My husband got his Bachelor of Science in Geology and Geophysics, and the physics classes were the worst part of it for him too. Talk to an advisor and see what’s recommended - and I suspect you’ll be told you can nearly bomb one of those classes and still be fine.
(Yes, my husband is a postal worker now, but he had the opportunity to go on a big dig project, etc., but gave it up; he was under his father’s thumb at the time and was told he had to go to law school. Eventually he opted not to, told his dad he wouldn’t, and works as a postal worker because he gets to be outside half the day and can work on his own out there.)
Oh, my. :eek: That would not be an easy thing to do.
All the physics majors I knew sometimes felt that way. You’re not the first science major to wonder that, and you won’t be the last.
Your grades may not matter as much as you think they do for grad school, or at least an individual grade in one class might not. I got a couple of C’s as an undergrad- one in a major course, one in a course that was recommended for people applying to grad school. I got in at most of the schools I applied to, which included the planetary science programs at Caltech and MIT, anyway.
I doubt grad schools would want someone who had a 2.0 GPA, but there’s a big difference between that and getting a C in one or two courses. That may be particularly true if it’s a class that most geology majors tend to do poorly in (and it sounds like it is). Certainly you don’t have to have a 4.0 GPA to get into a good grad school- science majors with 4.0 GPAs are very, very rare.
In high school, I joined our newspaper staff as soon as I could, which was my junior year. It was a daily paper, and I wanted to be a part of it. I spent that year and my senior year doing pretty much every publications-related project the school put out, except yearbook (it was the slacker class). I loved it all. I was managing editor my senior year, and I couldn’t wait to go to college and study journalism.
I lost my fire for it after my second semester. By then I had taken three journalism courses, and was fairly underwhelmed by the work, the teachers, everything. It wasn’t difficult work and the teachers weren’t bad; it all just failed to hook me. I was also a little disappointed with the state of the media at the time-- overzealous, sensationalistic, too political, etc. I didn’t want any part of it.
Fortunately, I had taken a intro psychology course that I really enjoyed. The professor was great, and the way he presented the material made it interesting and entertaining. I reviewed the department course listing, and then ditched journalism and became a psychology major.
I made the right decision. I do not work in the field, but psychology still holds great interest to me today. I read mostly nonfiction books, and they all are related to behavioral, abnormal, or social psychology. I don’t “use” my degree for my current job, but a journalism degree wouldn’t be useful to me now either.
The best part about switching was I wound up working for that psych prof for a year as his research assistant and for 2 years helping him teach a similar intro course. He was easily the best teacher I ever had.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think you made a mistake taking the calculus based physics course for this semester. (Nor do I think you have anything to be ashamed of if you opt to take the algebra-based one next semester). You went out on a limb, you tried something challenging, and and it sure sounds to me like you are struggling, but not drowning. You have every right to be proud of what you have accomplished.
On the other hand, there is little need to be a masochist, and subject yourself to torture just to prove that you can do it. Or to look good on future transcripts or grad school applications.
P.S. I cried when I got back my first calc-based physics test in college. I had the lowest grade on an exam I’d ever gotten. (As in the most points taken off–after curving and turning it into a letter grade, it was not horrendous, but nothing to be proud of.) Can’t remember my final score in the class, but it was high enough to not keep me off the Dean’s list for the semester.
I TA for an algebra based physics class at a large university likely not that far from you. I’d definitely take the algebra based course next sememster with no worries about grad school concerns. The class is a mix of all sorts of sciencey oriented people that simply don’t need the mix of calculus and algebra. Very few of them would be taking the course at all if not required for some sort of graduate / professional school - so it clearly works for them. It sounds like you’re not struggling with the math but it will likely be easier for you to study the physics when there’s only algebra to deal with and you don’t get distracted mid problem by having to get a pesky integral correct.
Also, while I don’t know what order your class is presented in, it’s quite common that intro physics classes do get easier mid way through the semester. They often start with kinematics, progress to forces and then hit conservation of energy / momentum. My students are all now breathing a huge sigh of relief on the conservation ideas … the concepts are a bit more intuitive and they’re all doing better with the problem solving approach. Forces kicked their butts.
Regretted dropping biotechnology, which I did because of some half formed ideas about how GM would not be of much assistance to the developing world due to core countries maintaining control of the patents.
Development Studies has proven to be a glorified arts degree with a major emphasis on the types of debate you’ve probably had - less than sober like - around a fire at some point, the scent of patchouli in the air.
If I could do it again I’d probably do a generic Bach. of Science, picking and choosing subjects to get a good background before committing to a major.
I soon realized that in college, you don’t read mountains of books, you read and analyze mountains of books. Every little minute detail is debated, torn apart, rewritten, exc. To me, it took the soul out of a book to argue that much over a story, no matter how moving and influential it was. History was fascinating, but my university is not known for having amazing history professors, and all I really care about in history is pre-discovery of America; Middle ages, Rome, ancient Aztec’s/Inca, exc.
