Changing majors

[HoboNinja]

I have only had a problem with 1 teacher, and he was a racist pompous asshole English teacher who thought our papers were shit if they weren't written in the exact style he liked and would rewrite our sections of our papers himself to show it how it was "meant" to be done.

My friend hated our American Government professor but I didn't, we disagreed completely politically, he was a bleeding heart super-liberal, but I actually liked it. It was fun to debate in the class.

Besides that, my only problems were that my Physics prof was Indian and very hard to understand, and I just started my Philosophy class and the prof is from Nigeria and even harder to understand but you become accustomed to their accents after awhile.

 

[Enresshou]

I think Math is fun...


I didn't do so hot my first year of college in Physics or Calculus (I had them both at the same time and didn't really do the homework).... but I am honestly really wanting to do this and I think I have the want enough to give myself the drive to work my ass off and do this. I have got by in life doing the minimum and being lazy but damnit this is something I really really want to do in my life and I am going to work at it.

Possibly a bit of bad news, but were your courses calc-based physics or just 'physics'? I know a lot of schools around here (not sure if it's the norm, though I'd imagine so) differentiate between them, and a lot of schools require the calc-based physics to proceed.

Totally second WolfOfOdin's suggestion of getting to know your professors. It's killing two birds with one stone: you're getting to know them and their research better (it's how I got into the two labs I'm currently doing research, actually), and you're going to need letters of recommendation when/if you apply to graduate school.

That being said, you sound like me when I switched mine two and a half years ago, so you're in for a ride. Class is often interesting, and--with the right professors--friggin' awesome. Doesn't happen too often, but there were times I was reading the textbook and going, "COOL!!!" the entire time.

 

[HoboNinja]

It was just the general introductory Physics course and Calculus, two different classes that didn't have anything to with each other really. The math in the physics class was easy I just never did any of my homework and got a lower than ideal grade, where as I withdrew from Calculus or I would have failed because I didn't have the 30+ trigonometric identities(I think thats what they were, it's been 2 years since I took the class heh...) memorized when I entered the class, my pre-calc teacher in high school had them all on a cheat sheet for us because he didn't believe in memorizing formulas, he wanted us to be able to do the work but thought it was ridiculous to remember hundreds of equations for all the shit in the class. Where as my college professor thought it should all be memorized.

So I am planning on taking pre-calc with that professor since she is the only calc teacher at the college and then taking calc again later at ISU or wherever. After I dropped Calculus I just took College Algebra to get my math shit done for my associates, but yeah gonna take pre-calc and then calc again later obviously. Also probably going to retake Physics to get a better grade.

 

[Enresshou]

It was just the general introductory Physics course and Calculus, two different classes that didn't have anything to with each other really. The math in the physics class was easy I just never did any of my homework and got a lower than ideal grade, where as I withdrew from Calculus or I would have failed because I didn't have the 30+ trigonometric identities(I think thats what they were, it's been 2 years since I took the class heh...) memorized when I entered the class, my pre-calc teacher in high school had them all on a cheat sheet for us because he didn't believe in memorizing formulas, he wanted us to be able to do the work but thought it was ridiculous to remember hundreds of equations for all the shit in the class. Where as my college professor thought it should all be memorized.

So I am planning on taking pre-calc with that professor since she is the only calc teacher at the college and then taking calc again later at ISU or wherever. After I dropped Calculus I just took College Algebra to get my math shit done for my associates, but yeah gonna take pre-calc and then calc again later obviously. Also probably going to retake Physics to get a better grade.

For calculus, I found it was easiest to just memorize two or three of the trig identities and then derive the rest of them (been a while since I've taken it, so I'm a bit rusty; but that trick saved my butt more than once). Make sure you have your algebra down pat, and--if a bad professor's a potential factor--use www.ratemyprofessors.com. I find it's reasonably accurate, even though I don't go to a big-name school.

Good to see you have a good idea of what you want to do, though. If you need any help, let me know, and/or I'll see if I can bug one of my physics major friends

 

[fade]

He's right. We don't accept the "regular" physics classes as credit for the geo major. You have to take calc-based physics, which are still intro classes, but with more of the calculus (it's still not full-on equations, but it does use basic derivatives and integrals). It's still really easy.

