Advice Needed for Physics Enthusiast in Early Thirties

[The_Novice]

Fellow physics enthusiasts, I'm in my early thirties and pharmacy school is just not panning out. I need more in my short life here on Earth and I envy people like Newton, Einstein and other great physicists for combining mathematics, philosophy to solve real issues.

I can't stop thinking about the cosmos. Furthermore, I'm intrigued about the laws of nature hidden in complicated physics and math that keep us circling the sun. I'm not looking to be a full fledge physicist and earning my PhD and all that. I realize I'd like to follow in my professor's footsteps and share my enthusiasm with students at the community college level. She had her MS and she was unbelievable articulate.

The highest math I took is calc 1. I'm inkling to change major and apply for the physics degree, but first, this summer I'm working feverishly on physics and calc 1 problems to bring me up to speed. I thought about mechanical/aerospace engineering, but I'm not sure if I can deal with the politics of management to get ahead. I've heard many negatives about engineering. So I wonder if I'd better stay in pharmacy where I can earn a good living, stability and quietly enjoy physics, which is hardly what I want to do. I must also point out that I was recently married and forever now, there is always the stress of income and residual loan payments from pharmacy (should I not finish). I really love physics and astronomy though.

The following link about mechanical engineering piqued my interest, but then I realize that jobs at NASA are supper competitive and they are retiring a bunch of spacecraft s. There are too many links I could share about physics.

Any advice is truly appreciated.

http://videolicca.com/videos/qcG47OQBR58/mechanical-engineer--day-in-the-life"

 

[micromass]

As I usually say: be very, very careful with your decision. Since you've only gone up to calc 1, I can safely say that you have no clue what real physics is about. This means that there's a chance that you'll love physics and be good at it, but there's always the chance that you will really dislike it.

Physics is not the glamourous science that the pop-sci books say it is. It is also not philosophising about the universe. It are very cold, hard calculations. Basically, if you dislike mathematics, then you will dislike physics.

The best thing to do now is brush up your mathematics and study some calc based physics simultaneously. If that works out and if you still love it, then your safe to go. Otherwise, you have some thinking to do...

 

[elkement]

Fellow physics enthusiasts, I'm in my early thirties and pharmacy school is just not panning out. I need more in my short life here on Earth and I envy people like Newton, Einstein and other great physicists for combining mathematics, philosophy to solve real issues.

I can understand you - there were times when I had similar thoughts when I was working in different fields in physics / engineering / IT. The following was very helpful for me - either in making changes in my career or actually changing my attitude.

I sort of tried to achieve my goals 'sequentially' by switching fields of expertise from time to time. At the university I thought I need this one and only job or field of research that might include all those interesting aspects. Today I look back and think I did cover quite some range. If I would have expected to do this from the beginning (while not changing what I did - just changing my attitude) things would have been much easier.

I did some quite serious self-study in philosophy (based on these intentions) incl. biographical facts. Actually my impression is that many of these 'great men of science' might have similar problems still. Spinoza made his living by grinding lenses, Blaise Pascal was a judge and Leibniz complained about his boring life as a cival servant. Or they had different problems so to say - read the excellent biography on Newton by John Gleick.

In the middle of a career in industry I would have had the chance to return to academia, to to a field that included true interdisciplinary aspects. I have however turned that offer down after some sleepness nights. It became crystal-clear to me that I would rather pursue a career that is say 85% fulfillling in terms of these polymath intentions. But it would give me the chance (financially and otherwise)
- to change the subject I am working on a bit every few years (This is what I actually did successfully)
- to control the way I work and how I work in a way that provides me with free time and/or flexibility in order to pursue these additional interests. I have been working some years now in IT security and I still like it a lot. But am seriously considering to go for another degree 'for fun' and in order to shift my focus again (to a field which is loosely related, but more hands-on / engineering again).

The hardest part was that on every so-called change other people in the same community might be shocked. Now I am able to prove by my track record that it is / was possible to switch fields and still be successful in each of these fields and I don't care so much about these reactions any more.

So what I am trying to say: If you study pharmacy now it does not mean you need to do this for the rest of your life. But it could provide you with a financial basis that allows you to take another step in the future.