Choosing a career.

[blackhole123]

Well, right now im a sophomore in high school so I still have a lot of time to decide what I want to do with my life, but I still want to figure it out.

 

I really like physics so I've always thought I go to college for that. The only problem is that I'm not sure what kind of career that would lead to. Like I get my degree and then what? I've also thought about being a teacher in high school buit I'm not sure about that. It would be cool to be a college professer or something but again I'm not sure about if I want to do that and it seems like it would be hard to get a position like that.

 

My main problem I guess, is that I'm not sure what I would do with physics career-wise and it seems like its a very open career which makes it hard for me to decide on a certain goal.

 

I was thinking of maybe going to college and getting my bachelors degree in physics and then decide if I want to continue on with it or go into teaching.

 

Anyway, I guess I'm just confused about my future and I dont want to end up in some dead end job so Im just typing all this. This is all way premature (almost 3 years before college) but hey, never to early to start planning.

[ecoli]

It's good your thinking about it now, but try to take it one step at a time. That way, it will be easier to shift gears if you decide you don't like physics as much as you thought you would in college. Don't start applying for jobs now, cause you don't know whether you'll stick to it.

[insane_alien]

heh i had my career all planned out throughout my life. its just the plans changed a lot. originally i wanted to be an astronaut, then an arcaeologist(still can't spell it), then a pilot, then i wanted to go into the RAF but i seem to have settled on being a chemical engineer. although that list starts from when i was about 7. and the last change was 2 months before i picked courses to apply to. so nothing is set this early. you still got plenty of time to change your mind or whatever.

[5614]

Well, I've just applied for physics at various universities. Originally I thought I'd then go into research, actually originally I thought I'd study computer science, but once I decided on physics it was research. Then came the idea of lecturing. I don't think I like the idea of teaching at secondary school (high school), although teaching at a higher level sounded good.

 

Then I realised that I could teach at a higher level (uni lecturing) and do research between lectures! So I suppose that's the current dream.

 

Obtaining a physics degree generally means you're good at maths, so all sorts of jobs in banks etc. become available.

 

Teaching, research, finance, military, government, space industry, computer companies like IBM and Intel will employ physicists, building design (will the building collapse under its own weight? Where would the stress points be during an earthquake?) and motoring industry (designing engine, aerodynamics etc.), just to name a few.

 

And of course it takes someone to think like a physicist to develop the idea of blu-ray disks, what with using a blue laser as it has a shorted wavelength etc. And this brings more ideas to mind, designing hardware like lasers and particle accelerators, medical physics like MRI and radiotherapy, material physics like developing stronger and lighter material.

 

And so on and so forth.

[ParanoiA]

I'm 35 with a little 2 yr electronics degree and I've actually considered going back to school for several more years to achieve a master's - but not in electronics. I've found that no matter how accredited a college is, doesn't mean that all of your hours will transfer. After looking into it, I realized I would be basically taking electronics all over again.

 

So, now I'm considering something like physics, or engineering of some kind. Something that will compliment the direction of the tech industry. I see robotics taking off in the future as well.

 

I guess I'm just saying nothing is permanent. You can change your mind in the future and that's ok. And nothing is gauranteed either. I went to college with all ages of people. It's not out of the ordinary to share classes with 40 and 50 year old students.

[Sisyphus]

My plans changed many times, as well. I think you'll find that's true of most people. Things rarely work out the way you expect them to.

[Klaynos]

5614. where've you applied?

 

blackhole123 according to alot of what I read people with physics degrees are liked in alot of industries fro their problem solving skills there are alot of sites online that will give you interesting advoice, the institute of physics is UK aimed but has a good carreers site at iop.org.

[Sequence]

My list changed alot to. Volcanologist, pilot, marine, NBC Specialist, microbiology, now I want to go into some kind of biochemistry research.