Disclosure: I have a degree in Physics (and Mathematics), and I’m in graduate school at a top 3 institution.
The hardest thing about getting a degree in Physics is that you don’t actually learn what it even means to be a Physicist until probably your junior year (or often later).
But this is a fairly broadly applicable statement—most college courses for your first two years are fundamentals, irrespective of degree. And The Real World (tm) is essentially nothing like an introductory college course.
But Physics is particularly bad in that almost the entire degree is comprised of ‘fundamentals’. You’ll be hella pro at solving differential equations and calculating forces, but not in any immediately marketable way.
Unless you independently seek out research opportunities, you won’t actually be exposed to what it’s like to be a physicist.
I’m saying all of this because “It’s intellectually stimulating” will only be a true statement if you’re intellectually stimulated by what Physics actually is. For example: are you comfortable with struggling to even come up with a problem to solve, struggling to actually solve that problem, struggling to make sense of the answer to that problem, and often finding that the answer to your initially posed problem is uninteresting?
Are you comfortable with probably having to complete more than one post-doc appointment before even starting a tenure track position (with extremely limited ability to choose where that position might be)?
Are you comfortable having your funding be at the mercy of the often schizophrenic grant process?
Because the practice of physics is a struggle. And it is manifestly unlike anything taught in a physics course.
Personally, I find this process intellectually stimulating. But that doesn’t stop me from intensely eyeing industry jobs as I get older. The nice thing about Physics is that you absolutely can get any number of different non-academic jobs, but you do have to be proactive about this—you have to develop programming skills, pursue internships, diversify your course-load. There’s no traditional non-academic path for a Physics major, and it’s often the case (as this article points out), you would have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you’d just majored in Engineering.
I’ve also found that a lot of physics is starting with a ridiculously hard problem, and looking at various simplifications, seeing whether they make the problem easier to solve, and whether one is willing to live with the error that the simplification that the simplification produces. In physics, problems aren’t so much solved, as an answer is found that is “close enough”. Solving for the first electron orbital of the hydrogen atom? Gravity doesn’t exist!
There was one class I took where eventually the students started asking the professor before starting a problem “In this problem, is c equal to 1, or infinity?”
Are you comfortable having your funding be at the mercy of the often schizophrenic grant process?
This is the big killer. And bears emphasizing- funding climate is the single biggest factor determining whether you get a job in physics, and it is totally outside your control.
Disclosure: I have a degree in Physics (and Mathematics), and I’m in graduate school at a top 3 institution.
The hardest thing about getting a degree in Physics is that you don’t actually learn what it even means to be a Physicist until probably your junior year (or often later).
But this is a fairly broadly applicable statement—most college courses for your first two years are fundamentals, irrespective of degree. And The Real World (tm) is essentially nothing like an introductory college course.
But Physics is particularly bad in that almost the entire degree is comprised of ‘fundamentals’. You’ll be hella pro at solving differential equations and calculating forces, but not in any immediately marketable way.
Unless you independently seek out research opportunities, you won’t actually be exposed to what it’s like to be a physicist.
I’m saying all of this because “It’s intellectually stimulating” will only be a true statement if you’re intellectually stimulated by what Physics actually is. For example: are you comfortable with struggling to even come up with a problem to solve, struggling to actually solve that problem, struggling to make sense of the answer to that problem, and often finding that the answer to your initially posed problem is uninteresting?
Are you comfortable with probably having to complete more than one post-doc appointment before even starting a tenure track position (with extremely limited ability to choose where that position might be)?
Are you comfortable having your funding be at the mercy of the often schizophrenic grant process?
Because the practice of physics is a struggle. And it is manifestly unlike anything taught in a physics course.
Personally, I find this process intellectually stimulating. But that doesn’t stop me from intensely eyeing industry jobs as I get older. The nice thing about Physics is that you absolutely can get any number of different non-academic jobs, but you do have to be proactive about this—you have to develop programming skills, pursue internships, diversify your course-load. There’s no traditional non-academic path for a Physics major, and it’s often the case (as this article points out), you would have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you’d just majored in Engineering.
I’ve also found that a lot of physics is starting with a ridiculously hard problem, and looking at various simplifications, seeing whether they make the problem easier to solve, and whether one is willing to live with the error that the simplification that the simplification produces. In physics, problems aren’t so much solved, as an answer is found that is “close enough”. Solving for the first electron orbital of the hydrogen atom? Gravity doesn’t exist!
There was one class I took where eventually the students started asking the professor before starting a problem “In this problem, is c equal to 1, or infinity?”
This is the big killer. And bears emphasizing- funding climate is the single biggest factor determining whether you get a job in physics, and it is totally outside your control.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I’ll incorporate some of your points in a later writeup about physics as a major.