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Physics VS engineering degree

how do i decide :frown:
studying maths further maths physics chemistry and computer science till AS

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Reply 1
Avatar for Sinnoh
Sinnoh
22
Original post by vix.xvi
how do i decide :frown:
studying maths further maths physics chemistry and computer science till AS


In my experience, with some difficulty. It's not like you'll have a hard time finding some employment after graduating either of those (provided you had some kind of work experience) so if you're not dead-set on a certain job at the moment then it's probably best to think about what you'd want to study in isolation from what happens after graduating. Like, focus on which you would rather spend 4 years learning about and getting a deeper understanding of - if you ignore what comes after. Bear in mind some engineering internships will be open to physics students and it's a field you could go in to after graduating, but probably in a different role. And in the opposite direction, you get engineering students who move away from wanting to go into that and instead do one of the myriad other things they can get in to.

When you're in 6th form and thinking of studying physics it's easy to be like "yeah I'll end up doing general relativity and quantum field theory and astrophysics and all that cool **** I read about and browsed on wikipedia for hours" and yeah maybe you will do that, but then again you might not. Accept the possibility of your interests changing as you go along with your degree.

I feel like this probably won't really help push you in one way or another, but having had this exact issue and also taking ages to decide, this is the kind of thing I might have wanted to be told.
Original post by Sinnoh
In my experience, with some difficulty. It's not like you'll have a hard time finding some employment after graduating either of those (provided you had some kind of work experience) so if you're not dead-set on a certain job at the moment then it's probably best to think about what you'd want to study in isolation from what happens after graduating. Like, focus on which you would rather spend 4 years learning about and getting a deeper understanding of - if you ignore what comes after. Bear in mind some engineering internships will be open to physics students and it's a field you could go in to after graduating, but probably in a different role. And in the opposite direction, you get engineering students who move away from wanting to go into that and instead do one of the myriad other things they can get in to.

When you're in 6th form and thinking of studying physics it's easy to be like "yeah I'll end up doing general relativity and quantum field theory and astrophysics and all that cool **** I read about and browsed on wikipedia for hours" and yeah maybe you will do that, but then again you might not. Accept the possibility of your interests changing as you go along with your degree.

I feel like this probably won't really help push you in one way or another, but having had this exact issue and also taking ages to decide, this is the kind of thing I might have wanted to be told.

thank you for replying :smile: this made me realise the decision that i make doesn't have to be perfect... xx :smile:

btw if you dont mind me asking what did you decide?
Reply 3
Avatar for Sinnoh
Sinnoh
22
Original post by vix.xvi
thank you for replying :smile: this made me realise the decision that i make doesn't have to be perfect... xx :smile:

btw if you dont mind me asking what did you decide?


Physics - I finally decided on it almost at the end of year 12, so I did have to rush a bit to get a good personal statement in time.
I also picked three of my unis based on the idea of doing aeronautical engineering and didn't bother switching unis when I switched course, that's the whole reason I applied to Cambridge over Oxford :lol:
Original post by vix.xvi
how do i decide :frown:
studying maths further maths physics chemistry and computer science till AS


What do you want to do career wise? If you're interested in engineering and considering it as a career, then choose engineering. If you're not particularly keen or bothered about an engineering career and just want to study a mathsy degree, do physics.
Original post by vix.xvi
how do i decide :frown:
studying maths further maths physics chemistry and computer science till AS


Why are you studying 5 subjects? How has your school allowed this?
Original post by vix.xvi
how do i decide :frown:
studying maths further maths physics chemistry and computer science till AS


if you'd like help in any of those kindly reach out to me
Physics is really about understanding nature.
Engineering is about applying said nature to practical problems.

It's really a preference. As to what interests you more/what you want to do.

Also worth consideration is what you want to do afterwards.
Both degrees provide opportunities in: finance/consulting/IP/data science/business analyst/tech.

Physics: professional physicist (pretty niche, basically requires PhD then stay in academia), A handful of technical areas like defence system roles etc, weather analysis, satellite tech

Engineering also has the academic research element but their are many more industrial & technical opportunities, engineers are everywhere in a variety of capacities.
Original post by mnot
Physics is really about understanding nature.
Engineering is about applying said nature to practical problems.

It's really a preference. As to what interests you more/what you want to do.

Also worth consideration is what you want to do afterwards.
Both degrees provide opportunities in: finance/consulting/IP/data science/business analyst/tech.

Physics: professional physicist (pretty niche, basically requires PhD then stay in academia), A handful of technical areas like defence system roles etc, weather analysis, satellite tech

Engineering also has the academic research element but their are many more industrial & technical opportunities, engineers are everywhere in a variety of capacities.

Just out of interest, which of the 2 would you say you get to innovate and come up with new ideas/invent things more?

From what I hear, engineering involves following specific legal guidelines and signing off a lot of schematics, as opposed to innovating.

