a physics classroom

All ways to do MSc/PhD Physics after B.Tech

Dushyanth Edadasula

Dushyanth Edadasula

I am from Srikakulam, a small town in Andhra Pradesh, and have done my MSc in Physics from Pune University, B.Tech from Andhra Univerity. I love Photography and I run this 'Citizens of Science' on the side. you can read our incredible journey from the 'Story so far' page in the top bar.

Contents

“How to become a Physicist after engineering?”
Can I do MSc in physics after BTech?”
“How to do a master’s in physics after mechanical engineering?”
“Can I do a Ph.D. in Physics after Engineering?”
“How to study Theoretical Physics after engineering?”
To all those questions, the answer is,

“Yes!! you can study Physics after engineering in India,

and there are plenty of ways to do that too!!”

Hello, fellow Physics enthusiasts!!!

Hey fellow Engineer!!!  If you’re an engineering student or graduate and are aspiring to have a career in Physics after engineering, you’re in the right place. This blog post is for those Married to Engineering, Romancing Physics. At this point in your career, you must be wondering if there are any ways to do that… We completely understand your dilemma cause we all have been through the same situation before we took the leap of faith with the little information we had at that moment. All for the love of physics! Don’t worry, it won’t be the same for you, You’ll be well-informed about all the options available(~ we know of😅). We’re here to clear all your doubts and share a few success stories of Engineers who were like you and me earlier, and now are having a successful careers in Physics after Engineering (find them under the Personal stories section on this contents page of ours)

You might be wondering if there are any other people like you, looking to switch to physics after engineering.. the answer is a yes!! many people visit the blog and of them, we’ve successfully built a community of 1000+ engineers like you, looking to switch to physics after engineering. You can join the WhatsApp group from the invite link on this page. Some of our group members have made it big!! They have been selected to many prestigious institutes like IITs(Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur Kanpur, etc), ICTS Bangalore, HRI Allahabad, IMSc Chennai, TIFR Mumbai, TIFR Hyderabad, IISERs, and other universities like HCU, Pune University, etc, you can check the full list in this A catalog of our community members who are currently studying Physics after Engineering (Don’t be surprised if you find our engineers securing AIR 1s and AIR 5s in JAM & JEST). I’d recommend joining the groups because you’ll be getting updates about new opportunities opening up, and notifications of any exams mentioned below. You’ll also get suggestions from a few like us who have successfully entered Physics after engineering.

It’s been over three years since I started the blog, a lot of people have joined the WhatsApp group, and some of them have performed very well in exams like JEST, JAM, TIFR GATE, etc… And they have contributed to the blog by sharing with us how they prepared for those exams. Some of them also have been kind enough to share their journey into Physics after Engineering and details about all the ups and downs of it. To find all that content visit the Content of our blog Physics after Engineering.

Note: All that said, Reader discretion is advised on choosing a physics career cause one might not earn as much as one can with an engineering or MBA degree. It also takes a lot of time to settle in this field so be prepared to see all your crushes and Exes getting married and having a kid or two while you’re still studying. Also Cracking the competitive exams below and completing the course requires some serious commitment and love for the subject.
Assuming you have it all in you,

Let’s enter into details already !!!!

Ways to study Physics after Engineering

These are the major ways/opportunities for doing Msc or Integrated Ph.D.(or direct Ph.D. in some cases) in Physics after Engineering.

[Note: Details about Distance MSc physics degree are at the bottom.]

These are just too many exams and readers are often confused about which exam to prepare for. So, I’ve written the following post to help you decide upon Which exam to prepare for? JAM, JEST, TIFR, or GATE? I highly recommend going through that. Check out Exam and Probable Dates for a neat list of the exams, their probable dates, and deadlines. The three exams JEST, GATE, and NET have the syllabus of Msc+Bsc. All others mentioned above are conducted on the Bsc level syllabus and are easier for us Engineers with less physics background to crack.

