<p>I am seeking input on the possibility of this double major. Would there be much overlap in the courses and would I still be able to go to grad school. Also if i wish to go into finance would I have enough qualifications for a masters in quantitative finance. Any input is appreciated.</p>
<p>First of all, why would you want to do this? Especially if you don’t plan on physics grad school.</p>
<p>Overlap is going to be school specific. Check the curriculum at your prospective schools.</p>
<p>Why do these to go into financial engineering? Are you trying to go Ivy?</p>
<p>Double majoring is a waste of time and not worth it. Also, employers look down on double majors.</p>
<p>I wanted to leave grad school open for both options,as I would be able to have the core classes necessary and some extra. I am not going to an ivy, it is just to see if I wished to do it in the future would it be possible, it’s not what I am leaning towards.</p>
<p>You don’t need to major in physics to go to grad school in it. Just take the core classes that don’t overlap as electives.</p>
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<p>I am not too sure about that. Maybe the similarity or the relationship of the two majors plays a role. Many Math/CS-emphasis majors are hired into software development almost as much as CS-only majors.</p>
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Eh, that doesn’t really prove much. CS on the software side is a ‘hot’ field, and even mediocre CS guys find good jobs. It’s no surprise that a math/CS guy could find a job.
However, it’s pretty hard to argue with that double majoring is a waste of time.</p>
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<p>Actually, you just gave a reason to double/dual major. Maybe the Math/CS actually wanted to get into more mathematical job but could not and had the additional skills to get into the “hot” field as a backup plan.</p>
<p>Employers think that applicants with double majors are not committed to the discipline that they are hiring for. They think that the applicant will switch to other discipline in a moment, so why bother hiring them. Employers value loyalty and commitment.</p>
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<p>For those jobs with 10,000 applicants for 10 openings, yes, they CAN value loyalty and commitment. For jobs with 10,000 openings and 10 applicants, it becomes “hire them before that other defense contractor down the street hires them.”</p>
<p>Loyalty and commitment??..LMAO. Software engineers now stay an average of 18 months with an employer…especially the ones doing defense/homeland security work. The biggest bump in pay comes from changing employers.</p>
<p>ee physics double major might make sense if you wanna go into solid state or electromagnetics. There is overlap between these two fields and having both a electrical engineering background while also a physics background can certainly help you in the future I would think.
But you wanna do finance so I dont even know why I wrote this.</p>
<p>No the finance question was asking about if it is possible to get into such a job, it is something physics majors/ usually PhDs may go into if they are out of choice. I wanted to know if the last ditch option was there, but thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Physics->Finance is what you do at schools like MIT/Stanford/Berkeley to gain a quantitative background and be recruited by a finance company for IB. Unless you have a high GPA at a name-brand school(not necessarily top in its field, just Ivy/Stanford/MIT/Berkeley), this option is closed to you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t double major. If your aim is physics grad school, your best option is a physics undergrad degree or a really solid EE degree.</p>
<p>But for you, I recommend engineering physics with an EE concentration. Not every school has an eng. phys. program, and they aren’t all the same. At my school you have a lot of flexibility, you can make it like majoring in engineering with a beefed up minor in physics, or you can make it like majoring in physics with a beefed up minor in engineering, at at my school you get to choose from among eight engineering concentrations (I’m CS).</p>
<p>I would second the suggestion to do an undergrad in EE with a physics minor and definitely some extra electives to leave the physics grad school option on the table. Some grad programs will give conditional acceptances to applicants lacking a few undergrad prereqs. I think you would need to have at least a year of junior level classical mechanics and electrodynamics along with at least one semester of quantum, but for all I know they may accept people in to physics grad programs with less background than that (but I’d say it’s doubtful).</p>
<p>I was having the same dilemma but decided to go with just physics. The reason I chose physics was because it is easier to transition from physics to EE than EE to physics in grad school. Another reason is because I’m more interested in the physics oriented EE research areas such as electromagnetics, optics, accelerator physics, etc. In my opinion, it is much better to do physics and take a few of the more interesting EE classes than the other way around. At my school, the double major in EE and Physics is more for the person who wants to go to graduate school in EE but just wants to take quantum as an undergrad. This is what the physics adviser tells me at least. It is better to be strong in one discipline than to be mediocre in two. Also, it will be very time consuming, and if you’re thinking about grad school then focusing on research would be much more important than trying to do the double major.</p>
<p>Most physics PhD programs accept non-physics majors and the way they do this is by requiring the student to take some undergrad courses. Some really dedicated students will teach themselves what they lack.</p>