Physics Degree Plan

The McMurry Physics Major

As you plan out your undergraduate career, you will want to have some idea of where you are going. The intention of this webpage is to outline the courses which you will need in an order that satisfies the prerequisite courses for each. Please be aware that the courses listed are not offered every semester nor every year. (Please see the Curriculum page for this and next year's course offerings.)

As discussed on the Physics Curriculum page, the study of physics requires a strong mathematics background. Computers are also of great importance to physics and physics majors are advised to take courses in computer programming languages, especially FORTRAN and/or C.

For the degree requirements of the physics major and the physics minor, please refer to the McMurry University Catalog (pdf) ('07-'08). The General Education (non-physics non-math degree) requirements are listed at the bottom of this page.

The Degree Plan

Since we cannot offer every course every year, we have a worked out a schedule which provides a suggested order so that you can satisfy the necessary prerequisites before the appropriate course. The bold-faced courses need to be where they are either to satify a prerequiste or because they are only offered every other year. The first schedule is for those who enter in the fall of an odd-numbered year (and will graduate in the spring of an odd-numbered year). The second schedule is for those who enter in the fall of an even-numbered year (and will graduate in the spring of an even-numbered year).

Obviously, you will need to select your General Education requirements, but these will depend on your interests. You will be assigned an academic advisor who can help guide you through the choices.

The requirements for the BS in physics with the relevant General Education courses can be completed in 102 credit hours. You are required to take a minimum of 120 credit hours to graduate. The remaining 18 credit hours have been left open for you to take additional classes that are specific interest to you. These may be from any discipline and need not satisfy the General Education requirement. These are also not listed in the schedules below.

Degree Plan for odd year
Class Rank	FALL TERM	SPRING TERM
Freshman Odd Fall / Even Spring 16 cr.hrs. / 16 cr.hrs. (Total: 32 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 2510 Univ. Phys. I Math 2421 Calculus I ENG 1310 Composition and Rhetoric Acad 1100 McMurry 101 (Gen.Ed. 1st of 8)	Phys 2520 Univ. Phys. II Math 2322 Calculus II Eng 1320 Composition and Literature HF 1210 (Gen.Ed. 2nd of 8)
Sophomore Even Fall / Odd Spring 16 cr.hrs. / 15 cr.hrs. (Total: 63 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 3300 Modern Phys Math 3341 ODE Math 2340 Linear Algebra CHEM 1410 General Chemistry I (Gen.Ed. 3rd of 8)	Phys 3270 Advanced Lab Phys 3350 Electronics Math 3301 Multivariate Calculus CHEM 1410 General Chemistry II (Gen.Ed. 4th of 8)
Junior Odd Fall / Even Spring 15 cr.hrs. / 15 cr.hrs. (Total: 93 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 4300 Classical Mechanics Math 3351 Statistics C SC 1325 Fundamentals of Computer Science (Gen.Ed. 5th of 8) (Gen.Ed. 6th of 8)	Phys 4330 Quantum Mechanics Phys Elective (Gen.Ed. 7th of 8) (Gen.Ed. 8th of 8) Elective
Senior Even Fall / Odd Spring 13 cr.hrs. / 14 cr.hrs. (Total: 120 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 4310 E&M PHYS 4175 Research Proposal Phys Elective Elective Elective	Phys 4360 Thermodynamics PHYS 4275 Research Project Elective Elective Elective

