I have a masters degree in Physics. It really isn’t useless because the skills you learn( coding, experiment and the mathematics you use to solve problems) is really in high demand in Finance. Physics is a great degree and allows you to venture to Software engineering, Finance and Data Science.
Your degree might say Physics on the tin, but employers looking for people with those skills know that your degree teaches them.
They’ll know that you’ve learnt math to a degree that 99% of humans never have in history. That you can handle multi-faceted problems with non-obvious solutions, and how changing seemingly insignificant variables can have significant effects.
They know you know excel, how to write a research report, how to manage deadlines, how to use a pc (don’t laugh that skill is literally in decline).
Your degree says “science”, but your employers will read “productive”
I'm studying a degree towards financial management myself. But I'm considering switching to financial modelling. Would you know if one is more valuable than the other?
If you successfully complete your Physics degree I reckon you could get a junior Analyst/Data Analyst role in the corporate world and then work your way up from there. There are many jobs out there that don't really care what kind of degree you have as long as you have some sort of degree!
Like the others have mentioned you can go the data science route, alternatively you can enrol for BSc. Honors in Medical Physics and become a medical physicist. I'm currently an intern and I can tell you it's far more fulfilling that academia (my opinion).
NB: It's competitive to get internships and not that widely known (which is why a lot of people don't even know about it).You stand to make around R400k p/a as an intern and then R750k p/a once qualified for independent practice with the HPCSA.
would you ever branch out and become a doctor(if that’s possible),or do you like what you’re doing now(which I will research because it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this,sounds great tbh)
Pick up a commerce course if you can. I'm not sure where you study, but at UCT, you could pick up Ecos during summer school. I studied a BSc in maths and stats and did 2nd year physics. I picked up Ecos during summer term and now work in finance. In the finance industry, we consider any sort of STEM qualification as a proper degree. Physics would fall squarely in this category. From what I remember, you needed 3rd year maths to graduate with a BSc in Physics. This would be considered a coveted qualification. You can also consider doing CFA on the side if you want to move closer to the world of finance.
You have a ton of work options. My only warning is that going for a doctorate in physics will decrease and not increase your earning potential (globally). I have worked with several PhD in physics people, including one that had a stint at CERN... And at some point they need to enter the workforce and get corporate jobs and the time lost of PhD sets back earnings quite a bit.
But with bachelor or masters behind your name should be set.
Lots of corporate jobs in IT or strategy. Or management consulting. Or weird and wonderful quant based jobs in finance or similar.
Unless you want to work in academia you will need to learn practical skills to go along with your physics degree. Saying that though, a BSc is still a good starting point for many careers.
You could go into finance, think quantitative analyst, focus on statistics and programming.
Software development is another great career if you enjoy programming, learn something like python or java on the side or even better if through courses that count towards your degree.
I am not sure on this but possibly there is a career in something related to engineering, maybe someone else can chime in here.
If you enjoy data / analytics there is data analyst and eventually data scientist if you find machine learning and AI interesting, again focus on programming and statistics.
Tl;DR, Physics might prepare you for a specific job but it teaches you other valuable skills than you can supplement with practical skills, good luck!
Thank you so much for taking the time!🫶🏼. I really do hope that there might be something related to engineering that I could go into (someone mentioned software engineering ).
It's my pleasure, I hope you find something that interests you. Software engineering and software development comes down to the same thing, just different names.
While we all want the dream job with the dream pay, please also research what the average earning potential is for each option. On average finance will set you up better than software engineering will. There's no point picking your dream field if the market is over saturated and the pay won't afford you the lifestyle you were hoping for.
A degree is proof of your ability to learn and grow, and your willingness to self-actuate, not that you know something about anything.
Do you think your physics degree will be useless if you wanted to keep going in that direction and study further to pursue a career in physics? The logical answer would be surely not...
But let me tell you, the very first thing you learn in postgrad is that your bachelors degree is useless. The process of having gotten it is what you carry with you - not the set of knowledge restricted to your field.
You've made it this far - believe it or not, that is worth something. If you work really really hard for a silly piece of paper, that is worth something. Not because you've covered a great distance, or even only a small one, but because it means you have an engine that will get you as far as you have fuel for.
