Is a physics bachelor degree enough?

[boneh3ad]

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@darkgooble

I would like to be an engineer, but I’m still very unsure which concentration I want to go into. I planned on majoring in physics for my undergrad, to give me some time to think, but would that be enough? Would a physics BA be sufficient to let me get into an engineering MS or M.Eng program, or to even find a job after graduation?

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<p>Getting a bachelor’s degree in physics will definitely exclude you from many engineering jobs, but also definitely leaves the door open for graduate school. I know many undergraduate physicists who are now in graduate school with me for engineering. It is fairly common (though still not nearly as common as engineering bachelor’s to engineering graduate degree).</p>

<p>The fact is, though, that for industry, if you do physics you will not be qualified for a lot of the jobs that are out there for engineers. There are a lot of practical concepts that physicists never even touch, while engineers get all those and just don’t go as far in the theory. For example, while an engineer is learning about stress and strain, a physicist is moving on to relativity. Which seems more useful to an average company?</p>

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@GLOBALTRAVELER

As far as grad school, you would first have to find a M.S./M.Eng program that allow non-ABET majors into the program. Not all of them do because some schools REQUIRE an ABET-Engineering degree for admission.</p>

<p>Example:
University of Wisconsin allows math, physics and chemistry majors into M.S./M.Eng programs. U-Arkansas will tell you NO!

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<p>I know for a fact that this is not true at Arkansas at least for most departments. I also know that what is true at Arkansas is true almost everywhere else in the country in that they almost always say something like “must have an ABET-accredited BS in [blank] engineering or related science.” I have never heard of any school that just patently refuses to admit anyone based on the fact that their degree isn’t [blank] engineering. Most schools go for the students that they consider to be the brightest and most promising that they can get. This even means they will go outside of ABET programs from time to time.</p>

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@lightblade

But masters in engineering does not offer much more than bachelor, it’s best that you make up your mind and not having to go to grad school.

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<p>You have so much to learn…</p>