The department offers a broad program for graduate and postdoctoral study in physics and in astronomy and astrophysics, in which intermediate, advanced and specialized courses are offered. These courses and student research form the basis of the Ph.D. program. Considerable flexibility is available in each student's program, which is geared to individual needs, by recommendation from the faculty and staff advisers. Students may choose to specialize in either physics or astrophysics, with a full curriculum of graduate courses available in both areas. Other areas for which our training is relevant are biophysics, space physics and industrial research.
To be admitted, an applicant is expected to submit evidence that he/she has a good chance to succeed in our program. Such evidence will ordinarily consist of transcripts of previous academic work, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, including advanced physics, letters of recommendation and, when possible, personal interviews. Applicants from non-English-speaking countries whose native language is not English must submit proof of their proficiency in English, by providing results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) before they can be offered admission.2
In addition to required courses, students in our graduate program take written and oral preliminary examinations. The written examinations, covering intermediate undergraduate level material in classical mechanics, electricity/magnetism, quantum mechanics and statistical physics/thermodynamics, are offered in two parts during late September and January, and all of them again in May and are ordinarily passed by the end of the third semester. These exams are followed by an intermediate level oral examination in the second year. Prior to the beginning of full-time research, a comprehensive oral examination (administered by the Graduate Board of the university) is taken. It includes a presentation by the student of his/her preliminary plans for the dissertation research. This examination usually takes place at the end of the second or beginning of the third year. After completion of the student's research, an oral defense of the thesis takes place. During residence, some teaching is usually required. Only those candidates who expect to complete the Ph.D. are admitted, although the M.A. is conferred after successfully passing the intermediate oral examination.
All entering graduate students are assigned to one faculty member (in addition to a faculty mentor in their field of interest), who works closely with them during the first year, advising them about courses of study, helping them to become familiar with the department and to remedy possible deficiencies in previous work, and generally providing orientation. Part of this program is encompassed in the seminar 172.631-632. During the first year, the students will be given opportunities to become acquainted with faculty members other than those in whose classes they are enrolled. They are strongly urged to pursue these contacts to find a faculty advisor to whom they can transfer at a mutually agreeable time (usually at the end of the first year), in order to work for a time under his/her supervision and thus to obtain some research experience. A student may engage in several such preliminary research periods before embarking upon dissertation research. The programs and quality of work of all graduate students are reviewed periodically by the entire faculty of the department.
Over and above these basic requirements, a large measure of flexibility characterizes a typical program of study. After the first year, the student may have several faculty members successively as advisors, who will aid the student in selecting a program. The underlying philosophy is that, with some guidance, the student will soon develop a feeling for what advanced courses are needed and the rate at which to follow them.
