Who am I?

Hey :) I usually go by Tahamid. I’m from Dhaka, Bangladesh and I moved here for college. I graduated from UR PAS in Dec 2022 (class of 2023) and have started working at a hospital in Boston in their cardiovascular research center. I mostly do mathematical/computational modeling of the cardiovascular system there under MD. PhD. Nicholas Houstis. I might write a blog in the future about that once I feel more comfortable with what I’m doing.

General Thoughts

First and foremost, take my opinions with a grain of salt. I won’t talk much about the university because if you’re here you probably know about the school already. University of Rochester is an EXTREMLY expensive school for what it is. Honestly any school is too expensive at this price point. Make sure you are alright with spending that money and definitely weigh your options before you decide to go here.

UR is definitely not the best school at this price. I’ve not taken too many non-STEM courses beyond the ones I was required to so I can’t talk much about those. In addition, the only other things I can talk about a little are Math and Computer Science.

Mathematics

I’ve heard from some friends that the math curriculum is actually pretty good. There are a handful of very good professors especially if you take the honors sequence. I did not, but, some PAS majors do choose the honors sequence. It is a far more challenging sequence than the usual ones the 160s. Before choosing the 170s vs 160s make sure you know what you are getting into and also what you’ll get out of it.

Computer Science

I will be honest, the intro professors in CS are horrible. Your best bet is to learn most things online and making friends in your department so you can learn together. Beyond the intros, I’ve heard good things about the other professors.

Physics and Astronomy

Let’s focus on what’s important now and what you came here for.

The Goods

The way to summarize all of the things I’ll say here is: if you have friends from other departments and you tell them about the community, they’ll more likely than not say “Oh that’s not how it is at all in my department” or be envious. At least that’s been my experience.

The professors

There’s always some bad professors and good professors. But from my experience in the department even those that are bad are VERY welcoming to helping you out after lectures. Some people are just bad at lecturing and as much as we all wish they weren’t we can’t change much. If you feel like you don’t understand things in the lectures, you should always go to office hours.

From my experience, almost all the professors are very helpful, understanding, and caring. They’re willing to talk to you for the most part and guide you in classes and even through your journey in physics in general. I’ve had conversations with them about their undergraduate, their grad school, their lives and have gotten to know a few beyond just the classroom. If you are someone who is interested in being a professor or interested in education, talk to them and know them. None of them even seem intimidating (maybe except one… you’ll know who I’m talking about).

My favorite professors were Kelly Douglass, John Nichol, and Segev BenZvi.

The students and community

This is where most of my love for the department lives. We have our own library called the POA in Bausch and Lomb 3rd floor. That’s where a bunch of the students hangout, work together, and do more or less whatever. Some people don’t like the space but most do and are always there. Now, I’ll warn you this is not a place where you’ll get a lot done.

The students in the department are your second source of help. You’ll find people with various backgrounds in your class - some who have been doing physics for years and some who have actually never done physics before. In class of 2023 we had a mixture of those. Now, there will be some people from the first group who will be pricks and that’s inevitable and if that’s you then take a step back and try helping your peers :) . If you’re from the second extreme group, ask for help. It is very likely that people won’t judge you if you ask for help.

In addition to people from your class, you’ll also find a lot of upperclassmen in the POA. Most of them are usually willing to help if they are free.

There’s also free tutoring by the Society of Physics Students (SPS) where upperclassmen volunteer to help underclassmen and anyone else who’s taking physics. Use that resource.

Other than SPS tutoring, there’s also the CETL tutoring services where some students sign up to help others in a 1-on-1 1 hour session (max 2 sessions a week). If you’re a CETL tutor you also get paid!

Of course, there’s also the teaching assistants (TAs and TIs). They’re a mix of grad and undergrad students whose job is to help you with the course. Get to know them, ask them for help, and go to workshops if you’re struggling. Some will also have valuable general tips about being a physics student.

I was a CETL tutor and a TI for 3 years. So, make sure to sign up for those so you can also help others.

You’ll also find many other people who are willing to help you in the department. The undergrad and grad coordinators - Lysa and Linda - the librarians - Ben and Jeff - and also some grad students who hangout in the POA once-in-a-while! Talk to them.

Finally, for the international students, you might find a home in this department if you are lucky and have people like I did in class of 2023.

Research

There’s a ton of research going on in the department. If you are interested, talk to a professor. Some of the research is not paid for at least during the semester. If that’s important to you, make sure to find people who will pay you before you start working. In certain cases, you might get paid after the first semester of working in a lab. Either way, it’s always nice to get compensated for your work.

Beyond on-campus research, there’s also LLE where you can do research in and also if you’re interested in non-physics research that’s also an option. Some people do research in optics/mechanical engineering/computer science/etc. Explore your options before you lock yourself in.

If there’s a point where you want to leave a research group that’s also very possible. Just be honest and let the PI know. Keep an open mind instead of just wanting to do physics research; there’s a lot going on in the school in terms of high quality research!

During the summers there’s a tonne of opportunities to get out of the school. My advice is to not stay in the school during summers esp you junior summer if possible. Go work at a national lab/REU/some industry/etc.

Future outcomes

If you are interested in grad school, this department is perfect for you. If you are someone who might be not interested in that route of being in academia, you can still do physics. Just make sure you supplement your physics education in some way and do research in other fields of interests.

I was interested in more computational work so I took a tonne of Data Science and CS courses. Feel free to do that. Or if you’re more interested in keeping a door into Finance open, make economics as your cluster and maybe even minor in it.

Physics is incredible and it teaches you how to solve problems. This department is no different; it will throw very difficult problems at you and you will learn to solve them. You just need to have some background knowledge to switch that expertise of problem solving to some other discipline so supplement your physics with something else more lucrative if you want to keep options open.

The Bads

Not much to say except:

The department is extremely focused on grad school and that needs to change somehow
It’s hard to find alumni and there’s no easy way to do that right now. I might try working on that at some point.
Some of the professors should not be teaching intro classes. They are incredible resources for more advanced students but unfortunately are a little too smart for their own good when it comes to freshmen!

People you should contact

As I mentioned before if you need any information, contact Lysa or Linda. I probably won’t be maintaining the blog in case they leave but you’ll find that information for undergraduate coordinators here: https://www.pas.rochester.edu/people/admin/index.html