The Real Science Gap: An Overview

[twofish-quant]

Define 'doing well'. Because I'm pretty sure I disagree.

Doing well means that getting a some that gets you a middle class standard of living without too much effort.

In a "really bad" economy, do all degrees perform equally well with regards to finding a job? Like would I be equally likely to get a job with a BS in engineering vs. a BS in sociology? Do you have a reference to support this?

I'm making a guess based on what I've read about the Great Depression. One problem with looking for references and statistics is that getting references for something that hasn't happened yet is pretty hard.

Basically, it's a lot easier to find funding because there is an immediate benefit to people if you do something that leads to the development of better cancer treatments vs. finding funding to come up with a new test for string theory.

It is, but if funding gets cut anyone, you are pretty much screwed. If you want to see that happen, just read the news. It's not a prediction, its what's happening right now.

You think the risk of putting in 100 hours a week for 6 years and THEN working retail afterwards because everyone hates physics PhDs is good?

Yes. See the posts by ParticleGrrl. The problem is that the location where physics jobs are is very dependent on location, and if you have a constraint that prevents you from moving, then you may well have to find a job that doesn't use a physics Ph.D.

You are thinking too much in terms of statistics and probabilities. What you'll often find is that there is some special issue that keeps those from applying. If I tell you that most physicists can make a lot of money, and those jobs are in NYC, but you have to stay in San Diego, then the statistics are pretty useless for you.

But I don't particularly want to manage a Walmart. Which is a problem if that's all I can get after spending 6 years at 100 hours a week getting a phd in particle physics.

It's easier to get what you want, if you are flexible about what you want. It helps a lot if people keep an open mind about what's out there.

What should these 2 kids do, respectively?

Sorry. It's not my place to tell people what to do. I try *very* hard not to tell people what they should do, because I'm not them. What I can do is to provide information and then people can make their own decisions on what to do.