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UKL Physics Society (UKL PhySoc)

Hey people,

i was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. At the moment i have just finished my AS levels (awaiting hopefully A grades) and really want to do physics at university level hopefully as a masters degree but im not sure what it will leave me with career wise, i would like to do research but the pay doesnt seem very appetising, everything is so confusing :frown:

. And another thing can somebody point me in the direction of which universities are good for physics, ive looked at durham and would love to go to imperial, was just wondering what else is out there?

cheers, :smile:

Reply 281

Nylex

10

If you don't wanna go into research or a Physics related career, you'd be better off just doing a bachelor's degree, rather than a master's methinks. As for other universities good for Physics, you might wanna look at The Times' league table here.

Reply 282

mr_tomus

1

thanks for your advice, and the league tables have kinda helped. what other physics related careers is there besides research though?? :confused:

Reply 283

Nylex

10

Only thing I can think of is teaching, but there have got to be others though.

Reply 284

hitchhiker_13

11

I'm at the same stage as you, awaiting AS results.
If they go to plan, the universities I am thinking of applying to are:
#
Cambridge
Imperial
Manchester
Durham
Bristol
Edinburgh
Nottingham
Warwick
York

I have to narrow that down to 6 choices.
i want a career in research although, you're right they pay doesn't look great. I won't let that put me off though.

Reply 285

Nylex

10

hitchhiker_13

i want a career in research although, you're right they pay doesn't look great. I won't let that put me off though.

Do you know what typical pay for researchers is? I wanna go into research too and I know the pay isn't great but never actually seen numbers.

Reply 286

mr_tomus

1

There was an advert in new scientist that said typical for this advertised job was 28k and a maximum of 35k so thats all i have to go on. thanks for that university list, opened my options right up. Is it true that physics degrees can often be taken over other degrees in specialist subjects just because graduates are thought to be highly intelligent due to notoriously difficult courses??

Reply 287

Hoofbeat

OP

14

hitchhiker_13

I'm at the same stage as you, awaiting AS results.
If they go to plan, the universities I am thinking of applying to are:
#
Cambridge
Imperial
Manchester
Durham
Bristol
Edinburgh
Nottingham
Warwick
York

I have to narrow that down to 6 choices.
i want a career in research although, you're right they pay doesn't look great. I won't let that put me off though.

If you want to go into research then do Physics @ Oxford rather than Cams. At Cams you stuyd the nat sci tripos and won't specialise in Physics in your first year, so if you do want to just focus on Physics go to Oxford (it's nicer there anyways :tongue:

)

Regarding other careers, if you don't want to do research/teaching and want better money then you can go into finance/actuary/law/managament/economics/banking/stock market etc etc. However then you will be using transferable skills you have learnt during your degree rather than specific knowledge. That's what I am probably planning on doing. Don't study a subject at Uni just because of the job at the end - do it because you love the subject and want to find out more. At the same time, it is worth considering the future too! Also, although I agree with Nylex that the 4yr course is more aimed at prospective researchers, many other industries still look favourable on it over a BSc. It's also worth applying to study the 4yr as it's harder to get funding from your LEA if you decide at a later date to switch between 3 and 4yr. Good Uni's I would say are:

Oxbridge
Warwick
Imperial
Possibly UCL
Durham
Bath
Bristol
Nottingham

However, I'm not very hot on uni's in the north (I'm a southerner!) so I've probably missed a few out. It really depends on what sort of grade range you're looking at too - make sure you apply to some with lower offers such as Reading & Surrey so that you've always got a back up plan if the top uni's reject you! Hope that helps.

Reply 288

mr_tomus

1

does anybody know what being a physics consultant for a firm actually involves doing and what the pay is like for it?

Reply 289

hitchhiker_13

11

Hoofbeat

If you want to go into research then do Physics @ Oxford rather than Cams. At Cams you stuyd the nat sci tripos and won't specialise in Physics in your first year, so if you do want to just focus on Physics go to Oxford (it's nicer there anyways :tongue:

)

Thanks for the advice, but I think I'll stick with Cambridge because I also really like chemistry, and there's always room for overlap, I like the place, and my sister's at Oxford so I don't want her to think I'm following her!

Reply 290

helbrida

I wanna join!!!! PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Reply 291

Nylex

10

helbrida

I wanna join!!!! PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Hoofbeat's away.. she said to send her a PM if you wanna join though.

Reply 292

shiny

12

Nylex

Do you know what typical pay for researchers is? I wanna go into research too and I know the pay isn't great but never actually seen numbers.

A postdoc might earn around £21-23k :smile:

You need to go outside of academia for higher salaries.

Reply 293

Nylex

10

shiny

A postdoc might earn around £21-23k :smile:

You need to go outside of academia for higher salaries.

Might have known you'd know :smile:

. If I go outside academia though, there doesn't seem to be much astro related stuff I can do.

Reply 294

shiny

12

Nylex

Might have known you'd know :smile:

. If I go outside academia though, there doesn't seem to be much astro related stuff I can do.

Not really. You might get opportunities with an engineering or software firm that specialises in hardware/software for astronomical stuff but that may not be what you are necessarily interested in.

Reply 295

Nylex

10

shiny

Not really. You might get opportunities with an engineering or software firm that specialises in hardware/software for astronomical stuff but that may not be what you are necessarily interested in.

Yeah, I'd rather be doing the experimentation than making stuff for them. I saw someone's profile at QinetiQ (or somewhere else) and they did an astro degree, but were involved in building stuff for spacecraft or something.

Reply 296

shiny

12

Nylex

Yeah, I'd rather be doing the experimentation than making stuff for them. I saw someone's profile at QinetiQ (or somewhere else) and they did an astro degree, but were involved in building stuff for spacecraft or something.