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Physics degree - is it worth it?

Reply 40

16

0 div curl F

They sure are, especially the Relativity and Quantum Mechanics one's. Plus this time next year you'll be doing the Complex Variable and Integral Transforms course, and the Complex Variable Theory Demystified and Schaum's Complex Varibles will be your best friends, and both will cost you less than £20 with delivery.

My supervisor has a few of them on his shelf in his office and when he needs a specific formula etc when were doing work on the board, he just reaches for the relevant demystified book and away we go.

Cool! Might grab hold of one or two of them (probably the Quantum one) then for over the summer. Get a bit of a head start. I've been warned already second year is much harder than first :p:

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Reply 41

F1 fanatic

16

witness the sickness

of the people who have/are interested in/studying for physics degreees.. what career intentions do you have?

I shall be going into engineering. I'm going to miss physics, but I hope Im staying close enough in spirit with engineering to not miss it too much. I don't want to completely lose all mathematical ability! :p:

Reply 42

-G-a-v-

16

witness the sickness

of the people who have/are interested in/studying for physics degreees.. what career intentions do you have?

No idea. A PhD might be nice, as would teacher training...would like to stay in something that'll use physics/maths quite a lot - I realise that that's a pretty vague answer :p:

Reply 43

1asdf2fdsa

9

how is physics in UCL?

Reply 44

-G-a-v-

16

0 div curl F

They sure are, especially the Relativity and Quantum Mechanics one's. Plus this time next year you'll be doing the Complex Variable and Integral Transforms course, and the Complex Variable Theory Demystified and Schaum's Complex Varibles will be your best friends, and both will cost you less than £20 with delivery.

My supervisor has a few of them on his shelf in his office and when he needs a specific formula etc when were doing work on the board, he just reaches for the relevant demystified book and away we go.

Ordered the QM one the other day. Just got it :p:

looks pretty good, will have to put it to one side though til the exams are out of the way :smile:

. No doubt the Complex Variables one will be handy next year if its as good as this one looks to be!

Reply 45

zCtpts2T

9

-G-a-v-

Ordered the QM one the other day. Just got it :p:

looks pretty good, will have to put it to one side though til the exams are out of the way :smile:

. No doubt the Complex Variables one will be handy next year if its as good as this one looks to be!

You won't regret buying these books, they are very cheap compared to others and contain just as much information and are more straight to the point than most.

Have you had any exams yet? I just had a 3 hour General Physics exam, I think I've done good considering I was trying to recall things from every lecture course from the first 3 years of study, lol.

Reply 46

-G-a-v-

16

0 div curl F

You won't regret buying these books, they are very cheap compared to others and contain just as much information and are more straight to the point than most.

Have you had any exams yet? I just had a 3 hour General Physics exam, I think I've done good considering I was trying to recall things from every lecture course from the first 3 years of study, lol.

Yeah that's one thing I did notice with them - they're much cheaper than other books I've seen and QM one looks like it'll be pretty good to use for reading over the summer, then probably for revision as well later on.

I've not had any exams yet. My first one is Electricity and Magnetism on Friday - should be interesting to see how that one turns out cos I've despised everything about E&M all semester but most of it seems to be falling into place now. I'm just glad the Advanced Dynamics papers don't look too hard. Got that next week.

Eurgh, I'm not looking forward to General Paper next year - reminds me too much of A-level synoptics :p:

but probably much, much, worse.

How many more exams have you got left?

Reply 47

zCtpts2T

9

-G-a-v-

Yeah that's one thing I did notice with them - they're much cheaper than other books I've seen and QM one looks like it'll be pretty good to use for reading over the summer, then probably for revision as well later on.

I've not had any exams yet. My first one is Electricity and Magnetism on Friday - should be interesting to see how that one turns out cos I've despised everything about E&M all semester but most of it seems to be falling into place now. I'm just glad the Advanced Dynamics papers don't look too hard. Got that next week.

Eurgh, I'm not looking forward to General Paper next year - reminds me too much of A-level synoptics :p:

but probably much, much, worse.

How many more exams have you got left?

Your correct about the synoptic bit, its just so you've got a fairly decent grasp of everything really. I was on good form in the general exam, derived a fair bit of stuff including the chemical potential for a 2D sheet of 4He atoms (which requires loads of deriving like density of states for a 2D system, using the bose-einstein distribution, integrating a polylogarithm type integral, using partial fractions, it was all in that derivation: sheer madness) and the equation for compton scattering using 4-vectors (you'll have probably done this recently in AD).

3 exams left now: Relativisitic Quantum Physics, The Early Universe and Physics of Fluids. Plus an MPhys interview and thats me done till September.

Good luck with your exams, I'm sure you'll do fine with them.

Reply 48

wizardzx2

Many people say that certain subjects at top universities will make you very sought after.

I have a physics degree from a top university (2.1) graduated 2006. Since graduating I worked in an accountancy firm and unfortunately got made redundant.

Since then i am working full time, but have not been able to find any work related to my degree, even though i was very much seeking an engineering/science role.
Maybe at 27 years old i'm already past it!

I just feel that there isnt huge opportunity for scientists and engineers in england (and hasnt been since we started importing everything!).

My world view has changed now, as i see my girlfriend actually progressing along with her chosen career of medicine - and having had the grades and capability to do medicine for me that would make perfect sense "in hindsight"

Let me know if you agree or disagree with my viewpoint?

Reply 49

Stonebridge

13

This thread is over 3 years old.
I wonder how the OP is doing these days.

By the way, in my view a degree in physics is definitely something worth having, whether you work within your subject area or decide to follow a non-physics career.

The skills required to do well in physics (analysis, problem solving, synthesis etc) are transferable to many other areas and are highly sought after by prospective employers.

Reply 50

Mind Tool

Original post by Stonebridge

This thread is over 3 years old.
I wonder how the OP is doing these days.

By the way, in my view a degree in physics is definitely something worth having, whether you work within your subject area or decide to follow a non-physics career.

The skills required to do well in physics (analysis, problem solving, synthesis etc) are transferable to many other areas and are highly sought after by prospective employers.

Good to hear

Just started my degree, the only thing that bugged me about doing physics was the employability factor especially if i wanted to go into a different field, but can hope for the best, I'm sure the job market will look completely different by the time i finish anyway.

Reply 51

lordromanov

Do most physics graduates go on to get a PhD? I'm about to do an MPhys in Theoretical Physics and don't know what I'll do afterwards.

Physics degree - is it worth it?

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