Hello, I have a couple quick questions about majoring in engineering at my school. Basically, I received a full-ride scholarship at the school I’m going to this fall, but they don’t have an engineering program. However, they do have a pre-engineering program where you go to their school for 2 years and then transfer somewhere else for the last two years. The thing is, since I have a good scholarship at my current school I’d prefer to stay there all four years. I’m thinking about majoring in physics with the intent of becoming an engineer. Would majoring in physics over engineering hurt me in the long-run as far as jobs and graduate programs go?
Physics will not prepare you for a career in engineering. There may be a few jobs in engineering that rely on understanding physics in a big way, but they certainly are not typical.
Engineering is applying math and science skills in developing and maintaining a product. Engineering classes develop those “applying” skills that you would not get a just the study of a branch of science such as physics.
You can go BS Physics and then pursue a MS in engineering, but it’s a very expensive option, especially if you can’t take undergraduate engineering courses to supplement your physics degree.
If you’re concern with cost, a better option would be the pre-engineering program and then transfer into a engineering program for your BS. That gives you the option of working much sooner; the Physics/engineering MS route is very long and would cost you several years of potential income, That’s before considering the cost of pursuing the MS, which likely would not be funded.
Also the engineering program will give you better access to internships, co-ops, and design teams. If you can make the economics work, that really is the better option.
Look for 3-2 programs your school might have…you do 3 years at your school (make sure to take the early eng classes like Calc, Chemistry physics etc) and then 2 at an Engineering school and you get diploma from both.