Narrowing down your options when going off to college is often not as easy as it sounds. Maybe you’re interested in engineering, perhaps finance, or maybe you’re looking to pursue a longer journey into the medical field or become the next top astronomer working for NASA. Whatever the case is, it’s hard to narrow it down sometimes!
The good news is that there is an area that covers all those potential career fields and more. You may have guessed it already, but yes, we’re talking about physics. If you want the definition of physics, we’ll have you reference your nearest search engine. However, if you want to better understand some of the reasons to study an area of science that spans the farthest edges of the known universe, or explore the world inside of us, then keep reading. The following, while not an exhaustive list, are some of the top reasons we suggest you consider studying physics.
Gain knowledge across many fields
Getting a degree in physics typically provides graduates with knowledge valuable to many career fields including but not limited to:
- Engineering
- Astronomy
- Medical
- Computer science
- Biology
- Journalism
Physicists are very good at problem-solving and have strong analytical skills. In a field that brings perspective at a broad level, physics graduates are good at thinking “out of the box”. If this is you, then maybe an academic path into physics is your calling!
Being a field that sits at the base of most other sciences, physics also provides an easy transition into other areas of science such as oceanography, seismology, or chemistry. You can rest assured that if you study physics, your career and/or graduate school options are vast.
Physics is for those that enjoy a challenge
Challenges are often looked at as scary or too much risk, especially when it comes to talking about your future path towards a degree. But fear not, the challenge that comes with working through a physics degree is worthwhile and rewarding upon graduation.
As a physics major you will master many concepts and tap into skills that are critical to being successful in both your program and into your career or graduate school. From research to problem-solving, mathematics to engineering and more, the path to a physics degree is one you must study and work hard towards. This also means that the best place to learn and hone your physics knowledge is in a college or university program where you have guidance through your professors and classmates.
Because physics is a combination of many areas of science and technology, it’s much harder to learn after college or on the job. This is why your undergraduate time is so valuable. We’re not saying you need to be a straight-A student, but just that you need to pick up enough to continue learning into the future.
Physics plays a major role in technology
As we navigate our way through industry 4.0, adopting all sorts of new technology such as IoT, robots, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, advances in physics are a key contributor to building upon these technologies. We wouldn’t have planes that fly for example, without Bernoulli’s principle assisting in the development of wings, or Newton’s law of motion to help develop rockets, which today send critical pieces of technology like the James Webb Space Telescope into and out of orbit to study the edges of the universe in the infrared.
There are a number of important machines that we have today because of principles discovered by physicists, from refrigerators to radio, and lasers to computers. Just like the basis that other areas of science are built on, many of these areas of technology are also built on and explained by physics principles.
Ultimately, if you’re interested in a career field that combines the most interesting parts of science and technology, then physics is a great place to focus your studies. If you’re interested in talking about a degree in physics, you can reach out to the College of Innovation & Technology at UM-Flint to explore this academic path further.
Lucrative career options
As mentioned earlier, those that study physics end up with a wide range of skills and abilities that are applicable across many industries. This provides physics graduates many opportunities to jump into jobs with great pay. Below are some of the jobs that physics graduates have held and what their medium salary ranges look like.
- Aerospace Engineer: Bachelor’s degree and a median salary of $116,500
- Physicist: Doctorate and median salary of $122,850
- Computer Research Scientist: Master’s degree and median salary of $122,840
- Astronomer: Doctorate and median salary of $114,590
- Nuclear Engineer: Bachelor’s degree and median salary of $113,460
- Actuary: Bachelor’s degree and median salary of $108,350
- Microbiologist: bachelor’s degree and median salary of $75,650
While this is only a snapshot of a few possible positions based on the education level you’ve obtained, it shows that studying physics is an entry-way into some great careers. For more information on possible career paths, we found this site to be helpful.
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein