatever, so under certain limits it ought to “reduce” to a formula that I already know, like the time for an object to fall a height L is sqrt(2L/g), so if I get a formula that reduces to t=sqrt(2L/g) when I let theta go to pi/2 (which would mean it’s inclined vertically, so it just falls straight down), then I probably have the right formula. This is a key skill in physics.</p>

<p>I don’t find it necessary to have taken diffy qs before starting this class (it is a requirement eventually). I found it helpful to have taken linear algebra first simply because it meant matrices weren’t brand new to me, but matrices form a very small part of the classical mechanics sequence. Either vector analysis or linear algebra must be taken, but you don’t have to take both. However, if you want to go to grad school, take them both.</p>

<p>My advice is to take no more than three classes a semester. Four tops. Your engineering classes, whatever concentration you choose, will keep you busy. If you have the ability, try to CLEP out of AP out of as many deadweight GECs as you can.</p>