Will Maths or Physics at Uni help me see the world?

I.D.G.A.F.O.S

I'm at a personal crossroads here and i really need some help.

For the last three years i've been hell bent on either studying Maths or Physics at Uni. But it's just a part of me REALLY REALLY wants to go travelling. see the world. meet many many different people. try loads of different things. do dangerous extreme sports. And i just feel that a maths or physics degree won't set me up with a job to do most of these things or the money i need to do them :frown:

Please prove me wrong. I love the two subjects (take physics,maths and further maths). give me career ideas etc? :s-smilie:

Reply 1

Collosopede

Maybe you can do a bit of both? To be realistic, most people don't get to have careers in, for example, dangerous sports, as full time professionals straight away. They do it in their spare time while doing anything that will earn money. If they get good enough, and/or lucky enough, they can go part time and work up from there.

So, you may need any kind of job that will give you that chance (and that depends on the lifestyle you want at the same time). Not necessarily a graduate job based on your degree subject.

Now, luckily, both maths and physics are respected, numerate degrees that open a lot of doors and don't close many down. For example, you can go into accountancy, or even actuarial work, or management consultancy (depending on how good your university and degree results are) - all of which can be really well-paid.

So far, so good. And you've got the chance to study something you love in the meantime - who knows what you might decide to do after three years.

Finally, if the travel bug is biting hard, how about doing some of your studying abroad? Most unis and courses offer year abroad options - in Europe, America, Australia etc. Some even have overseas campuses (though you'd have to look into that a bit more as I'm not sure about how they work).

Don't panic. You have some great options ahead of you.

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Reply 2

IcedTea&PotNoodle

If you like maths and physics and want to see the world, why not consider engineering?

Reply 3

cant_think_of_name

I can help, potentially. I'm going off to the USA in September to study at a high school (I'm 18, in Year 13 at the moment), and the year after that heading to Lancaster to study Maths with Stats. Many universities will be happy for you to take a gap year (Manchester, Lancaster and Southampton were all more than happy for me to do so). Some universities however will frown on gap years as they believe that your maths skills take a bit of a hit from not doing maths for a year, so you might want to find a way that you can incorporate extra maths into your gap year, for instance, go travelling for six months and then study for STEP or something along those lines.

As well as that, Lancaster has incorporated into their degree scheme a study abroad scheme which will send me to the USA, Canada or Australia in my third year. More travelling :smile:

Finally, after your degree the careers that become available to someone with a maths degree are very varied and I can guarantee that you can find a job that will allow you to travel and see the world. It's not worth doing another degree that you're not set on, just because you want to see the world.

Good luck!

Reply 4

Manitude

With either of those degrees you can pretty safely bet you'll earn enough money to go travelling in your holidays. They give some of the best paid jobs out there. A lot of maths graduates go on to accounting/actuarial/financial positions that pay very well and a fair few physics graduates go into industries where physicists are in high demand, so command a high wage OR they go into research which is reasonably well paid after a few years.

Reply 5

Collosopede

Original post by IcedTea&PotNoodle

If you like maths and physics and want to see the world, why not consider engineering?

Great point. Fantastic careers in all engineering fields offer brilliant opportunities for working abroad. Why didn't I think of that? And I've got an engineering degree!

Reply 6

I.D.G.A.F.O.S

I have considered engineering but they're are so many fields, I do not know which ones interest me more then others

Reply 7

IcedTea&PotNoodle

Original post by I.D.G.A.F.O.S

I have considered engineering but they're are so many fields, I do not know which ones interest me more then others

I know the number of engineering types seems daunting at first but just take a couple of weeks to research the different types and see if any of them float your boat. That's what I did. Take a look at this link.

http://www.futuresinengineering.com/what.php?id=2

If you can't decide but you know you want to do engineering, consider a general engineering course. You can switch and specify in a particular field later on in most courses.

Original post by Collosopede

Great point. Fantastic careers in all engineering fields offer brilliant opportunities for working abroad. Why didn't I think of that? And I've got an engineering degree!