I know it depends largely on which concentration you choose within Engineering Physics, but does anyone have an idea of what careers one could have with a Bachelor’s in Engineering Physics?
I plan on concentrating in either Chemical Synthesis, Environmental Engineering, Materials Science, Polymer Science, or Astrophysics/Astronomy.
I know my job prospects for a particular field would be better if I just majored in that in the first place, but I do like the theoretical aspect as much as the applied, as well as physics in general, so I thought this major would be better for me.
@datboi17 - A physics degree, and particularly an Engineering or Applied Physics degree can lead you to positions as an engineer in small or large companies. The Engineering component of the program, along with the design requirements will provide you the basic training needed to access these careers. More generally, physics majors have careers in the software industry, as technical workers in startups and in other R&D laboratories and more and more these days, data science. The American Institute of Physics publishes statistics on jobs for graduates with a B.S. in physics.
My experience as a faculty member for over 30 years bears this out. physics majors generally have no trouble finding jobs but they don’t necessarily work in physics.
CS knowledge is useful for engineers, but what languages are important depend on what you are doing. The paper for the minor isn’t worth anything. In fact, it may force you to take more classes than you need just for the sake of the paper, causing you to miss out on important engineering classes.
Knowing computation is important. Some physics curricula have scientific programming courses. The more formal CS courses may or may not be useful to you.
@xraymancs@eyemgh so I’d rather do a minor in something like environmental engineering. Would you recommend I just take a few programming classes to give me some useful skills without ask the formal CS stuff?
Wait until you get a little deeper in and you will find out what language(s) will be useful and what classes you’ll get them in.
As for the minor in anything, the majority opinion out here will be take the classes you want to take without the constraint of a specific curriculum to get a piece of paper that will be largely ignored by employers (they’ll look at your classes).
My son is an ME and he uses both Matlab and Python in addition to LabView, C+ and assembler. That doesn’t include the programs like Solidworks, AutoCAD and Revit that he uses that aren’t programming per se, but could be lumped in as useful computer programs. My point is, his curriculum and subinterests within it, along with summer jobs led him to develop proficiency in those, not some premeditated planning. Be patient. What you need will become clear to you. If you try to anticipate, you risk wasting time on stuff you’ll never use. One caveat is that most languages have a commoness to them. If you study one, the others will be easier. Python through Code Academy is a good summer project. Good luck!