Reply to Calling all engineers and physicists

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Calling all engineers and physicists"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202022.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.

My impression is that physics grad students end up going into math modeling for financial companies (hedge funds, etc.), big data analytics, etc.

My family member thinks fusion might have a chance now.  He worked on it for 10+ years, long ago.

What type of physics is your kid interested in?[/quote]

Wow this link is great, thank you![/quote]

You're welcome!

I am dropping back in to make sure the parents interested in advice are very clear that bachelor's level engineering and physics majors are distinct academic specialties in a lot of ways.  Physics is more of a niche, whereas engineering is a huge field of study on many campuses.

There's lots of information on the web comparing engineering schools.  For a future physics major, I'd recommend the student do more direct, in-person contacts with target school physics department staff.  And also check on post-grad employment outcomes.  I'm the one who mentioned above that physics grad students seemed to be going into finance.  That's because there aren't enough jobs in physics and they can make a lot of money in the finance industry.  The only young physics major I know now is attending Cal Tech.  I think his research interest is related to atomic particles.  I would be more careful about school reputation for a physics major than for engineering just because it is a smaller job market.  Have a kid also look through "Physics Today".

https://subs.physicstoday.org/PT/Login.aspx#:~:text=Subscribe%20now%20for%20as%20little%20as%20%2425
[/quote]

Thanks again! May I ask what field you are in and at what level or geographic area?[/quote]

I am the child of a PhD physicist and on the other side a grandchild of a PhD physicist.  But I'm not in a physics field myself.  I just know what goes on at my parent's jobs.  My parent has a lot of proteges, which is why I have a sense of job market issues.

Schools my family has been connected with include Cornell, Illinois at Champaign Urbana, Case Western Reserve, SUNY Buffalo, Berkeley, and even Montgomery County Community College.

The Cal Tech person I know is the kid of a former co-worker, and is still in school.  If not for Cal Tech coming through he might have gone to UMD-CP.

Some academic physics departments exist to produce physics grads.  Some are just there to provide necessary support for other majors (pre-med and engineering at one school my parent worked at).  This is important to understand when looking at schools.  A physics major needs to go to a school that is able to support the needs of majors (variety of electives, good reputation, etc.).

I know I don't have the right background to give others advice on sub-specialties within  physics.  That's why I recommend getting in touch with academic departments directly.  If it seems too nervy to ask to speak to profs, then ask to speak with an undergrad advisor.

Finally, in other threads above, there are some assertions that the brand name or rank of the school doesn't matter for engineering hiring.  I disagree with that.  There are companies and circles that aren't equally open to people from different schools.  That's just general snobbery but it does exist.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics