The advisor for all physics majors is Dr. Silvia Bompadre, the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Physics and Astronomy Department. You are strongly encouraged to go and talk to her to make sure you are taking the required courses and are on track for graduating with a physics degree. If you cannot see her during office hours, just stop by her office (rm 320 Physics Bldg.) anytime or you can email her and ask for an appointment.

Graduation Plans

Students must  file a graduation plan with the College of Arts and Science to formally declare their major. After completing 60 credit hours, a registration hold is placed on the student’s account if they have not submitted their graduation plan. In order to complete the graduation plan, students must meet with their academic advisor. Ideally the student should fill out the graduation plan form and email it to the advisor before the advising appointment.

Graduation Plan for BA in Physics
Graduation Plan for BS in Physics

Requesting letters of recommendation

There will come a time during your undergraduate career when you will be requesting letters of recommendation from your professors. These letters may be for summer research programs, graduate school, fellowships, scholarships, jobs, etc. Below are some guidelines that will help you in this process. When requesting a letter of recommendation, you should ask if the instructor:

• feels that he/she knows you well enough to write a strong letter.
• would like to meet with you to discuss your plans in more detail.
• would prefer to fill out an online form or a paper form, if the option exists.
• would like to see any of your work or other items that might be helpful (unofficial transcript, resume).

It should be emphasized that the most important thing to do if you anticipate needing a recommendation letter sometime in your undergraduate career is to get to know at least a couple of your teachers very well as well as allowing them to get to know you. Even if you did great in a class, your professor can only write so much if he/she didn’t get to know you personally.

After a professor has agreed to write a letter, you should give him/her the following items, nicely organized in a folder, or sent by email, for the items for which this is possible. If you then decide to apply to additional programs, just supplement the folder with the new materials. But try to give the instructor all of the programs at one time, because this keeps things more organized and reduces the chance of errors.

1. A detailed list of all the programs you’re applying to. For each program, you should provide:
   • Due date (specify if postmarked date or receipt date)
   • Name and location of the program
   • Website for the program
   • To whom the letter should be addressed
   • How to submit the letter. email, or url of the online recommendation form
2. An unofficial transcript (you should be able to print one out from MyZou).
3. A list of courses taken from the instructor, the year and term, and the grade.
4. A resume, if you have one (this is a good excuse to write one).
5. A personal statement about why you want to participate in the program that you’re applying to, and what are your future plans, etc. You will probably have to write such a statement for the applications anyway. This statement is a good opportunity to remind your instructor of any particular strengths you have, if a significant amount of time has passed (and even if not) from your main interaction with him/her.
6. Finally, ask the instructor if he/she would like to be reminded of the due dates by email.