Sites for Undergraduate Physics Majors
at Penn State University

General career advice:

• Lectures from PHYS 444 Junior Careers course on graduate school, career ideas, etc.

PSU Physics sites:

• PSU Physics Department
• The Penn State Society of Physics Students (SPS)
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the undergraduate Physics majors at PSU (.pdf file)
• 2006-2007 Undergraduate Handbook (.pdf file)
  • Includes suggested semester-by-semester schedules for all five options.
• Semester-by semester schedule for the acoustics option
• Semester-by semester schedule for the electronics option
• Semester-by semester schedule for the general option
• Semester-by semester schedule for the medical physics option
• Semester-by semester schedule for the teaching option

Penn State University sites:

• eLion which includes links to such things as
  • Academic, address, and advisor information
  • Bursar information
  • Degree audits (including 'what-if' cases for majors you're considering)
  • Drop/Add actions
  • Entrance to major requirements and actions
  • Exploring majors
  • Grades
  • Late drop
  • On-line registration
  • 'Instant' information on course availability
  • Transcripts
• advising@psu.edu
  • A comprehensive guide to 'all things advising' for undergraduates at Penn State University with many useful links.
• Eberly College of Science (ECoS) home page including links to
  • All Departmental home pages
  • Information on the ECoS COOP program
• Career Services at Penn State
  • Information about job/career fairs, campus recruiting for permanent employment and internships, how to write a resume and much more.
• Registrars Home Page which includes links to such things as
  • Degree Audits
  • Entrance to Major & Campus Location
  • Exams and exams schedules
  • PSU Forms to print
  • Grades and Academic actions
  • Graduation information
  • Registration information (including timetables for registering on-line)
  • Schedule of courses at all PSU locations (Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions), updated daily
• LIAS The University library system on the web
  • Search for books, journal articles, scientific citation search engines, etc.
• The PSU on-line directory (or phone book)
  • Find anyone in the PSU system by searching on their name, email address, etc.
  • Also lists academic departments and college/university office addresses and phone numbers
• Information on your PSU personal home pages
  • Find out how to access your PSU home page and apply on-line for your web space.
• The Undergraduate Degree Programs Bulletin (the on-line version of the familiar 'Blue Book') Includes
  • Descriptions of all courses
  • Descriptions/requirements of all major and minor degree programs

Graduate study in physics:

• GradSchoolShopper.com
  • American Institute of Physics (AIP) sponsored searchable database of grad programs (Ph. D. and Masters) in Physics and Astronomy/Astrophysics in the US/Canada.
  • Four page .pdf files for each institution.
• The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) home page. Official Educational Testing Service (ETS) web site.
• Physics GRE exam solutions for four recent exams . Not an official ETS web site, but still useful to see worked out solutions.
• Four recent Physics GRE exams, one from the current ETS/GRE web site, and three more from an out-of-print ETS publication
• The US News ranking of graduate programs (in many/most fields, including Physics)
  • Only lists the top few, and points you to published edition (which is available in the PSU library system.)
• Petersons guide to graduate programs on-line version.

National Physics sites:

• National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site
  • Information on summer research opportunties in science, engineering, and mathematics at colleges and universities supported by NSF funding.
  • If you're interested in summer research possiblities as an undergraduate physics major, this is one of the best places to look!
• American Institute of Physics which includes information on
  • Physics News Update (providing a digest of physics news items from physics meetings, journals, and other sources.) You can subscribe to this and receive it via email each week using this site.)
  • Careers in physics and job opportunities
  • Physics Today (the physics 'trade journal')
• American Physical Society which has links to
  • All APS member societies
  • What's New (by Bob Park) (news and opinion about recent developments in physics)
• The National Society of Physics Students (SPS) web site.

If you have comments or suggestions for other links, email me with information.

Last updated, August 17^th 2005.

• R. W. Robinett
• Asst. Dept. Head Physics
• Penn State University
• University Park, PA 16802
• rick@phys.psu.edu