UC Berkeley vs Cornell vs Cambridge (UK) [for Physics related studies]

tamagotchi
Sun, 07 Apr 2024 18:51:29 +0000

Cambridge is amazing, absolutely! … if the program is an academic fit. The program is different from the US programs in engineering physics that are being compared. It is possible, however, that this type of program is what the student prefers, I don’t know.

This is not addressed to you specifically @Lindagaf but since several people have mentioned UK programs being very focused and assumed the student would be studying just physics (and supporting things like math) for this degree, I’m going to copy paste the curriculum outline below (from the Natural Sciences web site) to give a sense of what the program covers.

The three-year bachelors program is just the first three years. Some subjects offer a fourth year MSci.

Year 1 (Part IA)

You can study a range of different subjects in your first year. However, you may need to have certain A levels or IB to study some of them.

Check the entry requirements for the Year 1 subjects you’d like to study.

You will choose three science subjects from these areas:

Biology of Cells

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

Evolution and Behaviour

Materials Science

Physics

Physiology of Organisms

You can also choose to take Psychology, subject to timetable restrictions and student numbers.

You will also take one of the two mathematics subjects:

Mathematics focusing on Physical sciences

Mathematics focusing on Biological sciences

Year 2 (Part IB)

You will take three subjects, from the following areas:

Animal Diversity

Biochemistry

Cell Biology

Chemistry A: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Chemistry B: Organic, Inorganic and Biological Chemistry

Conservation

Developmental Biology

Earth Sciences A: Igneous and metamorphic processes, mineralogy and planetary differentiation

Earth Sciences B: Climate, geobiology, geophysics and the sedimentary record

Ecology

Environmental Sciences: Quantitative Approaches

Evolution

Genetics

History and Philosophy of Science

Materials Science

Mathematics

Mathematical and Computational Biology

Microbiology

Molecular Biology

Neurobiology

Pathology

Pharmacology

Physics A: Waves, Quantum Mechanics, Condensed Matter Physics

Physics B: Dynamics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics

Physiology

Plant Sciences

Year 3 (Part II)

You can choose to follow a broad subject in Biological or Physical Sciences, or you can choose to specialise in one of these areas:

Astrophysics

Biochemistry

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

Ecology

Genetics

History and Philosophy of Science

Materials Science

Neuroscience

Pathology

Pharmacology

Physics

Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

Plant Sciences

Zoology

Please note that some Year 3 subjects have limited numbers due to the size of the laboratory space.

Year 4 (Part III)

These subjects offer a fourth year option, which lead to an MSci degree:

Astrophysics

Biochemistry

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

History and Philosophy of Science

Materials Science

Physics

Systems Biology

Quantitative Climate and Environmental Science

For further information about studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge see the Natural Sciences course website.

@beefeater also made the interesting point that

beefeater:

You are only allowed to specialize in physical sciences after successfully completing an exam, I believe. So, if you don’t do well in the tripos, then you may not be able to study physics as it’s quite competitive at Cambridge.

I am guessing that is what the curriculum above is referring to, when it says “Please note that some Year 3 subjects have limited numbers due to the size of the laboratory space.”

So it’s a “secondary admission” program (like many others we discuss on CC).