JAM Exam

IIT-JAM is conducted by IITs as an entrance test to Msc and Integrated Ph.D. in IITs and IISC. In addition, IISERs take JAM rankers into Integrated Ph.D. courses ( You’ve to apply separately for each). This is the best of all options for those who can’t spend a whole year preparing for entrance tests. Even if you prepare perfectly only up to 12th class level physics, you can get a decent rank (<1000), But of course, it might not be good enough to get you into IITs (Here is the Marks Vs Rank analysis of our CoS members in JAM Physics. Click here to see the last ranks of seat allotment in IITs through JAM 2020. But with a good amount of preparation one can get into IITs. So, even if you are preparing for JEST, I strongly recommend keeping this as a backup option at least. Are Engineers eligible for MSc Physics in IITs through JAM?
Do read this post to get an idea about the Eligibility criteria for admission through JAM. Also, NITs take students through other counseling but of them, NIT Calicut is the only one I know to take Engineers into M.Sc physics. NIT Arunachal Pradesh takes Engineers in mathematical physics course but it’s a pretty bad course and college, people recommend sitting for one more year and preparing for the exams again rather than taking admission there. There are plenty of posts on JAM preparation on our blog by our beloved community members, here are a few most popular ones:

Universities’ Entrance tests

I’ve searched the eligibility criteria of almost all major colleges and universities and, These are the ones that I found to give admission to Engineering grads in M.Sc Physics (and similar courses). Almost all of the Institutes below don’t have any eligibility criteria for coursework unlike IITs which is a kind of saving grace for those who don’t satisfy the criteria :

  • IUCAA – INAT exam for Ph.D. in Astro (Probably the best for Astro)
  • MSc Physics(Astrophysics) at IUCAA(Link)
  • M.Sc.Physics at IISER Thiruvananthapuram (Link)
  • I-PhD program at IACS (Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science)
  • JNU, Delhi
  • LNMIIT, Jaipur [JAM qualified students can get in with an interview (without an entrance exam). They have excellent faculty and also give a monthly stipend of Rs.5000 to 10 out of the 15 students details here]
  • University of Hyderabad (HCU)
  • Delhi University
  • Pune University😊
  • Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar (Engineers are eligible for MSc Physics, MSc Applied Physics & MSc Material science)
  • IIT Mandi (Himachal Pradesh)
  • Christ University (Bangalore) [This also is a good place as told by a research student in IUCCA who completed her M.Sc here after her engineering link to➜ her talk about her journey into Astrophysics]
  • CHARUSAT, Gujarat
  • Jain University, Bangalore [Application starts early December be watchful]
  • Utkal University (Bhubaneswar)
  • The Central University of Haryana [CUH] (This is a good place  ➜for MSc Physics in CUH after engineering)
  • Central University of Rajasthan [CUR] Mahatma Gandhi Central University[MGCU], Bihar (The CUR, MGCU, and CUH have a common entrance test ‘CUCET’)
  • LPU (Lovely Professional University) [LPUCET]
  • Manipal University?

I’m not exactly sure how good the last few institutes are. Do your research.
And here are The Probable Dates and syllabus of the above exams.

JEST

It is an exam conducted on the MSc-level syllabus and is accepted by almost all State of the Art research institutes in India. Find the list of accepting institutes on the JEST website, apart from those mentioned in it, a few IITs take engineers into Ph.D. directly, find which IITs are in the ‘Direct PhDs’ section of the blog post. A good rank in JEST can get you into research-oriented institutes that JAM can’t offer. The best part of this is you’ll be receiving a stipend which is of around 15-16k per month during your two-year coursework and after that, you’ll get a stipend of 25-28k revised to 31k per month, which will be enhanced to 35k after 2yrs.

I highly recommend reading the excellent articles about JEST prep written by our community members:

I recommend people to not prepare with complete focus only for JEST, but with some focus on other BSc level exams as a backup in parallel. I highly recommend reading the following post for getting a better idea about Which exam to prepare for? JAM, JEST, TIFR, or GATE?

Opportunities Abroad

Read this post by Vaneesh Suvarna for details about universities in European Union. MS (Abroad) in Physics after Engineering.

