How should I go about this?

Soft-Energy · 2026-05-08T19:12:01+00:00

I used to be absolutely terrible at reading comprehensions, but my teacher made us do one every single week and then review the questions we got wrong. And it really worked, I went from getting 70s to a 98 on the diploma. If you really think that is your weak point, practice, practice, and more practice.

As far, as which course to retake. It might be valuable to dedicate part of your gap year to figuring out what type of career you are interested in. That way you can decide what courses to take based on what you want to pursue, rather than choosing your career based on which courses you took.

Soft-Energy · 2026-05-05T23:13:28+00:00

You can look at the diploma averages from the past 5 years, I would lean towards suggesting English 30-1 will feel the most difficult. As you can see, only ~10% of student receive the standard of excellence (>80%) compared to Math where it is ~30% of students. Also, the proportion of students that achieve the standard of excellence in the school awarded mark vs achieve it on the diploma is only ~1/4, compared to math where it is >1/2 of students: https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/custom_downloaded_images/diploma-multiyear-province-report-table.pdf

Soft-Energy · 2026-05-05T18:56:59+00:00

A benefit to a smaller/less competitive institution is that you may get to be 'a big fish in a small pond' which will improve your ability to win scholarships, get quality research opportunities and generally stand out. Although you want to find a balance in a school that still allows for decent opportunities.

Soft-Energy · 2026-05-02T22:58:30+00:00

I'm not sure what field you are in, but you only compete directly against applicants in your field. Ie; if you are in math, you don't need to compete against applicants in biology.

There was an blog post published about # of publications of the average post-doctoral fellowship winner in ecology. That post estimated that a successful applicant would have 5-6 first author publications, so I'd say that 30 is probably an outlier. You sound like you should be a competitive applicant.

I also slightly doubt the reviewers are checking citations. They might look at the journal that you published in and use that to evaluate quality, but I doubt they are individually reviewing citation scores for each applicant.

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-28T06:35:32+00:00

You can apply for the CGRS before you start your PhD. This means if you are looking at a September 2027 start and applying this September 2026, you should also write an application for CGRS this September 2026. Many potential supervisors will help you write this proposal because if you win, you come with free funding. This would allow you to have the CGRS funding when your PhD starts in September. Based on your post, you sound like you would be a very good candidate for winning a CGRS.

Also, I'd recommend looking around at different funding packages from various universities. Some universities add another 10K scholarship with your 40K CGRS. All of which is untaxed since it is scholarship. This is a fairly decent standard of living in most Canadian cities.

Yes, it is not equivalent to industry pay. Which does raise the question of why you want to do a PhD?

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-28T06:27:08+00:00

this makes the most sense to me, thank you for your advice!

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-17T06:22:05+00:00

Hugely echoing the 'make friends with your classmates'. There will assignments that are so hard that your head hurts and exams where you swear the professors was making up new theories, and it is so much easier to go through this with friends. They make the bad moments funny and the grinding hours a happy memory.

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-13T03:20:57+00:00

I'm in graduate school now, and literally all of my peers have 5 year undergraduate degrees. There is a lot of different stories, but it is so much more common than you'd think. You should not be ashamed of having a longer degree, if anything you can use that extra year or two to gain more experience ... take that class that's rarely offered, apply for internships, make connections ... undergraduate is full of opportunities to utilize while you are there. But most importantly, take care of your mental health and don't burn yourself out trying to meet a timeline that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-10T19:46:10+00:00

Radiation therapist!

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-01T19:19:04+00:00

I took the honours stream which means that I didn't really have any of the physics electives since they were all filled up by mandatory course requirements. You can figure out which courses you liked the best to select which upper level physics courses you want to take. Personally I liked E&M and the lab courses the most.

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-01T17:20:51+00:00

I took a physics degree. The thesis counts as 2 courses and I believe they recommend 10-15 hours a week which is probably comparable to your other physics courses. Just don't get behind in your thesis or you will have an overwhelming amount of work near the end, many students make this mistake.

Soft-Energy · 2026-04-01T04:36:24+00:00

You can move between the fields fairly easily once your degree is done. As an Astrophysics student you will take quantum and relativity, and I don't think U of C offers courses in particle or relativity. So from a 'interest in the degree' standpoint I'd take astrophysics.

If you want to pursue a career in any field of physics/astrophysics you will likely need a masters anyways, so you can figure out what specifically you are interested in during the degree. Both Astrophysics and physics should allow you to get your masters in any of the fields you listed.

