Theoretical Physics students - how much lab?

I study in Scotland and I'm on the second year of a physics degree (equivalent to first year in England) and at the end of the year I'll have to decide whether to study straight physics or theoretical physics. I'm more naturally inclined towards the theoretical side of the subject and that would be my instinctive choice but this would involve no more lab at all for the remainder of my degree. I want to know how common it is for theoretical physics undergrad students to not have to do any lab past 1st year, and whether going down this route would harm chances of employment/further study (potentially non-theoretical).

Reply 1

qno2

16

Well I'm doing Mathematical Physics at Heriot Watt and we have to do experimental lab in 2nd year so that we can still get IoP accreditation but the only labs we get from 3rd year onwards are computational labs (which are much better I think.) I think this is pretty standard for theoretical degrees to basically switch modules on labs and electronics for normal physics students and replace them with extra maths. To whether it would harm your employment chances I'd doubt it unless you are trying to go into some kind of job where those skills are needed. It would be a bit of a problem if you wanted to do a Phd in experimental physics I'd think though...

Reply 2

JuliusDS92

OP

18

Original post by qno2

Well I'm doing Mathematical Physics at Heriot Watt and we have to do experimental lab in 2nd year so that we can still get IoP accreditation but the only labs we get from 3rd year onwards are computational labs (which are much better I think.) I think this is pretty standard for theoretical degrees to basically switch modules on labs and electronics for normal physics students and replace them with extra maths. To whether it would harm your employment chances I'd doubt it unless you are trying to go into some kind of job where those skills are needed. It would be a bit of a problem if you wanted to do a Phd in experimental physics I'd think though...

Thanks for the response :smile:

Can anyone else tell of their own experience?

Reply 3

StylePoints

St Andrews 3rd Year TP/Maths here, lab modules are not compulsory for theorists here although apparantly they are still optionally available, despite that now that I think it wouldn't be possible to fit it in with the other modules unless you took extra credits or you left a core module until a later year. But I've never heard of a theorist taking labs (We do have a computational module that's mandatory for everyone, though I wouldn't count that as a lab)

As for employability, I couldn't reliably answer. One would think you'd have a similar skillset to an Applied Maths student though, at least as far as non-technical jobs go.

Theoretical Physics students - how much lab?

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