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On October 10 2011 05:48 politik wrote:
From what I've seen, you should only major in physics if you plan on getting a PhD or at the very least a master's. By the way engineering is like 95% physics, just in a more specialized area.
Thats simply not true dude, while you get a good knowledge of mechanics stuff like quantum physics, solid state physics, general relativity, astrophysics isnt really covered.
In my opinion engineering stops where physics starts to become interesting =)
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On October 10 2011 06:11 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On October 10 2011 06:10 strongandbig wrote:
So I'm currently a first-year grad student in physics, and one thing a lot of people don't realize is how common it is for physics majors to go into finance/banking/consulting. For whatever reason, the people in those industries who hire new people out of college believe that a physics major teaches you things like problem-solving and flexible thinking. For undergrad physics majors in the department I went to, there were as many people going into finance etc as there were going to grad school. Yes, this was one of the things I heard... that physics majors often are prime candidates to go into finance due to their mathematical background (among other things like strongandbig said).
Yeah a friend of mine graduated with a major in physics and a minor in math and ended up working actuarial science or something similar for a major corporation. He was so in demand that they spend a couple thousand dollars a month to commute him across the country (he often spends weekends back home in the midwest and works on the east coast).
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On October 10 2011 06:10 strongandbig wrote:
So I'm currently a first-year grad student in physics, and one thing a lot of people don't realize is how common it is for physics majors to go into finance/banking/consulting. For whatever reason, the people in those industries who hire new people out of college believe that a physics major teaches you things like problem-solving and flexible thinking. For undergrad physics majors in the department I went to, there were as many people going into finance etc as there were going to grad school.
But this is much harder to do than it was 10 years ago, especially since much of the finance job market will generally prefer either (a) someone with a masters in financial mathematics or (b) someone from a field like Operations Research or Operations Management. The financial mathematics masters (or equivalent) is much more common than in previous decades I think.
It's also important to note that engineering majors will be hired for those jobs as well. The difference is that engineering majors can get a job that pays comparably or better that is actually in their field, which physics majors can almost never do.
Generally, with a bachelor's degree in physics you can get a job. But NONE of the physics B.S. degree holders I know got a job that involved physics. They either did something like finance/consulting/business drone work, or went to grad school. So if you're looking for a job that uses what you learned as an undergrad right out of school, do engineering, no question.
Physics's comparative advantage is that it prepares you better for graduate school over a broad group of fields. A physics major can go to grad school in physics (obv), engineering, mathematics, and, more commonly these days, a business related field such as finance or economics.
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As others here have said, I would suggest looking into engineering physics.
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On October 10 2011 07:44 TexDrum wrote:
Hmm, there seems to be a lot of conflicting opinion actually. I love all of the responses though, thank you everybody!
I seem to be gathering that even if you major in physics, my graduate work can give me a lot of different job opportunities. It still seems like engineering is the most practical though, but I don't think anybody answered this yet. If they did and I missed it, sorry! But what kind of degree would be best for somebody looking into either 1) space work with NASA/private sector companies who are getting into space flight etc. or 2) nanotechnology? Both of these fields (although totally different) interest me.
Aerospace is a tough nut to crack, especially for space flight stuff. No matter which degree you pick you will likely have a tough time getting a job in this field. If you're passionate about it then by all means go for it, but be prepared for the tough job market. Maybe it will be better in four years though, I don't know.
Nanotechnology is very broad, and you could certainly get involved with either a physics or an engineering degree (probably EE, maybe BME, some others as well). However, once again I think if you go for the physics bachelor's degree route you will need at least a master's and probably a PhD to get a job that you can really sink your teeth into.
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If Physics is what you truly love and want to do then by all means go for it. You can live off of $20,000 a year and still live a great life as long as you love what you're doing. You can practically think about it as being paid for what you love to do versus doing some job that you might consider boring (engineering) only because it pays well.
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I faced the same decision ~2 years ago and chose physics in the end due to it still keeping a lot of doors open, like switching to engineering, computational science, nanotech, actual physics etc, as I have not yet discovered what I truly want to do. I think that an engineer does have fewer opportunities like these.
I have not really factored in job opportunities too much. However, from what I've gathered it shouldn't be a problem to find a job with a physics degree even in the private sector (at least here), so I try not to worry and rather try to find something which interests me a lot...
Tip: At my uni I can just additionally freely enrol in whatever I want, so I just try out subjects from other fields to broaden my search radar. So far I have taken additional courses in control, electronics and artificial intelligence and enjoyed it a lot. Just experiment!
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From what I've read from the Bureau of Labour and Statistics, a good-size majority of Physics graduates end up in some other form of engineering than in a scientific research (whether in industry or government funded), which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. There just aren't a whole lot of research positions available and most of us pick Physics because we're good at math, but hate the boredom of Pure Math (setting us up to be bored of research work, too). We wanted something a little more 'practical'. However, most physics degrees end up being very generic which is good and bad. It means you can fit a lot of engineering-related positions, but you're not specialized enough to beat any top-tier candidates with a specialization. If you do go into engineering with a physics degree, expect to start at the bottom of the food chain and work your way up.
