Admission to graduate work in physics
Graduate degrees at the University of Illinois are administered by our Graduate College. The general admission requirements of the Graduate College are as follows.
You must:
a) hold (or will be granted at the end of the current academic year) a baccalaureate degree or equivalent degree comparable to that granted by the University of Illinois, and
b) have a grade average of at least 3.0 on a scale of A = 4.0. Admission averages are computed for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work and any graduate work completed.
Admission to the Ph.D. program in physics has the additional requirements that you have majored in physics or a related field and have taken (or are completing) 20 semester hours of physics courses, not counting introductory courses in general physics. Required courses include Intermediate Electricity and Magnetism, Intermediate Mechanics, and one or (preferably) two semesters of undergraduate Quantum Mechanics. Mathematics through (at least) advanced calculus and differential equations is required. Courses in light and in thermodynamics are highly recommended.
Students who lack some of the prerequisite courses will be considered for admission. If admitted, the students must take the prerequisite courses at Illinois as a graduate student.