PhD Physics Requirements
We offer graduate study leading to the PhD in Physics.
Course Requirements
Must take all courses as a letter grade and receive a B or better.
- Core Courses
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- Physics 205: Classical Mechanics
- Physics 210A: Electromagnetic Theory
- Physics 210B: Electromagnetic Theory
- Physics 215A: Quantum Mechanics
- Physics 215B: Quantum Mechanics
- Physics 215C: Quantum Mechanics
- Physics 219: Statistical Mechanics
- Physics 237: Galactic Dynamics *
* Physics 237 may be substituted for Physics 205 provided the student has demonstrated competency in Lagrangian Mechanics to the Physics 205 instructor. If Physics 237 is used this way as a substitution, it cannot be used to satisfy the elective requirement.
- Elective Requirements
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Must take all electives as a letter grade and receive a B or better. Theoretical physics students must complete a minimum of five advanced graduate courses, and experimental physics students must complete a minimum of three advanced graduate courses with a grade of B or better. For theoretical physics students, at least one of these courses must be in an area clearly distinct from the student’s field of specialization – such a determination will be made by the graduate advisor.
- Additional Course Requirements
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These courses are taken the first year of graduate school.
- Physics 260A: Colloquium
- Physics 260G: Graduate Seminar
- Physics 500: Teaching Assistant Seminar (Fall only)
Course Descriptions can be viewed here.
- Advancing to Candidacy
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The advancement exam is taken by the end of spring quarter in the student's third year. The exam begins with a short presentation in which the student assesses the overall situation in the field, and proposes a possible line of research, justifying its potential significance. The exam committee may then ask more general background questions. The scope and content of the exam are agreed upon beforehand. If the committee fails the student, the reasons will be given in writing, and the student must retake the exam by the end of summer quarter of the third year. After advancement, the Supervising Committee will be chaired by the student’s research advisor (or co-chaired by the advisor if they are not UCSB physics ladder faculty).
- Getting Your Ph.D.
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- Review the filing deadlines. Plan to complete all filing steps by the quarterly deadline.
- Review the filing checklist.
- Check on the GradPoint Students portal that your committee is correct. If it is not correct, submit a committee petition action to update it. Submit this action a month before your defense.
- Schedule your defense with your defense committee. Reserve the room. If Broida 3302 is not available, you may check with CNSI or another resource.
- Contact the Staff Graduate Advisor to set up a pre- and post-graduation meeting and confirm your defense date.
- A few weeks before your defense, email your committee your dissertation. (Confirm with them how much time they prefer to read it.) Check the template here. The title page is the month of the degree conferral.
- Once the dissertation is sent to your committee, email the Staff Graduate Advisor a PDF of your signature page, so that she can set it up via DocuSign. The Graduate Division and you will get an email confirmation, when it's completed. (The month listed is the month of the defense. There is no need to insert the signed signature page to the filed dissertation.) If the Staff Graduate Advisor is not available, get the signatures, and email the signed document to academics@graddiv.ucsb.edu.
- Check that all of your grades are correct. If you have any NR or incorrect grades, email the instructor to log into e-grades to fix it, if relevant.
- Three business days before your defense, send your defense announcement to grads@physics.ucsb.edu listserv. (Please note that you will not get the email, as the sender. After a few days, check with a Physics graduate student that the email was sent out. If not, email the Staff Graduate Advisor confirmation that it was sent out.)
- The day of your defense, submit the Form III Powerform for the correction number of committee members. Use this Form III for 3 Members. Use this Form III for 4 Members.The Graduate Division and you will get an email confirmation, when it's completed.
- If you are an international student and want to graduate in the Summer Quarter, check with the Staff Graduate Advisor about the new procedures.
- Once your committee approves of your dissertation and any revisions, submit your dissertation via ProQuest. Do not file until you received confirmation from your committee that it is approved. Email the Staff Graduate Advisor that you filed.
- Complete the exit survey.
- If you have specific questions on filing, contact academics@graddiv.ucsb.edu.
- If you are an international student, check in with OISS about filing details. Ask the Staff Graduate Advisor for any additional required steps for filing.
- Register for Commencement.
