REGISTRATION AND CURRICULUM
Before the registration period, students are given “blue forms” in which they are asked what courses they intend to take. These forms are then signed by the Graduate Coordinator, passed to the Program Assistant, who then passes them back to the student. The extra level of bureaucracy is designed to ensure that the students are not registered for inappropriate courses that will then lead to difficulties in graduating. Students supported on Teaching Assistantships (T.A.’s) or Research Assistantships (R.A.’s) are allowed a “fee-waiver” for 9 credits for each of Fall and Spring semester, and 6 credits in Summer. They must register for at least 9 credits in the Fall and Spring, but if the total is more than 9 credits, they are responsible for the extra fees. (Students on some Fellowships must register for 12 credits, 8 credits in the Summer).In general, we would prefer students to register during the “early registration” period. This is particularly necessary for students who wish to take advanced level lecture courses, as these courses may be cancelled if there are not enough students registered.The default curriculum for well prepared first year students is known as the “core courses”. Second year students generally register for a mixture of advanced research and lecture courses. In particular, they need to complete the core course requirements if this has not already been done, and in general, register for at least one advanced course.

Fall Core Courses
Classical Mechanics I
Electromagnetism I
Quantum Mechanics I

Spring Core Courses
Statistical Mechanics
Electromagnetism II
Quantum Mechanics II

Some Exception to the Core Courses
Some T.A.’s need to take ENS 5502 in order to teach. These students cannot obtain a “fee-waiver” for more than 9 credits, and so cannot register for all 3 core courses. However, they can register for 2 of them and as advised by the Graduate Coordinator.
Those who are not so well prepared are advised that 3 core courses require a lot of work, and they may be better served taking only two of them. They can either take an undergraduate course, or take some of the “research” courses listed below
Some students believe that they have covered the core course material. In general, the core courses are mandatory, but the “GSAC+” committee may grant exceptions, “waivers”. The explanation of these rules is contained in the document concerning the preliminary exam system.

In general, as the years go by, students register for fewer lecture courses. Their 9 credit hours are then filled either by seminar courses or by “advanced research” type courses. First year students who have no advisor are recommended to fill any holes in their schedules the first two semesters with three, 1-credit seminar or colloquium courses. Once students have advisors, students need to register for one of the following course numbers:

PHY 6905 Individual Work ( Max. 4 credits per semester, 12 in total) letter grade awarded
PHY 6910 Supervised Research (Max. 5 credits)
PHY 6971 Master’s Research. This is for students moving to an M.S. with thesis
PHY 7979 Advanced Research (no limit on credits). This is the standard “research” course for students before they pass the qualifying exam.
PHY 7980 Doctoral Research. This is the standard “research” course for students after they pass the qualifying exam.

In each case, the student should pick a faculty mentor, put that name on their “blue form”, and they will be given a section number for registration. Please note the following:

PHY 6905 is the only one of the above to have a “letter grade”. The others are graded only as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Students should check with the faculty mentor to find out what their grading policy will be before committing to a course.
In general, 7000 level courses cannot be used for M.S. degrees. If a student wishes to get an M.S., they should plan sufficient credits at the 6000 level.

Students taking undergraduate courses should usually take them as a PHY 5905 (Individual Work), as the University believes that graduate students should not take undergraduate courses.