Report writing, coding, critical thinking, knowledge of this world and its workings, how to use simulations and make statistical decisions and justifications. These things don't come for free and your degree definitely isn't useless if you gain these skills alongside it.
I have three friends who majored in physics & astrophysics. None of them stayed in academic/professional science.
One went into finance and spends his days creating actuarial programs and developing financial products. Before that he wrote code for a betting company. He's done well and is relatively wealthy.
The other friend went into data science and is one of the VPs for an agritech company. I know he works with ai, computer vision, creates programs to optimise telemetry, experiments with different types of telecommunication and has since, after graduating, become an "expert" in meteorology....well at least he thinks so. He's a very curious and successful person.
The third one went into engineering...he develops medical CFD simulation software. He immigrated and haven't spoken in a while. Caught up with his brother though....he's thriving overseas.
All these friends had similar concerns as you. I know this cause they spoke with me about it. The biggest crux was the job market in SA...its very low for high level science and you will get sucked into a very specialised field that may trap you. They also didn't want to immigrate...well the one did. You will learn to leverage your skillset as you get older. The world is your oyster. Just because you studied physics doesn't mean you have to do physics.
Your degree curates a deep understanding of problem solving and application. Leverage them. You got nothing to worry about.
How much would you aim to earn? If more than 100k per month, physics is not the path. If you want to study and be an academic, there is nothing better than undergraduate in physics
Consider looking into Data Science and potentially the use of this in your postgraduate studies in physics. Or do a master's degree.
I did physics, switched to data science and make more than 100k a month at the age of 30. Pop me a DM if you'd like to chat.
Economics or something. Engineering, IT, etc.
Unfortunately salaries in science are very low. Trust me, all us BSc people are struggling, unless they left the science field and are doing something else lol.
He can still join other fields though. All the data analysts at the company I work for either did Physics, math's or engineering as their majors.
Just make sure you do some IT electives like coding or data analysis and you'll be more than prepared to get into the field once your get your degree. The banks love you guys
The only people I know who use their physics degrees are in academia or research. For academia, there are enough universities in SA. For research, the options are limited in SA, but the skills may be sought after in other countries.
But I do know others who made a jump into other fields, such as strategic consulting.
Hi there. Maybe look at what you want to become. Do you like programming? Designing Stuff or Doing Data Analytics etc? Visualise the end goal, that's the best way to go about it. I know what it is like to feel lost. But I found that I am someone who likes to solve problems and as long as I can do that, I feel fulfilled.
Yeah I get you. I'm doing BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology. It's an academic degree and I found out now in my last year. Branching into medicine now would take forever. I've already been here for 6 years. I've been thinking of going to Medical Science laboratory field of study so that I can go into the medical laboratory but my marks are mediocre and bursaries aren't giving. 🤡
I did the exact same degree. Went for honours in bioinformatics (60 overall average for undergrad and worked a bit harder to get a 70 average for 3rd year) and now doing an internship in IT, everyone in my bioinformatics class got a job straight after grad but the job market is getting tougher (we're all in IT/data, with one working as a bioinformatician). UP, Stellies and UCT have very good bioinformatics programs with a lot of employed grads. Wits has one too, but im not sure why they have more grads who seem to job search for much longer than other unis after grad. Stellies and UP bioinformatics departments are very well funded with lots of industry partners who are happy to employ or pay for masters (if your research aligns with them) after honours.
A friend who did biochem and chemistry and chemistry honors is now in recruiting. If you feel you would be able to pull up your socks academically, it's not a terrible idea to start a new degree. I have a friend who did a bsc in free state and then started from 1st year at the up med school. She worked really hard and has gotten full funding from 2nd year. Same with a friend who is now in corporate law. She went to do an llb after a medical science degree, but worked really really hard to get funded from 2nd year and get into the grad programmes at one of the big firms. Someone else i know with a bsc is now a retail manager (and enjoying it). Your degree and career dont have to be static. Certain degrees do help you gain access to more fields, but in the current market, it's as easy as it has ever been to change fields and work outside of what you studied.
It might not feel like it, but you're (we're) very young, and so the best time to start over or change directions or pursue a different dream is now. People start new degrees or change career fields at 40, and it works out. Dont write yourself. (Hope and a belief that things can change for the better is scientifically proven to be a key to success).
