Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Apr 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aps..apr.q6004t&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, April Meeting, April 28 - May 1, 2001 Washington, DC Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Vol.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Brigham Young University has had a steadily increasing number of graduates over the past ten years during a period of national decline in undergraduate physics majors. I will discuss what we do in our department to attract and retain majors. In particular I will highlight orientation activities, advisement, promoting student-student interactions, faculty mentoring, undergraduate research, teaching emphasis, and department culture. We have assessed the effectiveness of our recruiting and retention efforts by looking at profiles of our students and surveys of current and former students. The majors come to us well prepared, with high school GPA's (3.6) and natural science ACT scores (30) that have remained fairly constant over a recent five year period. Most say they chose physics because it was interesting or they thought it would fulfill a desire to understand the world or universe better. About half of the students decided to major in physics in primary or secondary school. One fifth selected physics as their major during their first year of college. The principle reasons current students gave for remaining in physics included a continuing interest in the subject, relationships with faculty, a satisfaction with meeting the challenge, and achieving personal goals. Alumni report positive or very positive experiences in the classroom (88%), in discussions and associations with faculty (81%), and in discussions and associations with other students (87%). About half the students plan to go into graduate physics programs after graduation. The rest are principally planning on graduate school in other disciplines, industrial or government employment, physics teaching, or professional schools.
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