A friend of mine asked me to post here to get some opinions on a few majors that he is trying to decide between. He is currently in his first year of Engineering at UBC and has narrowed his choices down to 5.
-Electrical Engineering
-Astronomy
-Mechanical Engineering
-Physics/Astro
-Mining Engineering

He enjoys Astronomy and Physics but is worried that he will not be able to get a job after completing his degree, whereas the salary / chance of getting a job in the others is much better.

thopol

Japan4560 Posts

January 15 2010 04:12 GMT

I don't know much about this, but I've heard that Engineering jobs are hard to come by lately.

I'd advise he do what he is interested in. There's always academia or a transition in discipline with the transition into graduate studies.

Faronel

United States658 Posts

January 15 2010 04:15 GMT

So long as he is good at it, Astronomy and Physics is a good field for the exact reason is that there aren't too many of them. There should be enough openings in academia, teaching, or w/e.
-Source: Some career/college planning website my school pays for.

He has to remember though that if you do choose A+P, you pretty much have to get your PhD if he plans on pursuing something solely in those fields.

However, if he does something related to A+P, but based in engineering, that's a different story.

illu

Canada2531 Posts

January 15 2010 04:23 GMT

Statistics.

Ludrik

Australia523 Posts

January 15 2010 04:29 GMT

I'd probably choose from either electrical or mechanical eng. There's a decent amount of physics in both of them while at the same time being more "applicable" to the work force. Or he could do mining + move to australia = auto-job.

If he just wants to study phys/astro and not work in it then i'd say go for it, you can still get a job in related fields. But if he's doing it for the sole purpose of working in that field i'd advise against it.

DivinO

United States4796 Posts

January 15 2010 04:36 GMT

Astronomy and Mechanical Engineering are well paid and fun.

nAi.PrOtOsS

Canada784 Posts

January 15 2010 04:36 GMT

He's thinking about doing mineing and then moving to Austrailia so he can easily get a job.

Nightmarjoo

United States3360 Posts

January 15 2010 04:42 GMT

Astronomy as far as careers go is pretty boring and hands-off, just crunching numbers, waiting years to get a chance to look through a giant telescope, then crunching the data you obtain for a few more years.

Either electrical or mechanical engineering would be a fine choice, skills in those fields will always be needed.

ero

United States66 Posts

January 15 2010 04:48 GMT

On January 15 2010 13:15 Faronel wrote:
So long as he is good at it, Astronomy and Physics is a good field for the exact reason is that there aren't too many of them. There should be enough openings in academia, teaching, or w/e.
-Source: Some career/college planning website my school pays for.

LOLOLOL.

I hope you're kidding.

FragKrag

United States11552 Posts

January 15 2010 04:49 GMT

#10

I believe that the common conception of Astronomy and Physics is that there are no jobs available because though there isn't a very large amount of them, there isn't much of a demand?

d3_crescentia

United States4054 Posts

January 15 2010 04:50 GMT

#11

As a recently graduated physics major, I can tell you that unless you want to be working for corporate, it's hard to get a job that your skills are directly applicable to unless you have at least a Masters/PhD in the field. Grabbing an engineering degree is better in that at least you'll be certified to do engineering jobs, but whereas even if you have the appropriate knowledge/skills you won't have the certification.

Furthermore, the deeper you get into physics the more and more specialized you have to be; I personally don't find that very enjoyable. If your friend does want to do physics though and is worried about jobs, just tell him to be prepared and get internships at engineering firms, etc. so he'll already have an in.

illu

Canada2531 Posts

January 15 2010 04:52 GMT

#12

Let me be serious, though. Many people believe statistics will be the biggest field of science for the 21st centuary because of all of the new advances in computation powers.

never_Nal

Costa Rica676 Posts

January 15 2010 04:58 GMT

#13

Just Study something you really like. Remember this is what you will do the rest of your life, and I think you would prefer to spend your life working on something you really like and enjoy, if he really likes what he is doing he will be good, and if you are good enough you will get money, but don't make decisions on statistics

neobowman

Canada3324 Posts

January 15 2010 05:02 GMT

#14

Combine Astronomy/Physics with Engineering?

Aerospace Engineering.

Grobyc

Canada18410 Posts

January 15 2010 05:03 GMT

#15

ASTRONOMY ALL THE WAY

Xxio

Canada5565 Posts

January 15 2010 05:11 GMT

#16

Tell him to man up and take what he enjoys

Chill

Calgary25980 Posts

January 15 2010 05:17 GMT

#17

Don't take any advice from here. Seriously. If you have half a brain you won't read anything anyone here says. "Take what you enjoy" can also been bad advice. I cannot stress enough that you don't take advice from this thread.

mikeymoo

Canada7170 Posts

January 15 2010 05:21 GMT

#18

On January 15 2010 14:17 Chill wrote:
Don't take any advice from here. Seriously. If you have half a brain you won't read anything anyone here says. "Take what you enjoy" can also been bad advice. I cannot stress enough that you don't take advice from this thread.

Conundrum?

nAi.PrOtOsS

Canada784 Posts

January 15 2010 05:24 GMT

#19

How can the experiences and opinions of people that come to this site be bad? Obviously he isnt going to base his entire decision off of what somone say's but it could help him come to a final decision.

Chill

Calgary25980 Posts

January 15 2010 05:25 GMT

#20

On January 15 2010 14:24 nAi.PrOtOsS wrote:

Show nested quote +

Because the opinions on this site are wildly skewed. If you spent any time as a graduate you could clearly see that. People vastly overvalue "do what you like" as well as "its hard to get a job right now." Of course this is all relative to what I feel is important so maybe I'm way offbase.