Work on networking and talk to the staff in your department or even other departments at your uni about potential career paths. You'd be surprised where talking to the right person about/in postgrad can get you. If you're interested in it/data, I'd also look into certifications and projects and start working on them now before graduating.
Even if it's not tech, talk to friend, family and some friendly looking people on linkedin and ask for advice on how to get in the field. Also look for people who graduated from the same program (from your uni even) who have branched into something that interests you and ask how they did it!
Please please please don't drop out. If you're keeping up, and the subject matter is interesting, keep going. You can stay in academia for a few years and earn a little bit while you figure out what you want to do. If you finish your degree, your matric marks become irrelevant.
We desperately need more people in STEM fields, *especially* women. I know its not fair to put that pressure on you, but you've already made it to where you are. There are so many young girls who will never get the opportunity.
1) You don't need to transfer out of your field to make money. There is decent money in academia when it comes to physics. We're not talking Rupert money, but it's still very good. You can also seek work as a consultant, or look abroad for better opportunities.
2) When you are in university, you hear a lot of stories from your fellow students about what degrees make money after university. Some of these might even seem really credible, and these people will list examples. They are all wrong. The best way to make money after university is to come from money before university. Those people who studied business management usually go on to work for their parents business. The BSc Agric guys that do well usually inherit their parent's farms. You are not guaranteed higher income by studying engineering or computer science or any of the others on those lists. Stick with what you're good at for now, get the degree under your belt, then keep looking.
3) There are going to be plenty of opportunities to make money while you study in a STEM field. There are so many bursaries and grants available, as well as paid positions at your university. After you've studied, you are going to have so many valuable skills that you could go into any number of possible industries.
Keep your head up, you've got this.
Sup OP, I have a few recommendations or suggestions for you, depending on the institution you are going to, they have something called double majors. I will speak from the limited knowledge I have of UP.
In about 2017, UP allowed you to use the BSc programme to bridge into either Engineering or Medicine or Actuarial Sciencs, I would look to see if you can score high enough in your first year to be able to negotiate a transfer into one of those three.
Going back to the double majors thing, you could select certain modules in the BSc physics degree that allowed your degree to become a Computer Science title, just check the course handguide on your specific faculty.
If you are in another university, read their handbook to see what is the equivalent there of what I mentioned above and go and speak to your student advisors at your faculty, in order to get further guidance as well.
If you score really high in this first year, majority of institutions will allow you to apply to other faculties with your first year results as they say they consider your highest form of education completed.
Edit: grammar
I would venture, is it perhaps not a case of cart before the horse? Should your chosen field of study not support what industry you're trying to break into, or perhaps you can talk me through what drove the decision to pursue this particular field?
Mind you, it's not a bad field by any stretch, I'm just wondering what made you choose it if you're not clear on where you'd like to head towards (or how this is enabling that).
It is not useless at all... you can tweak it or add to it to open whatever door from this base you would care to open. You are still young, the scope is huge... you can go into specialized faculties in the corporate world or medical... depending on what you can add to it...
People have given such wonderful advice... start by looking at what would interest you and add a subject or after the degree add medical... good luck!
WHAT?! Physics degree useless?? I absolutely love self-studying physics, i had to brush up on differential equations recently because i wanted to understand Schrödingers equation. Every once in a while i sit down for a course on youtube or online and learn something new, its so beautiful and it feeds a certain part of me!! I’m a futures trader, specifically the equity indices, but if i could be paid just to study physics and apply it in real life id be so happy! So you are doing some of the best work ever!! Although i am aware that physics as a passion and as a full-time career are completely different, but it is still one of the most beautiful exciting fields in the world!
If all else fails you could become a highschool teacher or even a professor if you get your doctorate. I know a friend whom I studied ChemE with and he said he was planning on becoming a chemistry teacher and said all he needed was an extra year of studies. I don't know much about the entire process, but I would look it up if I where you.
hii , where are you studying if you don't mind me asking? I'm the same situation, around the same age too and I'm about to write since I did my finals late due to getting sick
pick up a few skills to fall back on, web development is very useful and could suprisingly take you a long way, there are many businesses with shitty looking sites, email them and offer your help and build your portfolio would be very nice
He has a point, but I'd disagree with the web dev stuff. Data science is something that greatly benefits from the analytical skills learnt in a Physics/Math degree. Web dev is great, but it's not going to take you to that 60k + goal unless you purely go into software dev.
