switching from EE to physics

Well, you can always become a teacher.

If that doesn't float your boat, you'll probably have to continue your education past undergrad.

Is getting a job of concern to you? What do you plan to do with your degree in physics? You will be much more marketable with a degree in EE. This is not saracasm.

have a seat young man wrote:

Is getting a job of concern to you? What do you plan to do with your degree in physics? You will be much more marketable with a degree in EE. This is not saracasm.

I don't know about this; physics majors are marketable in many fields other than just physics. From what I have heard, physics majors are recruited for many different areas including econ, medicine, engineering, etc. I don't think that an EE has as many possibilities. Besides, there is no better science than physics.

Take six years and major in all of them.

insurance policy wrote:

Take six years and major in all of them.

Not bad advice actually. Although it should not take you 6 years.

The answer to your question though lies in what you want to do with your education.

mr wrote:

I don't know about this; physics majors are marketable in many fields other than just physics. From what I have heard, physics majors are recruited for many different areas including econ, medicine, engineering, etc. I don't think that an EE has as many possibilities. Besides, there is no better science than physics.

Look, I'm not saying you can't get a job with an undergraduate degree in Physics. I am also not saying that there are lots of direction you can go with a physics degree. What I am saying is that it is harder to get a job than if you have an EE degree. I don't think there is any serious dispute about that.

insurance policy wrote:

Take six years and major in all of them.

Running Bear wrote:

Not bad advice actually. Although it should not take you 6 years.

The answer to your question though lies in what you want to do with your education.

You are right. It depends on how often courses are offered at his school and how much credit he had coming in. If he were at my school, he could finish a triple major in 4 years if he takes a summer or two of courses and has a bunch of AP classes.

The last class I took was an economics class and there were EE and Economics double majors who were probably going to be there for five years. The teacher of this course was an engineering major who did an MBA and then a PhD in Economics.

I am an EE. Work at a very large, very desirable company.

If I could start over. I'd switch to Chemistry / Material Science (+ some computer science courses), focus on technologies that will enable green energy. You can't go back in time (realistically) and learn what you'll need to know to have a job to work in nanotechnology, etc.

I teach Physics and have a research lab at a modest sized state school. Here's my $0.02 - you should do what interests you. I know that sounds pollyanna, but with the economy in the state it is in, it isn't clear that an EE degree will be more marketable than a Physics degree. I know quite a few out of work engineers right now.

No degree is a sure thing for getting a job right now. The experience that goes along with the degree is what makes you marketable. You should plan on doing a co-op, internship, or research project (maybe more than 1). You should aim to develop a set of skills. For example, students that work in my lab work with optics, electronics, vacuum equipment, lasers, and other stuff. They learn surface characterization techniques like scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. I really try to help every student to be a coauthor on a journal publication. They do poster presentations, etc.

Admittedly, most of the students who work in my lab are intending to go on to graduate school (or med school), but those that do look for employment get it and they usually impress the interviewer. The interviewers rarely care very much about GPA or whether the students have an engineering or physics degree. They're happy to know that the applicants won't sit on their hands and can roll up their sleeves to get stuff done.

I switched into physics from meteorology in my junior year, with the thought that since I didn't know what I wanted to do, physics would at least give me flexibility. During what was a slow economy in the early 80's, I ended up getting hired as a process engineer at a wafer fab plant. One of my coworkers had majored in EE, so sometimes there are multiple paths to the same place. I hated the job and ended up as a software engineer elsewhere after picking up some comp sci courses. Who knows what will happen in this economy - maybe you could end up working for the government.