Program Overview
Program Overview & Highlights
- Co-op Available
- Honours 4-Year Program
- Thesis Available
- Combined Honours Programs Available
- BSc
Become a powerful force in the worlds of research and industry. Our physics grads are in high demand, with an employment rate of nearly 100%. You will learn how the universe works—from the fundamental forces of nature to their effects on matter and the environment around us. We offer lots of opportunities for hands-on learning, and the ability to customize your degree to your interests through a medical physics stream, optional courses, or by combining your physics degree with another discipline.
Specializations & Streams
- Medical Physics
While the study of physics allows us to understand how the universe works, medical physics emphasizes the application of physics ideas and technology to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the human body, particularly cancer, as well as the visualization of these diseases via modern medical imaging techniques. Specialize in the areas of medical imaging and radiation therapy. You’ll take courses with hands-on laboratory components and be able to tailor your degree by choosing options that match your interests. You can start your career upon graduation or go on to grad or professional schools.
- Limited class size with access to professors who know your name
- All physics students have the opportunity to get into research labs providing hands-on experience
Admission Requirements
High School Student from Canada
- Course Requirements: Advanced Functions/MHF4U, Physics/SPH4U, English/ENG4U
- Strongly Recommended: Calculus & Vectors/MCV4U
- Recommended: Chemistry/SCH4U
- Minimum Average: 70% (70% average of all attempted science and math courses)
- Mean Average: 88%
High School Student from Outside Canada and the United States (International)
- Course Requirements: Advanced Functions/MHF4U, Physics/SPH4U, English/ENG4U
- Strongly Recommended: Calculus & Vectors/MCV4U
- Recommended: Chemistry/SCH4U
- Minimum Average: 70% (70% average of all attempted science and math courses)
- Mean Average: 88%
Career Tracks
- Scientific outreach manager
- Test lab technician
- Optical engineer
- Research co-ordinator
- Data scientist
Plan Your Program
Term: Fall 2025
Important Notes
- All students using this page should attend Head Start or make an appointment with an academic advisor in their program area if desired.
- Email or visit Physics Program Details if you have specific course selection questions.
- For some courses there are often specific lab or tutorial sections you must be in. Please consult the timetable and plan carefully.
- The lab and the lecture sections are not “separate.” You are not officially enrolled in either of them until you are in a section of each that doesn’t conflict with anything else in your schedule.
Required Course Notes
Major Courses
- CHEM 1100*
- COMP 1400*
- PHYS 1400* (physics majors must enroll in section -01)
- MATH 1250 or MATH 12601
- MATH 1720 or MATH 17601
- Course with lab
1 Students who have credit for MCV4U Calculus and Vectors should register in MATH 1250 and MATH 1720; those who do not have this credit should register in MATH 1260 and MATH 1760.
Pre-professional counselling is available from advisors across campus in each of the program areas. Students interested in a professional program following their undergraduate degree can also be advised, or directed to an appropriate advisor, though the Head Start Program, the Centre for Student Success, or from the Faculty of Science.
Required Courses
COMP 1400: Introduction to Algorithms and Programming I
This course is the first of a two-course sequence designed to introduce students to algorithm design and programming in a high-level language such as C. The main objectives of the course are to develop the ability to identify, understand and design solutions to a wide variety of problems. Topics include: computer system overview, hardware and software, problem solving steps, concepts of variables, constants, data types, algorithmic structure, sequential logic, decisions, loops, modular programming, one-dimensional arrays, text files. If possible, problems like searching/sorting will be addressed. (3 lecture hours and 1.5 laboratory hours a week).
MATH 1720: Differential Calculus
This course will cover trigonometric functions and identities, inverse trigonometric functions, limits and continuity, derivatives and applications, mean value theorem, indeterminate forms and l’Hôpital’s rule, antiderivatives and an introduction to definite integrals. This course is for students who have taken both Ontario Grade 12 Advanced Functions (MHF4U) and Ontario Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U). Students who do not have credit for MCV4U should take MATH-1760. (Prerequisites: Ontario Grade 12 Advanced Functions (MHF4U) and Ontario Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U) or MATH-1780.) (Antirequisite: MATH-1760.) (3 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour per week.)
MATH 1760: Functions and Differential Calculus
This course will cover a review of functions, trigonometric functions and identities, transcendental functions, inverse trigonometric functions, introduction to limits, continuity, derivatives and applications, mean value theorem, indeterminate forms and l’Hôpital’s rule, antiderivatives and an introduction to definite integrals. This course is for students who have taken Ontario Grade 12 Advanced Functions (MHF4U), but have not taken Ontario Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U). Students who have credit for MCV4U should take MATH-1720. The course is equivalent to MATH-1720 for all prerequisite purposes. (Prerequisite: Ontario Grade 12Advanced Functions (MHF4U).) (Antirequisite: MATH-1720.) (4 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour per week.)
MATH 1260: Vectors and Linear Algebra
This course is for students without Ontario Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U). The course MATH- 1250 is for students with MCV4U. This course will cover vectors, three-dimensional geometry, linear systems, matrix algebra, determinants, n- dimensional vectors, dot product, cross product, orthogonalization, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, diagonalization and vector spaces. The course is equivalent to MATH-1250 for all prerequisite purposes. (Prerequisite: Ontario Grade 12 Advanced Functions (MHF4U).) (Antirequisites: MATH-1250, MATH-1270.) (4 lecture hours, 2 tutorial hours per week.)
MATH 1250: Linear Algebra I
This course will cover linear systems, matrix algebra, determinants, n-dimensional vectors, dot product, cross product, orthogonalization, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, diagonalization and vector spaces. (Prerequisites: Both Ontario Grade 12 Advanced Functions (MHF4U) and Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U) or MATH-1280.) (Antirequisites: MATH-1260, MATH-1270.) (3 lecture hours, 2 tutorial hours per week.)
PHYS 1400: Introductory Physics I
First semester in a four-semester sequence in calculus-based introductory physics with an emphasis on mechanics. (Prerequisites: Grade 12“U” Advanced Functions and Introductory Calculus or equivalent. Recommended co-requisite: MATH-1720.) (3 lecture hours per week, 3 laboratory hours per week.) Open to students in Engineering, Human Kinetics, Forensic Science, Bachelor of Arts and Science, and all programs within in the Faculty of Science; exceptions only with the permission of the Head or designate. (Antirequisites: PHYS-1300, PHYS-1305.)
CHEM 1100: General Chemistry I
Introductory concepts in chemistry, including reactions of atoms, ions, and molecules, solution stoichiometry, thermochemistry, electronic structure of atoms, basic chemical bonding and molecular geometry, periodic properties of the elements, and the theory of gases. (Prerequisite: Grade 12“U” Chemistry or equivalent,or consent of the instructor.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory/tutorial hours a week.)