Also, does engineering require you to specialise as oppose to allowing you to shift from one area of study to another in research? After looking into the job, there are only a handful of areas where you're likely to get work: mechanical, civil, electronic/electric, and computer. Areas like chemical, environmental, biological, and biomechanical are too specialised and don't offer you much flexibility to change fields.
Original post by MindMax2000
Just out of interest, which of the 2 would you say you get to innovate and come up with new ideas/invent things more?

From what I hear, engineering involves following specific legal guidelines and signing off a lot of schematics, as opposed to innovating.

Also, does engineering require you to specialise as oppose to allowing you to shift from one area of study to another in research? After looking into the job, there are only a handful of areas where you're likely to get work: mechanical, civil, electronic/electric, and computer. Areas like chemical, environmental, biological, and biomechanical are too specialised and don't offer you much flexibility to change fields.

Physicist more discover than invent.

It really depends what type of engineer you are as to how innovative you are. Some engineers do very little innovation, just chuck out updates for corporate manufacturing companies.

Others work in exotic areas really working on the technological brink pushing the limits. But their are certainly a lot more professional engineers then their are professional physicist.

Specialization varies, some people move about others get very deep in 1 area. Inevitably people get more specialized the more time they spend & you cant stay super broad forever as jobs have requirements and as you work in an area you build up specialist expertise but this will be the same in physics or any industry.
Original post by Muttley79
Why are you studying 5 subjects? How has your school allowed this?

technically im only doing 4 xx ive already done my AS
Original post by vix.xvi
technically im only doing 4 xx ive already done my AS

You did CS early?

Have a read of these links: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/physics
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/mechanical-engineering

Depends which sort of Engineering you want to study - some Engineers are 'hands-on' while some focus on the design side.
tyyy xx :smile:
yup im looking at mechanical engineering or aerospace or general engineering ...not decided yet :frown:
Original post by Muttley79
You did CS early?

Have a read of these links: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/physics
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/mechanical-engineering

Depends which sort of Engineering you want to study - some Engineers are 'hands-on' while some focus on the design side.

yup i did it early xx
thank you for the links! they were very useful x

i honestly really want to study physics but I've heard it's essentially a mathematics degree and I'm not ready for it :frown: does anyone know if its actually like this? xx
Original post by vix.xvi
tyyy xx :smile:
yup im looking at mechanical engineering or aerospace or general engineering ...not decided yet :frown:

yup i did it early xx
thank you for the links! they were very useful x

i honestly really want to study physics but I've heard it's essentially a mathematics degree and I'm not ready for it :frown: does anyone know if its actually like this? xx

Read the module details on uni websites - there's Maths in everything :smile:
Original post by vix.xvi
tyyy xx :smile:
yup im looking at mechanical engineering or aerospace or general engineering ...not decided yet :frown:

yup i did it early xx
thank you for the links! they were very useful x

i honestly really want to study physics but I've heard it's essentially a mathematics degree and I'm not ready for it :frown: does anyone know if its actually like this? xx

Your going to be doing a lot of maths in either degree,
thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, stress & dynamics which are pretty much the core of mechanical engineering are all applied mathematics a lot of calculus & linear algebra and the areas which build off these are therefore also analytical.

Even when you do labs in engineering they'll be a numerical element, data collection and analysis...
Original post by mnot
Your going to be doing a lot of maths in either degree,
thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, stress & dynamics which are pretty much the core of mechanical engineering are all applied mathematics a lot of calculus & linear algebra and the areas which build off these are therefore also analytical.

Even when you do labs in engineering they'll be a numerical element, data collection and analysis...


Original post by Muttley79
Read the module details on uni websites - there's Maths in everything :smile:

ahh kk, i dont mind like 65% of the course being maths, just don't want all of it to be maths aha

thanks!! xx will check out the module details on the website
Original post by vix.xvi
ahh kk, i dont mind like 65% of the course being maths, just don't want all of it to be maths aha

thanks!! xx will check out the module details on the website

More than 65% of mechanical/aerospace engineering is maths.

Id say 3rd & 4th year are like 90% maths
1st & 2nd year like 75%
Original post by mnot
More than 65% of mechanical/aerospace engineering is maths.

Id say 3rd & 4th year are like 90% maths
1st & 2nd year like 75%

:redface:
do you know about physics? how much would say is maths?
Reply 18
Avatar for Kerzen
Kerzen
17
Original post by vix.xvi

yup im looking at mechanical engineering or aerospace or general engineering ...not decided yet :frown:







When I read what you said about the types of Engineering in which you are interested, it struck me that you might be interested in the new RN University Cadetship scheme for Engineering.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/joining/funding-and-scholarships/university-cadetship-entry
Original post by vix.xvi
:redface:
do you know about physics? how much would say is maths?

I dont know, I would imagine a very similar amount.

The thing with engineering & physics is it basically boils down to numbers.

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