I am currently going into the Colorado School of Mines in an Applied Physics major. I was wondering what type of major would be best for someone who loves futuristic research, like Nasa’s new Ion Propulsion drives, everything plasma, laser weapons, warpdrives. I’m not just interested in a research major. I want to actually learn how to build the things I want to and engineer uses for the new things discovered in physics. Actually being able to get a job would be nice too. So what would truly be the best major/minor for this??
Engineering Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science are all the closest degree’s I can think of. Would I be better off going into one of those other majors with physics as a minor, or doing a double major in them, or what? Would a masters help me? Thanks so much.
I also have a deep interest in things like astronomy, nanomachines, computer programming, and neuroscience, but have never been too interested in biology or earth sciences for whatever reason. Again thank you for any help given.
The engineering majors are probably the best for actually building real stuff, followed by computer science and physics about equally. The engineering physics major may be the best match for your interests and your career goals.
The things you’ve described either don’t exist or are in the research phase. Consequently, you won’t really find any positions where you’d be building any of these things–you would be in a research role, whether in academia or industry. The types of things you’ve described will generally require a physics degree. You might also be able to end up in that area with a mechanical engineering or electrical engineering background if you supplement it with a heavy physics background and a lot of research experience. Certainly, an engineering degree will be better for job prospects in general, though one can also leverage a physics degree for engineering positions, just takes more effort than with an engineering degree. I’m not an expert in these topics or technologies, but I’ve seen a handful of job postings for things such as laser technology, plasma physics, etc. and I’m not sure a physics minor would be sufficient. Consider either a double major in physics and engineering (or physics and CS), or an engineering physics major, if you want to have an engineer’s toolkit and job prospects. You’ll need at least a Master’s degree and probably a PhD if you want to make any significant contributions.
Thanks for the replies! So if I were to do my undergrad in say Engineering Physics, and then get a masters in Electrical Engineering, would I still be as qualified as an electrical engineer who did it the whole time or vice versa? Would that make me more valuable to some companies or only less valuable than if I had just focused on one? How much do the electives really count for? Say if i were to do an electrical engineering bachelors but did pretty much only engineering physics electives would I be much less qualified than the typical electrical engineer or is there some overlap?
Generally speaking, yes–your last degree is the most important to employers. In your hypothetical case, it would show that you have an understanding of electrical engineering at a Master’s level. That said…
…also yes, on both counts. There’s no one answer, and it will vary from company to company and even from position to position (or hiring manager to hiring manager) within a company. Generally, if you get a Master’s degree, you will limit yourself somewhat to whatever sub-field your Master’s was in, but this is not a hard rule, and it’s not inescapable. Mostly, it depends on how transferrable the skills/knowledge from your Master’s are to other areas (if you are interested in other areas). For some jobs/companies, not having certain undergrad-level EE experience/electives may make you a poorer fit for a particular job. For other jobs/companies, your engineering physics experience/electives might make you a better fit for a better job. For some jobs/companies, your graduate-level EE experience may overshadow anything you did at the undergrad level, and make you a better fit. For other jobs/companies, your graduate-level EE experience may be viewed as too different from what that particular job/company requires.
Ultimately, however, I think having the MS in EE will open up more doors than it closes, and will open more doors than the engineering physics BS closes. Plus, for the areas you’ve mentioned, having the engineering physics background might actually open up doors.
It might be a good idea to spend some time on job boards or company career websites. Look for the types of positions you could see yourself being interested in, then look at the requirements they list. Or browse LinkedIn looking for people in positions similar to what you’re interested in, and what their background is (or even message them and ask them for their opinions).