Business just… fits. Ive always been financially minded, and while my business class right now (beginning accounting) isn’t too inspiring, the sections pertaining to financial matters such as bonds, the stock market, trading exc. is really really interesting to me. Even the corporate finance books we have in the library I work at is interesting to look through, and I can grasp the formulas and interactions easily, as opposed to the esoteric opinions in the English department.
I wish I hadn’t wasted so many credits on subjects I was not going to major in, but I wouldn’t trade my Anatomy and Physiology course for anything! Now THAT was an interesting (and really friggin hard) class! No biology major for me however, Im not interested in med school nor really a career in research.
I changed majors midway through my Junior year which is rather late, but it was a little change: from English-Journalism to English-Teaching. I thought I would like journalism (no, actually, my parents pressured me into it because “it’s a way to make a living writing.”) but hated the first class. Journalism is deliberately bad story-telling - you give away the good parts first! - which is something that wasn’t at all pleasing to someone who likes writing fiction and essays.
Since it’s typical for an English major to spend the first couple years getting required BA courses and some of the universally requisite courses for all English majors (each sub-discipline had others as well) out of the way, I didn’t miss any time.
I can’t tell from the OP, though, how far into your college career are you? The more radical the major switch the earlier you switch the better off you’ll be. If you decide to switch, that is.
I guess I don’t regret the switch, although I decided later on that I’m not really interested in teaching either. I’m using my degree in my career, which is more than a lot of people who have teaching degrees but don’t teach end up doing, anyway.
My college had indisciplinary majors, each with its own concentrations. It was relatively easy to switch from one concentration to the other if you remained in the same major (each major had its own “Freshman 101” courses), but if you went from one major to another, it could pose problems with credits, prerequisites, and all that good stuff.
Swapping my concentrations was relatively simple. I started in the theatre concentration with supporting (akin to a minor) classes in English. When I realized toward the end of my sophomore year that I didn’t possess a thick enough skin to make a go of theatre as a full time career, I swapped them so that English became my concentration. I’d already racked up enough theatre credits to make it my minor.
I had a classmate who floated from one major to another. She dropped out before junior year, so it would’ve been interesting to see what she would’ve finally decided upon. Witnessing her trying to untangle credits, make up classes, and cram in prerequisites was a nightmare.
I started out in Architectural Engineering. I dropped the Engineering after a year – the math was a killer, especially 7:30am Calculus class, which I made it to about 50% of the time – and went with just the Architecture major. I stuck with that for another couple of years before punting – basically 3 years into a five-year program. I took a year off then went back to school for a Computer Science degree. Since many of the Arch. credits didn’t transfer, it took me about another two and a half years to get my degree.
The thing is, I wanted to get out of the Architecture program altogether after that first year, but was talked into sticking with it (and talked out of switching to CS) by a couple of my professors. My biggest mistake was listening to them instead of my own gut and wasting two more years.
I agree with this. Every major has courses you hate. I was a bio major and hated chemistry with a purple passion and had to take a lot of it. It lowered my GPA, it took so much time away from other classes, but I just stuck it out. You can always re-take the classes if your grades are too bad.
What a lot of people do is take physics and chemistry at a community college in the summer, and it won’t affect your GPA at your school. If your school allows you to do that.
I actually have a chemistry minor, and hated every second of it. You have to have a good math background to do well in physics. Do you have all the math you need?
I actually did well with the kinematics and conservation of energy & momentum was a trouble spot for me. We just finished rotational motion and are moving into statics. This stuff is getting covered very rapidly, too, I wish it was slower paced.
I’m a junior. I have all the math I need, and all the effin’ chemistry I need, too.
One thing that is really messing me up in physics is all the letters used in formulas and equations. For some reason I panic when I see them - it is like I don’t understand what is going on, and I often mix them up - i’s become 1’s and vice versa, W (work) gets mixed up with ω, a (acceleration) and α are confusing too.
I get to the equations and all the letters start looking the same to me, and I forget what things stand for. It is hard to explain - it is a little like that nightmare where an emergency is happening and you are trying to call for help on the phone, but you keep misdialing the numbers, and you keep panicking, and that makes things worse…
One thing that can be tedious but might help is to make a list of every variable you’re using and write a few words next to it as to what it means.
Wf = Work done by friction
deltax = distance block moves on table
F = friction force
etc.
Then big star next to the thing that’s the final goal.
This won’t solve the problem for you - but it will organize things such that when you’re panicking in the middle of an equationy mess, you can take a deep breath and look and see what everything is. And things like that will almost always get you a good chunk of points by anyone grading that isn’t completely answer focused.
The fact that you’re able to identify where you’re having trouble is a really good sign that you’ll be able to get through it. I assure you that there are students around, likely in your class, that have Absolutely No Clue what’s going on and can’t articulate the problem. Again, good luck!
You have to have a good math background to do well in physics. Do you have all the math you need?