Enrollment Guidance for Physics Majors

Be sure to adhere to all Physics Department major regulations. 

Click here to view the physics course offerings. Most major-related courses are available once a year, with few offered in summer. The schedule generally repeats annually, though specialization courses may vary each year.

Click here to see descriptions, prereqs, other enrollment options/limitations, and applicability to the major requirements.

Remember that you’ll use our Annual Schedule of Physics Course Offerings and our course descriptions w/ prereqs to schedule physics major requirements you must self-select (eg. PHYS UD RE, PHYS UD DEPTH, PHYS UD LAB, etc.).

Prerequisites are strictly enforced (see policies here). If you don’t meet them, you cannot enroll and may need to select a different plan (see STEP 1, above). Please note the current pilot prereq changes in place:

Pilot Prereqs are used to test potential formal changes. In most cases, prereq changes will typically be piloted for several years before any changes are seen in the campus system (official changes are not guaranteed).

An EASy request is required to have the exceptions applied: easy.ucsd.edu

Keep in mind that, campuswide, corequisites are NOT enforced (no request is required for this to apply).

Starting during PASS 2, the campus can (and does) change the room a course is assigned based on enrollment numbers. For this reason, PHYS majors are advised to follow our enrollment guidance to ensure their seating in major requirements. The waitlisting and unit limit exception info. on this webpage is important to keep in mind. 

You can only waitlist a course once your PASS 2 begins. The PHYS Department monitors waitlists and tries to increase class sizes. Departments cannot guarantee that sections/seats can be added and no one in Physics can guess your chances of making it off a course waitlist.

See the Prerequisites section of the Enrollment Policies for eligibility and timelines for submitting EASy requests. Requests that are ineligible and/or are submitted too early will be denied. 

For Undergraduate Courses: Submit enrollment clearance requests through the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy); email requests or VAC messages will not be accepted.

For Grad Courses: See the Prerequisites section of the Enrollment Policies for eligibility and timelines for submitting EASy requests. Requests that are ineligible and/or are submitted too early will be denied. 

Do not use unit limit requests for major requirements. Enroll in all major requirements by the first day of PASS 2 to ensure no delays in graduation (eg. if a class is full by day 1).

Avoid enrolling in courses that conflict; instructors are not expected to accommodate students who have schedule conflicts.

There are special deadlines to apply to these courses. Please click here to learn about independent reading/research (aka Special Studies) courses and how to sign up. Start arranging and submitting your enrollment requests TODAY -- do not delay! The deadline to submit PHYS Special Studies requests is Friday of week 1; late requests are not accepted.

If you want to sign up for Special Studies under a non-PHYS faculty member, see policies here. 

If you are doing well in the UD physics program, please consider the Physics Honors Program and contact PHYSICS through VAC to discuss this.

Each department has sole control/discretion over the policies, procedures, options, limitations, and advice for enrolling in their courses (including policies/options re. course prereqs, 1st pass vs 2nd pass, waitlisting, etc.). If you have a question about a course offered by another dept., send your question to that dept. through the VAC. Submit enrollment clearance requests to other departments through the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy);

Consider...

• taking remaining GEs and/or university requirements;
• getting ahead in math/physics requirements;
• taking courses for a double major and/or a minor;
• taking courses that will enhance your Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) in your target career field;
• looking for research that could result in enrollment in a Special Studies 99, 199, or 199H course under the supervision of a faculty member;
• taking courses merely for personal interest
• Enrolling as a part-time student. 

If you need an enrollment-related document processed by the Physics Department, please click here and submit it several weeks before you need it back. Rush processing of documents is not available in Physics and we do not use appointments to process documents. 

Please contact the appropriate office based on your questions/concerns: