I'm an average physics student. Where to go from here?

[Arsenic&Lace]

Hm, can the same be said for physics? That's my passion. I recall being obsessed with making a strategy game once but that passion seems to have faded.

I would do physics because I don't want to do anything else. Or maybe I'm just young and stupid and think I'd do physics because I wouldn't do anything else.

 

[bhobba]

Then stick with physics.

The action really is in graduate school anyway and physics will prepare you for many graduate options from IT to Statistics to Engineering - the usual bugbear is the math prerequisites and physics is pretty good for that - nearly as good as a math degree - in fact doing both math and physics is usually dead simple. The difference is math degrees usually require you to do your epsilonics - I say usually - my math degree required it - as IMHO it should - but checked it out recently and they removed the requirement as well as a communication requirement and a second minor or major (I did a second major in CS - but physics was popular also) - you could do nothing but math if you wanted. I thought the professional communication was a crock when I did it but 30 years of work changed my mind - it's critical.

Thanks
Bill

 

[SophusLies]

Hm, can the same be said for physics? That's my passion. I recall being obsessed with making a strategy game once but that passion seems to have faded.

I would do physics because I don't want to do anything else. Or maybe I'm just young and stupid and think I'd do physics because I wouldn't do anything else.

If you want to do physics then do physics but I would highly recommend a backup plan. I've posted my story several times on these forums so you can read more about it if you want. Essentially, I did physics/math but was constantly learning programming on the side and it helped me immensely when I was looking for a job. I mostly modeled physical systems in my spare time but I also learned about data structures and OOP either in a class or wrapped into my self-learning. If you know those two things reasonably well then you can get a job in software. Data structures is mostly for the interviews if you know what I mean, lol.

 

[Arsenic&Lace]

Can one avoid OOP? I'm not at all fond of it.

It sounds like I'm on the right track then, I'm learning various programming skills and doing decently in my coursework. It's hard for me to see why switching to a different major would have a positive effect on my job outlook. I suppose specializing in electrical engineering might open up certain jobs but it seems like with physics + EEE masters or Phd or physics Phd in solid state I'm in good shape.