<p>diversity seems an important factor too though. and ucla triumphs over wake in that matter hands down. the majority of wake are caucasians(i’m guessing 80%. not sure though). while ucla has less than 50% caucasians, with 30% asians & stuff. and ucla has a lot more internationals too.</p>
<p>@NPcomplete why aint you taking physics? i’d really thought you’d do so. man the world really needs enthusiastic physicists like us. but then again, its your personal choice, and i better not comment on it.</p>
<p>but i like computer scientists too. they help astrophysicists a lot. yeah i like them.
and EE is good too, but i guess i’d make a dumb EE-er… i’d rather stick to the basic sciences.</p>
<p>why this group feels like a vacant thing?</p>
<p>@akash: I don’t like higher level physics that involves a lot of research. My interest in physics only goes up to classical physics and quantum mechanics. Most of the stuff I like in physics was discovered 100 years ago…</p>
<p>The world does need physicists, but also engineers and computer scientists. </p>
<p>NP</p>
<p>ok @NPcomplete i need your help. i’ve almost finished my high school syllabus & am willing to start some undergrad topics. i think i’ll do the thermodynamics part from zemansky. i think i’ll also start fluid mechanics, quantum mechanics & modern physics. could you suggest me some books for the above? and do you think i should start any other topic first like wave optics? what about maths? what should i start in maths?
in physics i use halliday, resnick & walker, the feynman lectures & irodov and a bunch of others.
i’m doing algebra from hall & knight and bernard & child, geometry from s l loney, calculus from thomas & finney and (sometimes)spivak. i’ll be starting multi-variable calculus soon. & i dont think i can start with real analysis anytime soon.
and i request anyone not to reply that i should concentrate on my school studies and forget undergrad. i’m always revising for my school exams, & will do so for the next 8 months.
btw here in india, everyone uses the books by the indian authors, & these books are all geared towards how to crack the competitive exams. i’m damned SICK of it. i’m desperately in need of books which teach for the sake of enlightening the students.</p>
<p>@Decibel what about you? what do you think? while answering, please keep in mind that i will be studying physics, not engineering.</p>
<p>I post here.</p>
<p>don’t mind me, I’m just increasing my number of posts cause I’m just bored.</p>
<p>And HI everyone. Hope you are all doing fine. And as my posts are supposed to be strictly on college admissions, let me put a question out here. Why US and not the UK? Feel free not to answer the question.</p>
<p>because I dont like the gloomy weather of UK and I think that UK is just not my type of place.</p>
<p>guys if you are bored, kindly answer my question & help me out. relevant answers. not any crap.</p>
<p>Akash, how did you like Hall and Knight’s algebra book? I actually have the text as well and I found it painstakingly dry and dull but maybe I should give it another shot. Also, how are you able to juggle between so many different topics? I can understand studying “Higher Algebra” and geometry simultaneously but these two, along with a book like Spivak, seems insane. It’s great since you seem to be able to pull it off but I’d be curious to know why. It would seem more logical to go through Hall and Knight & Geometry and then move on to Spivak, i.e, once one has dealt with “pre-calculus”.</p>
<p>I think going through a harder classical mechanics text before thermo would be a better idea. I have Halliday & Resnick (Fundamentals…) and found it too long winded and perhaps even dumbed down. For classical mechanics, there’s the Berkeley and MIT (this one’s by AP French) Series and also “An Introduction to Classical Mechanics” by Kleppner and Kolenkow.</p>
<p>Are you applying to college for fall '13 or did you apply for this fall?</p>
<p>@eatyoualive-finally! you are alive! so which uni have u finalised or still waiting for Brown?</p>
<p>@Sombre
i’m not a huge fan of hall & knight myself. but the book covers all the topics required for the time being, & a few more. besides the sums in it arent challenging enough. bernard & child triumphs in that matter. tbh i like both the books.
and i have completed algebra & geometry, the part thats required for high school, & some more. i just mentioned the names of the authors of the books i use. atm i’m concentrating on calculus. and really man! spivak seems to suck the life out of me! i’d choose thomas & finney over spivak any day. however, to be fair, spivak is more exahaustive than, afaik, all other calculus books. and its sums are also geared towards those who are in the higher end of the spectrum. so, in a sort of way, i like spivak too.
for classical mechanics, i like it the rigorous mathematical way. so, irodov’s mechanics does fine for me.
and what do you mean when you say i should read higher level classical mechanics before i start thermodynamics? we’ve been studying thermodynamics since grade 10. i just wanted to learn some higher concepts from zemansky.
btw what are the ‘Berkeley and MIT Series’? are the other topics like wave optics present in the series too? are they available for free download in pdf format? i’m asking 'cause i surely wont find them here in india.
thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know how advanced your tenth grade thermodynamics class could have been. I’ve never used Irodov but around the time I needed a copy, I wasn’t in India, so couldn’t buy one.</p>
<p>Kleppner and Kolenkow is the book that MIT uses in the “honours” (it’s not called that but they have a few variants of freshman physics and that’s the one they used in the advanced class) mechanics class. It’s on Scribd, so you can view it there and see for yourself.</p>
<p>I found the book by Bernard and Child (legal download) on a website called Archive. (not to be confused with arXiv) I really didn’t find Hall and Knight to my liking. It was just statement after statement, examples and problems. I’d like something that while rigorous, is also more approachable. Is the one by Bernard and Child like that?</p>
<p>There are a few volumes of Physics books in the MIT series by AP French and another called the Berkeley Series. I can’t remember who wrote it but it’s by a group of different authors. I actually bought it in India for under Rs600. If I lived in India, I would’ve used flipkart or something to get the books.</p>
<p>the thermodynamics in our syllabus is pretty easy. it covers the 1st law completely & the 2nd law a little bit(i wouldnt bother to mention the 0th law. its so… funny?). however i must admit, some of the problems from the 1st law can make you scratch your head for a while. basic problems from 2nd law though. this is our physics syllabus. the chemistry course covers all the 3 laws, and man, they have some difficult sums!
well, neither bernard & child nor hall & knight is ‘more approachable’ in the sense you mean it. sorry about that. but if you happen to be in india, you could definitely go for s. k. goyal’s ‘Algebra’. its good, well written, but a tad too easy imo.</p>
<p>is it me or has every bangladeshi quit cc?</p>
<p>@akashdip,no I am here…I visit Bangladeshi thread everyday but nothing to post,lol
what about you? Howz life?</p>
<p>Well, I’m not kidding. akashdip you shall start your post-doc study from now on !! :D</p>
<p>@amyharvard life has turned pretty boring for me atm. nothing to do but study, study and study. dont even get time for piano recitals. nor soccer. damn.
@ivyaspire how i wish so man! how i wish so! all these school & iit-jee preparation are sucking the life out of me.</p>