I feel you can fund yourself, then this is the best of all the options mentioned. Because switching careers is a relatively easier thing abroad, the opportunities you have there are numerous and the research happening even in the mediocre colleges there is comparable to that in good colleges here. The pay and social status of a professor or researcher will also be much better there.

Applying abroad involves tons of things, unlike the Indian system. It’s impossible to convey all the essential info in a single post or two. But don’t worry, we, the PAE community have got your back. In a series of posts by multiple authors, we tried to cover as many things as we can. So, please go through all the posts in the ‘applying abroad‘ section on this contents page of the blog. Here I’m listing some of the most liked posts. [If you are a complete newbie, start from this post  7 Effective Steps To Apply To Universities Abroad – Supe Prathamesh which covers all the basics about how to apply abroad]

(A rant on the Indian govt) Our beloved Govt. of India has been reassuring us time and again how it’s going to underpay and undervalue the researchers and research institutes in the country. The recent minimal hike in stipend, which was given only to science and technology students and not for our social science counterparts, that too at the tragic cost of cutting off stipend completely to non-NET qualified scholars( seriously, who can work for 5 years for free??) proves that the conditions are going to prevail for a long time.

Anyway getting back to our topic, a General GRE with a combination of TOFEL or IELTS is necessary for the USA, and having a Physics GRE score is also recommended. As for the European countries, only IELTS is enough (Sending GRE scores might add to your profile but is not mandatory). The tuition fee is zero in some countries like Italy and Germany. We have a Whatsapp group exclusive for engineers aspiring to study Physics abroad It might prove very useful to you if you are one such. You can join the parent group from here, in its description you’ll find the link to the above-said group.

Also, check out this list of opportunities in physics for engineers abroad by Pleasant in his blog

External Links: 

TIFR GS

TIFR is one of the elite research institutes in India. Even better than IISC as far as physics is concerned. If you opt for the Integrated Ph.D. paper, Your questions will be from the BSc syllabus but the no. of questions will be rather less and will be designed to test your deeper understanding of a concept. Very few people get selected this way. The interviews will also be very thought-provoking(read about the interview in the interviews section). You need to be very strong with your fundamentals. All TIFR institutes will take students through this.

The best part of this is the stipend. You’ll receive a monthly fellowship of Rs 16,000/- for the first year. At the end of the first year, upon satisfactory performance, the fellowship is enhanced to Rs 25,000/- per month (further raised to Rs 28,000/- after registration for PhD. and annual contingency of Rs. 20,000/-(First Year Int. PhD. students)-Book Grant Only / 32,000/- per year [Ph.D. students and Int. Ph.D. students (Second Year onwards)]

Through GATE Engineering score (any stream)

Yeah, you’ve read it right, few institutes accept students into the Physics stream with a GATE score in any engineering stream. If you have already secured a good Gate score in your engineering stream then these will be a great option for you.

  • TIFR Hyderabad: If you have a GATE score of above 480 in any stream of engineering or science, you can apply for this.  This is an interdisciplinary program specifically designed for B.Tech/ B.E graduates. It is not as good as the main campus of TIFR but still is one of the best institutes in India. The stipend and contingency are the same as for all the TIFR institutes mentioned above.
  • M.Tech in Quantum Computing at IISc
    • They take GATE scores in most streams of engineering and some of the sciences as well. If you are into quantum computing this will be a fantastic opportunity for you. They also have 20 seats so you have higher odds of getting in as compared to the IPhD or Ph.D. programs whose intake would be very less. This is also an Industry and is application-oriented, one would have a good chance of getting a job I suppose(Not sure of the placement scenario just my prima facia opinion)
  • IISER Kolkata – MS in Space Science and MS by Research
  • IIST – MS Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • ICTS – Int. PhD
  • IISc – Ph.D., and I-Ph.D
  • IMSc, Chennai Int PhD
  • IIT Madras – Ph.D. (not sure)

MS by Research

Some IITs and other institutes offer MS by research programs. IISER, K offers one such in space research (read an Interview experience for the course by Arpita Manju). If you happen to be interested in that specific field of research then these courses would be a wonderful opportunity for you. 

