Incomng students should immediately take the following actions:

🔎 Check to see if your incoming courses and exams already have approved UCSD equivalency:

• ALL SUBJECTS - courses from CA community colleges

• ALL SUBJECTS - AP and IB score equivalencies

• MATH courses from other UCs and popular non-UC schools

• PHYSICS courses from other UCs

• PHYSICS A-Levels

✍️ If your course or exam does NOT already have an approved equivalency, please note each department may have a unique procedure to have coursework reviewed. Use the appropriate link below and note departments cannot guess the likelihood of approval of any request:

MATH Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Math Transfer Equivalency Petition.

PHYSICS Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Physics Course Equivalency Request.

Note: If you took a combo of courses from schools with different names, you must petition, even if the schools are in some way affiliated.

CSE Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a CSE Course Equivalency Request. 

CHEMISTRY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Chemistry Course Substitution Request. 

BIOLOGY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Biology Course Equivalency Request. 

Incoming freshman physics majors received welcome messaging with important introductory actions they are required to take to prepare for fall quater enrollment and overall qtr-by-qtr planning and an invite to the first big event of their UCSD career-- Incoming Physics Major Orientation! 

Meet members of the Department, learn about advising, curriculum, and discover opportunities and resources available to you.

Date: Monday, September 22

Time: 9:00–11:00 AM

Location: Center Hall, Room 115 (campus map)

Using the "Ask a Question" feature in the Virtual Advising Center (vac.ucsd.edu) is the exclusive way to message the Physics Department with questions/concerns. You will typically response within 1-3 business days.

During campus closures, academic departments are closed, including department VAC portals. Please submit your message once the VAC re-opens. 

Used for: Quick questions (eg. “Am I enrolled in the right FA25 courses for my PHYS major?")

NOT Used for: Long-term planning, document processing, course equivalency reviews, etc.

Modality:

• Remote

Available:

• Mondays & Wednesdays: 1:00 – 2:00 PM
• Tuesdays & Thursdays: 9:00 – 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Unavailable:

When we are closed, please contact us using the "Ask a Question" feature.

• Fridays and weekends
• School Closures (eg. September 1)
• UG Affairs Closures (eg. August 12, August 19-20)
• Summer Break (September 8 through September 24)

Steps to be Seen for a FAST 5 Session:

1. Read all unread Contact Records and Academic Notices.
    
2. Confirm you do not have any pending messages awaiting a response from the Physics Department (if you do, your drop-in session will be canceled).
    
3. Sign into the remote waiting room at least 5 minutes before our closing time.
    
4. After signing in, you will be placed in our remote waiting room. When it’s your turn, a Zoom link will appear — you must click the link immediately to join the session. If you do not join within a few minutes, your appointment will lapse, and you will be marked as a "No Show.

During your session:

• Your audio and video must remain on.
• You must be able to share your screen.
• Your device must allow you to browse the web during the session so we can guide you to key resources.

During Summer Session 2, we will offer fifteen-minute one-on-one appointments to continuing students and incoming FA25 Transfer Admits. Appointments must be scheduled in advance (typically at least 72 hours lead time is required). 

Meeting Days & Format:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: Can be in-person or remote.

• Wednesday, Friday: Must be remote.

To request an appointment, please follow these three steps:

STEP 1: Review All Relevant Information:

Check your past contact records and academic notices in the VAC (not just PHYS-related messages).

Once you’ve reviewed everything, move to step 2.

STEP 2: Submit Relevant Documents:

Click here to submit any documents that need review (we may process your documents before your appointment, especially if time-sensitive).

STEP 3: Send Your Appointment Request through VAC:

Copy and paste the following text into a new VAC message to PHYSICS, and fill in ALL required details before submitting:

Hi! I’d like to request an appointment with Physics Advising. Here are ALL the days and times I am available to meet Monday through Friday from 8am-3pm in the current term: Mondays: [fill in times], Tuesdays: [fill in times], Wednesdays: [fill in times], Thursdays: [fill in times], and Fridays: [fill in times]. Topics I want to discuss: Topic 1: [fill in topic]. My questions are: [fill in questions]. Topic 2:  [fill in topic]. My questions are: [fill in questions]. Topic 3:  [fill in topic]. My questions are: [fill in questions]. My preferred meeting type is: (list your preference (choose from in-person or remote)

What to Do After Submitting Your Appointment Request

• Monitor your UCSD email for the notification that we have replied to you on VAC. 

• If you missed any of the three steps above, you will need to start the appointment scheduling process again and complete any missing steps.

If you need to cancel/reschedule your appointment: 

• It is your responsibility to alert PHYSICS through the VAC at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment and to submit a new appointment request. 

If you miss your appointment and gave no notice that you need to cancel/reschedule:

• You may request a new appointment. In most cases, your new appointment will need to be scheduled at least one week after the missed appointment. If your missed appointment falls in the last week of appointments for the term, your new appointment will need to be scheduled in the subsequent term.

Note for Zoom Meetings:

• Both your audio and video must be on for the entire appointment.

• You must be able to use the share-screen feature during the meeting.

Drop-ins for incoming freshman admits will be available once they enroll in their first FA25 class (mid/late August).

Appointments for incoming freshman admits will begin in week 3 of FA25.

Physics Advising closes in correlation with campus closures, and there are sometimes closures not related to campus closures. When the VAC closes, advising is unavailable (there are no drop-ins or appointments, and VAC messaging is also unavailable). Please take note of upcoming VAC closures: