Physics / Bachelor of Science to Master of Science in Physics / 4+1 Program

Program: BS-PHYS-1

The Physics Department offers a Bachelor’s to Master’s 4+1 Program option for Lewis University undergraduate Physics majors. All qualified Physics majors may take advantage of this 4+1 Program option. The 4+1 Program 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 4+1 Program option by submitting the department application 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 4+1 Program option may apply graduate courses to 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 4+1 Program 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 4+1 Program option may take during their senior year. Listed next to each is the undergraduate course for which it substitutes.

A student in this 4+1 Program option may apply no more than three of these courses toward his or her undergraduate Bachelor of Science major in Physics:

PHYS 50500 Classical Mechanics substitutes for PHYS 40100 Computational Mechanics

PHYS 50600 Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences substitutes for PHYS 49800 Topics in Physics

PHYS 51800 Applied Modern Optics substitutes for PHYS 49800 Topics in Physics

PHYS 53000 Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics substitutes for PHYS 33100 Thermodynamics

PHYS 54100 Quantum Mechanics substitutes for PHYS 44100 Quantum Mechanics

PHYS 54200 Solid State Physics substitutes for PHYS 44200 Solid State Physics

PHYS 54300 Nuclear and Particle Physics substitutes for PHYS 44300 Nuclear and Particle Physics

PHYS 61000 Advanced Electricity and Magnetism substitutes for PHYS 41100 Computational Electrodynamics

See Baccalaureate-to-Masters Degree Program Guidelines for additional information.