I HATE the way calc is taught. It's one of my number one pet peeves in life. It's always taught as a set of memorized rules rather than what it means. When I teach my graduate classes in geophysics, one of the first things I do is take the time to re-teach calculus. I spend ONE lecture on it, assuming the students know or can look up the rules. When you show them what it means rather than how to do it, a light always flips on.

 

[Jake]

Odd, I guess I never considered that college-level physics wouldn't be calculus-based. We got reamed with 3D derivatives and surface integrals and other things I probably can't do today.

Calculus was explained a lot better in physics classes relative to calculus classes, I must say.

 

[HoboNinja]

I did fine mathematically in the Physics course, I just didn't do the homework which was like 40% of our grade. I got a D+, which isn't accepted by most colleges obviously so I am going to retake it.

As for the calculus, I actually had a C+ till about half way through the course were we started needing the trig identities and my grade just kept getting lower and lower because I needed those to do the work further on so I had to drop. But I think if I take her pre-calc class and actually memorize them then I could definitely do better in calc. I got high B to A range grades in all my math prior to that.

I think it is going to be a lot of work sure but I am determined and I want to do this so I am going to try my hardest, and if I still can't do it well then at least I tried.

 

[Vytamindi]

and if I still can't do it well then at least I tried.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think our little hoboninja grew up just a little today!

 

[Jake]

I think it is going to be a lot of work sure but I am determined and I want to do this so I am going to try my hardest, and if I still can't do it well then at least I tried.

Sure, but after the attempt at sex you should really focus on some physics.

 

[Adam]

All this fancy number stuff, I'll stick with economics, thanks.

 

[Jake]

All this fancy number stuff, I'll stick with economics, thanks.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the reason the economy tanked.

 

[Adam]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the reason the economy tanked.

*nods in agreement*

It's more of an art than a science. There's no 1+1=2, there's multipliers based on theoretical human behavior, there's an interplay between millions of independant variables, etc etc.

An economist is no more of a scientist than a weatherman; but at least the weatherman gets it right 50% of the time.

 

[Chazwozel]

I think Math is fun...


I didn't do so hot my first year of college in Physics or Calculus (I had them both at the same time and didn't really do the homework).... but I am honestly really wanting to do this and I think I have the want enough to give myself the drive to work my ass off and do this. I have got by in life doing the minimum and being lazy but damnit this is something I really really want to do in my life and I am going to work at it.

I'm just letting you know that it's not easy, and even if you study really hard, you may still not do well. I've seen many people stumble with Physics.

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 PM ----------

Odd, I guess I never considered that college-level physics wouldn't be calculus-based. We got reamed with 3D derivatives and surface integrals and other things I probably can't do today.

Calculus was explained a lot better in physics classes relative to calculus classes, I must say.

I never knew where the hell to start in with physics equations. That was my biggest problem. Thermodynamics is a bitch.

 

[tegid]

Don't feel bad, Chaz. Thermodynamics is a bitch even for people who end up becoming physicists.

Also, Hobo... If you major in Physics and get you Ph.D in something theoretical like astrophysics or particle phyisics, it will be really, really hard to get a job. You will have to work a lot and maybe not make it even then.

But I can't help telling you to study physics anyway. It's beautiful. Also, if you can then choose some courses on more applied or, at least, experimental physics. It's something completely different and you may or may not like it, but it gives better job options and it's nearer to being an engineer. Sometimes it can be like you are half an engineer and half a phyisicist in what you do at work, but you got to study physics which is very cool, and get paid like an engineer which is very cool too

(I'm going to be a theoretical physicist, but I did explore this option).

 

[fade]

I think a major part of the problem with the perceived difficulty of physics is in explanations that rely too heavily on jargon and assumptions that the student already knows X. I've given that enough thought that I've started a wiki devoted to the express purpose of jargon-free explanations of (geo)physical phenomena and related topics. It's at http://egg.louisiana.edu/wiki for anyone interested. It's very empty right now, but I am getting the word out about it.