engineering physics

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>are engineering physics degrees any good?</p>

2

<p>Any good for what?</p>

3

<p>well… careers, personal enrichment, grad school etc…</p>

4

<p>Personal enrichment? Of course. Grad School? no doubt.</p>

5

<p>Good for all of the above.</p>

<p>I am a fan of broad and somewhat interdisciplinary-type majors because one can move between different engineering positions.</p>

<p>If I had to do college all over again, I would either choose the major I did (Math) or Engineering Physics/Engineering Science with the core CS major courses.</p>

6

<p>^why so? engineering physics sounds really cool, but it doesn’t seem to lend itself too much to a career or academia</p>

7

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<p>Since I work in the defense industry, the engineering physics background could have me working on system engineering projects and/or scientific software development projects. If I wanted to go on to graduate school, I could select either physics, EE, CompE or CS as a graduate major. Now it may not be enough for research in university-level academia but the mix of courses could allow me to have “side jobs” being an instructor for a few science, math or engineering courses for distance-learning.</p>

8

<p>I asked the Cornell guys. Check it out</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1004083-anyone-ep-engineering-physics.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1004083-anyone-ep-engineering-physics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>From a Canadian standpoint, I’m pretty sure the Engineering Science degree from the University of Toronto is very good.</p>

<p>It’s very theoretical rather than hands-on, and it aims more towards graduate school rather than industry after graduation. At the U of T, you have many classes which tend to bring your GPA down.</p>

<p>In the end, you would get lots of personal satisfaction from succeeding in the program, but your low GPA (compared to other Engineering majors such as EE) may hinder your chances at grad school. Also, it may affect your abilities to get a job because some employers don’t know about it.</p>

<p>Overall, choose it if you would like to get a very nice education, and that you believe you can do well in the program.</p>

10

<p>An EP program at a good school is generally harder than EE or ME. In the last 2 years of an undergrad degree you must complete design courses in electrical, mech or aero engr.</p>

<p>It is harder than a traditional engr. degree, and you may have a lower GPA, but when you get in to the workplace, particularly in aerospace and defense industries, you’re much better off.</p>

11

<p>EP is certainly a lot harder than Most Engineering majors simply because it’s broad and you need to learn a lot of physics. When you apply for jobs, most employers look for a degree that is specialize in something particular and EP certainly does not. EP degree is good for grad school if you want to do research in the future though.</p>

<p>I was asking my advisor about Engineering Physics and she doesn’t even know the university offer that degree XD. I guess it’s not that popular.</p>

12

<p>darkspy123: No offense, but if you’re advisor doesn’t know about your university’s EP program, then you may want to get more information elsewhere.</p>

<p>I am an EP degree holder, with design courses in EE, and grad work in EE. The problem is that most EE majors don’t know electricity & magnetism very well, nor do they have an understanding of quantum mechanics beyond modern physics. Further, most EEs don’t see a use for thermodynamics as well. All of these topics are very valuable as you do designs in the real world and it pays off. What I didn’t get was engineering economics, sophomore EE labs, and computer architecture. However, my circuit design skills are better than EEs and I understand design limitations and control theory better than my colleagues.</p>

13

<p>The way it works at OSU is you basically take the Theoretical Physics BS curriculum and then thirty quarter hours of engineering in any of the “big” engineering disciplines. Pretty cool. I’m going to pair it with a CompE or CSE degree (haven’t made up my mind). So it’s like a major in physics with a minor in some type of engineering. I can see savvy employers finding it useful.</p>

14

<p>Re: downsides of U of T. </p>

<p>U of Toronto transcripts come with grades beside each course, as well as the course average. The translation of percentage grades also works favorably for those looking to cover to letter grades or GPA. Thus an 85% average is an A and a 4.0.</p>