Doing M.Sc. in Physics
(This article is for private circulation in students doing physics honours in BJB College, Bhubaneswar. But they are requested to pass it on to students of other colleges thru out India who are interested.)
It is a general concern among students doing B.Sc. in Physics Hounours that what they can do after their B.Sc. There are anxious about the prospect of doing M.Sc. in physics. Many students come and ask me these questions. This article is to cater these questions.
After doing B.Sc. in physics one has two options
(A) Join a good university or an IIT to do M.Sc. (2-years) in physics.
(B) Join some good research institute to do M.Sc. by research leading to PhD in physics. (It would take around 4-5 years).
Let’s first discuss the first option.
(A) Join a good university or an IIT to do M.Sc. (2 year ) in physics.
I would rank the IITs and universities in the following order.
(1) IIT Kanpur
(2) IIT Bombay
(3) IIT Madras
(4) IIT Roorkee
(5) IIT Kharagpur
(6) IIT Delhi
The university ranks would be
(1) Central university Hyderbad
(2) Pune university, Pune
(3) JNU
(4) Utkal university, Bhubaneswar
Doing 2-year M.Sc. has following advantages
(1) One would have option of doing PhD abroad.
(2) One may not have the maturity of doing
Disadvantages
(1) One would not get stipend from M.Sc. itself.
(2) One would take almost 2-years more to complete PhD than an integrated PhD programme.
(B) Join a research institute to do M.Sc. by research leading to PhD
In integrated PhD programme one can save one to two years of time. Apart from that one gets stipend of around 2000 to 3000 rupees p.m. for the first two years and after that one gets the regular PhD stipend of around 8000 rupees p.m. for the next 3 or 4 years. I would rank the institute offering integrated PhD in the following order.
(1) TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental research, Mumbai)
(2) IISc (Indian Institute of sciences, Banglore )
(3) IMSc (Institute of Mathematical sciences, Chennai.)
(4) IITK (Indian Institute of technology, Kanpur)
(5) S.N. Bose institute, Kolkata
Brief words about different institutes and universities
(1) TIFR ( http://www.tifr.res.in/)
It is considered the best research institute of India. Specially if you are interested in theoretical physics like string theory, astro physics and theoretical condensed matter physics , it is good idea to join here. Its written examination is held during the month of December. After the written examination, they call selected students for interview. Previously they were selecting 2 or 3 students from B.Sc. along with students who have passed M.Sc. to there graduate school. But from this year TIFR has become a deemed university. So they are planning to design a regular graduate school for the B.Sc. passed students.
(2) IISc. ( http://www.iisc.ernet.in/ )
This is a great place to do integrated PhD. After 3 years they give M.S. degree after completion of a project report by the student. So if you don’t feel like completing your PhD you can have leave it after 3 years. The experimental condensed matter physics group is considered to be best in India and one of the best in the world.
Examinations one has to take for getting in to the
above institutes and universities
All the institutes conduct their individual examinations. This year (2004) all the IIT's are doing their entrance examination together known as JAM (Joint Admission Test to M. Sc.) For more information you can look up the Employment News (Jan 17) or go to the page
http://www.iitk.ac.in/gate/jam/
This year's organizer for JAM is IIT Roorkee.
The written examination of IISc is held in Bhubaneswar so also of TIFR. For IMSc and S. N. Bose institute one has to take the JEST examination. All the aspiring students are also advised to take the NGPE (National Graduate Physics Examination). This examination is conducted by IAPT ( Indian Association of Physics Teachers). BJB College is a center for the examination. S.N. Bose institute selects national top 1% students from the examination and call them for the interview for the post B.Sc. PhD programme.
Preparations
The syllabus that is covered for B.Sc. courses in Utkal university in general and BJB college in particular is sufficient for the requirements of the examinations. But what we generally lack is problem solving skill. In most of the entrances mentioned above, they only ask problems. So your first task is to collect question papers of previous years and try solving these of your own.
The main questions those come in the entrances can be classified in following heads.
(1) Mechanics , properties of matter , waves and oscillations, sound and fluid static problems
(2) Heat and thermodynamics problems
(3) Electricity and Magnetism problems
(4) Optics problems
(5) Quantum mechanics and modern physics problems
(6) Electronics problems
Apart from doing your B.Sc. syllabus well, in my advice, you should prepare the following things.
(1) You should try solve Resnick –Halliday type problems. These problems are called intermidiate level problems. One’s basics and understanding of fundamentals are tested thru these problems. You can cover all most every thing stated above except electronics in this book.
(2) You can study and try to solve problems from Griffiths Electrodynamics for electricity magnetism problems.
(3) For heat and thermodynamics apart from Resncik –Halliday you should solve some problems form Zeemansky nd Dittman. Don’t forget to cover the statistical mechanics part from Zeemansky. You would get certainly get one question from FD-statistics or MB- statistics or BE –statistics.
(4) For optics apart from Resnick Halliday try to solve problems from Zenkinsion-White.
In optics you should be able to solve problems of diffraction (single slit , double slit , grating etc), polarization , interference ( young’s double slit, thin film etc)
(5) For quantum mechanics and modern physics , first tray to solve as many problems as you can from Arthur – Beiser. To have more knowledge of quantum mechanics you should read a more specialized book like Gassiorowicz or Powel and Craseman.
(6) For electronics you should be able to solve basics problems of diodes, transistors , oscillators , amplifiers (specially opamps) and digital electronics ( gates and flip-flops etc.)
About interview
In interviews they generally ask about one’s subject of interest. So it is a good idea to prepare one subject say quantum mechanics or say electricity and magnetism well and make that subject the subject of your interview. There are generally 5 to 6 people in the interview committee and they make the candidate stand near the blackboard and answer their questions. The most important thing about the interview is that one should keep your head cool during the interview. The people in the panel usually start with an easy question and then go to more difficult one. If you could not answer one question they give sufficient hints. If you can get those hints and answer the questions then they become really impressed at your abilities.
Last word
Preparing for one entrance examination depends completely upon oneself. So it is good if one get into any one of the above institutes/ universities. But if don’t get into any one of the above institutes/universities then don’t worry. In physics what is required is not where you have done your M.Sc. or PhD. What’s required is how much you have known your physics !
P.S.
To know about JAM(2004)syllabus click here.
You see how vast is the syllabus. But do not be afraid by this mammoth syllabus. No one prepares this vast syllabus. Now that you are going to take the JAM examination, prepare intelligently and selectively. Some of the topics written in the syllabus are perfect trash. Say from electronics it is no use of mugging up so much about amplifies and filters. If you know the basics and can approach any problem when needed then it is perfectly fine. ( To be completed soon.)
( Last modified on 27th Jan 2004.)
Author : Satyanarayan Ray Pitambar Mohapatra
Contact address : A-104, Hall-5 , IIT- Kanpur, U.P. -208016
Email : satyaray@iitk.ac.in
Phone: (0512) 259-7989 ( You can get me in this phone from Tuesday to Friday form 2-6 pm)
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