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Doesn't sound like you have too much to worry about so long as the bad grades are older and you can get a decent pGRE score. Where you can get into will depend on how well your interests align with the faculty at a school and how well you can sell yourself to them. Plus luck, which will play a bigger factor than you might think. This book has a lot of good advice tailored to physics. Part of the book is about ranking programs into tiers then finding where your application fits. Tier 1 schools are places like MIT and Stanford, basically you need to really stand out since so many people apply and they have low acceptance rates. Tier 2 schools are all great schools (ranked 10-30 schools) and can be very hard to get into. For these expect to need a 3.75 GPA and pGRE of 750+ to be competitive grade wise. Tier 3 schools are going to be good schools ranked 31-50, generally these are larger schools like large state universities. You should be competitive at these schools with your application. Tier 4 schools are generally much smaller, but still good schools ranked 50-100. A 3.0 should be competitive. Tier 5 is a mixed bag of good and bad but 2.5 should be fine for most of them.

Sounds like you are competitive at tier 3 schools, pick some tier 2 schools you are interested in then some tier 3, and some tier 4. maybe 20 schools in total. Then start researching to boil down that list to a couple reach schools (tier 2), a couple safety schools (tier 4), and 6 or so tier 3 schools. Base your decisions off of compatibility with those schools and their professors. Do not limit yourself to just the west, trust me I did that and now I'm shut out of grad school for a year because I was too restrictive in my first round of applications. This process will be expensive, plan for ~$150 per school in transcript and application fees and have your list prepared before you take the pGRE in October so you can take advantage of the few free score reports you get.

I am a PhD student now, so I'll share my thoughts that may be relevant for you. I am going to suggest a somewhat aggressive timeline that I personally think optimizes your time while still preparing you to be a good PhD applicant, which basically comes down to: research experience and your physics GRE, more on those below.

If your not redoing a whole degree (which you should not) then you really just need 2 things for a good PhD application: the more or less standard "core" undergrad courses- Modern Physics, Thermodynamics, E&M, and Quantum, and secondly- RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (research spiel in next paragraph). You could really do the core requirements in a year, but that leaves you with a screwy PhD application timeline. So spreading your undergrad courses and research over 2 years is reasonable. Additionally the core course mentioned are primarily what is covered on the physics GRE. I would start familiarizing yourself with the content of the pGRE immediately after modern physics since you are on a compressed timeline. Ok now on to the research spiel.

The purpose of doing a PhD and being a physicist is primarily to do physics research. If you don't like research, then you won't like being a physicist. Luckily you have a programming background, so you could get involved with research pretty quickly (virtually all research involves some sort of programming these days).

There is so much more to say with regards to grad school, but I will refer you to the following book

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Grad-School-Physics-physical/dp/1499732244

Which will fill in the rest of the details and elaborate on what I've said. I really don't think I could say much more that won't be repeating what is already said in the book.

I will say that physics research involving quantum mechanics directly will be theoretical, and the main areas where researchers eat quantum mechanics for breakfast are: cosmology, particle and nuclear, condensed matter. For experiment you may or may not need to know quantum mechanics very well.

Astronomy is basically experimental astrophysics, and is all about data collection and analysis, with tons and tons of algorithms implemented along the way.

I myself am in theoretical nuclear and particle physics mainly focused on simulation. Hope I have helped you in some way!

You might like Hassani 1 better (or more readable) compared to Boas (Boas has more problems though). Though I'm not suggesting it as a preparation for your test next week (although you never know; you might pick it up from the library tomorrow and find out it answered many of your questions). It's one of the books that you shouldn't rush through (a whole summer working through it, solving 70-80% of the problems, would be a good idea).

Bra Ket notation shouldn't be too difficult if you've taken 'linear algebra' already (again Hassani has a few chapters on LA, but I used Leon when I took LA class). Schmidt ortho is covered in an LA class (again also is in Hassani).

Other stuff you mentioned seem like special topics in Diff. Eq, save for Complex Fourier which should be under 'complex analysis' I guess.

I hope this helps FWIW.

I actually do this for a hobby. They aren't exactly puns, but here are some links to a few of the physics shirts I've made - feel free to improve upon them/come up with wittier phrases. :)
Spherical Cow Shirt
Physics b/c math has limits

Brain on Physics

Be unique

Down to Earth

Not your average guy/gal

That should give you some ideas to start with. The great thing about physics is that it's such a broad area of study that the possibilities are limitless when it comes to ridiculous shirts.

​

A great introductory read would be "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by David Griffiths"

Great Author and great textbook. Pretty much most intro QM courses use this text.

Amazon Link

Take Physics Thermodynamics, it'll open your eyes. We use Schroeder 20 miles north of you. I had a Nuclear Energy Conversion course that was essentially our Thermo from our department and finally had the chance to see all of the theoretical physics applied to real world (well, 1970s reactors ;D) applications.

I'm up at SPSU finishing a Physics BS and just completed our Nuclear Engineering minor. I liked the similarities in curriculum because I had seen it before, but there were some ME/EE majors that weren't too thrilled with Physics Thermodynamics showing up in a Nuclear course.

