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Reply 40
Original post by rebellionium
What is the best unis for physics that is in clearing?


We won't know for sure which unis are in clearing or how many spaces they have until A-level results are published in August
Original post by Sinnoh
We won't know for sure which unis are in clearing or how many spaces they have until A-level results are published in August

yea, but I'm international student and getting my results tomorrow for local qualifications. I just want to know that which unis is better for physics except those which are obviously not in clearing (like Oxbridge, UCL). I want to find a uni where I can find students that are passionate about their studies.
Hi, I'm a physics student at University of Southampton going into 2nd year, feel free to ask me anything!
Original post by Riemannian Ant
Hi, I'm a physics student at University of Southampton going into 2nd year, feel free to ask me anything!

Hi :smile:
What would you recommend as resources for our personal statement? Could you give us some examples of what you did / read/ watched? It’s just that I’m in the process of doing things for my personal statement eg reading some books that interest me ... finishing off a masterclass etc
Reply 44
Original post by lauren.studies
Hi :smile:
What would you recommend as resources for our personal statement? Could you give us some examples of what you did / read/ watched? It’s just that I’m in the process of doing things for my personal statement eg reading some books that interest me ... finishing off a masterclass etc


You might have enough already, with line breaks between paragraphs (which you should do) you'll probably hit the 47 line limit at around 3500-3600 characters
Original post by lauren.studies
Hi :smile:
What would you recommend as resources for our personal statement? Could you give us some examples of what you did / read/ watched? It’s just that I’m in the process of doing things for my personal statement eg reading some books that interest me ... finishing off a masterclass etc

I'm from outside the UK so I don't think I'm very qualified to give advice on the personal statement... This might be useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjdPfTGz2I
Personally I think the personal statement should be more about your relationship with physics and things you have dedicated a lot of time to, than be doing things with the PS as the sole reason.
Original post by Riemannian Ant
I'm from outside the UK so I don't think I'm very qualified to give advice on the personal statement... This might be useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjdPfTGz2I
Personally I think the personal statement should be more about your relationship with physics and things you have dedicated a lot of time to, than be doing things with the PS as the sole reason.


Yes , I totally agree with you! in my previous message I said I’d done a lot with reading , doing a masterclass etc and I’ve done tonnes more , I suppose the more advice the better :smile:
Does anyone know of any physics events that are online at the moment that I can join in with? :smile:
Reply 48
Original post by astrotemp
Ah sorry I got my degrees the wrong way around! BSc (Hons) is equivalent to a Masters, so I obviously did that one after I finished my Bachelors degree

BSc (Hons) is 2018, BSc is 2017

And I'm currently doing Astrophysics (theory) at Cambridge


Hi! I really want to pursue the MASt in Astrophysics course at Cambridge. I am however an international student so I'm trying to learn as much about the system as possible. I was wondering if you could share any details about the course/lectures or anything else? Any information/advice you can give me would be invaluable.
Original post by Kiara15
Hi! I really want to pursue the MASt in Astrophysics course at Cambridge. I am however an international student so I'm trying to learn as much about the system as possible. I was wondering if you could share any details about the course/lectures or anything else? Any information/advice you can give me would be invaluable.

Unfortunately I can't help you! I'm doing a PhD and have never done the MASt, nor have I ever really seen/spoken to someone doing it. I don't know how the academic system works at Cambridge beyond the PhD, and we have no courses/lectures. You almost certainly know more about it than I do right now.
Is Riley Hobson Bence a good maths book for self-study, or is it better as a reference book? (I'm talking about the big tome with 1200 pages.) Is it detailed and clear enough so I don't need to look up a lot of other resources? (I am okay with most of A Level Maths and some FM content)
Reply 51
Original post by PhysiKKid
Is Riley Hobson Bence a good maths book for self-study, or is it better as a reference book? (I'm talking about the big tome with 1200 pages.) Is it detailed and clear enough so I don't need to look up a lot of other resources? (I am okay with most of A Level Maths and some FM content)