Degree Plan for Even year
Class Rank	FALL TERM	SPRING TERM
Freshman Even Fall / Odd Spring 16 cr.hrs. / 16 cr.hrs. (Total: 32 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 2510 Univ. Phys. I Math 2421 Calculus I ENG 1310 Composition and Rhetoric Acad 1100 McMurry 101 (Gen.Ed. 1st of 8)	Phys 2520 Univ. Phys. II Math 2322 Calculus II Eng 1320 Composition and Literature HF 1210 (Gen.Ed. 2nd of 8)
Sophomore Odd Fall / Even Spring 16 cr.hrs. / 15 cr.hrs. (Total: 63 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 3300 Modern Phys C SC 1325 Fundamentals of Computer Science Math 2340 Linear Algebra CHEM 1410 General Chemistry I (Gen.Ed. 3rd of 8)	Phys 3270 Advanced Lab Phys 3350 Electronics Math 3301 Multivariate Calculus CHEM 1410 General Chemistry II (Gen.Ed. 4th of 8)
Junior Even Fall / Odd Spring 15 cr.hrs. / 15 cr.hrs. (Total: 93 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 4310 E&M Phys Elective Math 3341 ODE (Gen.Ed. 5th of 8) (Gen.Ed. 6th of 8)	Phys 4360 Thermodynamics (Gen.Ed. 7th of 8) (Gen.Ed. 8th of 8) Elective Elective
Senior Odd Fall / Even Spring 13 cr.hrs. / 14 cr.hrs. (Total: 120 of 120 cr.hrs.)	Phys 4300 Classical Mechanics PHYS 4175 Research Proposal Math 3351 Statistics Elective Elective	Phys 4330 Quantum Mechanics PHYS 4275 Research Project PhysElective Elective Elective

The General Education Requirements

McMury is a liberal arts institution. This means that we believe that everybody should know something about a variety of different fields. Everybody who attends McMurry must complete certain courses to get their degree. In addition, for each degree offered, their are some General Education requirements. We recommend that you use the information above to plan out your four-year major courses, fill in the rest of your schedule with courses from below, and then decide if you have room to add in another major or minor. You might consider printing this page off and checking off each requirement as you go or writing a year-and-semester that you intend to take each. Everyone is required to take 40 hours of General Education, however, 7 of these hours will be counted from the physics major supporting courses (math and natural science requirements, not shown below).

4 hrs (2 classes) of Leadership, Excellence, and Virtue

1 hr (1 class) of McMurry 101 (For incoming students only; transfer students are exempt from this)
3 hrs (1 class) from

CORE 1300: Ethics
HIST 2330: Virtue in World History
HIST 2340: Virtue in American History
REL 2309: Holocaust through the Eyes of Elie Wiesel
SLD 1310: Concepts and Techniques of Servant Leadership
SOC 1300: Sociological Issues: Examining the Collective Conscience

9 hrs (3 classes) of Written and Oral Communication

ENG 1310: Composition and Rhetoric
ENG 1320: Composition and Literature (PreReq: ENG 1310)
COMM 1310: Principles of Communication

2 hrs (1 class) of Health Fitness (H F 1200)
3 hrs (1 class) of Religion

REL 1330: Introduction to Christianity
REL 2330: Old Testament
REL 2340: New Testament

3 hrs (1 class) from the Fine Arts

ART 1300: Exploring the Visual Arts
M LH 2301: Music Appreciation
THRE 1300: Introduction to Theatre
F A 2310: Survey of Fine Arts

3 hrs (1 class) from the Humanities

Literature

ENG 2311: British Literature I [PreReq ENG 1320]
ENG 2312: British Literature II [PreReq ENG 1320]
ENG 2321: American Literature I [PreReq ENG 1320]
ENG 2322: American Literature II [PreReq ENG 1320]
ENG 4309: Holocaust through the Eyes of Elie Wiesel

Philosophy (any PHIL course)
Religion (REL 2340, 3330, 3310, 3315, 3320)
SPAN 4311: Survey of Spanish Penisular Literature
SPAN 4312: Survey of Spanish American Literature

9 hrs (3 classes) from Global, Societal, and Personal Perspectives

3 hrs (1 class) from

CORE 2300: Persons and Communities [PreReq CORE 1300]
FREN 2310: Intermediate French
GERM 2310: Intermediate German
SPAN 2310: Intermediate Spanish
World History, early or late: HIST 1310, 1320;
REL 2350: ?
P SC 2350: Contemporary Global Issues
SOC 2320: World Societies

6 hrs (2 classes) from two disciplines

American History, early or late: HIST 2310, 2320
P SC 2310: National Govt.
P SC 2320: State Govt.
Economics (Macro and Micro: ECON 2310, 2320)
Psychology (PSYC 1340, 2360), or
Sociology (SOC 2300, 2320).

Updates:

8/20/07 Update format and content. WK.

6/13/03 Addition of the explicit listing of the General Education Requirements by JC.

1/10/01 Color Scheme updated by JC.

10/19/00 Page created by Joseph Christensen.

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