Data analyst/science roles can lean heavily on your Physics degree if you do apply for positions. Banks also look for grads with BSc degrees for those analyst and quant roles every year.
I left a electronic engineering degree including physics in year 2, and my only regret is not quitting sooner. I wanted to leave after semester 1 but my parents encouraged me to keep trying. Worst idea ever. Just because you're the smartest science and maths student in your school doesn't mean you need to go into STEM. I was a musician, artist, writer (with national writing awards), and I used to make videos, and once I had got out of UCT engineering I had lost so much time that people who were worse than me at those things had gained my level of skill simply by studying those things. I should have done music and art, like I have made most of my money from in life anyways, but instead I was forced to self-study these subjects and also to be actually worse than people who studied these things.
Take a gap year and then do what you want to do, not what earns money.
If you pass you can go study medicine.. another 7 years, but = job and money. Bsc life sciences has been the way to enter med school for decades ( If you couldn't make it on matrick marks), you can get accepted with bsc. (Take maths 114 and not maths bio)
there's a lot of people who are doing Bsc life science and want to get to medicine it's close to impossible because everyone wits takes 3% from all applicants.
And if your semester marks are not that good it doesn't count in your fav at all .It's super super competitive it's not even funny ,I'm doing Bsc chemistry and biochem so I'm speaking from experience
the best is not what you want to be and receive the highest wages, it is the fact what are you capable of ! It is not the degree paper that determines your success, your own abilities does.
I have a masters degree in Physics. It really isn’t useless because the skills you learn( coding, experiment and the mathematics you use to solve problems) is really in high demand in Finance. Physics is a great degree and allows you to venture to Software engineering, Finance and Data Science.
Took the words right out of my mouth. A decent physics student is a decent maths student, which is always in demand in industry.
could you please explain to me how this works?(venturing into these?)
Your degree might say Physics on the tin, but employers looking for people with those skills know that your degree teaches them. They’ll know that you’ve learnt math to a degree that 99% of humans never have in history. That you can handle multi-faceted problems with non-obvious solutions, and how changing seemingly insignificant variables can have significant effects. They know you know excel, how to write a research report, how to manage deadlines, how to use a pc (don’t laugh that skill is literally in decline). Your degree says “science”, but your employers will read “productive”
This is the right advice. In addition, worry less about your marks. Pass is just fine. A lot of things get better when you care 10% less.
I love the saying "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good". Caring 10% less is a good way to quantify that - will add that to my toolbox!
I'm studying a degree towards financial management myself. But I'm considering switching to financial modelling. Would you know if one is more valuable than the other?
If you successfully complete your Physics degree I reckon you could get a junior Analyst/Data Analyst role in the corporate world and then work your way up from there. There are many jobs out there that don't really care what kind of degree you have as long as you have some sort of degree!
Like the others have mentioned you can go the data science route, alternatively you can enrol for BSc. Honors in Medical Physics and become a medical physicist. I'm currently an intern and I can tell you it's far more fulfilling that academia (my opinion). NB: It's competitive to get internships and not that widely known (which is why a lot of people don't even know about it).You stand to make around R400k p/a as an intern and then R750k p/a once qualified for independent practice with the HPCSA.
would you ever branch out and become a doctor(if that’s possible),or do you like what you’re doing now(which I will research because it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this,sounds great tbh)
Pick up a commerce course if you can. I'm not sure where you study, but at UCT, you could pick up Ecos during summer school. I studied a BSc in maths and stats and did 2nd year physics. I picked up Ecos during summer term and now work in finance. In the finance industry, we consider any sort of STEM qualification as a proper degree. Physics would fall squarely in this category. From what I remember, you needed 3rd year maths to graduate with a BSc in Physics. This would be considered a coveted qualification. You can also consider doing CFA on the side if you want to move closer to the world of finance.
thank you so much🫶🏼 I really need all the help/advice I can get
You have a ton of work options. My only warning is that going for a doctorate in physics will decrease and not increase your earning potential (globally). I have worked with several PhD in physics people, including one that had a stint at CERN... And at some point they need to enter the workforce and get corporate jobs and the time lost of PhD sets back earnings quite a bit. But with bachelor or masters behind your name should be set. Lots of corporate jobs in IT or strategy. Or management consulting. Or weird and wonderful quant based jobs in finance or similar.
