Cosmology: a good career choice?

[PhysDrew]

Thanks for the info, yeah I've got some CFD coming up in my comp maths units, so looks like I'm on the right track at least.
Thanks again

 

[twofish-quant]

Thanks for the info, yeah I've got some CFD coming up in my comp maths units, so looks like I'm on the right track at least.
Thanks again

Something else to remember is that you can only learn so much in a classroom. At some point (and the earlier the better), you'll need to go out and figure out stuff that no one else has figured out. Something that is worth doing is to try to download some astrophysics code from the internet and try to get it running, Also, some of the knowledge that is valuable is "procedural" rather than "declarative" (i.e. you can't learn how to ride a bike by reading about it.)

This makes it pretty hard to answer the question "what should I learn to get into finance?" It turns out that the bits of knowledge that are really high value are things that people haven't quite figured out, and haven't been written down.

 

[jellyfr]

Wow... I'm currently studying in France (where research is very underpaid compared to the US)... I'm in first year of "Maths Sup" or "prepa" as we call it. It's basically 2 years of intense Maths/Physics (my section) or Physics/Chemistry *** whooping, where you have about 35h of class per week, a 3-4h exam every Saturday morning and about 2-4h of work needed every day afterclass to be well graded. (Well graded means 10-12/20 is that like a C or D in the US?), most of the students get 5-7/20 (E?)... So basically it's to train you for numerous exams to enter the TOP engineering schools (and some not so top actually...) and it's a fierce competition between students...

I really can't take it anymore, especially because I don't want to be an engineer. My dream is Physics, Astro or Cosmology, even theoretical... The good news that prepa gives the equivalence of the first 2 years of Maths Physics bachelor with an automatic B, and and A for students who had 10/20 or more on regular basis (or showed great progress).
I was hoping to be able to transfer to a UK/US/CA faculty (I'm a Canadian citizen) to finish my bachelor, gor for a Physics Msc and Phd... But after reading this my dreams seem crushed.

But I really want to be close to the cosmology/astrophysics field... Now that I am aware of how improbable my dream will come true, and fully conscious that I'm not in the top 500 students that will get access to the TOP French engineering schools, I am asking:
What specific area of engineering will I be able to stay close to the physician's world, I mean... What kind of engineers designed the LHC? Electronics? Electric? There are lot's of lesser engineering schools that are specialized in particular domain, like nano-technologies, encryption... And basically all of our professors are only able to give us information on the top 30 "A+ and A schools" I know they want us to get into the best, but they really suck.

 

[mal4mac]

If you have some very set ideas of the type of job that you want, then it gets harder. For example, if you absolutely refuse to do programming, then closes a lot of doors.

No one that I know of with a physics Ph.D. is unemployed, and everyone is doing something upper middle class. I know of some physics Ph.D.'s that aren't thrilled with their job, but that's something different.

I enjoyed my first non-physics programming job a lot more than my MSc in Astronomy, even though Astronomy had been my all-consuming hobby since I was about 10. Funny old world...

 

[Entropee]

It would be cool to start this thread up again. I'm starting to have some "fears" that a double major in physics / astronomy will still leave me with a low chance of doing actual physics and astronomy as opposed to banking and or computer programming. O__o

 

[twofish-quant]

It would be cool to start this thread up again. I'm starting to have some "fears" that a double major in physics / astronomy will still leave me with a low chance of doing actual physics and astronomy

What are your chances of doing actual physics and astronomy if you don't double major in it? :-) :-) :-)

as opposed to banking and or computer programming. O__o

There is a pretty good chance that you will be doing banking or computer programming. However, if you are curious you'll find that you are doing banking and computer programming things that are like physics things.

 

[Entropee]

Explain please haha. I fail to see how banking relates to physics. Programming I could see I suppose.

 

[jspenuk]

Explain please haha. I fail to see how banking relates to physics. Programming I could see I suppose.

I think twofish-quant meant quantitative analysis, where you could be using some of the advanced maths skills acquired when studying for a physics degree. You will not be doing physics per se, of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_analysis_(finance )

 

[twofish-quant]

Explain please haha. I fail to see how banking relates to physics. Programming I could see I suppose.

Here is a random paper that gives you an idea of what I do

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1344959

 

[Entropee]

Thats actually pretty cool. As long as I am using my brain. I would however like to be working with something science related too. If possible of course.