Physics / Bachelor of Science to Master of Science in Physics / Fast Track

The Physics Department offers a Bachelor’s to Master’s Fast Track option for Lewis University undergraduate Physics majors. All qualified Physics majors may take advantage of this Fast Track option. The Fast Track option allows qualified undergraduates to complete the graduate MS in Physics in less time than would be possible if the two programs were taken separately. Nine graduate hours may be used both to complete the Bachelor’s degree (128 hours) and to satisfy specific course requirements for the Master’s program. The total number of required graduate credits (30) will remain the same. Students apply for admission to the Fast Track option by submitting both the department application form and the Block Tuition Exemption form to the Program Director of the MS in Physics when they reach senior status (complete 90 credits) and have achieved an overall GPA of 3.0. Qualified students approved for the Fast Track option may apply financial aid to graduate courses and are exempt from the 18-hour block in the semesters when they take these select graduate courses. With planning, the MS in Physics could be awarded within one year of graduating with the Bachelor’s degree. Students who take 9 credit hours of selected graduate courses in Physics in their senior year and earn a grade of “B” or better in each of those courses will have to complete only 21 more credit hours to earn the MS. Students accepted into this Fast Track option are required to apply for admission to the MS in Physics program.

Listed below are graduate courses in the MS in Physics program which students enrolled in the Fast Track option may take during their senior year. Listed next to each is the undergraduate course for which it substitutes.

A student in this Fast Track option may apply no more than three of these courses toward his or her undergraduate Bachelor of Science major in Physics:

17-505 Classical Mechanics substitutes for 17-401 Computational Mechanics
17-506 Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences substitutes for 17-498 Topics in Physics
17-518 Applied Modern Optics substitutes for 17-498 Topics in Physics
17-530 Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics substitutes for 17-331 Thermodynamics
17-541 Quantum Mechanics substitutes for 17-441 Quantum Mechanics
17-542 Solid State Physics substitutes for 17-442 Solid State Physics

17- 543 Nuclear and Particle Physics substitutes for 17-443 Nuclear and Particle Physics