Student Council of the Faculty of Physics

In the first three semesters, there are introductory lectures in various areas on the initially very clearly structured schedule: in experimental physics, school knowledge is deepened, in mathematics you learn to speak the language of physics (because physical laws are almost always written as mathematical formulas), in theoretical physics you learn to derive natural laws not only from measurement and inference, but also from axioms and mathematical conclusions; for example, the shape of planetary orbits follows from Newton's law of gravitation. The experimental practical course uses simple experiments (often already familiar from pupils) to teach students how to use measuring devices and how to correctly analyse the data obtained.

After one and a half years of basic training, the second half of the degree programme follows, in which you can choose lectures from different areas and are only rigidly bound to a few compulsory lectures. The Bachelor's degree programme is completed with a final thesis, which is based on an experiment or a theoretical paper.

Examinations in physics are usually initially in written exams, in later smaller lectures as oral examinations, and experimental analyses must be written in the experimental practical course.

If you are interested in studying physics but are not yet sure whether Bielefeld is the right city for you, you can take a look at the physics study guide - compiled by the Association of Physics Departmental Representative Committees(ZaPF) - which lists many German-speaking universities with physics degree programmes.

In the Physics Bachelor's programme, you can choose between 6 profiles from the fourth semester onwards. You do not have to specify these anywhere, but can simply listen to the corresponding lectures. The profiles are:

• Physics. The most general of the profiles
• Astrophysics
• Materials Physics
• Optics and photonics
• Nuclear and particle physics
• Biophysics

The profiles only differ from the lectures in the compulsory elective area.

A teacher training programme is also offered, both for grammar schools/comprehensive schools and for primary, secondary and intermediate schools. Here, after the same training in the basic areas mentioned above, there is a focus on didactic courses in which the teaching of physical contexts and experiments is practised.

You have to want to study physics. Logical thinking, mathematical aptitude and technical skills are of course helpful, but the motivation to get to grips with physics is the most important thing.

Maths: As a physicist, you can't avoid it. A maths course or particularly good grades are not so important, but the willingness to deal with the necessary, sometimes very complex material is. The maths requirements cause significantly more students to drop out of university than problems with physics.

Studying physics demands and creates frustration tolerance. An experiment that doesn't produce any results even after the fifth attempt, a calculation that doesn't provide a solution even after the third attempt - this kind of thing ensures that you have to develop a certain creativity for problem solving and, above all, persistence.

The occupational fields of physicists are quite diverse: in addition to physical research at universities, research institutes and in industry, physicists can be found in development departments (alongside engineers), in insurance companies (alongside statisticians), in management consultancies (alongside economists), in IT (alongside computer scientists) and, of course, in schools as teachers.