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Career prospects for a physics/math major
dexter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm beginning my second year of a physics math major. I intend on continuing math and physics through to third year, and at the moment I'm inclined to do my honors in theoretical physics.
My marks are reasonably good, and I'm enthusiastic about both fields, particularly physics (though first year was pretty boring I've read a lot I like and want to learn more about).
What I'd like to know is where could this lead me? I've always had it in my mind I'd get a PhD and then move into research; though I've recently come to understand this is a difficult, frustrating and low income path to take with little "pay off".
Basically I'm curious as to whether or not I'd require a PhD in most cases, and whether I'd be okay with only an honors in physics. Or even an honors in math if I were to go in that direction. I've recently become a little concerned with how much I'd be earning later on in life and whether I'd be able to support a family comfortably.
What I'm trying to say here is what sort of options might I have in my field which pay a comfortable salary, and still allow me to focus on physics or math rather than going for a finance/bank job. Money is going to be important I think, but my priority is to enjoy my work and do something I think is important.
Someone suggested the military; officer training sounds appealing. I have had some experience in a school cadet core with camps and the like. Is the Australian military known to take in graduates for officer trianing and research? What's the money like?
I know it's a long way off, but it's something that's recently come up and I'd like to have an idea of what's out there and the type of income I'd be looking at. Thanks in advance!
My marks are reasonably good, and I'm enthusiastic about both fields, particularly physics (though first year was pretty boring I've read a lot I like and want to learn more about).
What I'd like to know is where could this lead me? I've always had it in my mind I'd get a PhD and then move into research; though I've recently come to understand this is a difficult, frustrating and low income path to take with little "pay off".
Basically I'm curious as to whether or not I'd require a PhD in most cases, and whether I'd be okay with only an honors in physics. Or even an honors in math if I were to go in that direction. I've recently become a little concerned with how much I'd be earning later on in life and whether I'd be able to support a family comfortably.
What I'm trying to say here is what sort of options might I have in my field which pay a comfortable salary, and still allow me to focus on physics or math rather than going for a finance/bank job. Money is going to be important I think, but my priority is to enjoy my work and do something I think is important.
Someone suggested the military; officer training sounds appealing. I have had some experience in a school cadet core with camps and the like. Is the Australian military known to take in graduates for officer trianing and research? What's the money like?
I know it's a long way off, but it's something that's recently come up and I'd like to have an idea of what's out there and the type of income I'd be looking at. Thanks in advance!
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Also on Steam and PSN: twobadcats
I looked for a more down-to-earth field in physics and I found medical physics. Also, check out this website. To work as a medical physicist requires a graduate degree (preferably a Ph.D.). The pay is very good, though: I've seen job adverts where the pay starts at $50/hr. In Ontario, the average salary of a medical physicist in 2009 was ~$120,000 (Canadian dollars).
EDIT: I've found some stats from the United States (if that's where you live). In 2009, the median salary of medical physicists holding only a M.Sc. with no professional certification was $118,000. The median salary of medical physicists with a PhD and a professional certification was $184,000. For the latter group, the 20th percentile salary was ~$140,000 and the 80th percentile salary was $220,000.
Over all US (and over all degrees), the average salary was $163,100.
Conclusions: medical physics is a relatively high paying field.
Nintendo Network ID: PhysiMarc
I agree with this, the software industry in general loves physics and math majors.
As someone who did a double-major BS in physics and math and then went on to a physics PhD program, I highly recommend doing some internships or research projects if at all possible. If you're a second-year undergrad then you've got two or three summers before grad school that you could potentially spend in a lab or a theoretical group. You won't be doing much more than grunt work, but you'll both see how those experiences work for the grad students/employees and have stuff to put on a grad school application.
Though I'm not interested in gaming or software work really. I don't particularly enjoy computer work and I'd rather avoid it unless it's absolutely necessary. Also I really dislike experimental physics.
This doesn't actually sound like physics work is a good fit for you then. You may come around if you actually get into it, you may be dismissing it without good reason?
I know a lot of physicists (in my D&D table group, I have three PhD students alone, working labs and one's a medphysicist) and I looked into medphysics myself (ended up CS bioinformatics instead).
All of the work that I see involves computers and/or lab work. I kinda wonder, if you aren't doing either, what kind of physics are you doing?
If you enjoy the topic of physics, you may want to think harder on the nature of the work and whether it is right for you, because I know many people that love it.
I think with any problem solving degree and a bit of luck you can find yourself in apretty good spot.
As people have mentioned above, this doesn't seem like a fit for future work in Physics. The Physics major at my college required fluency in at least one programming language since both experimental physics (more so) and theoretical physics require extensive use of computers. However, this requirement was waived for dual majors in mathematics.
I had a double major in math and physics and became a teacher since I personally was not passionate enough to pursue advanced degrees in math or physics. (Spending a full weekend on a proof was not my idea of a good time).
Also, most people I graduated with found undergraduate research to be important as they applied to graduate schools. I would highly recommend getting involved in doing research either through your university or through internships.
But that he's too much of an optimist to let that hold him back from pursuing what he loves,
Wall Street will love you.
I was disheartened in undergrad because I was afraid that employers would only want someone as an engineer who had "engineer" in their undergraduate degree.
Fear not, it'll work out for you.
Those jobs all require a decent amount of programming experience. Doesn't have to necessarily be C++, but skills in R, Matlab, Python/Numpy/ATLAS, Mathematica would be needed at a minimum.
I was going to say this too, I went into mining exploration.