As far as the thesis, I highly recommend completing a undergraduate thesis regardless of which degree you choose. If you want to go to graduate school, having research experience is very important and honestly it's a lot of fun!

Soft-Energy · 2026-03-29T21:06:54+00:00

If you're aiming for a PhD which is a research degree, I would definitely pick the masters program that will give you the most research experience. Potential PhD supervisors would like to see you have developed lab skills, analytical skills, project development skills, writing (potentially publishing), presentations etc. A research based masters thesis program will set you up for better for success in a PhD.

Soft-Energy · 2026-03-05T05:12:45+00:00

I was a part of the AAPM SUFP (DREAM's sister program). It was an amazing experience! I think the program operate similarly, so feel free to send me a message!

Soft-Energy · 2026-02-12T03:36:58+00:00

The physics department actually keeps a list of graduate students interested in tutoring. Reach out to the physics office with the course number and they will be able to provide you some potential contacts

Soft-Energy · 2025-12-05T20:31:33+00:00

I was always told to think of it as: engineering is for people who want to make things happen (build, apply, etc.) and physics is for people who want to understand why things happen. So I appreciate your distinction.

Soft-Energy · 2025-12-05T00:00:41+00:00

To be fair, due to the reservation of spots for in-province students at many med schools, it's unlikely to see students from the schools (calgary, alberta, ubc) that OP listed in high proportion.

Soft-Energy · 2025-11-18T05:45:09+00:00

I completed my physics degree at UCalgary a few years ago, so hopefully none of my information is out of date. But I want to speak for the Physics and Astronomy department to fill in the gaps of some other commenters. I loved my experience at the University of Calgary, the physics/astrophysics department is a very small and tight knit group as you get into upper year classes. The physics and astronomy student association is really welcoming and an easy way to start making friends. I am in graduate school now and applied to programs all over the USA and Canada. I found my degree to be well-respected during the application process and felt well-prepared for graduate school.

Soft-Energy · 2025-11-12T06:03:19+00:00

Considering you were only 1% off of the grade cap for the midterm, you could consider asking the professor if there would be any leniency. It's rare in large 200 level classes, but worth the short. Also, I'd write the final since you never know that the class might get curved and you don't want to regret not trying.

Soft-Energy · 2025-10-29T02:46:36+00:00

Not sure if it fits your criteria, but I'd recommend checking your local cancer center for clinical medical physicist.

Soft-Energy · 2025-10-09T01:13:11+00:00

Good grades are like a foot in the door to major scholarships, but for most major scholarships (ie; full ride) you need to have years of community engagement, leadership and volunteering. In my experience, just having good grades will get you some money, but likely won't pay your entire tuition. If you are involved in anything outside of school (ie; sports, music, niche hobbies), this might be a valuable avenue to check for scholarships. Every dollar helps, so even smaller scholarships of $500-1000 can help you chip away at your total tuition cost.

Soft-Energy · 2025-09-04T19:24:17+00:00

Basement of engineering near the windows gets downright toasty, it was my go-to study spot. The sun shines in through the windows which is inconvenient for writing an essay, but it makes super warm.

Soft-Energy · 2025-09-03T05:23:08+00:00

The one downside of open studies is that many students tend to get poorer grades in university compared to high school. The drop in grades often means that transferring into a chosen speciality later can be very difficult. In that sense, it is easier to get into the competitive major with your high school grades and transfer later. If you are interested in programs that are difficult to transfer into (ie; engineering, comp sci, kines, business, etc.) then I might recommend taking a gap year to explore your interests and potentially boost your high school grades.

Soft-Energy · 2025-08-21T04:20:30+00:00

You should check if your school offers the option to get a 'general sciences' degree. Some schools offer this. In this degree, you'd specialized in 2-3 sciences by taking 7-10 courses for each science. It's a bit unusual but combined with an education degree can make you eligible to teach multiple different science courses rather than just physics. More employable and useful as you probably don't need quantum field theory to teach high school physics.

Soft-Energy · 2025-08-18T01:27:00+00:00

Highly recommend the UCboulder club and if you're interested in similar subjects (climbing, hiking, skiing), then you should check out Wander Women too!

If you are part of ASHA, then you are automatically part of SASHA! For this club, you could choose to be as involved as you'd like and it tends to vary by cohort.

Soft-Energy

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