Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

On average we have 10.5 students majoring in physics and astronomy per year, of which 3 are astronomy majors. With our seven tenure-track full-time faculty, all involved in both teaching and research, and one full-time laboratory instructor, this allows us to provide considerable individual attention to our majors and to guarantee small class sizes in our upper-level programs. These numbers compare favorably with other institutions. For example, the American Institute of Physics states (in their Enrollments and Degrees Report for 2003, which surveys most US physics departments): "The average class size for the undergraduate-only departments was 3.7 degrees per department. This rises to 4.4 for the masters-granting departments and 10.6 for the doctoral-granting departments." See the American Institute of Physics websites for more information about physics program statistics.

Over the five year period 2005 to 2009, 27% of our physics majors and 40% of our astronomy majors have been women, which compares favorably with national averages of 21% of physics majors and 40% astro majors (American Institute of Physics, last compiled in 2005.) See the American Institute of Physics websites for more information about physics program statistics and how our program's statistics compare nationwide.

Our percentage of women students in our upper-level physics courses is typically about 35%, because we alternate our upper-level offerings with Bryn Mawr College and draw upon their all-female student body and significant number of physics majors. Our upper-level astronomy courses typically have a 50/50 female/male ratio.

Nationally, physics majors are 3% Black, 4% Latino and 5% of Asian descent (American Institute of Physics data);  on average our majors are 3% Black, 2% Latino and 4% of Asian descent.

Out of the seven professors teaching in 2008-9, two are women, one is African-American, and one is Latino.

Many Haverford physics and astronomy majors have won national awards and scholarships, including National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship winner Anna Pancoast (Physics & Astronomy '09), Goldwater Award winners Anna Klales (Physics '09), Megan Roscioli (Astro '05), and Christine Lamanna (Astro '04);  Byron Drury (Physics '09, Churchill Scholarship & Apker Award); Brook Henkel (Physics/Astro '05, Fulbright award); Amy Perlman (Physics '05, Knowles Science Teaching Foundation fellowship); Josh Adelman (Department of Energy Computational Fellowship, Biophysics '03); Benjamin North (Physics/Biophysics '99, IGERT fellowship), Ben Williams (Physics '96, Apker Award) and Craig Arnold (Physics '94, National Defense Science & Engineering Fellowship).  The prestigious and highly-selective National Science Foundation CAREER grant has been given to Haverford alumni young faculty members Liese van Zee (Astronomy '91, now at Indiana University), Stephon Alexander (Physics '93, now at Haverford) and Craig Arnold (Physics '94, now at Princeton).

Any of Haverford’s year-long introductory physics courses (the sequences 101/102, 105/106 or 115/106) are an appropriate start for the major and can satisfy the prehealth program requirements. We advise students based on placement questionnaires and exams, and students should use that feedback to decide between these sequences based on their interests and potential majors.  Physics 115: Modern Introductory Physics is intended for students with advanced preparation in mechanics, such as significant advanced placement coursework.   Physics 101-102: Classical and Modern Physics I and II were designed for students who are majoring in the life sciences or intending to work in the health professions. The sequence Physics 105-106: Fundamental Physics I & II, which is intended to serve students interested in the physical sciences and mathematics, is offered in parallel. Both courses of study are challenging and both use calculus, which is a pre-requisite for 105 and a co-requisite for 101. An important difference between the two sequences is that in Physics 101/102 applications and problems are more often drawn from biological systems, and the topical coverage is adjusted somewhat to better suit the needs of the students in the life sciences.  We prefer that you start your physics major with 105/106 or 115/106, but you can do it from the other sequence too.

Many of our majors have gone on to study medicine in MD or MD/PhD programs after completing their physics degrees. See the PreHealth Physics Major website for more detailed programs. The pre-med science requirements of a year of physics (with lab), two years of chemistry (one year of inorganic and one of organic, both with lab), a year of biology (with lab) and a semester of biochemistry can be met readily within the context of a physics major with advance planning. (We do recommend that students wishing to complete the requirements for medical school while majoring in physics contact the pre-health advising office to verify that their planned course schedule meets the requirements and to take advantage of the other services offered by that office.) The basic calculus requirement and any additional math required by some medical schools will likely be covered by a standard physics major curriculum. Some medical schools also require a year of English (which can often be met with Haverford humanities courses). If you think you will apply for medical school right after Haverford, you should finish these requirements before your senior year. However, it is common for students to apply for medical school after graduation, so it is possible to complete these requirements over your entire time at Haverford.

Many of our majors have done study abroad as part of their degree programs. This does require careful planning, preferably when you first enter the major, to ensure that you will be able to either continue taking physics courses abroad at a few selected institutions approved by our physics and astronomy departments, or to take enough physics and math here at Haverford to allow you to satisfy other requirements with courses abroad. Contact your major advisor and the Study Abroad coordinator for further information.

We consider the physics or astronomy liberal arts degrees excellent preparation for a variety of careers in science and other areas. About 50% of our students attend graduate or professional school after college, on average. Over the past decade, our majors have gone on to attend graduate or professional school at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell, Yale, University of Texas at Austin, University of Chicago, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, University of Maryland, University of Washington, U.C. Santa Cruz, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, and Dartmouth. Approximately 25% pursue graduate study at the Ph.D. level in physics and 10% a Ph.D. in astronomy or astrophysics, almost all at top 20 physics graduate programs; around 20% wind up in biomedical or biophysics in some way (biophysics or bioengineering degree programs, medical school, MD/PhD programs, etc.); and a significant number get engineering degrees and work in engineering or computing. Around 10% do high school science teaching; and others pursue a surprising variety of other careers. See our Careers of Physics & Astonomy Graduates website for more information. Our Senior Seminar course, Physics 399, allows our seniors to meet and talk with alumni who have worked in different careers after graduate, as well as providing detailed guidance about applying to graduate schools and preparing for careers in fields outside of science.

Within the boundaries of the physics or astronomy major, students may craft a degree program which includes introductory and upper-level courses in other natural sciences. (We also have occasional double majors in physics and English, philosophy or other fields not in the natural sciences.) For example, students may petition the department to count up to two 300-level courses in other natural sciences toward the total of six upper-level courses required for the physics major. Students also may elect to pursue either double majors, majors with a supporting minor or concentrations which allow them to combine study in two or more natural sciences.

Formal programs include:

The Computer Science Concentration

Students considering the concentration in Biophysics should consult that program's websites at:

Biochemistry and Biophysics Concentration

The Scientific Computing Concentration

Minoring in Physics or Astronomy and majoring in a different department.

There are several options for doing so. Students interested in Engineering should consult: Options for Engineering at Haverford

Students may pursue either an Education concentration of certification in Education with a Physics major. Consult our website on Education Program options for Physics and Astronomy.

Our majors have many opportunities to do research, either during the academic year or over the summer, and almost all choose to do research at some point in their time at Haverford. See our website listing summer research jobs for examples of the types of opportunities available. We try very hard to find summer placements for all rising physics and astronomy seniors, and we guarantee academic year senior research supervisors for all majors.

All of our physics majors do a senior project, which includes an approximately 16 page senior paper and a half-hour talk for the department students and faculty. See our listings of senior paper topics for ideas about the types of projects pusued by our senior majors. While this project is ordinarily based on a research project done either during the summer or academic year, either at Haverford or elsewhere, we do have students who instead elect to base their work on a library research topic. These students ask a faculty member to guide their library readings and write a paper based on a review of this work.

Our Student Research website has additional information about examples of student research topics and other aspects of our programs.

As explained in the previous question, our senior physics majors do senior papers and talks based on a project they choose with their supervisor. Ordinarily this involves performing research on a topic currently understudy in the supervisor's research group, but we have often had students propose entirely independent projects for their senior research, and we support this. There are modest amounts of research funding to support independent projects and we have a senior research lab designated for this purpose.

Visit the Summer Physics Credit webpage for the full breakdown on how you can get credit for a physics course taken at a different institution.

Visit the Summer Research Opportunities for the full breakdown on Summer Research Opportunities in Haverford College Physics & Astronomy.