Undergraduate Physics Advising at CSULB

This is Thomas Gredig, the physics undergraduate advisor for the Physics undergraduate programs. We offer three degrees and a minor:

Make Advising Appointment

You can schedule an appointment through CSULB BeachConnect after reading this useful and updated information in the following list:

  1. Upper-division (UD) physics courses are highly hierarchal; make sure to take PHYS 310 and PHYS 340A as early as possible
  2. Take 2 UD electives: one elective in your junior or senior year could be: PHYS 495 colloquium (1 unit) + PHYS 496 (2 units) of independent research with a faculty. This elective provides flexibility with your weekly schedule and is available in any semester. The form for PHYS 496 needs to be filled out with the research advisor.
  3. Join the Physics Major Discord Channel (contact SPS student president: Michelle McKenzie, michelle.mckenzie01-at-student.csulb.edu)
  4. Add CSULB Physics LinkedIn
  5. Add CSULB Physics Twitter
  6. Join CSULB Physics Society of Physics Students (SPS)
  7. Join CSULB Women in Physics Organization
  8. Meet your peers in the Physics Study Lounge on the second floor of HSCI
  9. Join the Physics Colloquium on Monday at 11am (first meeting has important information on scholarships, etc)
  10. Apply to any of the major scholarships available to physics majors, some are aimed at juniors and seniors: CalBridge, METRIC, Physics Scholarships, apply early Spring through Beach Scholarship.
  11. Apply for an REU Summer Program at the end of your sophomore year, applications are due in Dec through Mar.
  12. Write your Personal Statement, include who you are, what you are interested in, what skills, preparation you have, explain your goals.
  13. Apply for a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
  14. Check out the CNSM Summer Research Experience Page
  15. Apply to CalTech Amgen Scholarship
  16. Scholarships
  17. For any physics-related (conference, workshop) travel, please submit the Travel Forms at least 4 weeks before your trip

Transfer Credits

If you have taken a course at a community college or elsewhere, then use assist.org to check the equivalency to transfer the units. Once your transfer credits have been added to your CSULB account, you can request an equivalency from me via email. Please provide me the following information with your request:

400-level laboratory

For the Physics, B.S., you take one upper-division 400-level laboratory course, see B.S. degree. The following courses are offered, I added the tentative semester:

Graduation and Academic Requirement Report

Read the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) Information

Check your course requirements for graduation by selecting “Academic Requirements Report” (ARR), see how to use your Academic Requirement Report.

You cannot transfer more than 70 units from CC, so you’ll need at least 50+ units to graduate with a B.S. or B.A. degree.

GE Approved Courses by Category:

There are different General Education areas for courses as per Fall 2021, easiest way is to use the “Search” functionality, see ARR.

Upper-Division (UD) Electives

Switching Major

See the University Limitations on Switching Majors

Double Major

You can double major in physics and broaden your future job opportunities. This is particularly viable for students majoring Mathematics, Chemistry, or Engineering as these fields have many common interests. For timely graduation, you would generally add a Physics B.A. degree by adding at least 4 UD physics courses (PHYS 310, PHYS 320, PHYS 350, and PHYS 360, for example) and using 4 more UD courses (could be from physics, engineering or math as discussed with the UD physics advisor) to complete the degree.

If you would like to add a Physics, B.A., please email me and request a “double major”, or second major addition. I will submit a request, if your records show that you can graduate in a timely fashion.

GE electives

If you need to fulfill a specific GE requirement, such as “U.S. History”, you can find available GE courses by going to the “Student Center” -> “Search” -> “Additional Search Criteria” -> select “General Education Requirement” from Course Attribute, then select “GE AREA: U.S. History”, or whatever you need to fulfill. A list of courses are presented, you can narrow the search to specific days, etc.

Prepare for Ph.D. and M.S. graduate physics programs

Physics PhD Programs with Waived Application Fee:

Workshops:

For graduate students:

Readings

Jobs for Physics B.S.

Salaries

You can find typical CSU graduate’s salaries at CalState Pays. There is also an article based on life-time earnings per major in the WashingtonPost, which is based on data from Doug Webber from Temple University.