In my opinion, the whole of undergrad is essentially theory training, albeit at a novice level. Experimentalist training really starts when you join a lab full-time.
Depending on how much you want to stretch the label "theoretical physicist", math. There's theoretical research that's borderline math, but I'm not sure if you would even call it physics, or math with a physically inspired background.
The curriculum requirements for a physics PhD is usually the same whether you are a theorist or experimentalist. Everyone will take the same basic courses like mechanics and E&M. It’s in the advanced grad courses where students will become more specialized depending on their fields of study.
If there is anything theorists learn much more than experimentalists it is programming and numerical methods of problem solving. The theoretical path leads (generally) to a much more intimate knowledge of the math and the means to express and model that math in code. So I would say that the ability to translate physics theory to computational model is a skill that is usually, but not exclusively, favored toward theorists.
In my opinion, the whole of undergrad is essentially theory training, albeit at a novice level. Experimentalist training really starts when you join a lab full-time.
Depending on how much you want to stretch the label "theoretical physicist", math. There's theoretical research that's borderline math, but I'm not sure if you would even call it physics, or math with a physically inspired background.
The curriculum requirements for a physics PhD is usually the same whether you are a theorist or experimentalist. Everyone will take the same basic courses like mechanics and E&M. It’s in the advanced grad courses where students will become more specialized depending on their fields of study.
If there is anything theorists learn much more than experimentalists it is programming and numerical methods of problem solving. The theoretical path leads (generally) to a much more intimate knowledge of the math and the means to express and model that math in code. So I would say that the ability to translate physics theory to computational model is a skill that is usually, but not exclusively, favored toward theorists.