Astro and related Programs

  • MSc Physics(Astrophysics) at IUCAA (Link)
  • Direct Ph.D. IN Astro Program at IUCAA – INAT exam
  • IPhD at NCRA (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics) – INAT and TIFR-GS
  • Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST)
  • Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) -IIAST exam
  • Physics Research Laboratory (PRL)
  • IIT Indore MSc in astronomy (through JAM)
  • IISER Kolkata MS in Space Science
  • CHARUSAT MSc Physics (Astrophysics and Cosmology as specialization)

Read the below article in our blog for details on Journey into space science after Engineering– Manu Gupta

Also, Check out this video of an astronomer ‘Pranoti Panchbai’ from IUCCA narrating her Journey into astrophysics after Engineering.

Direct Ph.D.

These are the institutes that we know for offering direct Ph.D. to engineers through JEST/GATE/NET, see the official websites to find the exact eligibility(a few of them ask for some 70% in bachelor’s for engineers). Since these are PhDs without master’s, the interviews might be a bit tough to crack. Read the following post for getting a better idea about Which exam to prepare for? JAM, JEST, TIFR, or GATE?

  • IMSc, Chennai
  • IUCAA, Pune
  • NCRA-TIFR, Pune
  • RRI, Bangalore
  • IIT Kanpur, Guwahati
  • Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) [Although it’s mentioned as a direct Ph.D. those who don’t have a physics background have to attend a year and a half of coursework. So It’s an Integrated Ph.D. program again)
  • IISc Bangalore
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore [Eligibility]
  • BITS (All campuses)
  • TCIS-TIFR Hyderabad
  • IISERs: Pune, Mohali, Thiruvananthapuram, and Tirupati
  • HRDD-BARC (Only M.E/M.Tech grads are eligible)
  • Apart from the above, some of the options mentioned below in the NET and GATE section also offer Direct PhDs.

GATE and NET

B.Tech/B.E grads are eligible to write GATE and NET but I’d say they’re not quite relevant for engineers looking to do M.Sc. So, it’s better to focus on other more useful exams rather than these, as very few institutes take through these exams. Read the following post for getting a better idea about Which exam to prepare for? JAM, JEST, TIFR, or GATE? Here’s the tentative and inexhaustive list of institutes that take engineers through these exams(A big thanks to my friends who made the list!!).

GATE

CSIR-NET

  • IISC, Bangalore (Ph.D.)
  • IIT Bombay, Kanpur, Roorkee, Dharwad, Guwahati, Gandhinagar (Ph.D.)
  • IUCAA, Pune (Ph.D.)
  • IMSc, Chennai (I-PhD)
  • ICTS, Bangalore (I-PhD)
  • TIFR, Hyderabad (Ph.D. and IPhd)
  • CSIR labs-IMMT, CMERI, NPL, AMPRI, CEERI, NML, ICCT, NAL, CIMFR, CECRI.
  • IISER, Tirupati (Ph.D.)
  • NIT Roorkee and some other NITs

Other exams-  Some other institutes like CMI (A very prestigious institute !!!) also accept B.Tech/B.E grads for both integrated and direct Ph.D., check their websites and also ensure you meet all their eligibility criteria.

Also, do visit all other useful content of our Physics Dorm.
Some of our group members have made it big!! They have been selected to many prestigious institutes like IITs(Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur Kanpur, etc), ICTS Bangalore, HRI Allahabad, IMSc Chennai, TIFR Mumbai, TIFR Hyderabad, IISERs, and other universities like HCU, Pune University, etc. And you can speak with them here in our Whatsapp group with 500+ members all of whom are engineers who actively discuss and help each other out in entering the physics stream after engineering. 

https://citizensofscience.com/physics

Mail me at Dushyanth.edadasula@gmail.com for further queries.

