Physics after Engineering

            F or admission to Ph.D. programs in physics in countries like USA, Canada, Australia and Japan, one mandatory requirement is the Physics GRE exam. Performance on the exam is fairly important in the admission process, especially when the applicant is from an engineering (non-physics) background. I took the exam as an engineering student and was able to score 990/990 on the exam. In this post, I will write all about the exam, its contents, cost and preparation strategies. About the Exam The physics GRE is a standardized test offered by ETS which tests standard undergraduate level physics. The exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions (MCQ) where only one answer is correct out of all the choices. The duration for the same is 170 minutes. In India, the test is only paper-based where the answers are to be marked on an OMR sheet. Each correct answer fetches one point and finally, the total number of correct answers gives the net raw score....

       F or engineering students who are looking to do an MSc in physics in India, the IIT JAM (Joint Admission for MSc) exam is the main route to gain admission into IITs and several other institutes for an MSc admission in physics. I was also a mechanical engineering undergrad at Delhi Technological University and gave my JAM exam in my final year. I was able to secure AIR 3 and got admission into the MSc physics program at IIT Bombay. So this is a post on how to crack the IIT JAM after engineering or during B.Tech. I would discuss how I prepared and what are some good strategies to prepare for the JAM exam for engineers. Eligibility Criteria [ Are Engineers eligible for MSc Physics in IITs through JAM? Reffer to this post to know about the ambiguity detailedly] Let's first discuss the major issue that most engineering students face, that is, the eligibility criteria. The IIT JAM website says that for MSc physics admission, a student needs two semeste...

Can I switch from Engineering to Physics? Is it possible to do a PhD in physics after B. Tech in engineering? Can I pursue physics after *put any branch* engineering? These are some of the questions I used to ask 3 years ago. Back then, I couldn’t find a clear answer. But if you are asking a similar question today, I have found an answer and it is a resounding YES!!! Yes, you can do physics after engineering,  in fact, you can do a Ph.D. in physics after any branch of engineering. There, I said it, and for some of you, this assurance is probably enough to begin the pursuit. But there is another set of people. These are the ones like me who were from an unsupportive engineering college, a college with an age-old rigid academic system which gives you no freedom of taking courses beyond your engineering branch, no real electives, a physics department that is pretty much dormant, and no real reputation for research anywhere. And it is precisely for these students that I w...