- #1
marcusesses
- 24
- 1
Hello all,
I'm a university senior about to graduate with an Honours degree in Physics with a minor in Math. I know lot's of people write on here asking for advice, so I will give it a shot and hope for an enthusiastic response...
I've applied to do a Master's degree in Physics and I have an interview next week (2.5 hours long with 4 faculty members!) to determine whether I'm accepted or not.
I love physics (learning it, solving problems, inquiring about things) and I'm a pretty good student (not spectacular, but ~3.0/4.0 overall, ~3.2/4.0 Physics at a mid-size school), though I don't work as hard as I probably should.
I'm a bit torn about my options . I'm pretty sure I don't want to go into academia. From what I know, you work your butt off for 5 years to get a PhD, then another 3 years as a post-doc, then another 5 or so years as an non-tenure track professor, before getting job security at 35 (after you move to 3 different universities, or something crazy like that).
Also, writing grants , administrative duties, the "publish or perish" philosophy, and 60 hour work weeks don't appeal to me. Like I said, I love physics, but it is by no means my life.I've also had some bad experiences with professors who are very arrogant, and I have no desire to join their ranks.
My other option would be to become a high school teacher. I was initially planning to do a 2 year prep course for physics teachers ( I didn't have great teachers in high school, and sometimes I find myself thinking of ways I could teach the material better) but I extended it to an honours degree because I liked it so much. Anyway, if I choose to do that, I could be working within 2-3 years, and make a nice salary as well (I live in Canada, so I could make ~$80,000/year in a few years). The money isn't all that important, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it.
My only qualm with high school teaching is that there aren't many opportunities to learn new things. You can learn new methods of teaching, but it would be difficult to keep abreast of new research findings.
So basically my issue is this...Do I do a masters degree, learn cool things, and then have minimal career options, or teach high school, be happy enough, but not have the chance to learn or do research?
If there was a way I could mix the two, like teach high school physics, and then do a research project in something that interests me on the side, without worrying about publishing or grants, I would choose that in a second. Unfortunately, that's not the way the world works...
I'm sorry, this post is a bit long, but any advice you could throw my way would be appreciated. Thanks.
I'm a university senior about to graduate with an Honours degree in Physics with a minor in Math. I know lot's of people write on here asking for advice, so I will give it a shot and hope for an enthusiastic response...
I've applied to do a Master's degree in Physics and I have an interview next week (2.5 hours long with 4 faculty members!) to determine whether I'm accepted or not.
I love physics (learning it, solving problems, inquiring about things) and I'm a pretty good student (not spectacular, but ~3.0/4.0 overall, ~3.2/4.0 Physics at a mid-size school), though I don't work as hard as I probably should.
I'm a bit torn about my options . I'm pretty sure I don't want to go into academia. From what I know, you work your butt off for 5 years to get a PhD, then another 3 years as a post-doc, then another 5 or so years as an non-tenure track professor, before getting job security at 35 (after you move to 3 different universities, or something crazy like that).
Also, writing grants , administrative duties, the "publish or perish" philosophy, and 60 hour work weeks don't appeal to me. Like I said, I love physics, but it is by no means my life.I've also had some bad experiences with professors who are very arrogant, and I have no desire to join their ranks.
My other option would be to become a high school teacher. I was initially planning to do a 2 year prep course for physics teachers ( I didn't have great teachers in high school, and sometimes I find myself thinking of ways I could teach the material better) but I extended it to an honours degree because I liked it so much. Anyway, if I choose to do that, I could be working within 2-3 years, and make a nice salary as well (I live in Canada, so I could make ~$80,000/year in a few years). The money isn't all that important, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it.
My only qualm with high school teaching is that there aren't many opportunities to learn new things. You can learn new methods of teaching, but it would be difficult to keep abreast of new research findings.
So basically my issue is this...Do I do a masters degree, learn cool things, and then have minimal career options, or teach high school, be happy enough, but not have the chance to learn or do research?
If there was a way I could mix the two, like teach high school physics, and then do a research project in something that interests me on the side, without worrying about publishing or grants, I would choose that in a second. Unfortunately, that's not the way the world works...
I'm sorry, this post is a bit long, but any advice you could throw my way would be appreciated. Thanks.