<p>There are a gazillion things I love in science, and near the top of the list is physics. True, I haven't taken a high school physics class yet; but it's one of the most interesting majors out there. </p>
<p>However, I'm not sure what I can do with a physics major other than be a professor (which I don't really want). I may end up double-majoring, but then I wouldn't be able to take classes that I'm interested in. What opportunities are there in the physics field?</p>
<p>The simple and glib answer is that you can do anything with a B.S. in physics. The fact is that you will do something that does not necessarily involve being a “physicist”. Physics is a very broad degree. You touch on topics that cover the range of engineering disciplines as well as applied mathematics and even computer science. This means that you have the knowledge to be able to go into many different fields but you have to sell your skills rather than your degree title. Physics majors work in engineering jobs, in the financial field, in the software industry and many other places. Being a professor is not the only career that you can have with a Ph.D. in physics. There are many research physicists in industry, in government labs and at universities and they don’t have to be professors.</p>
<p>Since you don’t think you want to pursue an academic career, you need to look for internships in your summers. You should look into, among other things, the financial field, radiation health physics, programming, and engineering internships. You can improve your chances in these areas byt taking elective courses which give you those skills that these industries look for. You will probably have at least one programming course. take some more if that is interesting to you. Make sure you know how to use a 3D modeling system to design objects. This will give you an entry into an engineering internship. It is really up to you to show potential employers what you can do and learn. many employers actually like to hire physics majors because they are flexible and have good problem-solving skills.</p>
<p>Thanks! I’m actually going to be learning how to use one of the 3D modeling systems this year for one of my classes (I’m taking an engineering class), so that’ll be really useful. I’m looking into the math and computer science (as well as theoretical physics) more, but I suppose there are lots of labs for that–for example, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab does a lot of physics research (I also think I visited a particle accelerator there once, but I can’t find anything about it online).</p>
<p>Majoring in physics is fine if you learn some programming on the side. It’s easier to self-teach programming than to self-teach physics, so I’d go with physics if you’re passionate about that and learn programming in your free time.</p>
<p>Even if you don’t get hired for a physics job, you’ll probably be able to find a decent paying programming job. I have a couple years of paid work experience and familiarity with the software industry, and employers generally value quantitative degrees. The software industry hires plenty of people that didn’t major in computer science, but instead studied something quantitative and learned programming on the side. </p>
<p>I’m learning Java and PHP online (and I’m planning on learning Python and Ruby as well), and I’m probably going to minor in CS or something. I’m planning on participating in some high school hackathons in the future as well.</p>