PHYS/APPH Notes

I am a math educator turned statistical consultant turned academic advisor, not a physicist. So I made this collection of notes to help my students (and myself) with the intricacies of the physics plans of study.

These are personal notes to me, not the official Purdue catalog. The Purdue catalog is the gold standard for requirements, etc.
Using only the information on this page carries a non-zero risk of problems.

General Notes

• The first two years of PHYS/APPH are identical in nature. No need to rush to make a decision on which one you want.

• Putting off chemistry until after year 1 is a bad idea (the 3 hour lab can conflict with second-year and beyond physics courses).

• PHYS courses are generally only offered once per year with the exception of labs (PHYS 340 and PHYS 450).

• The physics department guarantees that the courses in your cohort for your admissions year will not conflict with each other.

• If you reach ahead/behind in time to "grab" a physics course that is not in your cohort and this causes conflicts, prioritize the courses in your cohort.

• Students with Fall 2024 or later catalog terms should follow the outline in the 2025-2026 DPGs for PHYS and APPH.

Differentiating Between PHYS and APPH

After year 2, the majors diverge (although hypothetically APPH student can begin chipping away at their major selectives earlier). What are the differences?

PHYS Science/engineering selectives: AAE, ABE, ASTR, BIOL, BME, CE, CEM, CHE, CHM, CS, CS, EAPS, ECE, IE, MA, ME, MSE, NUCL, PHYS, STAT

APPH selective areas: Upper-level classes in AAE, ASTR, BIOL, CE, CHM, CS, EAPS, ECE, HSCI, ME, MSE, NUCL ; can use lower-division classes if complete a minor

PHYS 323, 324, 390, 490, or 590

If you are a dual major with any of the engineering disciplines, you can ignore the notes in the table about course accessibility, however, graduating in 4 years with physics and engineering may be tricky since the physics courses are only offered once per year.

Cohort Classes

The classes in the blocks below are guaranteed to not conflict with each other. As explained above, reaching ahead or behind in time can create problems.

Remember that the labs (340/450) are offered both semesters.