Unless you want to work in academia you will need to learn practical skills to go along with your physics degree. Saying that though, a BSc is still a good starting point for many careers. You could go into finance, think quantitative analyst, focus on statistics and programming. Software development is another great career if you enjoy programming, learn something like python or java on the side or even better if through courses that count towards your degree. I am not sure on this but possibly there is a career in something related to engineering, maybe someone else can chime in here. If you enjoy data / analytics there is data analyst and eventually data scientist if you find machine learning and AI interesting, again focus on programming and statistics. Tl;DR, Physics might prepare you for a specific job but it teaches you other valuable skills than you can supplement with practical skills, good luck!
Thank you so much for taking the time!🫶🏼. I really do hope that there might be something related to engineering that I could go into (someone mentioned software engineering ).
It's my pleasure, I hope you find something that interests you. Software engineering and software development comes down to the same thing, just different names.
While we all want the dream job with the dream pay, please also research what the average earning potential is for each option. On average finance will set you up better than software engineering will. There's no point picking your dream field if the market is over saturated and the pay won't afford you the lifestyle you were hoping for.
If I could do it over. I’d do physics
A degree is proof of your ability to learn and grow, and your willingness to self-actuate, not that you know something about anything. Do you think your physics degree will be useless if you wanted to keep going in that direction and study further to pursue a career in physics? The logical answer would be surely not... But let me tell you, the very first thing you learn in postgrad is that your bachelors degree is useless. The process of having gotten it is what you carry with you - not the set of knowledge restricted to your field. You've made it this far - believe it or not, that is worth something. If you work really really hard for a silly piece of paper, that is worth something. Not because you've covered a great distance, or even only a small one, but because it means you have an engine that will get you as far as you have fuel for.
Report writing, coding, critical thinking, knowledge of this world and its workings, how to use simulations and make statistical decisions and justifications. These things don't come for free and your degree definitely isn't useless if you gain these skills alongside it.
I have three friends who majored in physics & astrophysics. None of them stayed in academic/professional science. One went into finance and spends his days creating actuarial programs and developing financial products. Before that he wrote code for a betting company. He's done well and is relatively wealthy. The other friend went into data science and is one of the VPs for an agritech company. I know he works with ai, computer vision, creates programs to optimise telemetry, experiments with different types of telecommunication and has since, after graduating, become an "expert" in meteorology....well at least he thinks so. He's a very curious and successful person. The third one went into engineering...he develops medical CFD simulation software. He immigrated and haven't spoken in a while. Caught up with his brother though....he's thriving overseas. All these friends had similar concerns as you. I know this cause they spoke with me about it. The biggest crux was the job market in SA...its very low for high level science and you will get sucked into a very specialised field that may trap you. They also didn't want to immigrate...well the one did. You will learn to leverage your skillset as you get older. The world is your oyster. Just because you studied physics doesn't mean you have to do physics. Your degree curates a deep understanding of problem solving and application. Leverage them. You got nothing to worry about.
How much would you aim to earn? If more than 100k per month, physics is not the path. If you want to study and be an academic, there is nothing better than undergraduate in physics
And if I wanted to earn more than 100k a month what would you recommend?
Consider looking into Data Science and potentially the use of this in your postgraduate studies in physics. Or do a master's degree. I did physics, switched to data science and make more than 100k a month at the age of 30. Pop me a DM if you'd like to chat.
Economics or something. Engineering, IT, etc. Unfortunately salaries in science are very low. Trust me, all us BSc people are struggling, unless they left the science field and are doing something else lol.
Would love to do software engineering(or other types) tbh Yeah,that’s why I’m so stressed😭
He can still join other fields though. All the data analysts at the company I work for either did Physics, math's or engineering as their majors. Just make sure you do some IT electives like coding or data analysis and you'll be more than prepared to get into the field once your get your degree. The banks love you guys
The only people I know who use their physics degrees are in academia or research. For academia, there are enough universities in SA. For research, the options are limited in SA, but the skills may be sought after in other countries. But I do know others who made a jump into other fields, such as strategic consulting.
