<p>Can anyone elaborate on the specialty called "Engineering Physics", which seems to be a more theoretically based engineering discipline. What job and graduate school prospects do these grads usually have?</p>
<p>I've never heard of engineering physics, and I've been in engineering for five years now... I'd be wary of its future prospects, and talk to some professors in some engineering and physics programs before I'd consider a major in it. Some fields are fairly new, like architectural engineering and like engineering physics probably is, and something to consider are the implications that come with fusing fields like that. </p>
<p>In architectural engineering, for example, you'll get something that is essentially a specialized degree in structural engineering. Unfortunately, while you may believe that you're getting a more useful structural engineering degree for building design, you actually end up jeopardizing your earning potential because architecture firms won't hire you (you don't have any actual <em>architecture</em> experience) and engineering firms pay you what they'd pay architects (which is a lot less than what they'd pay engineers).</p>
<p>So, while this is a good resource for asking about future prospects for engineering physics majors, it's a really good idea to talk to potential employers and to some very honest professors, who may even not be in the field of engineering physics, before you consider majoring in that specialty, because there may be implications attached that a student wouldn't consider... Hopefully, this gives you a direction in which to go to obtain some information, and gives you a clearer idea of what questions you might want to ask.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Sound advice aibarr...thanks!</p>
<p>A number of engineering schools have an Engineering Physics program, example: Illinois, which has had it for decades. Basically it requires taking much of the engineering curriculum, particularly in mechanics, and then also a number of advanced physics and math courses that other engineering students usually are not required to take. At UIUC, it is the hardest of all the engineering programs. It is geared more towards those intending to proceed to grad school (in physics or engineering). It has a downside in that it is not an accredited engineering program by the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology).</p>
<p>I assume ABET is not essential for further graduate study, but is lack of ABET a detriment to employment?</p>
<p>It can be particularly in any construction industry positions like working for a company that does engineering projects for the construction of buildings, roads, pipelines, etc. To be a project manager for such projects, you need a professional engineer license and one of the requirements for qualifying for such a license in states is that you have graduated from an ABET accredited program.</p>
<p>Thanks drusba...good info to have for future planning!</p>
<p>ABET only particularly has to do with PE licensing and state certification. There are a few other threads with regard to ABET accreditation and its implications, so it might answer some of your questions to search the forums for those threads.</p>
<p>If you are sure of graduate study, then ABET should not be that much of a concern.</p>
<p>Engineering physics involves a great deal of Math and Physics, much more than regular engineering programs. You take courses covering all major types of engineering and then you concentrate on one type (eg. electrical ) in your final year.</p>
<p>Its great if you want to do research and go to grad school.</p>
<p>Engineering physics (EP) programs are not ABET accredited (ABET accreditation basically means that a college gives up curriculum design to ABET), so EP programs vary widely from college to college. At some universities EP is mainly a physics program with a little engineering; at others it is mainly an engineering program with a little extra physics; and some universities let students pick and choose. Still other programs have their own special courses. But all the different programs have this at their core: more physics and mathematics and less engineering than traditional engineering programs.</p>
<p>Because graduate programs in engineering emphasize theory, EP graduates are generally very well prepared for graduate school--moreso than graduates of traditional engineering programs. EP programs with sufficient coursework in physics are also excellent preparation for physics graduate school. I suspect that because EP programs involve a lot of theory and breadth, and tend to give students a lot of choice in coursework, EP grads are also poised to excel in nano-technology, which is supposed to be the next big thing in physics, chemistry and engineering (the other contender is for "next big thing" status is bio-technology). The theory and advanced mathematics in EP also tend to make it seem "harder" than the other engineering majors.</p>
<p>It is probably hard to go into bio, chemical or environmental engineering from engineering physics, as these engineering fields also involve a lot of chemistry and biology (in the case of the bio and environmental engineering) in addition to physics, though the engineering physics major who takes chemistry and biology courses with his or her free electives would probably be well prepared for graduate school. (Maybe not as much for would-be chemical engineers because chemical process engineering is very different from anything else). </p>
<p>However, because EP programs eschew certain specialized engineering courses for advanced mathematics and physics, EP majors are less immediately prepared for work in industry after graduation. This is not to say that EP majors don't go into industry--EP certainly is broad and hard enough that EP graduates can go into many engineering jobs after graduation (most likely computer, mechanical or electrical, as civil engineering has a lot of regulation as mentioned by an earlier poster, and the chemical engineering curriculum is very different from other engineering curricula). I would suspect that more EP majors go into industry than physics majors (and physics majors certainly do get engineering jobs), but fewer than graduates of traditional engineering programs. There are also some specialized jobs that straddle the divide between science and engineering--for example, in the national labs or in AT&T's now largely defunct Bell Labs--that EP graduates are well suited for. </p>
<p>Note that in industry ABET often isn't a big deal if you come from a reasonably good school; employers will typically look at coursework completed. (The EP major who takes some technical electives in the EE department will have a good shot at working for Intel, for example). </p>
<p>Example of an EP program that is mainly physics: U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
UIUC offers EP through the physics department. EP at UIUC is basically a physics major with some engineering technical electives.</p>
<p>Example of an EP program that is mainly engineering: UC San Diego.
