Master degree in physics, acceptance possibilities

simonevinci · Post by **simonevinci** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 12:20 pm

Hi, I'm an italian student currently studying physics in Italy. I'm at the second year of bachelor degree and I've done all the exams I had to do, actually I've never failed one but sometimes grades haven't been the best. I'm currently averaging 25,5 out of 30(which is the maximum grade here). Not the best but not even terrible and I think my consistency is a good aspect of a student. If all goes well next year I'll be graduating and recently I was seriously thinking about studying in Finland. I really like the country and it would be great to spend time there for the master degree. I looked around and found 2/3 master courses that I like, two in Helsinki and one in Jyvaskyla. My English level is good, at the moment I don't have a certificate but I'm confident I can get one that matches the requests. Now I ask: what are the chances that someone like me, with my grades and English level, can get accepted for one of this type of courses? And also, what is the most important aspect in the evaluation: grades or personal letter? Is there any minumum level of grades needed or they evaluate case by case? Hope for some good answer, thanks

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Beep_Boop · Post by **Beep_Boop** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:13 pm

Nobody can tell you your chances. For a lot of the programmes, each application is assessed individually.

If you want to study in Finland, send your application in the next application period and you'll find out. Do the same for other universities in other countries you're interested in. Once you get accepted in a few, you can select the one you like.

simonevinci · Post by **simonevinci** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:49 pm

I know that nobody can tell exately my chances. I was wondering about more specific informations about acceptance, because I've red what are the things needed to apply but I don't know what univerisities are looking for. Maybe they are very strict about grades, so I have no chance, but maybe that is not the most important thing and they look for some kind of attitude.. Thanks for the answer by the way! If you have more infos they're well accepted

Beep_Boop · Post by **Beep_Boop** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:44 pm

simonevinci wrote:because I've red what are the things needed to apply but I don't know what univerisities are looking for. Maybe they are very strict about grades, so I have no chance, but maybe that is not the most important thing and they look for some kind of attitude.

It all depends on the university and the specific study programme.

You said you found 2-3 programmes you like. If you open their respective universities' pages, you'll find exact information about what they're looking for. Some require certain grades, some require certain projects, some require an interview, some require a pre-interview assignment, etc.

Querfeldein · Post by **Querfeldein** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:10 pm

Grades are certainly important, but so are the specific courses that you have studied previously, so that you are ready for the kind of course you are interested here. For example, if you want to become a Msc student in theoretical physics, having studied some courses with strong mathematical content, and ideally, having obtained good grades in those courses, will typically outweigh some bad grades from e.g. a soft matter physics course or a lab module. However, if you know what you want, not just where you want to live, but also, what specifically you want to study, I would encourage you to apply in any case - I believe we provide quite a good teaching at UH, with small classes and pretty good supervision.

P.S. I work at the UH physics department, but I have not dealt with undergraduate admissions, only candidates for summer studentships and PhD students. This is my personal opinion.

simonevinci · Post by **simonevinci** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:24 pm

Thank you very much for your answer!

Just another question if you don't mind. So do you think that more advanced course that I will take next year such as quantum mechanics, astronomy, nuclear and matter physics are more important than, let's say, a course of classical physics? And also is it relevant the fact that I will finish the studies in 3 year time rather than taking a longer time than requested? Because there are many people that take more time than normal to finish their studies, my 'phylosophy' has been to accept my grades and move forward to the next exam rather than trying it again. I've had just a couple of mid-to-low grades all the other have been fairly good.

Querfeldein · Post by **Querfeldein** » Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:34 pm

simonevinci wrote:Thank you very much for your answer! Just another question if you don't mind. So do you think that more advanced course that I will take next year such as quantum mechanics, astronomy, nuclear and matter physics are more important than, let's say, a course of classical physics? And also is it relevant the fact that I will finish the studies in 3 year time rather than taking a longer time than requested? Because there are many people that take more time than normal to finish their studies, my 'phylosophy' has been to accept my grades and move forward to the next exam rather than trying it again. I've had just a couple of mid-to-low grades all the other have been fairly good.

Whether or not, say, astronomy will be important depends on your chosen master programme. In general, I would say that a course such as "classical mechanics" is important (especially if it's a high level course), whereas the specialised courses such as astronomy will only be important if you intend to study astronomy or astrophysics for your master's programme. If you already have a specific programme in mind, I would probably chose a mixture of specialised courses in that subject area, and general courses. But that would be my advice not just for applying in Finland, but in general.

Retaking exams that you have already passed in order to improve your grade is very uncommon here, if done at all - the transcripts I have seen will list all the grades from a given year, and I have never seen two passing grades for the same course, even if they were significantly lower than the average. I think people accept that you will have a range of results, and that it makes much more sense to learn something new, than just to improve a grade. Of course, when we see a very low grade on a core course, it's not as good as a good grade, but if, for example, someone has a "3" (a relatively poor grade) on Classical Mechanics I, but a "5" and a "6" on Classical Mechanics II and III, we assume that the first one was just an outlier, or maybe that they have discovered their love for classical mechanics later, and the "3" won't matter too much.

simonevinci · Post by **simonevinci** » Tue Jul 25, 2017 11:57 pm

Here in Italy we have to confirm to the teacher that we accept the grade. If someone is not satisfied he/she might choose to refuse the grade and try the exam again, that's what I meant. So far in my university career I've decided to accept the grades even if I've could have done it better, because I didn't want to lose too much time in a single exam and also taking the risk of doing it again and not passing it, because my main goal is to finish in 3 year and then move on for master grade. Again, thanks for your answer

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