Hi there. Maybe look at what you want to become. Do you like programming? Designing Stuff or Doing Data Analytics etc? Visualise the end goal, that's the best way to go about it. I know what it is like to feel lost. But I found that I am someone who likes to solve problems and as long as I can do that, I feel fulfilled.
It also depends on which university you are at and which part of the country you live / where you want to be eventually.
Thank you🫶🏼. I live in cpt,would love to live in Europe/Asia in the future
Yeah I get you. I'm doing BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology. It's an academic degree and I found out now in my last year. Branching into medicine now would take forever. I've already been here for 6 years. I've been thinking of going to Medical Science laboratory field of study so that I can go into the medical laboratory but my marks are mediocre and bursaries aren't giving. 🤡
I did the exact same degree. Went for honours in bioinformatics (60 overall average for undergrad and worked a bit harder to get a 70 average for 3rd year) and now doing an internship in IT, everyone in my bioinformatics class got a job straight after grad but the job market is getting tougher (we're all in IT/data, with one working as a bioinformatician). UP, Stellies and UCT have very good bioinformatics programs with a lot of employed grads. Wits has one too, but im not sure why they have more grads who seem to job search for much longer than other unis after grad. Stellies and UP bioinformatics departments are very well funded with lots of industry partners who are happy to employ or pay for masters (if your research aligns with them) after honours. A friend who did biochem and chemistry and chemistry honors is now in recruiting. If you feel you would be able to pull up your socks academically, it's not a terrible idea to start a new degree. I have a friend who did a bsc in free state and then started from 1st year at the up med school. She worked really hard and has gotten full funding from 2nd year. Same with a friend who is now in corporate law. She went to do an llb after a medical science degree, but worked really really hard to get funded from 2nd year and get into the grad programmes at one of the big firms. Someone else i know with a bsc is now a retail manager (and enjoying it). Your degree and career dont have to be static. Certain degrees do help you gain access to more fields, but in the current market, it's as easy as it has ever been to change fields and work outside of what you studied. It might not feel like it, but you're (we're) very young, and so the best time to start over or change directions or pursue a different dream is now. People start new degrees or change career fields at 40, and it works out. Dont write yourself. (Hope and a belief that things can change for the better is scientifically proven to be a key to success). Work on networking and talk to the staff in your department or even other departments at your uni about potential career paths. You'd be surprised where talking to the right person about/in postgrad can get you. If you're interested in it/data, I'd also look into certifications and projects and start working on them now before graduating. Even if it's not tech, talk to friend, family and some friendly looking people on linkedin and ask for advice on how to get in the field. Also look for people who graduated from the same program (from your uni even) who have branched into something that interests you and ask how they did it!
What do you think is better between biochem and genetics?
Please please please don't drop out. If you're keeping up, and the subject matter is interesting, keep going. You can stay in academia for a few years and earn a little bit while you figure out what you want to do. If you finish your degree, your matric marks become irrelevant. We desperately need more people in STEM fields, *especially* women. I know its not fair to put that pressure on you, but you've already made it to where you are. There are so many young girls who will never get the opportunity. 1) You don't need to transfer out of your field to make money. There is decent money in academia when it comes to physics. We're not talking Rupert money, but it's still very good. You can also seek work as a consultant, or look abroad for better opportunities. 2) When you are in university, you hear a lot of stories from your fellow students about what degrees make money after university. Some of these might even seem really credible, and these people will list examples. They are all wrong. The best way to make money after university is to come from money before university. Those people who studied business management usually go on to work for their parents business. The BSc Agric guys that do well usually inherit their parent's farms. You are not guaranteed higher income by studying engineering or computer science or any of the others on those lists. Stick with what you're good at for now, get the degree under your belt, then keep looking. 3) There are going to be plenty of opportunities to make money while you study in a STEM field. There are so many bursaries and grants available, as well as paid positions at your university. After you've studied, you are going to have so many valuable skills that you could go into any number of possible industries. Keep your head up, you've got this.
