<p>I'm a physics major, and after perusing the internet/this forum, it seems like the job options for someone who wants to pursue research or have a high level analytical career are incredibly rare. I just wanted to ask what job options with possible career advancement exist for physicists/geophysicists - I mean, I'd love to go into government research or academia, but I also don't want to get a PhD, go through a postdoc, and have no plan B if it doesn't work out. I've had some research experience, and I'm currently working in a lab, and the more time I spend doing physics or studying for my classes, the more I love it. The prospect of never being able to find a job that uses these skills is pretty demoralizing...</p>
<p>What kind of research are you involved in? Are you for sure considering graduate school?</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore, so I still have a lot of time to decide against graduate school. But I love learning about physics, and I especially love the blend of creativity and analytical skills that research offers. I’ve done experimental pure physics over the summer, and I’m currently doing geophysics research during semester. So I’d say that I’m definitely considering graduate school, although nothing’s certain. If I can get a viable career post graduate school (be it in academia, industry, or the government), I’d almost definitely go, but if I’m worse off than if I just have a BS, I’m not too sure. I wouldn’t do it for the money, but I also don’t want to be 40 and underemployed with no prospects.</p>
<p>Neither physics nor geophysics will leave you underemployed - don’t let all the doom and gloom that populates this board get you down. You should plan on grad school though, for either specialty (at least through an M.S., possibly a Ph.D. depending on what type of work you want to end up doing).</p>
<p>I’m not a physicist, so I won’t pretend to know much about current job options in that field, aside from the usual suspects of engineering, finance, government research, and academia. Geophysicists, however, are extremely employable in the oil/gas/mining sectors. They also find work in natural hazard consulting-type work, depending on the flavor of geophysics (maybe less of this if you’re a core-mantle-boundary-type). My own field, reinsurance, also has a respectable scattering of folks interested in modeling earthquake hazards. Of course, geophysicists also have the classic options of government research and academia.</p>
<p>A PhD opens many doors for researchers, but you can work on most projects with only a Masters degree. The dirty secret of science is that most individuals on projects (even at NASA and other government labs) only have Masters degrees. Eventually you can work your way into a PhD position at many places, but some will require a PhD for certain roles: e.g. lead researcher. It’s unlikely that you will ever be making decisions or applying for grants (at least initially) without a PhD, but you never know.</p>
<p>Based on what you’ve said, I’d say that you should do a Masters degree. It’ll give you a flavor of graduate level research, while having a finite duration and won’t impact you too much financially. You can bail if you don’t like graduate level research afterwards into well paying jobs in many fields (with a Masters in Physics or Geophysics). </p>
<p>Make sure to take lots of computing courses: the most employable individuals are ones with strong computer science backgrounds.</p>
<p>How are job prospects in Geology/Geophysics outside of the oil industry? I really want to get into environmental geology and/or hydrology, but I can’t seem to find much information on their outlooks. Also, is it better to get a Physics major with an emphasis in geophysics, or a Geology major with an emphasis in geophysics? The geology major would require no upper division physics courses, but they could be taken as electives if needed. I’m planning on graduate school, if that helps.</p>
<p>My school actually does have a Hydrology major, but I get the feeling that I shouldn’t specialize as an undergraduate.</p>