I got into a low-level software engineering job within a year after graduation and it's been a great fit. Physics taught me the problem solving and analytical skills I needed, and the company, more schooling (between books and the occasional evening class) and practice, has taught me all of the programming skills I need. I always should have gone into computer science, but it never really occurred to me while I was selecting degrees.
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major in physics and sell your soul and work for wall street. thats an option with phyiscs. many quants are physics majors.
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if you go to a good school and get good grades, you can almost do anything with a physics degree (serious). physics is insanely difficult though.
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I have a friend that is a physics major, no job yet after graduating.
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On October 10 2011 06:10 strongandbig wrote:
So I'm currently a first-year grad student in physics, and one thing a lot of people don't realize is how common it is for physics majors to go into finance/banking/consulting. For whatever reason, the people in those industries who hire new people out of college believe that a physics major teaches you things like problem-solving and flexible thinking. For undergrad physics majors in the department I went to, there were as many people going into finance etc as there were going to grad school.
i just finished my MS in physics at UCSD, and initially i went into the program to eventually try and get a job as a professor, but seeing the level of competition i have since scrapped that plan and am now working towards something more like a quant. The only thing i am wondering, now that i am already working on my PhD, is if i had gone to a school with a financial engineering program instead, would that have been easier to kickstart my career...
a lot of my friends from undergrad were engineering majors with a minor in physics. if you don't want to go to grad school, or into teaching, I recommend doing something along these lines. then again, if you are really interested in physics, go get a physics degree. i had 2-3 friends do that, and now they teach english in japan, and they are loving it.
no matter what your major is, if you are passionate about it, you will find a job you like.
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Either way you're fucked.
lol economy
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Going purely into physics will not net you a job unless you are one of the top of your class. I would recommend going into engineering physics.
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On October 10 2011 05:39 TexDrum wrote:
I'm getting ready to enter college, and I'm looking to apply to Rice. We have to choose a specific first choice school, and my application will be reviewed as a specific applicant of that particular school.
I like physics much more than engineering, but I feel like mechanical engineering/Aerospace Engineering would provide more practical job opportunities than physics. I wanted to hear from some of y'all since I figure gamers will probably have a lot of technical majors. What are the practical opportunities of a physics major? I am more interested in knowing this than engineering since I am already aware of what I can do with a mech e degree. Especially physics vs engineering. Any help would be awesome, thanks!
I go to Rice! Been here since fall 2006, ha. I'm in Hanszen college, in the engineering school moreover. Come join we engineers!
If you need any help in your application process, let me know.
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I was actually in the exact same boat as you: deciding between Physics and Mechanical. I'm still just a freshman now but I ended up picking Computer Science. I had no idea what I wanted to do and I absolutely LOVED math in high school. My stupid friend who was trained in IT at a community college made me think it was all technical. But it's the exact opposite. Even programming is basically pure formation of logic like in a math equation.
So if I had to give you one piece of advice, it would be not to rule out the computer-oriented Majors like Scientific Computing, Computer Science, Computational Biology, or Computational Criminology.
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If you do physics undergrad, you are good for: PhD in physics, or teaching physics in highschool
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my thoughts about it:
you're going to get a job with both pretty much for sure.
As a physicist you will probably end up in something that's not exactly what you thought you would end up in university but that's fine. Both physicist and mathematician are highly wanted. Not so much for what they learned at university (at least for the majority of "normal" jobs) but for the knowledge that those guys know how to think analytically, you know solving problems on their own and that kind of stuff :p
Engineering however is just awesome for its practical uses and will pretty much ensure you a job, too.
I got the feeling that if you're going for a masters or more physics is the way to go and if you're only going for a bachelor engineering should be better. But that's just a feeling of mine.
However, both will pretty much ensure you a job and both are kinda hard. At least thats what most people keep saying about scientific subjects so I figure some do have problems and I'd totally go for what you think fits you better because that way you'll at least know for sure that you're going to put some effort in it because you like what you're doing :p
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When it comes to jobs, as a person who works in an engineering firm, there is a distinct preference for graduate degrees for science majors who are not engineering majors. Personally I do not value a masters or a PhD when I'm hiring people because of the specificity in my department, but for chemistry/biology/physics (and related degrees) the general rule here is a master+ is required to be hired unless you have some serious credentials as a BS.
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On October 10 2011 09:54 Divergence wrote:
Either way you're fucked.
lol economy
Bullshit. Either way, if you're smart and are willing to work hard you can be a productive worker and build a happy life for yourself. Just because your pathetic ass can't get anywhere and you want to blame it on the economy doesn't mean everyone is like you.
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EPT
