Physics Minor or Major for EECS Students?

[RubinLicht]

I'm majoring in ee for sure, maybe eecs if I get into Berkeley or MIT (unlikely but who knows what the future holds). I would also like to learn a lot of physics to build that kind of thinking and a solid background for situations in which I go into research and development in the industry. My questions are:
1. Is the job prospect any better for a person who has physics major rather than physics minor on his resume?
2. If so, are the extra base course requirements (i think like seven humanities courses, "breadth courses" if you will) worth the major, or should I just save some time and do a minor?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Are you prepared for the task load of a double Major?

 

[RubinLicht]

Are you prepared for the task load of a double Major?

Ye, I'm from a decently good high school (i don't know how they rank schools, but it's ranked in the 200-300 range in the US), take five or six APs every year and still have time left over to play piano, exercise, and study for physics Olympiad. I'm mostly just trying to choose between the word "major" and the lessened requirements/increased freedom of a minor

 

[Crek]

Physics major does nothing for you, the areas of study for EE within physics will be a small subsection of the curriculum and physics provides no qualifications over what's gained with an EE degree. Pointless.

 

[RubinLicht]

Physics major does nothing for you, the areas of study for EE within physics will be a small subsection of the curriculum and physics provides no qualifications over what's gained with an EE degree. Pointless.

Perhaps you might consider that I'm not taking it to get better at ee, but rather for interest or knowledge? The lead researcher at my dad's company that makes ultrasound oceanography devices took a lot of physics classes and says it's been useful very frequently

 

[Crek]

Perhaps you might consider that I'm not taking it to get better at ee, but rather for interest or knowledge? The lead researcher at my dad's company that makes ultrasound oceanography devices took a lot of physics classes and says it's been useful very frequently

So take what ever physics classes you want, the physics major/minor though is pointless.

 

[Choppy]

The point of a physics major in this context is that it would qualify you for graduate studies in physics. A degree in electrical engineering with a physics minor may or may not quaify you for graduate school in physics depending a lot on the specifics of your program and the schools you apply to.

If you're pretty sure that graduate school in physics isn't going to be an option for you then it's not necessary to add in the full second major. What you might consider doing is going through the course calendar at your school and identifying the courses that you'd really like to take (and their prerequisites). Then based on the courses you want, decide on what program those will best fit into.