Is your advanced lab course Modern, Electronics, or Adv Measurements?

By classical physics do you mean something similar to Intermediate Mechanics?

You should be able to relate Optics to Nuclear pretty well comparing it to what you've studied with neutrons passing through matter and moderators.

Sorry about the wall of text, I don't get to talk about both subjects much in either department.

Read Carl Sagan's Cosmos. If you're truly interested in physics, it'll motivate you to learn as much as you physically can.

I loved the book by Zettili! It’s easy to follow without much prior knowledge of the subject.

As others have mentioned, there are a lot of good books on Math Methods of Physics out there (I used Hassani's Mathematical Methods: For Students of Physics and Related Fields).

That said, if you're having trouble with calculus, I'd recommend going back and really understanding that well. It underlies more or less all the mathematics found in physics, and trying to learn vector calculus (essential for E&M) without having a solid understanding of single-variable calculus is just asking for trouble.

There are a number of good books out there. Additionally, Khan Academy covers calculus very well. The videos on this page cover everything you'd encounter in your first year, and maybe a smidge more.

Once you move on to vector calculus, Div, Grad, Curl and All That is without equal.

The single best undergrad quantum book I've found (and I've gone through a lot of them) is Zettili's Quantum Mechanics. Very thorough and doesn't skimp out on the requisite math, but also does a good job explaining things with tons of worked out problems/examples.

Get this book-

Conquering the Physics GRE https://www.amazon.com/dp/1479274631/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_PyADDbZYF289R

Practice all the exercises and skim through the text. I started with my Physics GRE prep two weeks before the test and scored full. This book helped a lot I think. All the best!

I'd suggest you buy your textbooks early and look them over before class starts. If you don't want do to that, you might want to try out Schaums Outline of Quantum Mechanics, and Schaums Outline of Optics. A Modern Physics course will generally cover some intro QM and some special relativity, so the QM outline should be helpful for both your Modern Physics and your QM class.

Edit: As a note, the Schaum's Outlines are generally for people currently taking the course or reviewing the material after having already taken the course. Its terse with little discussion of the physics going on, but a lot of example problems, and will hold your hand through math.

Conceptual Physics (12th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321909100/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DJ.6CbT0NHCT6
This is what my University uses for it 1000 level physics course. When I TA'd the class the examples were very conceptual based. If you were looking for something with some math in it I would suggest a algebra based physics text. Like this one.

College Physics: A Strategic Approach (3rd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321879724/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1L.6CbZ7EKFZV

If you're not familiar with physics at all, then i'd try picking up a textbook that's devoted to the conceptual side of physics with a little algebra here and there. For example

Once you have a basic understanding of that and you're familiar with calculus, try a more rigorous college-level calculus based physics text. Example

Personally, i'd stick with textbooks since i see them as a very effective way of learning a subject, but i understand everyone learns differently. Whatever works for you.

Shankar's book teaches almost everything you need: calculus, vectors, series, complex variables, ODE, linear algebra in only ~300pag.
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Training-Mathematics-Fitness-Students/dp/0306450364


For more advanced topics check out Arfken.

If you're looking for a book that will give you lots of insights, then look no further than the MIT Calculus book. It's free online, I highly suggest printing it out (if you have access to some sort of binding machine, do that, I have it comb bound in 3 volumes), and I swear to god every time I sit down to read it, whether to learn more about something I'm currently learning in school or just to see what it has to say about an older topic, I end up having some sort of earth-shattering revelation within the first few paragraphs, without fail, no hyperbole.

CANNOT recommend it enough, it is what gave me a huge edge over everyone in my Calc 2 class when it came to infinite series. It's my calculus bible. And it's free!

EDIT: My school had that calc book you mentioned as the assigned text. It's worthless. What you want to invest in for extra practice problems is a Schaum's Outline. This combined with the MIT calc book is all you'll need, and then use Wolfram Alpha to give you a step-by-step solution for problems you're struggling with/stuck on.

Certainly this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Methods-Physics-Engineering-Comprehensive/dp/0521679710

I have received recommendations for this book from several physics majors and alumni from several different universities. It is a rather thick textbook, but I think most of the chapters can be addressed independently at your current level, especially after this first year of yours. Write it down somewhere in a Google Doc, including the authors and that it's the third edition.

Riley Hobson and Bence, also Riley Hobson and Bence and maybe Riley Hobson and Bence...
this book has been my bible for the last few years and contains every single piece of maths I have needed for the last few years and, from what I've heard from those further into the course, will last a long time.

http://www.amazon.com/Waves-Oscillations-Prelude-Quantum-Mechanics/dp/019539349X

Buy this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Grad-School-Physics-physical/dp/1499732244/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=getting+into+grad+school+for+physics&qid=1562922761&s=gateway&sprefix=getting+into+grad+&sr=8-1

I helped me answer a lot of questions about the application process.

Cough

There is the Schaums for this topic too, also by Hecht, I used it and found it covered everything I needed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schaums-Outline-Optics-Series/dp/0070277303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411390423&sr=8-1&keywords=schaums+optics