Electrical Engineering vs Physics

[lonelypancreas]

Hi,

I'm currently a freshman electrical engineering student in a university and I'm having a dilemma if I am to transfer to physics or no. First of all, I chose my current program because of our electronics elective class in high school. I enjoyed the experiments back then and the projects as well. But in time with that, I was also taking physics then. I didn't quite enjoy the "introductory high school physics" during my junior year (we have two physics from junior to senior year) but in my senior year, it was my favorite among all classes. Senior year physics included sound waves (Doppler effects, dB's, etc.), AC & DC circuits, electromagnets, and the most interesting topic for me was Optics. I enjoyed our laboratory activity with the different kinds of lenses then. When I was still looking for a program to major in, I even considered finding an "Optical Engineering" program but unfortunately, it's not available in any universities that I've applied for. Then I ended up being accepted in Electrical Engineering. Now, I have two major classes, the Introduction to Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Programming Fundamentals in which I like the former more than the latter. But in comparison to both, I'm really enjoying my Physics class. I tend to answer book problems during spare times and finish my problem sets in advance unlike in my majors, I tend to cram everything. Even now I consider joining a physics organization. I just want to hear comments on my situation right now. I also want to know the day-to-day activities of being a physics major (or an optics physicist).

I hope that you can guide me and help me make the correct decision.

Thanks,
Claudio

 

[Benoit]

nd the most interesting topic for me was Optics. I enjoyed our laboratory activity with the different kinds of lenses then. When I was still looking for a program to major in, I even considered finding an "Optical Engineering" program but unfortunately, it's not available in any universities that I've applied for. Then I ended up being accepted in Electrical Engineering.

As I can read, you like physics even more than engineering. Neither of them is a ''better'' discipline, it depends of what you really want to do. If you major in a physics program, you will follow an optic class, but the program is not oriented only in optics, you will have to go through relativity, quantum mechanics and a lot of maths. You may want to consider a Master degree. During your master, you can specialize in optics and there are plenty of subjects to specialize in : optic fibers, photonic crystals, lenses, etc. To achieve this Master, you can major either in physics or electrical engineering. It really depends of what you want to learn during your undergraduate studies. In my personal opinion, physics is really nice, but you learn a lot of physics in engineering too, it is up to you if you want to go deeper in physics or not.