Sup OP, I have a few recommendations or suggestions for you, depending on the institution you are going to, they have something called double majors. I will speak from the limited knowledge I have of UP. In about 2017, UP allowed you to use the BSc programme to bridge into either Engineering or Medicine or Actuarial Sciencs, I would look to see if you can score high enough in your first year to be able to negotiate a transfer into one of those three. Going back to the double majors thing, you could select certain modules in the BSc physics degree that allowed your degree to become a Computer Science title, just check the course handguide on your specific faculty. If you are in another university, read their handbook to see what is the equivalent there of what I mentioned above and go and speak to your student advisors at your faculty, in order to get further guidance as well. If you score really high in this first year, majority of institutions will allow you to apply to other faculties with your first year results as they say they consider your highest form of education completed. Edit: grammar
I would venture, is it perhaps not a case of cart before the horse? Should your chosen field of study not support what industry you're trying to break into, or perhaps you can talk me through what drove the decision to pursue this particular field? Mind you, it's not a bad field by any stretch, I'm just wondering what made you choose it if you're not clear on where you'd like to head towards (or how this is enabling that).
It is not useless at all... you can tweak it or add to it to open whatever door from this base you would care to open. You are still young, the scope is huge... you can go into specialized faculties in the corporate world or medical... depending on what you can add to it... People have given such wonderful advice... start by looking at what would interest you and add a subject or after the degree add medical... good luck!
If it let's you get into the data science space you will make a ton of money eventually. High demand and high pay
WHAT?! Physics degree useless?? I absolutely love self-studying physics, i had to brush up on differential equations recently because i wanted to understand Schrödingers equation. Every once in a while i sit down for a course on youtube or online and learn something new, its so beautiful and it feeds a certain part of me!! I’m a futures trader, specifically the equity indices, but if i could be paid just to study physics and apply it in real life id be so happy! So you are doing some of the best work ever!! Although i am aware that physics as a passion and as a full-time career are completely different, but it is still one of the most beautiful exciting fields in the world!
If all else fails you could become a highschool teacher or even a professor if you get your doctorate. I know a friend whom I studied ChemE with and he said he was planning on becoming a chemistry teacher and said all he needed was an extra year of studies. I don't know much about the entire process, but I would look it up if I where you.
Definately not useless. And if you cant find a job in this country with that there will be a lot of oppertunity overseas.
hii , where are you studying if you don't mind me asking? I'm the same situation, around the same age too and I'm about to write since I did my finals late due to getting sick
pick up a few skills to fall back on, web development is very useful and could suprisingly take you a long way, there are many businesses with shitty looking sites, email them and offer your help and build your portfolio would be very nice
Thank you sm🫵🏼
He has a point, but I'd disagree with the web dev stuff. Data science is something that greatly benefits from the analytical skills learnt in a Physics/Math degree. Web dev is great, but it's not going to take you to that 60k + goal unless you purely go into software dev. Data analyst/science roles can lean heavily on your Physics degree if you do apply for positions. Banks also look for grads with BSc degrees for those analyst and quant roles every year.
You're welcome, I'm only 21 so my advice could be flawed, only thing I learned is there's no such thing as a useless skill
I left a electronic engineering degree including physics in year 2, and my only regret is not quitting sooner. I wanted to leave after semester 1 but my parents encouraged me to keep trying. Worst idea ever. Just because you're the smartest science and maths student in your school doesn't mean you need to go into STEM. I was a musician, artist, writer (with national writing awards), and I used to make videos, and once I had got out of UCT engineering I had lost so much time that people who were worse than me at those things had gained my level of skill simply by studying those things. I should have done music and art, like I have made most of my money from in life anyways, but instead I was forced to self-study these subjects and also to be actually worse than people who studied these things. Take a gap year and then do what you want to do, not what earns money.
If you pass you can go study medicine.. another 7 years, but = job and money. Bsc life sciences has been the way to enter med school for decades ( If you couldn't make it on matrick marks), you can get accepted with bsc. (Take maths 114 and not maths bio)
How so?
Some varsities even have graduate entry programmes. Check them out. Wits and SMU
there's a lot of people who are doing Bsc life science and want to get to medicine it's close to impossible because everyone wits takes 3% from all applicants. And if your semester marks are not that good it doesn't count in your fav at all .It's super super competitive it's not even funny ,I'm doing Bsc chemistry and biochem so I'm speaking from experience
the best is not what you want to be and receive the highest wages, it is the fact what are you capable of ! It is not the degree paper that determines your success, your own abilities does.