I got an undergrad degree in chemistry at a liberal arts school. I only had to take ~10 chemistry classes. This did not hinder me in getting into good graduate programs, and many of my friends got into good chemistry jobs.
This thread is not about chemistry. I’m wondering about people who majored in physics, specifically those who got a BA or its equivalent in the USA. If they don’t want to go to grad school, what sorts of physics-related (even if only remotely related) jobs do they get? If they do want to go to grad school, are they hindered by having less physics instruction than people with BS degrees?
I’m hoping we have some dopers who have 1st-, 2nd-, or nth-hand knowlege on this topic.
Why would it be a BA? I’ve never really heard of that.
Physics is tricky. It’s mostly a stepping stone to . . . more physics – most guys I know went to grad school and are in research or teaching.
If I had it to do over, I’d say EE might be more practical. Entry-level jobs were certainly more abundant with that degree. BS physics, people think you’re smart, but what are you going to do? Calculate a wave-function for them?
I don’t know whether you’re interested in the distinction between a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree. (Some physics departments offer a BS and a less rigorous BA, some offer only a BS and some offer only a BA.)
The American Institute of Physics tracks employment statistics. According to them, most people who leave school with physics bachelor degrees work in the private sector. The second largest group work in high schools. Some work for the Government, for colleges and universities, or the military. In the private sector, about 30% work on computers, 30% work in design and development, and they also work in manufacturing, research, the service sector, management, or teaching.
Oh, sorry, I somehow skimmed over your second paragraph where you said you were interested in the BS/BA distinction. The AIP doesn’t track them separately, just lumps them all in as a 4-year degree.
Anyway, I think it depends on your undergraduate institution. Grad schools and employers don’t just look at the letters your degree, because, as I said, departments vary. They’re going to look a the courses you took, not to mention your research background. If your program is rigorous, it doesn’t matter what your degree is called. I can tell you that I know a handful of people who went to astronomy grad school whose schools only offered a physics BA, and they didn’t think it affected their application process adversely.
There is no consistency in what the difference between a B.A. and a B.S. means for a given major. Some universities always give B.S.'s in certain majors, while other universities always give B.A.'s in those same majors, and other universities give both degrees with slight differences in what those degrees mean. In any case, no employer and no grad school is going to care which degree you recieved. What’s important is which courses you took, what grades you recieved, and perhaps the general reputation of the university.
My father got a BA in Physics, this would have been in the early-mid 1950s. He was in graduate school for a while but left at some point and never got any other degree. He taught in public schools for a few years then ended up getting a job in computer programming because there was no such thing as a computer science major at that time. Science and math majors were apparently considered close enough for entry level jobs (my mother was a math major and also got hired as a programmer).
Anyway he spent the rest of his professional life as a programmer/systems analyst type. I don’t know how easy it would be to follow a similar path today.
At my school, the physics BA program was for people who wanted to teach physics (or other science and math) at the high school level. They didn’t even have to take quantum mech. (Do I still sound bitter?) BS was meant for those who wanted to continue in science either to graduate study (in any science, math, comp prog, engineering, etc. field) or to a technical job. The BS students who were looking to get jobs were mostly being hired into programming jobs.
I’ve heard it said that you get a degree in physics as a qualification to get more degrees in physics, and when you can’t get any more degrees in physics, you teach others how to get degrees in physics. YMMV.
You may have heard of small liberal arts colleges? They tend to offer these degrees.
I suppose that yes, simply having a college degree in a perceived “smart person” major conveys some benefits for employment that does not require any specific training (which seem to be a very large number given the jobs many of college buddies found.)
Podkayne, that is a great link. Thanks.
The curriculum tends to correlate to what degree is offered, at least for chemistry. I suppose that this could be different for physics, but I thought that it would be similar. Do any of you out there know? If not, I guess I’ll check out some course catalogs.
This is largely incorrect for chemistry. Did you mean for just physics or for all majors?
See my comment to Podkayne above.
To those who provided them, the anecdotes are appreciated.
Was this your career path? Perhaps you could elaborate.
There seems to be some hangups about the label, so I shall dispense with it. Rather than call it a B.A., let’s say it’s a physics degree from a small, highly prestigious, liberal arts college, for which a physics degree is awarded for a much smaller number of classes than what one would find required at a prestigious large state university. There are many small schools like this with physics departments I’m just curious about what students with degrees from them (or from similar programs) end up doing.
This bears repeating, since I tend to ramble and obscure my main point:
There are many small schools like this with physics departments. I’m just curious about what students from them (or from similar programs) end up doing.
And I see a new post but I just finished fixing this one up so it’ll get addressed later after I’ve slept.
As I said, there’s no consistency, and that applies to chemistry as well as physics. There are many excellent liberal arts colleges which call all their degrees B.A.'s. There are many second-rate state universities which call all science degrees B.S.'s. What grad schools and employers want to know is what courses you took and what grades you got, not the name of the degree.
I think the BA/BS distinction is less important than the (physics vs. “something more practical”) distinction.
If you’re in a tech hungry market – anyone who looks vaguely technical will get hired. “Mere physics” or not. BA vs. BS – who cares?
If in a dead market (when I graduated) – you’ll pound sand.
There you have it.
Still, my two cents – go with EE (I know, not practical at a lib. arts school – but take those circuit design, chip fab, or software courses somewhere). The number of people willing to pay for knowledge of the ballistic pendulum is, even now, smallish.
I went to one of those small liberal arts schools with a physics department and majored in physics. When we submitted the paperwork to graduate, we checked a box as to whether we wanted a BA or a BS. Completely our choice.
As to what people are doing now, some grad school, some high school teachers and others double majored and mostly used the other degree (computer science, mostly).
I have a good friend who received a BA in Physics from a smallish state university on the East Coast. He just recently finished his Masters Thesis in Computer Engineering. Mostly what he’s done since receiving the BA (aside from working on his MA) has been computer/network related stuff, although he did to an internship at NASA for a summer, which meant he could tell people he was a rocket scientist for a couple months.
Maybe a BA doesn’t quite get you where you’d need to be, but many of the so-called “quants” on Wall Street who work on the mathematical models for assessing and predicting various kinds of risk (particularly Fixed Income related risk) have a physics background. Usually a PhD. or Master’s though.
The most well-known example may be Emanuel Derman, due to his popular book (at least among physicists considering moving to finance).
I you can also program computers you could look into computer games… Physics programing is one of the main disiplines within computer game development.