Advice:Prior graduate experience

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Revision as of 15:23, 25 June 2018 by Nikko (talk | contribs) (Advice for students coming to SBU with completed graduate coursework)
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Advice for students coming to SBU with completed graduate coursework

  • Make sure that the Graduate School has your transcripts
  • If you wish to place out of one or more core courses, you can appear before a panel of professors in your first week.
    • Bring the syllabus and any exams or homeworks for any relevant courses you've taken
    • Review course materials beforehand, especially if you're rusty - they may ask questions
  • If you have taken an advanced lab course previously and wish to get out of taking Grad Lab, bring your completed lab reports and the syllabus from the lab course you took.
  • The comprehensive exams can help gauge how prepared you are for any core courses you plan to take. In particular,
    • Will you be prepared to take more than two relatively intense courses? (includes cores as well as any QFT or string theory course, among others)
  • Four regular courses plus a TA assignment is a very heavy burden, no matter how prepared you are. It is generally not advised that anyone do this the first semester. Only consider this if you are absolutely certain that you are quite well-prepared.

Suggested Timeline

See Also: PhD Requirements

First Year:

  • Students who have taken grad courses previously and have gotten credit for them at Stony Brook should use the extra time during the first year to start taking courses that satisfy breadth course requirements and may be useful for their research interests.
    • In particular, if a student has arrives with credit for quantum mechanics, they should consider taking QFT and/or Particle Physics their first year.
    • However, even well-prepared students should not take too many core courses each semester.
  • Courses like E&M and QFT take a lot of time especially when teaching.
  • Do not be afraid to put off a requirement like Grad Lab or one final breadth course until later.

Second Year:

  • Depending on how much credit you arrive with, students may finish taking classes as soon as their 3rd semester.
  • During this time students should be at least doing some reading for a prospective advisor.
  • Students may take an advanced course in their field each semester.
  • During the 4th semester, a student should be started in a research group and finishing the final course or two if necessary.

Third Year and Beyond:

  • You should have passed the comprehensive exams by now.
  • From the 3rd year on, students should be doing research full time and auditing at most one course a semester if it is relevant to their research.