- #1
quark001
- 44
- 0
I am a first-year student majoring in physics and (for the time being) philosophy. The courses that I'm taking would also allow me to major in pure maths or applied maths. During my final year at high school, I felt reasonably sure that I wanted to be a physicist. My grades for maths and physics were always good. However, I have recently become disillusioned with the idea of being a physicist. It's not that I dislike physics. It's just it seems to me that to work in physics you need to be incredibly talented and above all, very, very dedicated. You need to know lots of maths, be able to code, work in a lab, write reports and have a good conceptual understanding of all these things, which is quite a diverse range of skills. I get the idea that physicists work much harder than, for example, applied mathematicians. And that the work is generally tougher. I have other interests in life as well, and I'm scared that if I pursue a career in physics, it will eat all my time up. I am a girl and although I don't want to be a housewife with nothing to do all day, I would like to have a family and spend time doing things that aren't work-related (I have many hobbies). At the same time, although I often find physics difficult and frustrating (my current grades are not comparable to the grades I got in high school), physics is the one subject area that I have the most respect and awe for. I am not sure whether I should keep my physics major, because it is tough and time-consuming. And yet I love physics. I'm just not sure whether I will be able to lead a happy, balanced life as a physicist or physics student. (I sometimes envy those humanities students who always seem to have so much time on their hands.) What what you do if you were in my position? Any advice or comments would be much appreciated.
