<p>Hello everyone. I have a few concerns and I haven't really decided where/how I want to ask this.</p>
<p>I'm a Junior in high school, and I am doing fairly well (3.7 UW GPA) by my standards, at least. I have an affinity for math and science, and while I haven't taken physics yet- I am doing so next year, reading about it has made me love the theoretical side of it a lot. When I told my mom I wanted to major in physics and go on and get a PhD she was a bit disturbed. She has convinced me that I like engineering, and I am really not sure. I do not think I completely understand what engineers do, how they work, etc. I have always envisioned myself as some sort of researcher in a lab. I have been looking at engineering schools but I am not entirely too sure. While I haven't really had the feel yet, I am very attracted to attending a nice liberal arts college such as Reed or Grinnell because of my perceived atmosphere of them. The idea of no greek life appeals to me, and I feel I would fit in very well there, since I am pretty quiet, in general, unless we are discussing something of direct interest to me. </p>
<p>However, my mom is mostly worried about me majoring in physics because they supposedly do not get get good jobs and if I don't get into grad school, I'm screwed. She wants me to major in engineering because it combines my interests and I can just get a job right out of undergrad. For some reason, I don't want to do that, and I don't really know why. I've sort of convinced myself that is what I am doing because it seems the most sensible option for me. Additionally, to get a degree in engineering I'd have to attend a larger university, which I have found several that seem nice, it doesn't have the allure that these small LACs have. The whole concept of "liberal arts" and the way things are taught there in smaller sized classes appeals to me. </p>
<p>So my dilemma is this: I really want to go to a LAC and major in physics and then go on to get a PhD in physics. While I appreciate my mom's input she just seems overbearing on me. I am worried about what will happen if I supposedly don't get a good enough GPA to get into grad school. I feel she is worried that she would be wasting thousands of dollars funding a dream of mine that could possibly not even start. Should I ignore her and just go on to do what I want and try the best? Should I take a double major in Physics with Computer Science or something to make me more viable for jobs or something? To be called a Doctor is one of my life goals and physics sounds beautiful to me. While of course, that may possibly change when I take AP physics next year, but it is supremely interesting to me and I want to understand it. </p>
<p>To be honest, to me it seems the only people that get good jobs are the ones that major in Nursing, Engineering, or Business... why do the most interesting things have to be the most inapplicable? </p>
<p>When you say “reading about it,” do you mean popular science books? You say you’re not sure what actual engineers do, but are you sure you know what physicists do (for example, I know that some of the physics grad students at my university spend a lot of time programming. Is this what you pictured)? Are you aware how hard it is to get an academic job in the sciences (as in, hundreds of extremely qualified people competing for a single spot)? Since many physics PhDs end up working in jobs outside of physics, would you think it makes more sense to major in that other field instead? Have you watched this video? <a href=“So you want to get a PhD in physics? - YouTube”>So you want to get a PhD in physics? - YouTube;
<p>Just some things to consider. Unfortunately, no one ever tells high school students these things so hordes of them come into college majoring in science (and enthusiastic from watching vsauce and veritasium videos on youtube), only to find that there’s no science jobs for them and/or it’s not quite as interesting as they thought.</p>
<p>That was a very amusing video. Yes, I am aware of the abysmal job market regarding science PhD, and PhD in general. This is where the issue is because I still feel compelled to do it, even though I am telling myself there are many better options out there. I have read some of the “popular science” books as well as some more official research stuff done by universities, but that’s not really the inspiration at this point.</p>
<p>What is the guy who made this video doing? Is electrical engineering really that awful too???</p>
<p>What are some places where physics is applied that is not by definition engineering? Or is everything “engineering” now a days?</p>
<p>I have no idea who made that video. As I understand it, the job market for electrical engineers, while not ideal, is quite a lot better than the job market for the pure sciences.</p>
<p>To put it very roughly and broadly, engineering is the application of science to solve real-world problems, and the branch of science mostly commonly applied is physics. So it’s kind of hard to get around this if you want to directly apply physics knowledge (besides becoming a teacher). Physics PhDs tend to have excellent problem solving and mathematical skills, as well as adequate programming skills, so they often find jobs in finance and software development (in addition to engineering, and if you’re lucky, academia). In this case you probably won’t use much of your physics knowledge at all.</p>
<p>Thanks for your answer…
What would it be like for a PhD In Computer Science? I am somewhat interested in it, but my brother graduated with a BS in it and as he says is working an awfully boring job as a programmer.</p>
<p>Are there anything science related that is NOT engineering? Medical school seems nice, but I don’t want to pay the huge amounts of tuition and who knows if I’m even cut out for that kind of thing. I’ve looked at geology, but it appears most geology graduates tend to get jobs working for oil companies trying to drill out every last ounce of oil in the ground. Not appealing to me at all. I feel the only reason I become interested in aerospace engineering was because I could like design rockets to go into outer space. Probably unrealistic or something, there’s always a gimmick with something I like. Always. Who even goes into space nowadays? Need to spend more money on the military or something like that.</p>
