Department of Physics, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Program Requirements

The Co-op program in Physics is a five year program, including five work terms. Students must follow the academic work schedule as outlined below (also found on the Co-operative Education website: https://www.recruitguelph.ca/cecs/). 

Physics Academic and Co-op Work Term Schedule

Co-op Information

Year	Fall	Winter	Summer
1	Academic Semester 1	Academic Semester 2	Off
2	Academic Semester 3 COOP*1100	Academic Semester 4	COOP*1000 Work Term I
3	Academic Semester 5	COOP*2000 Work Term II	COOP*3000 Work Term III
4	Academic Semester 6	Academic Semester 7	COOP*4000 Work Term IV
5	COOP*5000 Work Term V	Academic Semester 8	N/A

Please refer to the Co-operative Education program policy with respect to work term performance grading, work term report grading and program completion requirements.

For additional program information students should consult with their Co-op Co-ordinator and Co-op Faculty Advisor, listed on the Co-operative Education web site.

Credit Summary

(22.50 Total Credits)

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
First year science credits		5.00
Required science courses semesters 3 – 8		8.50
Restricted Electives		1.00
Approved Science Electives		1.50
Liberal Education Electives		1.00
Free Electives - any approved elective for B.Sc. students		3.00
Co-op Work Terms		2.50
Total Credits		22.5

Of the total credits required, students are required to complete 16.00 credits in science of which a minimum of 2.00 credits must be at the 4000 level and an additional 4.00 credits must be at the 3000 or 4000 level.

The recommended program sequence is outlined below.

Major (Honours Program)

Students who are lacking one 4U /grade 12 course in Biology, Chemistry or Physics must take the equivalent introductory course in first semester. The required first-year science courses in that subject should be completed according to the revised schedule of studies available at: https://www.uoguelph.ca/bsc/revised_SS/.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Semester 1 - Fall
CHEM*1040	General Chemistry I	0.50
CIS*1300	Programming	0.50
IPS*1500	Integrated Mathematics and Physics I	1.00
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
BIOL*1070	Discovering Biodiversity	0.50
BIOL*1080	Biological Concepts of Health	0.50
BIOL*1090	Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology	0.50
Semester 2 - Winter
CHEM*1050	General Chemistry II	0.50
IPS*1510	Integrated Mathematics and Physics II	1.00
MATH*1160	Linear Algebra I	0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
BIOL*1070	Discovering Biodiversity	0.50
BIOL*1080	Biological Concepts of Health	0.50
BIOL*1090	Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology	0.50
Summer Semester
No academic semester or work term
Semester 3 - Fall
COOP*1100	Introduction to Co-operative Education	0.00
MATH*2200	Advanced Calculus I	0.50
MATH*2270	Applied Differential Equations	0.50
PHYS*2240	Thermal Physics	0.50
PHYS*2330	Electricity and Magnetism I	0.50
0.50 Liberal Education electives		0.50
Semester 4 - Winter
PHYS*2180	Experimental Techniques in Physics	0.50
PHYS*2310	Mechanics	0.50
PHYS*2340	Electricity and Magnetism II	0.50
CIS*2500	Intermediate Programming (or 0.50 electives)	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*1000	Co-op Work Term I	0.50
Semester 5 - Fall
IPS*3000	Science Communication	0.50
PHYS*3130	Mathematical Physics	0.50
PHYS*3230	Quantum Mechanics I	0.50
PHYS*3400	Advanced Mechanics	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Winter Semester
COOP*2000	Co-op Work Term II	0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*3000	Co-op Work Term III	0.50
Semester 6 - Fall 3
PHYS*4180	Advanced Electromagnetic Theory	0.50
CIS*2520	Data Structures (or 0.50 electives) 5	0.50
PHYS*4240	Statistical Physics II (or 0.50 electives) 5	0.50
1.00 electives 5		1.00
Semester 7 - Winter 3
NANO*3600	Computational Methods in Materials Science	0.50
PHYS*3000	Optics: Fundamentals and Applications	0.50
PHYS*3510	Intermediate Laboratory	0.50
PHYS*4040	Quantum Mechanics II	0.50
MATH*3260	Complex Analysis (or 0.50 electives) 4	0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*4000	Co-op Work Term IV	0.50
Fall Semester
COOP*5000	Co-op Work Term V	0.50
Semester 8 - Winter 3
PHYS*4500	Advanced Physics Laboratory	0.50
PHYS*4130	Subatomic Physics (or 0.50 electives) 4	0.50
PHYS*4150	Solid State Physics (or 0.50 electives) 4	0.50
1.00 electives 4		1.00

³

Students going on to graduate school in physics should take PHYS*4130 Subatomic Physics, PHYS*4150 Solid State Physics, and PHYS*4240 Statistical Physics II

⁴

At least 1.00 credits must be from the restricted electives listed below.

Restricted Electives

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
PHYS*4130	Subatomic Physics	0.50
PHYS*4150	Solid State Physics	0.50
PHYS*4240	Statistical Physics II	0.50