The first year acts as a transition period between your undergraduate and graduate experiences. The main activity is still taking classes to solidify your understanding of Physics, but you are also encouraged to start solidifying your research interests and find a suitable research adviser for your first Summer in our program. Towards this goal, you need to learn about what research is done in the department, and start talking to those professors whose research you are most interested in.

You should expect to take two or three regular courses per semester, including our core courses. In general, you are expected to be enrolled in between 6 and 14 credit hours per semester. In addition, you will take the Graduate Research Seminar which introduces you to the research being done in this School and people doing it. If you are a TA, you will also take the course Best Practices in Physics Teaching. This course explores techniques designed to make your teaching more efficient and successful.

Depending on your background or preparation, you may want to consider taking advanced undergraduate classes (4000 level classes) during this first year, or have some of the required classes waved and directly take more advanced coursework. In either case, you should consult your academic adviser. If you wish to have some of the required course work waived on account of classes that you have already taken before joining the University of Minnesota, you need to contact the DGS for written approval.

You are also encouraged to enroll and attend our weekly Physics Colloquium. This seminar features prominent physicists across a variety of fields, and present their research in a way that is meant to be accessible to beginning graduate students.

Since you are expected to have made arrangements to do research with a faculty adviser during the Summer after your first year, you should do a few things before then besides attending the Research Seminar (Phys 5980) and colloquia. You need to begin discussions with individual faculty members about doing research with them by the Spring Semester. Get into the habit of browsing through some of the more important Physics journals so that you will become familiar with what kind of work is being done in various sub-fields of physics. Periodic seminars in specialized research areas (announced in the department Weekly Calendar) will give you the flavor of current research in more depth. Some of the groups offer informal “Lunch” seminars which are a good way to learn about the basics of a research area, and are often given by senior graduate students. Take every opportunity to ask faculty members, research staff, and students about the research they are doing.

The process of finding a research adviser is quite informal, and we expect you to take the lead in probing areas of research in the School that interest you. It is understood that finding mutually agreeable arrangements takes time, and that you may wish to switch between fields as you become more acquainted with them during the course of your first two years. Be sure to ask about potential for funding, as this is the main constraint that all groups have in accepting new students.

The Graduate Written Exam, or GWE, is currently given once each year, at the end of the Spring semester. The purpose of the examination is to test knowledge of 'undergraduate' physics but at a level of sophistication appropriate to graduate school. While the exam does not cover graduate material, it does demand a high degree of mastery of the undergraduate material. The GWE is drafted by a special faculty committee, and the passing grade is set every year by the faculty.

Further information about policies, tips on how to prepare for the exam, and links to a historic record of past exams is given in the Section Graduate Written Examination Policy.

You are expected to take the GWE at the end of your first academic year (after the Final exams in the Spring semester). This is a comprehensive exam that probes your knowledge of the basic subjects in Physics at the advanced undergraduate level. Tips on how to prepare for the exam, are given here, including links to prior exams.