<p>Oooh…a PhD eh? You sure? This isn’t 1970- The golden age of physics is over. It is very hard to get a research position as a physicist these days. You may have to work as a post-doc for 10 or more years AFTER getting a Ph.D (witch already takes a long time) earning only ~25-30K a year before getting a position at a university. I know this might sound odd, me saying that you can make 50K a year with a B.S in physics but only 30K with a Ph.D , but this is because most people with a B.S in physics move into fields other than physics, like CS or economics. Read this paper about it, it should fill you in on the glumness of trying to do physics professionally quite nicely: [Don’t</a> Become a Scientist!](<a href=“http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html]Don’t”>http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html)</p>
<p>I feel kinda bad bearing this news, but I will say this. If you think you’ll enjoy physics so much that you don’t care about how much you’ll make for the next 20 years of your life, or you think that you are so good at physics that you can be the next Feynman, go for it and have a blast. I know all this physics salary stuff because there was I time I too wanted to get a Ph.D in physics, however I have changed my mind because I also want to make good money and there are other fields I am interested in. I’d recommend seriously thinking about getting a Ph.D in engineering or computer science if you’re sure you want to do research, as people with Ph.D’s in those fields can make ~the low six figures right after getting their doctorates (if they did well in grad school and went to a good one) and those fields are similar to physics (especially engineering) . However, If after seriously considering other options you find that you still want a Ph.D in physics, don’t let other people keep you from achieving your dream.</p>
<p>Oh also, If you think you want to go to grad school, read this: <a href=“http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache%3A2Z3r4KrMw34J%3Awww.cs.cmu.edu%2F~harchol%2Fgradschooltalk.pdf+grad+school+recoomendations+GPA+3.5+carnegie+computer+science&hl=en&gl=us&pli=1[/url]”>http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache%3A2Z3r4KrMw34J%3Awww.cs.cmu.edu%2F~harchol%2Fgradschooltalk.pdf+grad+school+recoomendations+GPA+3.5+carnegie+computer+science&hl=en&gl=us&pli=1</a></p>
<p>It contains a lot of useful information about what grad schools look for, and what you should do as an undergrad to get into a top grad school. Even though it is written for CS students, the info is still relevent for all engineering/hard science fields</p>