Staying on track
Make sure you're on track and on time for graduation.
Course help and drop-in hours
Undergraduates taking physics courses can receive free tutoring from physics graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) during drop-in hours in room 132 of the STEM Commons (the building where physics and astronomy lab classes are located) and, in some cases, via Zoom.
Declaring or changing your major
Declaring a major helps you and your departmental advisor create the shortest path to graduation, saving you time and money. Once you declare a major, you could qualify for departmental scholarships.
In order to complete your undergraduate degree within four years, you should meet with your academic advisor at least once a year to review your progress.
Senior Rule
The Senior Rule is a one-term opportunity provided to students who need only one or two courses to complete their undergraduate work and who wish to use their last term to take some graduate courses. Students wishing to use the Senior Rule must be admissible to the graduate program and should apply well in advance of the beginning of that term. For that term only, the student's tuition is assessed at the junior-senior rate for all coursework, even for that which is designated as graduate credit. Courses carrying graduate credit are entered only on the graduate transcript.
Requirements
- Students who have completed all requirements for a bachelor's degree are not eligible.
- To be eligible, students must register for at least one credit which is required for the undergraduate degree.
- Undergraduate and graduate courses combined may not exceed 16 credits for the final semester of the baccalaureate degree work.
- Only graduate courses numbered 5000 and 6000 may be taken under this rule.
Get involved in undergraduate research
Wayne State is a research university. This allows you to work with a professor on projects that will take you far beyond textbooks and lectures and gain professional experience in independent research, writing and analysis.
Here are a few reasons why you should get involved in undergraduate research:
- More involvement with faculty, graduate students, researchers, fellow undergraduate researchers.
- Participate in creating knowledge, better understanding and work with others to solve an intellectual problem.
- Improve your CV, improve your chances for admission to graduate and professional schools, or secure a better job.
- You'll need that recommendation letterwho better to ask than your research mentor?
- Practical, "hands-on" learning beyond the limits of a course or textbook.
- Great preparation for employment/independent work, taking on complex tasks, open-ended problem-solving.
- Training in deep thinking, information and data gathering, data analysis and synthesis, problem-solving, thoughtful writing, presentations, lab techniques etc.