I've barely used it, but it's got absolutely everything you could need in terms of maths unless you went deep into theoretical physics.
(edited 3 years ago)
How did you guys learn the physics material? Is it through the notes given by your lecturers? Or do you have to read selected passages of the textbooks yourself?
Also, how much collaboration between you and your physics peers is there when doing your assignments and projects? How informal was it? What about collaboration with other majors?
How involved are you guys with other physics professors, secondary students, researchers etc. How much opportunities for projects that can help the community do you have?
And is there a culture of pranking like MIT and CalTech?
Reply 53
Original post by PhysiKKid
How did you guys learn the physics material? Is it through the notes given by your lecturers? Or do you have to read selected passages of the textbooks yourself?
Also, how much collaboration between you and your physics peers is there when doing your assignments and projects? How informal was it? What about collaboration with other majors?
How involved are you guys with other physics professors, secondary students, researchers etc. How much opportunities for projects that can help the community do you have?
And is there a culture of pranking like MIT and CalTech?

Not unlike A-level, you learn by doing. Yes you'll have lecture notes and there may be some recommended reading, but the real meat of your learning is doing exercises and problem sheets.
Lectures usually look at derivations of the physics, maybe introducing certain methods to use.

Collaboration with other students - well you'll probably have a partner when you're doing labs, and there are occasional group projects. At my uni the MSci projects are *usually* done in pairs. However not much interaction with other courses. How informal it is really depends on how much the project is worth. I had a group project in the very first term which was pretty laid-back, I wouldn't expect the same for masters-level projects though.

There are probably going to be opportunities for research placements over the summer where you can work with staff, plus maybe some outreach programmes - unis need students to help with summer schools and stuff.

I'm not aware of any pranking culture.
Cool, thanks for answering! BTW, do you live and breathe physics? I look forward to people that lives and breathes physics. (Because I would have if not for stupid O Levels right now)
Reply 55
Original post by PhysiKKid
Cool, thanks for answering! BTW, do you live and breathe physics? I look forward to people that lives and breathes physics. (Because I would have if not for stupid O Levels right now)


God no.
Aww... but do you know anyone that is occupied with physics most of the time? Is the physics community at Imperial completely into physics? (Because I don't intend to do anything other than physics and maths at university)
PS Please don't think I'm a weirdo
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 57
Original post by PhysiKKid
Aww... but do you know anyone that is occupied with physics most of the time? Is the physics community at Imperial completely into physics? (Because I don't intend to do anything other than physics and maths at university)
PS Please don't think I'm a weirdo

I said "god no" because I have an exam on Thursday and here I am answering questions on TSR instead of revising :tongue:

Most people have other things they enjoy doing, I'd recommend you do pursue other interests as well. Make the most of what's on offer.
Original post by Sinnoh
I said "god no" because I have an exam on Thursday and here I am answering questions on TSR instead of revising :tongue:

Most people have other things they enjoy doing, I'd recommend you do pursue other interests as well. Make the most of what's on offer.

Oh okay haha :biggrin:. (Same with my O Level - inordinate procrastinate) I mean I'm also interested in classical music and children's books, but I mostly live for physics and maths :P. Also I wanna solve world issues like energy crisis and improving people's understanding of science and problem solving (which is still physics and maths so yeah)
Original post by milliejayne19
Hey! I'm a year 12 whose interested in studying physics at university. I'm just wondering, do you study any pure mathematics modules as part as your degree? And what is the jump between a level physics and degree level? Thanks :smile:

Hiya Millie, yep in first year we had a maths module that was really helpful to cope with the step up to uni physics, but beyond first year it's expected you have all the pure maths you need- although still plenty of maths involved ofc!
The step up from a level is imo not as much as between gsce and a level, I found that 1st year to 2nd year was a bigger jump physics wise. I'm at UoN btw.
Hope that helps:smile:

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