Why Physics at WVU?

Your bachelors degree in physics from West Virginia University will give you the training necessary to answer the challenging questions you will face as a working scientist. The physics degree from WVU will prepare you for an exciting future, whether you join the workforce after graduation as do 45% of the physics bachelor degree recipients nationwide, or whether you continue your physics training in graduate school as 33% of the degree recipients do, or whether you specialize in another field like the remaining 22% by going to graduate school in astronomy, meterology, geophysics, engineering, medicine, education, business, or law. Students who have graduated before you at WVU have taken many of these routes toward their careers as working scientists.

With 40 physics majors and 17 faculty, the Physics Department at West Virginia University provides significant one-on-one contact with the faculty. After the first two introductory courses, physics classes will be small enough (usually less than 10) so that individual attention is the norm. With active research projects and a graduate program, the physics faculty are "working" scientists who know the thrill of doing physics. While still an undergraduate, many students also become "working" scientists through employment opportunities in our research and teaching labs. The Society of Physics Students (SPS) promotes additional interactions among the students and faculty.

In high school, it will help if you get a strong foundation in algebra, trigonometry, and pre-calculus so that you can begin calculus and introductory physics in your first year at WVU. After these courses and your modern physics course, you will be ready to start on your upper division physics courses at the beginning of your junior year. Whether you opt for the more concentrated Bachelor of Science in Physics or for the more flexible Bachelor of Arts in Physics, you will get a solid foundation in the basic principles and techniques of physics through courses in mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and experimental physics, in addition to being able to choose specialized courses in optics, solid state, nuclear, astrophysics, plasma physics, space/geophysics, etc.