The Preprofessional Committee provides the professional schools with required evaluations of student performance. A student contemplating admission to a professional school should consult the preprofessional advisor early in the program. Students who do not select CSE 1503 must pass the universitywide computer literacy exam. Master of Science Degree Program Graduate study in physics at the master's level generally follows one of two tracks. It either aims to provide a sound core-course education in several fundamental, broad areas of physics at an advanced level to prepare the student for continued and specialized study toward the doctorate, or it may be directed toward preparing the student to apply physics in industry or in other nonacademic environments.
Course work for the latter track tends to be more specialized and narrowly oriented.
The master of science program in physics attempts to serve both types of objectives and offers a balanced combination of basic core courses and those designed for applied physicists. All entering physics graduate students are required to be prepared in mathematics at least through vector analysis. General admission requirements and the process for applying are presented in the Graduate Information and Regulations section of this catalog. The master's degree is conferred on students who have satisfactorily completed a minimum of 33 credit hours of graduate study. A master's thesis is optional.