Bridging the Gap Between Undergraduate and Graduate Studies

The cohort of graduate students joining any given program has a diverse background in terms of educational, research, and personal experiences. As such, different individuals face different challenges when adapting to the graduate school environment. To help alleviate this struggle, we designed and implemented a course for incoming students over the summer (both 2023 and 2024) prior to the beginning of their PhD program in physics at Michigan State University (MSU). This course reviewed core concepts in math methods, classical and quantum mechanics, and programming skills. In addition to working through the core concepts, practicing problems, and providing practical demonstrations, supplementary materials containing explanations and interactive codes were developed. The lectures were recorded, and both the recordings and the supplementary material are freely available, both to continue to support this cohort of graduate students, and as a resource for future students (both at MSU and elsewhere). This approach can be adapted for use in most university settings, and materials can quite easily be developed and shared between institutions. By continuing to run this course and develop instructive examples, barriers to entry for new graduate students can be greatly reduced, helping students thrive in their new environment.