Distance programs

This is a boon for those who are working and can’t afford to leave their job to prepare for exams. From what I’ve heard, many engineers start teaching in some coaching institute for 12th class or JEE and parallelly do M.Sc in distance. This way you’d be earning, doing a master’s and most importantly you’ll be working in a physics-related field and so your basics in physics will be strong. But again I’m not sure if the non-regular nature of this degree might affect your chances of getting a Ph.D. While I believe the elite institutes do not bother much about your educational background and all that matters is your interview, I’m still ambivalent about this. If any reader could collect information regarding this and share it with us, it’d be really useful. These are the open universities that I know of to give admission to the M.Sc Physics course for Engineering Grads:

  • Tamilnadu Open University(Link)
  • Kuvempu University (Link)
  • Karnataka State Open University (Link)
  • Nalanda University
  • Lalit Narayan Mithila University(Link)
  • NIMS University (Link)
  • Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University (Link)

These distance degrees are valid, only if you give the exam in a study center that is located in the territorial jurisdiction of the university since the above three universities are State Universities, you should give the exam in the respective states in which the university is located for your degree to be recognized by UGC.

All the options that are struck off have been discontinued by UGC in the year 2018. Do check their websites to see if the status has changed recently.

36 thoughts on “All ways to do MSc/PhD Physics after B.Tech”

  1. I hv done BE in Mechanical engineering.i want to do physics MSc by distance course.can anyone suggest which institute/university offer this course.
    Any info on NALANDA OPEN UNIVERSITY about physics MSc in distance??

  2. No. Is not possible to do in Nalanda as it asks for undergraduation in physics related field. After tube asked iveI checked some institutes offering MSc from distance for B.tech unfortunately i can't find any. All of them are for a bachelor degree in physics.

  3. I'm currently in my first year of engineering,and my summer vacations are gonna be starting soon (2 months). I love math and physics and I intend to pursue it after I'm done with my engineering course. What can I do in my vacation to add to my cv so that I would be viewed as an equal to someone who has a bsc degree. Also I wanna apply for internships in cmi,isi,tifr etc. as they take 3rd and 4th years for summer internships. What would make them pick me over others (apart from statement of purpose)? My crappy engineering college doesn't have a physics minor.
    In short I wanted to know about the things I can do to add to my resume so I can pursue my interests.

  4. Frankly Vijay I'm sorry to say that I have no clue of summer internships and all… Or what one can do in summer that would add to his profile. But since you say that you want to be seen as a B.sc graduate then I want you to know that there is an option of doing a B.sc in distance while doing Engineering. I'm not sure about the feasibility of doing it along with engineering (like clash of semister exam dates etc…) So do try to find out about that. But as you can see in the blog post above, there are a good number of opportunities for engineering grads as well in the physics stream. So what I'd suggest you is to develop your knowledge in physics by watching online lectures and books. There are some pretty awesome stuff available like Walter lewin's lectures for the basic level and Alan Adam's ones or Balakrishnan lectures for advance level physics. If you notice the post above you'll see that all most all premier institutes do accept engineering grads for integrated PhD courses, once you clear the entrance exams and sit for the interview, your academic background won't matter much. Only the interview and your ability to do research matters. So basically the Elite institutes see you as no different from Bsc grad for integrated PhD admission. But for getting an internship, I don't know what they take into consideration. So, I can't be of much help to you regarding that.

  5. Hi, can you tell me in what does 'Physics for at least two years/four semesters and Mathematics for at least one year/two semesters' (Taken from the IIT JAMS) site mean. Do we have to take any specific branch in engineering to satisfy this category?

  6. Well it depends on the IIT in question actually. Some IIT may consider a subjects as Physics while some other IITs may not. But generally ECE and electrical people shouldn't have any problem I guess. But mechanical guys usually face problem with this criteria. IIT Bombay and Kanpur are known to give admission to engineers of any branch if they clear the cut off rank.

  7. The only way to improve your CV while doing a B.Tech is by gaining research experience in physics. The way to do it is projects/internships. I too had a crappy college like you.
    I would suggest you to first of all, keep studying physics on your own using books/online courses/video lectures so that in terms of knowledge, you are not too far behind a physics undergrad (real classroom learning is usually superior).

