Graduate Physics Courses

All graduate students who receive a degree from UC's Physics Department must complete the entire set of graduate core courses, which are ordinarily taken in the first year. Waivers for one or more of these courses may be approved by the Graduate Program Director based on background (and/or Qualifying Exam performance) prior to starting at UC.

All graduate physics students must enroll in the Colloquium as a course and are required to attend regularly. Full-time physics graduate students are also expected to register for any appropriate Advanced Seminar. These courses may be taken for credit or may be audited, as determined by the student's advisor in consultation with the department’s Director of Graduate Studies.

Research courses are repeatable, which means credit accumulates each term. Usually, the credit in any one term is chosen so that the student's total graded credits equal 12. Most students earn more than the minimum required to earn a degree.

In the physics department, a student receives a P grade or (in the case of a student who has passed the oral exam but is not yet in last term of registration) an SP grade.

For a thesis Master's of Science degree, the minimum requirement is 6 semester credits of PHYS8072.

For a coursework Master's, no Research credits are required.

For a doctorate, 10 semester credits of PHYS9071 are required.

Thesis MS students need to take 2 specialization courses.

Coursework MS requirements include 4 specialization courses.

Doctoral students take 4 specialization courses, including 1 outside his/her research field

These courses may be taken for graduate credit, but are not part of a particular physics graduate program requirement. They are part of a student's 12 graded graduate credits.

Both Education Seminar and Advanced Problems are repeatable.

PHYS60XX are a set of courses in the physics department that can be taken by graduate or undergraduate students. Graduate students have the choice of registering in these courses for either graduate credit or undergraduate non-credit. Additional work may be required for graduate credit.

In addition, students may take undergraduate courses and audit courses (graduate or undergraduate) for zero credit toward degree. Students may enroll for up to 6 credits of such courses each term.