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University of York
York

Physics at York?

Hi would someone be able to tell me what it's like studying physics at York? Is the teaching good? Is it flexible with options? What kind of summer internship opportunities are there? Ratio of male/female? etc. I am trying to decide between York, Sheffield and Exeter.

Also wondering what the general city and student life is like?

Thank you
Hi - sorry you haven't had a response to this yet. I'm just going to bump the thread in the hope that someone sees this and can help :h:

Why do I this?

University of York
York
Reply 2
Hi,
I'm just about to graduate from York with an MPhys in Theoretical Physics, so I've spent 4 years in the department.

The teaching is generally excellent, in particular the lecturers and demonstrators you'll come across in your first two years are brilliant. As you go into third and fourth years, the lecturers you meet become more research based, so teaching isn't necessarily their strength, but they are still very good.

Every year (even first year) you get to pick optional modules based on your interests. In my first year I was actually on the Experimental physics route, but after taking an optional theoretical module and seeing how interesting it all was, I was allowed to change to the theoretical physics route. So very flexible.

I did two internships in the physics department over the summers of my second and third years, both funded as well (a nice treat). Lots of other people do internships within the department, while others go into industry for the summer. There are dedicated staff members who are there to help you with internships and other employ-ability matters. You could also do a year in industry if you wanted.

Obviously since it's physics there is an unfortunate skew towards male students in the ratio, but there are quite a lot of female students too, I'd say around 3:1 male:female. This isn't something I noticed majorly, but that's probably because I'm a clueless male.

York is a beautiful place to live, although it does get busy with tourists on the weekends. The university itself is actually outside York in a village called Heslington, so you're shielded from the bustle of the city for most of the time.

Hope that helps!
Reply 3
Original post by frangipani19
Hi would someone be able to tell me what it's like studying physics at York? Is the teaching good? Is it flexible with options? What kind of summer internship opportunities are there? Ratio of male/female? etc. I am trying to decide between York, Sheffield and Exeter.

Also wondering what the general city and student life is like?

Thank you


RF 1996 pretty much covered it all! I'm going into my second year of physics at York and now you get one option in first year, none in second year and lots in third and fourth. The staff are mostly brilliant, there are a few ones who aren't so easy to talk to but that's to be expected. Theres an open door policy, so aslong as the lecturer is in their office at the time you need them and they're not busy then you can ask them questions about areas you were struggling with. WRIPA is at York which have two dedicated members of staff in the department. The first year modules are all interesting and you get a good mix of lecturers with different styles. As RF 1996 said, there are alot more males in the department than females but I'd say at a guess this year has been 60:40 male:female. It's a lovely campus (both of them). HesEast is quieter, just not Langwith since they have Glasshouse there. HesWest is more central to the departments and things but I'm over on HesEast and to get from Goodricke to Physics takes about 15 minutes if I'm not in a hurry. Heslington itself is the small village between the campuses, its got two banks, post office, two pubs, and Browns (best sandwiches ever). If you're choosing between those three don't go on content, almost all physics courses have roughly the same content. Go on what you think is the most suitable location.

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