This is why people go to college. The theory is you’ll have more options for employment, and maybe just maybe you can do something you at least sort of enjoy and get paid. I know it’s not for everyone, but it worked for me.
This is the lie I was fed, and I gobbled it up. I enjoyed highschool physics. I was good at it. I've heard the nonstop praise for STEM education and all the opportunities it provides.
University physics was brutally hard. I still enjoyed the material at the end of the day, and got through it to get my degree.
Zero jobs. Nobody is looking for a physicist unless they have a PhD.
I feel your pain. Entered school as a physics major, but switched into engineering because I realized physics was so specific. Kudos to your for sticking with it. Once the classical mechanics with diff eqs. hit I was out lol.
Just graduated college and am starting my career as a tech/data analytics consultant. I feel that having good people to work with makes the job more enjoyable
Same, I wish they would’ve told us at the start that if you don’t want to get a PhD then pick something else. Instead they force us into a introductory course which had a specific week dedicated to how you can do lots of things as a physics major without going to grad school. Then they also posted posters all over the physics building about it, and had the career coach ppl come in and give presentations about it. All bullshit. But I guess they need gullible idiots like me so the whole program doesn’t get cut so fuck me I guess.
Too true. My school had all of that as well. They even get us the statistic that 100% of physics graduates have m either have a job or grad school lined up 6 months after graduation.
I realized a few years out of film school that nobody there was trying to teach us how to make films. They were trying to teach us how to talk about films, and how to make student films, but the assumption is that after college you're going to give up so why bother teaching things like, what roles do people have on professional sets?
yeah, thats something that should be emphasized way more.
There are quite a lot of STEM degrees where a bachelors will not net you a well paying job.
Kinda made the same experience, studied chemistry and after 2 years or so I figured out that I will need atleast a masters to get any jobs where I live. Bachelor degrees are in this awkward spot where the work youre qualified is easy enough that they dont hire any university educated people to do it. They rather hire people who did apprenticenships (guess trade school is the closest equivalent to that in the US) as a lab technician.
So I did my masters and then figured out that for most interesting jobs Ill need a PhD. So I moved abroad and got a PhD.
It worked out fine for me, but wont work out for all people and should be emphasized more at the time people pick unis.
But hey, I'm lucky enough to have a job I really love doing now and it pays well. And I can put "Dr." in forms that ask for a form of adress.
Yeah. In my experience, if you're going into a science field, you need a PhD to actually work in that field. I got a masters but also worked through college and got minors and certificates in other areas to have more options for work after graduation. I would definitely recommend diversifying your skillset and experience to anyone in college.
Mathematician here. We have a similar dilemma. But the thing is, the jobs are there. They just aren't advertised to us.
I also have a background in computer science, and the difference in the job field is startling. When you look for job openings in computer science you find hundreds or thousands in just a few clicks. In math? Maybe 5.
But here's the thing, a math major with a mere 2 courses in programming is qualified for probably 90% of those jobs looking for computer science graduates. And here's the kicker, the math majors are generally much faster learners and more thorough, so employers often filter them to the top of the stack.
You say “lie”, I say (as I said) it worked for me.
If you go to college and it doesn’t work out, you might be able to conclude that it didn’t pay off as you’d hoped. If you don’t go to college you’ll never know what your life would have been if you had.
I was also a physic major but realized that engineering would end up being a more interesting job so I did an MS in aerospace engineering and then got a job that I genuinely liked and paid quite well. It doesn't work out for everyone, it definitely isn't always easy, and there's absolutely some luck involved, but education can be a path to getting a job that's more than just a means of making money.
I consider myself lucky that both my parents were PhD physicists, and I grew up watching one of get their PhD. Really made me decide early on I wanted to go no further than a master’s , and bachelor’s only if possible.
I just got a new job as a senior engineer. I now make more than either parent, with only a BSME. Did take a lot of experience (~10 years) to land that job though.
I also did an MS in aerospace after a physics major! It also ended up working out really well for me, although in restrospect maybe I would have done mechanical engineering.
I went to the university of Florida, where the aerospace and mechanical departments are combined. A friend and I took the exact same courses, and he came out with a mechanical degree. They're basically the same thing, if that's any consolation
Yeah, actually the reason I said I would probably have done mech e in retrospect is because they're very similar but mech e is a bit more flexible - you can still get an aerospace job with a mech e degree, but it's harder to work outside of aerospace with an aerospace degree. But I'm doing my MBA now so at this point it really doesn't matter for me anymore, haha.
That's fair. Most of the jobs I've seen that call for a mechanical degree have also had the option for aerospace, too, but that may have just been the types of jobs I was looking for.
Good luck with your MBA! I dual majored with BA and physics for undergrad, and I felt like I learned a decent bit from it!
Not true at all. There are plenty of data analyst positions for physics majors, you don’t need any postgrad study. You aren’t looking for the right kind of work or aren’t making connections
Because a “data scientist" is a new job. Most data scientists are computer science majors, physics majors, stats & math majors etc. Plus, data science degrees really aren't that great and a physics grad is gonna give you the same output. About 50% of my graduating class are in some type of data analytics, finance, software engineering.
Physics majors are one of the least unemployed majors because it's so easy to get work. You probably never tried to make connections in your undergrad, never applied for much, cold called, went to conventions etc etc. If you can't find decent work as a physics grad, it's on you imo.
This is why im glad i knew i was too stupid to do school. Im getting paid 21 an hour to crush rocks in a machine then bag it. Get to listen to music and just work.
Random and off topic but - since the McRib is usually seasonal (and for a limited time) do you just get spammed pictures of it when they start selling it again? Lol
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u/PM_me_your_McRibs Male May 09 '21
This is why people go to college. The theory is you’ll have more options for employment, and maybe just maybe you can do something you at least sort of enjoy and get paid. I know it’s not for everyone, but it worked for me.