UCSD offers EP through the electrical engineering department. EP at UCSD is basically EE with some extensions in physics. This is an example of an EP program that would not be very good for preparation for a physics Ph.D. program, because it does not have as much theoretical content as other EP programs. (I suspect that UCSD offers this option for students who can't arent in the impacted EE program but still want to take EE classes).</p>
<p>Example of an EP program that lets stick students pick and choose: UC Berkeley.
Berkeley's EP program has no home in any department; rather, students are enrolled in an interdisciplinary program, with advisers from different participating departments. Berkeley EP majors study the key ideas of physics (classical mechanics, electromagnetism and light, quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, and thermodynamics and statistical mechanics), but can choose to take their coursework in either physics or engineering--for example, a student may choose to take electrodynamics in the EE department but to take statistical mechanics in the physics department. </p>
<p>Example of an EP program that has its own special courses: Cornell.
Cornell's EP program actually has its own set of courses; Cornell EP majors take their core courses in a special applied physics department. Students can take electives in in the applied physics department, the various engineering departments, or even some of the other science departments (biology, chemistry, etc.).</p>
<p>Quentin,
Thank you for your extensive description of engineering physics programs. My son has really enjoyed his two high school physics courses, and his two calculus courses as well. He also liked his engineering apprenticeship and totally loves his planetarium job. We have discussed it and were thinking that maybe engineering physics could bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical. What do you think? Do you know anything about engineering physics at Pitt?</p>
<p>Engineering physics programs vary widely from school to school. But as a broad generalization EP can be seen as a bridge between physics and a traditional engineering program. Whether your son should study EP in college is really up to him to decide whether he likes it or not--who knows, he may wind up falling in love with civil engineering or pure mathematics or political science. </p>
<p>The exact words on the diploma aren't as important as the material learned as evidenced to employers and grad schools by high grades in college coursework, research with professors, and/or industry experience (not surprisingly, research is more important for grad school, while industry experience is more important for going into industry). This is because grad schools and most good employers (your Intels and the like) will look at transcripts from students in who have done well in technical majors. For this reason it might be best for your son to choose a major that gives him a lot of choice for technical electives if he is unsure what he wants to study. To the extent that EP allows technical elective breadth and freedom it is a good program. However, if your son does find that he likes one particular field much more than the others, he might be better off switching majors into that one field. </p>
<p>Luckily, EP, physics and most traditional engineering programs (except chemical and bio engineering, which are very different and have heavy enough requirements to have to be planned out from day 1 in college) have very similar lower division course requirements so changing between majors shouldn't be much of a problem, unless your son's college has problems with course oversubscription and thus has impacted majors. For example, at Berkeley, Illinois and other big public engineering schools, it is often very difficult to transfer into the EE department from other engineering majors because EE is a high-demand major. Impaction tends to be less of an issue at private schools. It can also be difficult to transfer from the arts and sciences college to engineering in public schools. It is usually pretty easy to transfer from engineering to arts and sciences, however. (This is an issue because physics departments tend to be in arts and sciences, while engineering departments are in the engineering college). So from a purely logistical perspective it may be a good idea to start out in a heavily impacted major, such as EE, in the engineering college if you're not really sure what you want to study.</p>
<p>(Note that if your son wants to work in certain fields in which professional engineer [PE] certification is important, then the words on diploma do matter a lot, as the Civil Engineering graduate can fairly easily get PE certificiation while the physics graduate who took a lot of civil engineering technical electives will have a much harder time getting certified, if s/he does get certified at all).</p>
<p>I am not personally familiar with Pitt's EP program, but looking at their web site it looks like their EP program is a hybrid electrical-materials-physics major. Their program looks like it would be good preparation for grad school in EE, materials, or physics, or for work in the semiconductor industry. However, it does not seem to offer much choice at all in terms of technical electives. Here's a link: <a href="http://www.engr.pitt.edu/materials/physics/curriculum.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.engr.pitt.edu/materials/physics/curriculum.html</a>.</p>