<p>It seems for every single thing I find there is something horrible said about it and it becomes terribly frustrating. I don’t even know what to do, engineering sounds so industrial and capitalist to me, I am so turned off by that aspect, everything in math has to be in practice in a business trying to squeeze money out of consumers or something…</p>
<p>Is the situation for any of this better in any other countries, if you have any idea?</p>
<p>I really wish I could just go to the sate school and settle to be a robot nurse or something and get a job and grind for 50 years making a good income and being able to have and do nice things, and care about other things in life. I don’t really care about anything else outside of academic stuff. I really wish I wanted to do that.</p>
<p>Sorry for all the ranting. I’ve been thinking of related stuff like this the last few months and I can’t find anything I like that is a viable option for making an “income”. I’m really considering why I would even want to go to college if everything I am interested in has an atrocious, disgustingly awful job market as it is so painted out to be. </p>
<p>I’m just a know-nothing high school student, but here’s some rambling…</p>
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<p>So right now there isn’t much of a problem. You don’t really know what you want to do yet. There’s definitely nothing wrong with thinking about future careers, but if you’re a junior in high school and haven’t even taken physics yet, there’s no reason to let your imaginings come between you and your mother.</p>
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<p>Don’t go to a school that only offers engineering degrees unless you actually end up wanting to be an engineer. </p>
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<p>Things to consider:
LACs are usually expensive and may or may not have good financial aid (I’ve heard Grinnell does). Run net price calculators for all the colleges you’re interested in.
If you go to an LAC, it won’t be as easy to take graduate classes in physics as an undergrad, if you want to do that.
I don’t think you should worry so much about whether they have Greek life or not. Just because a college has Greek life doesn’t mean Greek life permeates the whole culture.
If you want to be quiet most of the time, it might be better to go to a very large university where you could be anonymous. People will pay attention to you at an LAC. </p>
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<p>You can go to all kinds of grad school programs with the right background, though. Master’s in engineering, for example. It wouldn’t have to be a HYPSM physics Ph.D. program. </p>
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<p>Not necessarily. For example, Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd are highly selective LACs where you could major in engineering. There’s also Smith if you’re a girl. You could also look at five-year programs where you get a
bachelor’s degree from an LAC and then an engineering degree from a university. Reed has one. </p>
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<p>Generally you’ll be in smaller classes at a university too, once you get into upper-level classes in your major. </p>
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<p>Your GPA will have to be pretty good, but from what I gather physics Ph.D. programs care mostly about your recommendation letters and undergraduate research you’ve done. But “grad school” can mean a lot of different things, as I said before. </p>
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<p>It might help if you looked for colleges where you’d get good financial aid.</p>
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<p>Yeah…like I said before, this isn’t a well-formed aspiration yet and you shouldn’t worry so much about it. </p>
<p>Thank you for your answer. I am probably just being sensation at this point and I understand that what I often dream of doing in high school almost never ends up being what I actually do and I think that is the same for most people. I haven’t really been looking at exclusively “engineering” schools, more so just larger universities. I have a few safeties where engineering is offered as a major as well. I also have looked at the LACs that offer engineering programs, but most of them seem too selective for me and If I were to major in engineering - I’d rather it be at a larger university. I have also looked into those 3-2 / 4 - 2 programs, but most people have told me they aren’t really a good idea because so few people actually follow through with them…</p>
<p>The LACs I’ve been mostly interested in are Reed & Grinnell because they claim to meet 100% of need, and the perceived environment appeals to me. I haven’t even visited any schools yet though, so that may change when I do so in the next few months.</p>
<p>Grinnell offers a computer science major, so I was thinking perhaps I could double major in computer science and physics. Would that be a good idea? The same is offered at SLU- one of my financial safeties (because of a connection I have there), and that’s right here at home. Additionally, SLU offers an “Engineering Physics” degree, while I haven’t looked into it much, the description of it appeals to me and perhaps that could be combined with the regular physics degree and I would still be able to graduate on time. Thus, I have a good option in case I am not able to go to graduate school, since from what I’ve derived engineering physics majors are actually useful in some circumstances.</p>
<p>At this point I just want to convince myself I’ve found something I want to do, because I am tired of thinking about it and I’d rather be focusing on school. It’ll probably change, of course. It just frustrates me how the most interesting and esoteric and abstract things are the most “useless” according to industry and the world of capitalism.</p>
<p>I’d still recommend using net price calculators, because their idea of how much you need may well be different from your idea of how much you need.</p>
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<p>Are double majors common/possible there? Some colleges make it harder to double major than others.
You might not necessarily have to complete a whole second major in computer science for a computer-related job, as long as you took a lot of relevant classes. </p>