Non-Physics Major vs. Physics Subject GRE
Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:54 pm
Hello All,
First and foremost, happy to be here. For those of you with earnest advice, thank you in advance.
I'm a 24 year old young gentleman who has decided to become a physicist. I graduated in my first love, Economics, in 2010, and have been working in the cleantech industry ever since. However, a bit of a slow-acting but inevitable revolution has occurred, and its ultimate result was the decision to devote my life, above all other things, to the study of the laws the universe. I have flirted with many careers and life paths, and after a lengthy process of divination and ritual superstition, it turns out that this is the one. I understand that this will not be easy, but it is what I am going to do... .
My plan is this: enroll in a terminal MS program in order to be brought up to speed, and then from there, once I have the research experience, referrals, and overall credentials to be taken seriously, apply to the more prestigious Ph.D. programs to which I will have ideally gained access. Of course, this will not be this easy, but I am willing to spend a considerable amount of time and energy making this work.
Here is where I am now: I have taken and done reasonably well on the General GRE. I would now like to take the Physics Subject GRE. As someone who hasn't taken a physics course in about half a decade, do you have any advice on how to best prepare? I am well-versed in the ETS website's skeleton for study. My hypothetical solution is to buy respectable textbooks on each of the subjects and begin to toil away. I suppose my question is, would you suggest any reading in particular that can help me along my way? Or is there a better way to go about doing what I plan to do? Something tells me Wikipedia won't suffice. In addition, I have read horrendous reviews of all one-stop-shop Physics GRE texts, so I do not even consider this to be an option at this point.
Also, it should be said that I am comfortable with calculus, and have come to understand that I will need to learn linear algebra. Is there any suggested reading in this arena, and is there any more math that I'll need to learn in order to do well enough to gain entry to a Physics MS program?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you again and have a wonderful Sunday.
Cheers,
Louis
First and foremost, happy to be here. For those of you with earnest advice, thank you in advance.
I'm a 24 year old young gentleman who has decided to become a physicist. I graduated in my first love, Economics, in 2010, and have been working in the cleantech industry ever since. However, a bit of a slow-acting but inevitable revolution has occurred, and its ultimate result was the decision to devote my life, above all other things, to the study of the laws the universe. I have flirted with many careers and life paths, and after a lengthy process of divination and ritual superstition, it turns out that this is the one. I understand that this will not be easy, but it is what I am going to do... .
My plan is this: enroll in a terminal MS program in order to be brought up to speed, and then from there, once I have the research experience, referrals, and overall credentials to be taken seriously, apply to the more prestigious Ph.D. programs to which I will have ideally gained access. Of course, this will not be this easy, but I am willing to spend a considerable amount of time and energy making this work.
Here is where I am now: I have taken and done reasonably well on the General GRE. I would now like to take the Physics Subject GRE. As someone who hasn't taken a physics course in about half a decade, do you have any advice on how to best prepare? I am well-versed in the ETS website's skeleton for study. My hypothetical solution is to buy respectable textbooks on each of the subjects and begin to toil away. I suppose my question is, would you suggest any reading in particular that can help me along my way? Or is there a better way to go about doing what I plan to do? Something tells me Wikipedia won't suffice. In addition, I have read horrendous reviews of all one-stop-shop Physics GRE texts, so I do not even consider this to be an option at this point.
Also, it should be said that I am comfortable with calculus, and have come to understand that I will need to learn linear algebra. Is there any suggested reading in this arena, and is there any more math that I'll need to learn in order to do well enough to gain entry to a Physics MS program?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you again and have a wonderful Sunday.
Cheers,
Louis