What do physicists do and how do I become one?

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mahindra27
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Hi, i am an 8th grader and i was wondering about how it would be like to be a physicist! first of all what do you do as physicist (if you could go in detail about it that would be great) also i would like to know if it is a tedious job. its not like care but how much does it pay? if i were to be a physicist what should i currently focus on in school, like what subjects of course it would be math and science but i would like to know what branches in math and science i should focus on (i would most like be an astrophysicist). i would be glad if anyone could answer any of these questions
 
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At the 8th grade level it doesn't really matter if you "focus" on one thing or another- you're going to have to take the survey courses as well as the "Big 4"- Quantum Mech, Thermo/Stat Mech, Classical Mech, and Electromagnetism at some point in your educational career. Specializing in "astrophysics" usually doesn't happen until graduate school.
 
fss said:
At the 8th grade level it doesn't really matter if you "focus" on one thing or another- you're going to have to take the survey courses as well as the "Big 4"- Quantum Mech, Thermo/Stat Mech, Classical Mech, and Electromagnetism at some point in your educational career. Specializing in "astrophysics" usually doesn't happen until graduate school.

thanks for the replay, it helped.