Feel free to ask the physics graduate advisor
Wolfgang Tichy (wolf@fau.edu) about anything that seems unclear to you.
Courses for Physics Ph.D. students
There are 6 required core courses (Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Statistical
Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics 1, Mathematical Physics, Computational Physics)
that every Ph.D. student student must take.
In order to remain in the Ph.D. program you must receive a B or better in
Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Statistical Mechanics, and Quantum Mechanics 1.
The university also requires that you have a GPA of 3.0 (B) or better. If
you fail at this GPA requirement, you can get another chance, if you fill
out Form 11.
Besides the 6 required core courses, you will also need to take 8 physics
elective courses. All of these have to be lecture courses (not research
courses).
In the 1st 2 semesters you must take the 4 required courses
Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Statistical Mechanics, and Quantum Mechanics 1
In these 1st 2 semesters you should take 3 courses per semester.
In the summers you typically take 1cr of research. You do this by
either enrolling in Adv. Research or Dissertation. To register for these
courses, you have to find a professor who will give you permission to enroll
in his research course.
To get the Ph.D. it is required to take 30cr of Dissertation. Adv. Research
is not required, i.e. you should take Dissertation whenever you can, and not
Adv. Research.
In later Fall and Spring semesters you should take as many elective
courses as possible to get the requirement for 8 electives out of your way.
If everything goes well and you get all the required grades over the 1st 2
semesters, you advance to candidacy (the chair should send you an email
about this). This also requires you to form a Ph.D. committee and to file
form 8.
After form 8 is on file, you are allowed to take Dissertation. If you want
to enroll in a research course before this it has to be Adv. Research.
In later semesters, once you are done with all required and elective courses,
you will only take Dissertation. Choose the number of Dissertation credits
in each semester as small as possible. You can be considered a full time
student even if you take only 1cr of Dissertation per semester at this
stage.
Finding an advisor
You should talk to all professors in physics as soon as possible to learn
about their research. Find out what they do, and whether they are looking
for new students.
Also find out what area interests you the most.
Once you find a professor, you should start working on some kind of
research with this professor.
Since you will be fairly busy in the 1st 2 semesters with courses, most
students start working on research only in the summer after that. But in
principle sooner is better.
Admission to Candidacy
Once you have passed all requirements, you can advance to candidacy.
For this you have to find a Ph.D. committee. This committee is made up of
your main advisor, 2 other profs from physics, and 1 more from another
department (e.g. from Math). You have to talk to profs to see if they are
willing to be on your committee. Your advisor can give you tips.
Once you have your committee members you all have to sign form 8
(Admission to Candidacy for the Doctoral Degree).
After form 8 is on file, you are allowed to take Dissertation. If you want
to enroll in a research course before this it has to be Adv. Research.
Plan of study for the Ph.D.
After the 1st year or so the administration requires you to fill out
a plan of study form. This can be found in MyFAU, and is in Edvision
since the summer of 2026. (Although older students will be grandfathered
in, and will remain on the older system for now).
In this plan, you simply put all the courses you have taken already,
the ones you are currently taking, and the ones you plan to take in the
future.
The plan basically lists all the courses you need to get a Ph.D.
For the future courses just pick your best guess, subject to the constraints
that you have to have all required and elective courses, and also enough
Dissertation to get the Ph.D. at the end. The plan can be updated later if
something changes.
As mentioned in the
Degree Requirements for the Physics Ph.D.
you can use up to 6cr of Adv. Research to count as Dissertation. Do this,
so that you have to take less Dissertation credits.
The plan should contain 72cr, not below and not much above.
So adjust the Dissertation credits such that you do not go over.
As mentioned above, you can be considered a full time
student even if you take only 1cr of Dissertation per semester in your later
years.
Plan of study for the MS along the way
You should definitely also get a physics MS degree while you are in the Ph.D.
program. This is called Master along the way, and is very easy to obtain.
You need no extra courses or thesis!
All you need to do is to file a second plan of study for the MS degree. On
it you need 30cr of physics courses, that you take for your Ph.D. anyway.
Just add all courses required for the Ph.D., then add enough physics
electives so that you have 30cr on the MS plan.
File the MS plan once you are close to 30cr.
The MS plan can be initiated by Stacee Caplan (SCAPLAN4@fau.edu) in the
College of Science.
The instructions from the college are
here, but do not use Option 2 under point 2 mentioned in there.
Application for degree for each degree (both MS or Ph.D.)
Once you have done everything for your degree either the Ph.D. or MS,
you need to still fill out an
Application for degree, by the deadline found in the
Academic Calendar.