Physics a worthless degree?

elabed haidar

im from lebanon and i really want to become an engineer with a good degree , and the only way for this to happen is going to australllia , where i was born but you know family here is vey tight , thats one of the main reasons i couldnt go there earlier , but i really want to , so i dont know what's life going to offer me? i just want to know if i have a pure physics bachelor , may i become a mechanical engineer ? or its all over for me , and i have to stick to the fack that im going to be become a professor in physics? please be honest

chiro

I live in Australia, and to get an accredited degree in engineering you complete four years at an accredited university and do 12 weeks of work experience at recognized institution.

Most physics (research) pathways require a standard Bachelor of Science (Physics) degree plus a good honors degree (coursework + mini thesis) before you get accepted into a PhD program.

Many Australian universities have course outlines for each subject on their respective websites, so you might want to check that out.

Lavabug

I think the people expressing that opinion are being very honest. Doing what you like for a living is a privilege, people say it doesn't feel like a job. Most people have to haul through manual labor or other unpleasant jobs to make a living.

You have a very wrong idea if you think merely having the degree entitles you to not only a well-paying job, but a cool job as well.

I'm sure professional musicians and artists (the ones that make enough money to live) are in a similar if not worse predicament.

elabed haidar

what if i finish the three years in physics and go to australlia and switch to engineering by going to sydney university , and have a master in professional engineer ???

twofish-quant

Depends on the type of engineer. If you are interested in electrical engineering or software engineering, then you just find someone that is willing to hiring you and put engineer in your business card.

The usefulness of a professional engineering qualification depends on the field of engineering. In civil engineering, it's pretty much required, whereas in electrical and software engineering, it's irrelevant.

twofish-quant

Physics departments have been in crisis since the late 1960's.

see http://web.mit.edu/dikaiser/www/CWB.html

Physics is not the type of degree that you just get the degree and then turn it into money. You do need to think very creatively about what you can do with your degree, but it can work out.

Ryker

Are you talking about Physics in general, or just research being done at your school? In either case, assuming you're an undergrad that hasn't made any significant breakthroughs to advance the knowledge of humanity and hence not knowing how hard it is to do so, what makes you qualified to say that the ventures undertaken are unremarkable or crakcpottish?

twofish-quant

On the other hand if it's interesting work, and they pay $$$$$, I don't really care much what it involves.

twofish-quant

If you don't like it, then don't do it.

I don't think that's the attitude. One reason I'm an interesting case study is that things turned out ****really**** well for me.

I got my astrophysics Ph.D., ended up with a nice job.

One thing that is important is attitude. The physics degree is not a meal ticket. You aren't going to be able to take the degree and then exchange it directly for money. You have to be creative and think about what you can do with it. But that's the sort of thing that I like to do.

But there is life after graduate school.......

But it is going to cause problems with the long term US economy. One problem is that in order to make physics attractive you have to put money into physics, and that involves government spending, and that involves basically rethinking the way that the US economy or any economy is structured.

It's a "we" not a "you."

If not physics then what? (Seriously). One thing about physics is that you get to think deeply about how the world works, and that sometimes keeps you out of problems.

chiro

Engineering programs here don't give much credit. You will probably get at the most credit for introductory maths, physics, chemistry and nothing else.

The engineering programs are more or less specialized and have demanding labs that train very specific skills.

If you want to become an engineer in Australia, get into any accredited engineering course. If you have an interest in physics, then do a double degree or self-study physics in your own time.

One thing I should point out is there is two kinds of engineering programs in Australia. The first is the conventional four year degree. In four years you take all the maths, physics, chemistry, and engineering specific projects in four years and do an internship for 12 weeks to get an accredited degree (in Australia).

The other kind takes five years. You do a three year degree in a science type degree and if you are eligible, you do a two year Masters course which at the end of the Masters, gets you the same accreditation that the four year course does.

If you just want to become an engineer I would do the four year course simply because it takes less time, less money, and has a stronger focus on engineering.

If you want more information about the five year program look at the University of Melbourne website. For any of the four year programs some include ANU, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, and many other universities.

elabed haidar

im talking about doing a master in professional engineer in university of sydney , and ive read if i do physics then i do three years master in professional engineer , ill have a master degree in professional engineer
but i have 3 questions :
1) which type of engineer is best these days and why??
2) how can i make sure that my degree in the lebanese university (government) can be accepted in australlia?
3) if i did pure physics , may i still become an engineer in telecommunication or its better to do in mechanical engineer which is also gd?

Immanuel Can

So 1 out of 10 physics PhDs acquire a professorship, which entails research. But how many physics PhDs out of 10, including the 1 the gets the professorship, actually end up with a job in their field? At research institutes, national labs, research positions at universities, etc... and not just some programming/IT/engineering/wall street job not really pertaining to physics research?

Ryker

OK, if your answer is zero, then it seems you're suggesting not even the professor gets a job in Physics, which is odd to say the least.I don't think you get the point of a national lab.

Inna

The concept of Physics serving as a filter reminds me of a joke that circulated in my grad school:

A graduate TA is teaching Physics to a bunch of pre-med students. In the middle, a student raises his hand:

"And why do we need to know all this?"

Without missing a beat, the TA replies: "Physics saves lives."

"Oh, yeah? How does Physics save lives?"

"It does not let idiots into medical school."

twofish-quant

Ummmm..... Wall Street, engineering, and software companies hire physics Ph.D.'s because the problems that they have pertain to physics research.

What is physics research? My definition is using math to explain the world. It turns out that my career has basically revolved around researching ways to solve one equation, that finds itself all over the place.

d_t phi = del^2 phi

In case you are interested in what that is.

twofish-quant

Answer:

You don't.

twofish-quant

Personally, I don't think they should. I was able to get my physics degree through heavy government subsidized loans and grants. The reason for this is that at some people in the late-1950's, someone figured it would be a bad thing if all of the physicists were Russian, and no one in the US could build bombs that worked. Billions of dollars followed.