<p>I want to go to grad school and so I can get into particle physics. I am thinking about getting my bachelor’s in computer engineering and either physics or engineering physics. What should I major in to achieve this???</p>
<p>Physics. To study physics, you major in physics.</p>
<p>Physics or engineering physics. Computer engineering (or any other engineering besides ep) won’t help you in particle physics. Although the big labs do hire engineers to do engineering stuff–but only physicists “do” physics.</p>
<p>Also, to get into a good graduate program in physics, you will need to get involved in research and take most of your electives in physics rather than engineering. Getting a good score on the Physics GRE is important for admission in the more selective programs.</p>
<p>If i did ep would i have any chance at particle physics? </p>
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<p>Keep in mind that Engineering Physics is not offered in many schools to begin with. There are about 15-20 known graduate Engineering Physics programs (I considered EP as a graduate major so I did some program researching back then). Usually the structure of the programs are statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, electromagnetics, instrumentation and at least 4 engineering courses. That kind of program structure may not lend itself well to additional particle physics courses unless you want to go past the 30 or 33-credit degree requirements.</p>
<p>You may have to select a regular Physics or Applied Physics program to allow for more actual PHYSICS courses…without the engineering course requirements that EP would have.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about Kettering and majoring in both ep and computer engineering.</p>
<p>And maybe tufts for grad school.</p>
<p>I’m not educated on this process obviously so any clarification would help.
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<p>Ummm…why?</p>
<p>When you are hired for a job, it will be for EITHER EP or CompE. You will not get any extra money for the extra degree.</p>
<p>Not to bust ya chops…but in general I think an admin or mod needs a sticky thread about double majors and engineering. Too many postings about doing double major with not-too-related majors. It is going to lead to 5-year (almost 6 year) undergrad programs and a lot of frustration for not getting hired for the 2nd degree.</p>
<p>Applied Math/CS…I can see because you can “double count” courses and still do it within 120-semester/180-quarter credits but when folks start asking about double majoring in aerospace engineering and computer engineering…some of the mods or older/experienced engineers need to step in a say “WHOA big boy/big girl”.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to become economically stable with computer engineering so i hopefully can afford grad school. I want to be a theoretical physicist but it seems like it would be very difficult to make a living especially starting out.</p>
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<p>If you are getting a Ph.D. in physics you should not be self-financing. If you are good enough to get into a graduate program, they will support you. Yes, theoretical particle physics is a long and difficult road but I can pretty much guarantee that if you want to travel that path, you need to study physics, not computer engineering. You need all the physics and applied mathematics you can get to get into a good graduate program and that will mean a very strong physics background.</p>
<p>That being said, you have plenty of time to make a decision. Start by majoring in physics (better) or engineering physics (acceptable) and get involved in research. When, and if, you go to graduate school in physics, you will ahve the chance to decide your area after the first year of classes. many of us who have Ph.D.s in physics started out wanting to be theoretical particle physicists but realized after the first year of graduate studies that:</p>
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<li><p>It takes a very particular kind of talent and determination to follow the theoretical particle physics road, and</p></li>
<li><p>It is a road that only a few people make a career of.</p></li>
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<p>Conversely, experimental physics and particularly condensed matter physics has a lot more opportunities for employment.</p>
<p>now back to the double major thing. I agree with @GLOBAL that two Bachelor’s degrees are really not worth the extra time. A co-terminal B.S./M.S. combination is somewhat better and if you decide that the Ph.D. in physics is not your path after all, you can easily go from physics to a M.S. in Software Engineering and do very well for yourself.</p>
<p>Ep as undergrad can lead to particle physics. And for a physics PhD, you don’t pay, you get a stipend of 17-22k a year to live on. And getting into physics grad school is a process with a lot of steps. Head over to physicsforums.com</p>
<p>I’m just afraid that going into theoretical physics without compE at least as a back up is setting myself up for failure. I didn’t think money would be a problem but my parents just told me that my dad may be facing unemployment soon. </p>
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<p>And I’m mostly worried about student loans from undergrad. Which is why I’m hoping to do a co-op program like Kettering’s.</p>
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<p>Ep prepares you for the job world. Get internships, choose a good concentration.</p>
<p>A decent number of physics majors do transition to working in computer software.</p>
<p>Of course, it would help to take some CS courses as out-of-major electives while doing a physics major if you want to make the computer software jobs more available as backup plans by giving you a higher base to self-educate the rest of the needed CS topics on the job.</p>
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A thousand times what bonh3ad said.</p>
<p>Particle physics means physics PhD. Physics PhD means graduate breadth and depth requirements. Graduate breadth requirements mean breadth of prerequisites in undergraduate physics courses. You’ll need the basically the equivalent of a physics undergraduate degree - plus enough math to slay your electives - to be competitive in graduate school and beyond.</p>
<p>Thanks 
math shouldn’t be a problem I might be in differential equations senior year of high school I’m a lot less stressed about this now. I’m sure my counselor in college or whoever will be able to put me on the right track/in the right classes.</p>
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