    For Indian official internship programs like TIFR, CMI, HRI etc, they mainly look for marks. So you need to have stellar marks in your engineering course, even if the coursework is redundant. Marks are the most important in these intern programs. So apply to all with a very good marksheet.

    Another good option is to start ailing professors, mainly in India, to look for summer project opportunities. Mention that you are genuinely interested to do research, won't need money or accommodation (makes it easier for the prof), and willing to invest time and energy. Again email tons of profs, but each email should be unique. If your city has great physics institutes, you can even visit them and visit the profs. All in all, try to get a position, whatever the research field be. Then you can do more from there on.

  8. Hi,I am currently studying Btech in Chemical Engineering…….Am I eligible for Msc In Physics or Maths by writing IITJAM in any of the IITs??

  9. Hi, I can't say anything about jam maths but I can say that for Physics you might not qualify the criteria of 4semisters or two years of physics but some iita kike Kanpur and bombay are known to give admission to btech grads who did not satisfy the criteria but it's quite ambiguous and unstable because some people have been rejected by an IIT last but the same IIT gave admission this year despite the candidate secueinsa bigger rank this year. That said there always are other options mentioned in the post where Btech grads are accepted for Msc or phd in physics.

  10. Any suggestion therefore ?..I really want to move to Physics..Is there any other options that I can try?Anything in India ? In Abroad?

  11. I am doing my btech in chemical engineering.. But I want to pursue in theoretical astrophysics after my ug. I am good with basic physics and love doing math. How should I plan from now on? I am already in my 2nd year of my btech course.

  12. Hi,

    I saw on CSIR-NET website that B.E/B.Tech graduates are only eligible to apply for JRF( Junior Research Fellow) positions but they have stated that the upper age limit for applying for JRF is 28 years of age. I am 32 years old. Obviously i am ineligible for CSIR. Is there any similar age limit for JAM and JEST ? I have a B.E Degree in Electrical Engineering( completed in 2013).

    Thank you for taking the time to reply.

    Yours Sincerely,

  13. I am currently pursuing M.Sc. Physics from LNMIIT, Jaipur. The faculty members are highly learned, interactive and supportive, and it’s a treat to learn from them. Needless to say, the student-teacher ratio is excellent, and we get all the possible help from the teachers. The department has good laboratory facilities. There is diversity among students. The curriculum is set in a way that prepares you for competitive exams along with providing exposure to new fields in physics through elective courses and enhancing research skills by means of project work. Institute also offers a Teaching Assistantship of Rs. 5000 per month as financial support, which means effective tuition fee is zero. Apart from academics, we enjoy the beautiful campus of LNMIIT. All in all, a year into this program, I have no regrets.

    Admission is open now. Anyone, who is interested to know more, please visit the website given below:
    https://admissions.lnmiit.ac.in/msc/index.html

    For further details –
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SQhMg0H7tjIhpwpLusHgboQBRbSXn_-D/view?usp=sharing

  14. Hello are using WordPress ffor your blog platform?

    I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create mmy own. Do you rsquire
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  16. Hello, I’m currently studying bsc computer technology so are these ways possible for us too or are these only for engineering students?? Could you please help?

  17. Hi i am aniket i love physics but i have recently completed my b tech in computer science
    as after 12 th i have taken drop for jee not getting good college i take admission in central near my home then i study and solved jee lavel physics and again give jeemain i solved all questions of physics and some of maths due to misguidance i take admission in b tech in cse from a good gov college then i regred for my desion now i have completed btech i want to go in physics feild again i research carrier oppotinites after msc physics i could not get so much mostly proffesor so it take 7 years (2 year msc + 5 years phd ) or coaching teacher for jee now i am confused between gate cse and iit jam please guide me with carrier oppotinites

  18. i am a btech first year student in computer science and i was a dropper while preparing for jee i think now i regret my decidion to take cse my interest really lie in physics research i want to pursue it in abroad how can i do it plz guide me what exams i have to clear and plz name the universities where this is possible

    1. Dushyanth Edadasula

      Visit physics dorm page. There’s a seperate section for Abroad. You may also join our telegram group from the same page

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