I guarantee you she had to take Physics and math classes to get accepted to Caltech.
Here are the prerequisites from CalTec
I have a BS in Computer Science and my MS in Applied Mathematics. I know people who had BS in Mathematics who in order to get a accepted for a degree in Applied Mathematics had to take a few computer classes to meet the prerequisites. The program was very heavy programming.
I got into teaching computer science classes because I couldnât keep my mouth shut. My doctorate is in research design and applied statistics. When I started the program in 1969, I was placed in the second course in an applied statistics sequence. We were each given a data deck of punch cards and told to run an analysis of variance (ANOVA) of a certain design on this data. The professor then proceeded to tell us the control cards we were to punch to proceed the data cards. None of this made any sense to me. I stayed up 24 hours straight and tested out of a required course so I could enroll in the first course in a two course sequence in the only computer science courses offered at the time and these were undergraduate courses. I figured out that the other students in the applied statistics course had no knowledge of computer science. They had taken the first course in the applied statistics sequence where the computer was used.
Fast forward 12 years: Math and computer science were housed in one department. In a department meeting, there was gnashing of teeth because computer science faculty were not available. A person with a computer science degree could earn three times as much in industry as my institution could pay. That is where I opened my mouth. I said that if we couldnât hire computer science faculty, we should âgrow our ownâ. When my colleagues laughed at my suggestion, I enrolled in a graduate course in data structures at another university 55 miles away, paid the tuition and took the course. I had been teaching the beginning course in my department, but upon completion of the data structures course at the other university, I immediately began teaching the course at the university where I was employed. The following summer, I took two more graduate courses in computer science.
The Dean of the college, based on what I did, funded two of my colleagues with a full yearâs salary and paid the tuition for these colleagues to take a full year of courses at another university. When I asked to be included, I was told that I was needed on campus to teach courses.
Some years later, we separated computer science from math and formed our own department. Onr fall semester, the department chair died of cancer three weeks into the semester. I was asked to take over his graduate class in computer simulation. I had never had the course and taught myself enough over a weekend to keep the course going. I worked hard that semester to stay one step ahead of the students.
I attribute my success in having studied math and applying math to physics and growing up in a family where money was tight. We learned to repair our own equipment. I learned how to follow a schematic diagram and fix our radios and television set. I learned enough to do simple repairs on our cars. I probably learned as much outside the classroom as in the classroom.
I have nothing against English majors, my wife is one and glad to have someone that can interpret Beowulf. One summer she needed a continuing Ed credit and our Alma mater was offering a one or two week course in cpm. I didnât know enough at the time to warn her butb she took it. Had no idea what she was doing and a helpful classmate was the only reason she made it through.
So just saying Iâm thankful for most of the various fields of study but donât expect some fields to excel in the hard sciences. No reason an English major canât do well in business, but business majors already have coursework in management, statistics, math, accounting, banking, inventory, and so on, and donât need to learn on the job first.
Debating whether to work on my brakes today or take a break. They never offered car repair.
I found that GOOD computer science schools have are very much intwined with the Math department. When I started college very few colleges offered a Computer Science degree. At the time I could get a degree in Mathematics with an emphasis on computers. I only went to college full time for my first year. After that it was all part time. By my 3rd year my university (Syracuse) was offering a degree in Computer Science. So I switched from Math to CS.
There are still several classes that are both Computer Science and Math.
Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Statistics, Quantum Analysis just to name a few.
I was actually a computer science minor with a stats concentration in Sociology. (A lot of the roots of stats and its methods were developed by math-y social science types). I was an undergrad '85-89 and the card reader along with cards were still hanging around one of the labs. I almost - but only almost wish Iâd gotten to use one. I did, however, run my first ANOVA using SPSS on a mainframe. IDK how long the mainframe stayed around, but it was still in use when I left in '89. But I was still doing a lot by mainframe a couple of years later when starting grad school. I canât even remember when I first got SPSS on PC, though it wasnât too long after that.
Iâm not going to read anything in the early 70s from 2024 requirements. Times have changed. And, especially at the PhD level, there have often been ways to do an end-around formal requirements. If someone wanted you as a student for some reason, youâd get in. Of course, I also know nothing of the specifics in this particular case. Perhaps Dr. Cordova did go get some remedial coursework somewhere. But thatâs not what the Britannica article suggests.
Caltech doesnât require any coursework in anything to get a PhD. Most great schools donât.
I know she didnât. Employees are allowed to take any class they want for free, unadmitted. She started taking classes, showed her stuff, was admitted to candidacy.
