Questions about Physics Programs of Study (POSts)
What programs of study does the Department of Physics offer, and what programs are offered jointly with Physics and other Departments?
The Department of Physics offers three Physics programs: the Physics Specialist, Physics Major, and Physics Minor programs. It also offers two joint specialist programs: the Biological Physics Specialist, and the Physics and Philosophy Specialist. In addition, joint Specialist programs with Physics are hosted by the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Mathematics.
Is there some sort of standard way that courses are numbered in the calendar?
Many of our courses are grouped by common numbering, including
- The
"x24"
courses: PHY224H1, PHY324H1, PHY424H1 are courses in practical and experimental physics. - The
"x50"
courses: PHY250H1, PHY350H1, PHY450H1 are courses in electricity and magnetism and electrodynamics. - The
"x52"
courses: PHY252H1, PHY452H1 are courses in thermal and statistical physics. - The
"x54"
courses: PHY254H1, PHY354H1, PHY454H are courses in classical physics of particles and continuous matter. - The
"x56"
courses: PHY256H1, PHY356H1, PHY456H1 are courses in Quantum Mechanics.
I am about to start my second year at U of T in September and am enrolling in a Physics POSt. Which year's calendar should I refer to for planning my program?
The calendar to refer to is the calendar for the upcoming academic year. For example, suppose you were a first year student in 2019-2020 and want to enroll in a Physics POSt for 2020-2021. You should refer to the 2020-2021 calendar for your academic planning.
How do I go about fulfilling the Ethics Requirement that is described in the calendar?
The language in the calendar can be confusing. so here it is in a nutshell:
You can fulfill the Ethics requirement by a) taking JPH441H1, or b) taking any of the courses in the list ETH201H1/ ETH210H1/ ETH220H1/ ETH230H1/ HPS200H1/ PHL233H1/ PHL265H1/ PHL273H1/ PHL275H1/ PHL281H1/ IMC200H1/ VIC172Y1/ ENV333H1 , or c) taking another course provided it is pre-approved by the Undergraduate Office. For options a) and b), you are permitted to take the course as CR/NCR. If you are approved to take a course under option c), please ask the Undergraduate Office if you are also approved to take the course CR/NCR.
I would like to take PHY250H1, PHY254H1 or PHY256H in the summer. Can I postpone taking the co-requisite math credits until the following academic year?
No. The second year vector calculus math credits must be taken either as co-requisites or have been taken already.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
I am a student taking physics at ___ who plans to be staying in Toronto next summer. Are there research opportunities available in the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto? What would you suggest I do to find out about them?
You can contact faculty -- theorists, experimentalists, lecturers -- to ask about possible placements. I would encourage you to contact people at other nearby Universities as well, such as York and McMaster, to broaden the possible pool. If you have concrete skills such as programming you should make sure to promote those.
In your contact email, make sure to include an unofficial transcript indicating courses taken and grades, resume, availability, general expectations for compensation, references if available. It's really helpful if you can say something intelligent about the person's research, which will require you to look them up and try and understand what their area of work.
We maintain a summer employment and summer school opportunities list at https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/students/undergraduate-program/summer-research-opportunities. This is worth looking at every few weeks because it is frequently updated.