Job prospects for Engineering vs Physics major

sacchi
Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:42:25 +0000

The freshman year classes are probably pretty similar for engineering and physics majors, so I don’t think this is an urgent, must decide now situation. You could pretty easily check the recommended freshman classes for both majors at a couple of the schools he is applying to, just to check.

It may be a concern if he is applying to colleges that don’t offer engineering at all.

I tend to agree that engineering majors generally have better job opportunities than physics majors. (I’m an engineer.)

But it is most important that he like the major that he chooses. You might want to encourage him to postpone deciding which major until he has a chance to take some college classes, and see what he likes. Can he enter as a physics/engineering double major, with the plan to eventually drop one of them?