Course VIII Focused Option
The Course VIII focused option is designed to provide the best possible preparation for graduate study in physics. Many students have also found this program to be an excellent, broad based preparation for professional work in related fields such as astrophysics, biophysics, geophysics, and many engineering disciplines. The focused option is unusual among pre-professional programs at MIT in that it offers a particularly large amount of elective freedom: as many as six subjects may be chosen as unrestricted electives without exceeding the minimum requirements for an undergraduate degree. The Departmental program for the focused option consists of the following required subjects and restricted electives. The full requirements for the degree, including the General Institute Requirements, may be found in the MIT Bulletin.
Required Subjects
8.03 Physics III (vibrations and waves)
18.03 or 18.034 Differential Equations
8.033 Relativity
8.04 Quantum Mechanics I
8.044 Statistical Physics I
8.05 Quantum Mechanics II
8.06* CI-M Quantum Mechanics III
8.13* CI-M Experimental Physics I
8.14 Experimental Physics II
8.ThU Thesis (12 units)
Course VIII Flexible Option
This option is designed for students who wish to develop a strong background in the fundamentals of physics and then build on this foundation as they prepare for career paths that may not involve a graduate degree in physics. In the past many students have found an understanding of the basic concepts of physics and an appreciation of the physicist's approach to problem solving an excellent preparation for careers in business, law, medicine or engineering. This option should be even more attractive today in light of the growing spectrum of non-traditional, technology-related career opportunities.
The freedom of choice associated with the flexible option does not preclude the possibility of going on to graduate school in physics. The number of physics subjects in this program is still comparable to that required of physics majors at many of our peer universities.
The Departmental program for the flexible option consists of the following required subjects and restricted electives. The full requirements for the degree, including the General Institute Requirements, may be found in the MIT Bulletin.
Required Subjects
8.03 Physics III (vibrations and waves)
18.03 or 18.034 Differential Equations
8.04 Quantum Mechanics I
8.044 Statistical Physics I
and one of the following subjects:
8.05 Quantum Mechanics II, or
8.20 Introduction to Special Relativity, or
8.033 Relativity
and one of the following experimental experiences:
8.13 CI-M* Experimental Physics I
or a laboratory subject of similar intensity in another dept.
or an experimental research project or senior thesis
or an experimentally oriented summer externship
The Relativity class spends half the course on special relativity and half on general relativity, so yes MIT Physics students are learning general relativity in their sophomore year. The Standard Model is not taught in much depth in an undergraduate MIT physics (or any school) education because you need to get through at least 3 semesters of quantum mechanics before you can understand QCD and QED. We got only a brief introduction to it. Then usually senior year students are required to take either E&M 2 (8.07), Classical mechanics 2 (8.09), or Stat mechanics (8.08) as electives. If they want to go to grad school, they will try to take all of those. Then the rest of the electives a student might take would be in the area they are interested in: astrophysics, nanophysics, string theory, solid state physics, biophysics, plasma physics, particle physics, condensed matter physics, etc.
Obviously Physics is a huge field that people enter for different reasons. There are A LOT of things physics students should know but only so much time to teach it. The point of an undergrad physics education is to give them a solid understanding of the basics of the physics they will need after they graduate. Much of an undergraduate degree is spent getting classical and quantum mechanics down because that’s what students really need and it takes a lot of classes to do that. While general relativity is important, elegant, and interesting, only a budding astrophysicist really needs to know it so professors shouldn’t spend a whole semester on it.