Changing subject for postgraduate study

I am currently considering doing either computer science or physics as a bachelor's degree, with the intention of doing a master's after graduation. I was wondering, if I decide on one and have a change of heart down the line, how will my career opportunities differ if I just did one subject all the way through? Is there anything else worth knowing as well?

The career possibilities are pretty sparse. I would probably end up writing an entire essay on this, so I would rather not go down that route if possible.

General scope of a degree in any subject includes:

The only areas that i can't imagine your subjects would be of any relevance would be in life sciences/healthcare and architecture. Should you wish to go into those areas, you would require to have bachelors' in those subjects before you can progress onto postgrad in those areas (they are picky).

As you're doing quantiative degrees, you would be eligible for the more mathematical jobs as non-mathematical graduates tend not to be favoured for those roles. These could be in actuary, quants, most things engineering, possibly economics.

There are also postgrad degrees that you could take should you wish to switch fields in terms of research:


For some subjects, you would need to do a conversion course prior to doing your master's. These subjects generally include:


Note, the only sectors that would favour you in having a conversion/master's degree in the area for compliance purposes (i.e. you need at least 1 degree in the subject in order to work in the sector) are nursing (if approved by the MNC), education (with QTS), and psychology (if BPS accredited).

As stated above, a degree in computer science (if quantitative) or physics would carry you pretty far. However, if they aren't the directions you want to go into, then I would err on this. If working in healthcare/life sciences or architecture aren't your thing and you don't intend to go into academia in a specific subject, then I think you're fine in terms of career change.

Do note, I don't think you would have problems finding a master's degree course in advanced computer science that would accept you should you have an undergrad in physics. One or 2 unis might be a bit picky about it, but otherwise you're generally fine.
However, should you wish to do computer science as an undergrad, I think you might have some problems doing a postgrad in physics.
Having said that, there are joint degrees in physics and computer science (although physics degrees do contain quite a bit of programming anyway):
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees/index.php?action=view&code=GF43
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/physics-with-computing-bsc/
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2024/physics-computing/bsc-physics-with-computing/
https://www.keele.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/undergraduatecourses/computerscienceandphysics/
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/reqs/2020-21/USHFCSCJPHY.html
https://www.maths.dur.ac.uk/php/natural.sciences.php?dept1=comp&dept2=phys&programme=jh_bsc
https://courses.aber.ac.uk/undergraduate/computer-science-and-physics-degree
https://www.reading.ac.uk/progspecs/pdfs03/PhysWCompSci03.pdf
Do note, the above doesn't include any of the degrees you can do abroad.