Hereâs a puzzle for you college-minded folkâs amusement
3 men sit at a table. They are each wearing either a B or W hat, which they choose at random. They can see the other two hats, but not theirs. Thereâs plenty of W hats, but only 2 B hats to choose from so the possible combos are
Each man in turn is asked if he knows the color of his hat. In all three of these cases at least one man knows the color of his own hat. Itâs clear how the white-hatted man in case 1 knows, but how could any of them know for cases 2 & 3?
Well, they require a masters degree coursework, correct? Thatâs how most schools do it. You canât just go from a bachelors degree to a phd with no coursework.
Many PhD programs wonât require a masters because they donât offer one. The ânormâ is to have a Masters/Phd program. E.g. the one I was in was a 2-stage - it DID require the Masterâs and then you still had to get accepted to the PhD part before you moved on.
But for programs that donât offer a Masterâs, thereâs no half-way point, so itâs possible to just end up going from Bachelorâs to PhD. But it will pretty much always require coursework. As a 2-stage, I had to do the MA level course work, write and thesis, get accepted for the PhD, then do the PhD level coursework and end it all with the dissertation.
All of that said, the normal thing is BA/S - MA/S - PhD. Coursework at all phases though.
I suppose it depends but my wife had to finish her masters first, then get approval for the dissertation and other work.
Right. Thatâs the norm and itâs what I did too. Itâs just that some programs donât do that. Theyâre not interested in Masterâs students, just as theyâre not interested in the undergrads. Youâre either serious about getting into research and and academic career or youâre not, is sort of the attitude. Where I was, promising MA students who stopped with the MA wereâŠmore or less frowned upon.
Yeah I suspect research grants are a part of that.
Case 2: WWB - First white hat guy sees one black hat guy and one unsure guy. If the unsure guy saw two black hats heâd know his own hat was white, so he must see only one black hat. That means the first white hat guyâs hat must be white.
Thanks. I donât like puzzles, never have, especially for no good reason. I like answers
Though. My engineer nephew likes stuff like that. His eyes light up and would start with âsolve for . . .â I just leave the room until theyâve got the answer.
Case 3: WWW - First white hat guy sees two unsure guys. Reasons that if his own hat were black, both other guys would be in the same situation as guy1 in the WWB case, and believe his own hat to be white. But theyâre both unsure, so they must not see any black hats. First guy knows his hat must be white.
I showed you the prerequisites TODAYâŠ2024.
She had to get that knowledge somehow. Unlikely self-study for Physics. The prerequisites said a âPhysics students must demonstrate proficiency in all areas of basic physics, including classical mechanics (including continuum mechanics), electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, statistical physics, optics, basic mathematical methods of physics, and the physical origin of everyday phenomenaâ
Right. I know. And I basically said, 2024 is not the early '70s which is when she went through. So⊠??
âŠand so why youâre quoting requirements from 2024, I donât know. It doesnât help. Mike, she went from BA english to a physics PhD program. How did she do that? IDK. But she did. If you want to go dig up her transcripts somehow, then by all means so so.
The point remains that you have these seriously black and white ways of thinking that are not always warranted. The world contains a lot of gray.
Iâm not saying she couldnât do it. I was in college in 74. I donât know of any college even back then that didnât certain prerequisites for the PhD programs. Especially Physics or Math. Iâd be extremely surprised if ANY college didnât have prerequisites. Wasnât Feynman teaching at CalTech back then? I know a guy who has his PhD from CalTech. The acceptance rate is very low. Why would they turn down students with BS in Physics from Harvard and MIT but accept someone with an English major and no knowledge of Physics. Iâd be extremely surprised if she didnât meet those requirements somehow.
No one ever said she didnât. Just that she went from a BA in English to a PhD in Physics. How did she do it? IDK. And Iâm sure that all PhD programs had basic prereqs. Thatâs pretty normal.
Where does the assumption of turning down other students come from? Or the assumption that she had no knowledge of physics? Those are really big leaps. Youâre just saying that it seems that she didnât jump through the normal hoops on the face of it. That doesnât mean that she didnât know anything, or that others were somehow slighted. Relax Mike. Everything doesnât have to fit your mental mold. The world has a lot of flex to it.
One of the recognized founders of Psychology was Wilhelm Wundt. He was trained as a physiologist, but couldnât get a chair in the German university system in physiology. But somehow he ended up with a chair in Philosophy. Take some physiology or the time and feed it into some of the philosophy of the time, and you get some rudimentary version of Psych.
And letâs not forget that Albert Einstein was a patent clerkâŠ
Loosen up man.