Advanced physics

[homeschoolmom1]

My child is interested in teaching physics in Germany. In order to do that, his Bachelor´s degree (which can be in any field) has to include at least 18 credits in physics. I have come across the following: AP physics, SL physics 1 with lab, study.com natural science (transfers as physics at TESU), BYU physics 1 and 2 (Algebra or calculus based), Saylor physics 1 and 2, UExcel physics. I am not sure if the DSST astronomy would count as physics, too. I presume that some of these duplicate. The courses cannot be from community colleges. Does anyone know of any more advanced physics courses (quantum mechanics, astrophysics, relativity etc) that don´t duplicate those courses, are not from community colleges and can be taken online? I suppose they could be at the graduate level.

[SolarKat]

All the physics classes you mentioned are phys 1 (mechanics) and phys 2 (electromagnetics).

Excelsior & TESU have NukeEng programs, so you'll find Atomic/Nuclear physics there. TESU also has statics, dynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics. (A lot of the mechanical engineering stuff is just applied physics.) Open University offers astrophysics. And UCI Extension offers optics, lasers...all part of their grad-level certificate in optics engineering.

I would encourage a LOT of math. Physics, at its heart, is math. Plus, if he decides he wants to go further with physics, he's likely to need calc 1, 2, multivar, diff eq, linear algebra, and statistics. Ideally numerical methods, too.

[cookderosa]

All the physics classes you mentioned are phys 1 (mechanics) and phys 2 (electromagnetics).

Excelsior & TESU have NukeEng programs, so you'll find Atomic/Nuclear physics there. TESU also has statics, dynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics. (A lot of the mechanical engineering stuff is just applied physics.) Open University offers astrophysics. And UCI Extension offers optics, lasers...all part of their grad-level certificate in optics engineering.

I would encourage a LOT of math. Physics, at its heart, is math. Plus, if he decides he wants to go further with physics, he's likely to need calc 1, 2, multivar, diff eq, linear algebra, and statistics. Ideally numerical methods, too.

Solarkat, May I share this off the page? I had someone ask me this exact question last year and until your post, I've never been able to help them sort this out- also if you allow me to, I'm happy to attribute it to your brain.

[SolarKat]

Solarkat, May I share this off the page? I had someone ask me this exact question last year and until your post, I've never been able to help them sort this out- also if you allow me to, I'm happy to attribute it to your brain.

Of course! No need to attribute, we're all swimming in the vast Internet sea. (Unless it's under the "Blame Her" category, my usual claim to fame.) The OP specifically said no community college, but I'd add that many of the early mechanics classes will be available on the cheap from schools that offer something along the lines of an "Engineering Transfer" AS/AAS. Much cheaper than TESU. Also, there are probably more options out there like UCI Extension's - I just remembered seeing the optics certificate when I was looking into engineering certs. It wouldn't hurt to zap a note to a physics professor to ask for suggestions. If the study is meant as a terminal degree, that's one thing, but if a student is all-in for physics, they probably want a lot more physics depth...and math. I know Johns Hopkins has an online Physics masters, so there are probably others. Those would be useful guides to use in undergrad planning. For students wanting more pure physics, AMU/APU offer Field Theory (aka "advanced electromagnetics") in their undergrad EE department. Missouri S&T offer it in their grad department. Also, materials is a useful class for applied physics folks - pretty sure Excelsior & TESU offer this.

If they want to do some in depth searching, scouring EE/Computer engineering courses will find the electromag side of physics, mechanical engineering will uncover options for the mechanics side. I think finding astro- and geo- physics options will be harder, but I'm sure there's something out there - everyone is jumping on the online-college cash cow. The real question is, does the student want to be a theorist, or an experimentalist? The former might include classes on MATLAB, statistics/experimental design, algorithms, etc., in addition to physics. The latter might want an EE measurement & instrumentation course (available AMU/APU, Excelsior, probably TESU). So many choices!

Other resources: American Physical Society, Association for Computing Machinery, IEEE, ASME...there's a lot of overlap among the professional organizations. Students are welcomed to join & participate. Great way to network, learn about a field/profession, find educational opportunities, etc. I highly recommend making these connections for any student seriously considering math/sci/CS/data/engineering/IT.