What should I study in college for a career involving math and physics?

[sebas531]

What to do with my life...

Hello, my name is Sebastian and I am in 12th grade. I do not know what to study in college. In the past two years of my life I have realized that school (learning) is what I enjoy the most. School has become my hobby, my sport, my life (other than God.) I do not know what I want to study in college. My parents have suggested for me to be a doctor or a lawyer. I do not have a problem with either of them; however, right now in my life, I do not feel like I could live or enjoy my life without some form of Math (and God). This year, my senior year, I was somewhat "blessed" for taking physics. I know that I have only learned a little bit of elementary physics, but I enjoy it. I like Physics because I get better understanding of the things that happen around me.

I will be attending USC upstate. It is not where i would like to attend, however, I will be transfering out. USC upstate does not offer Physics. I have signed up for pre-engineering. It takes two years and then I would have to transfer to USC Columbia (Thats the big USC.) Right now in my life I would like to have a major that deals with Mathematics and Physics. That is one of the reason of why i chose engineering. Before deciding of pre-engineering I wanted to be a Physicist and I still do. I read Zapperz's "So You Want To Be A Physicist" and I have the feeling of becoming a Physicist again.

I do not know what i should do as for my major of studies right now. Zapper's "So You Want To Be A Physicist" said that one needs to know a lot of Math to become a Physicist. Should i then for now change my major from pre-engineering to Mathematics?

I want to keep my options open, however, I know that in order for one to major in a certain area one must take certain classes. I, at first, had undecleared major but i changed it to pre-engineering in case I wanted to do that.

Just for the heck of it, I also chose pre-engineering because I read a comment of Astronuc about helping other countries that do not have clean water. Well, there are many things that I want and will accomplish in my life and helping others is one of them. Perhaps becoming an Engineer, Civil Engineer, would help me with that.

PhysicsForums has become somewhat a friend of mine. I do not know anybody that I can talk to about what I would like to do with my life. People in my school or at least the ones around me are always more interested on what party they will be attending over the weekends. I am not the type of person that likes going to parties. Studying is the way for me to have fun. I appreciate if anybody could talk to me about what I should do. Forgive me if my English is not too good. Thank you.

 

[Ukitake Jyuushirou]

honestly, the only person who can answer this question is urself. what do u like? do u forsee urself doing it for the next 10 years? does it pay reasonably well? is there room for u to climb in this career path?

ultimately the most important is: do u like it?

u could pray to god and ask for guidance and when all else fails flip a coin... :D

 

[DaveC426913]

Don't forget that you're not limited to one career, so you don't totally have to make a choice. All you need to do is choose what you'd like to do for the next ten years or so.

What excites you?

 

[JasonRox]

Don't listen to your parents on career choices. That's my advice.

 

[sebas531]

well, I really think that I would like to spend my life or most of my life doing math and physics. So I will go for a Physics degree. Now, since my University does not have Physics and I am thinking about transfering out, should I, for now, just have Math as my major?

 

[jtbell]

You shouldn't have to declare a major right away. Where I teach (not very far down the road from you) students are supposed to declare a major by the end of the sophomore year, but I don't recall this being enforced rigidly. Just leave your major undeclared, and take the math courses and physics courses that will put you on track to transfer to USC-Columbia for engineering or physics.

If your math background is up to snuff, start with Physics 211-212 (Essentials of Physics, the calculus-based sequence). To get into 211, you need to be able to take at least Math 143 (Calculus II) concurrently with it. If you can't do that, you'll have to start your math wherever your math background let's you, and then take Physics 211-212 when you reach the proper level.

For more physics after that point, you'll have to transfer, but this should keep you going at USC-Upstate for at least one full year.

If you want to keep engineering alive as an option, take pre-engineering courses, too.

You don't have to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life right now. Lots of students here change their majors a couple of times before they settle on something.

Good luck!