<p>Three options that come to mind for a Theo. Physics major are:</p>
<p>A) Actuary. The actuarial field requires any type of quant-background coupled with passing some of the "Actuarial Exams". Surely a Theo. Physics could take a couple probability electives to get the material to succeed on those exams.</p>
<p>B) Interdisciplinary Engineering. For example, go to Raytheon's career website and search "Systems Engineering". There are alot of Engineering positions that will welcome a Physics or Math background.</p>
<p>C) Software Engineering. SWE jobs are often forgiving of major provided you can code. So if you learned some C++ etc. throughout your college years (or on side projects) you can be a contender for software positions.</p>
<p>The positions you would alienate yourself from are the "specialist" positions like CAD Designer, etc.</p>
<p>what if youre a theo physics major who doesnt like to program?</p>
<p>also, is actuary actually good for a theo physics major? i heard they use more business and finance related skills as opposed to the heavy math physics majors are used to</p>
<p>Theoretical physics is a pretty useless field when it comes to practicality in the real world so you need a Ph.D to get a job that uses theoretical physics, whether teaching or wall street.</p>
<p>“Theoretical physics is a pretty useless field when it comes to practicality in the real world so you need a Ph.D to get a job that uses theoretical physics, whether teaching or wall street.” - lots of theoretical physicists work in industry.</p>
<p>CS is pretty much a applied math degree, but from what Ive seen Engineering Physics has to take the most actual math classes, due usually to partial differential equations.</p>
<p>“Theoretical physics is a pretty useless field when it comes to practicality in the real world so you need a Ph.D to get a job that uses theoretical physics, whether teaching or wall street.”
which is why i dont want to do theo physics, and am looking into either engineering or applied math. which do you guys think is better? if you dont like to program or do experiments</p>
<p>I think your understanding of theoretical physics is flawed. Theoretical physics isn’t just superstring theory. There’s significant areas of theoretical physics that have a lot of practical applications. Most of the time on a job in industry you do a lot of calculations using a physics background. A huge advantage of physics over a lot of engineering degrees is that a physicist’s background is broad enough to be of value in many disciplines. Mechanical engineers tend to know a lot about their field while electrical engineers know a lot about their field. Physicists apply their knowledge in both areas.</p>
<p>lets say one has done an REU in experiemental physics. is theoreticla physics still an option for him? i mean, are the same researches done in experiemntal the same as in theoretical?</p>
<p>also, wats better for someone like me who enjoys applied math and theoretical physics but wants to work in industry?
for grad school, do applied math with physics background, or do mech E?</p>