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gbeagle · 06-19-2006, 10:02 PM

I'm a recent college grad whose somewhat uncertain about the future and looking for some advice.

My original plan was to go to grad school and get a PhD in physics. However, during my senior year I came to the conclusion that graduate school in physics was not for me. So this left me with a BS in physics and no real plans for the future.

The two main options that I see are to get some kind of job or more school in another discipline. A job is my first choice (somewhat burned out on school right now), but I have been having some difficulties.

I've sent my resume to lots of places (high tech companies, defense contractors, etc.) and have gotten some interviews, however, they all wanted people whose physics background was more towardsthe materials science or electrical engineering side of things. Most of my research background was in high energy (particle accelerator experiements), and therefore not what they were looking for. This made me think that it might be useful to go back to school for electrical engineering, but I'm not sure.

So I was wondering if any posters had any advice, such as what type of companies to look into and when I find them how to sell a physics background to potential employers? I'd rather do something of a technical/scientific nature than not, but I'm open to other suggestions. Any advice from people who have been in a similar situation or have hired physics people before would be greatly appreciated.

06-19-2006, 10:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
gbeagle Upright	Career Choice I'm a recent college grad whose somewhat uncertain about the future and looking for some advice. My original plan was to go to grad school and get a PhD in physics. However, during my senior year I came to the conclusion that graduate school in physics was not for me. So this left me with a BS in physics and no real plans for the future. The two main options that I see are to get some kind of job or more school in another discipline. A job is my first choice (somewhat burned out on school right now), but I have been having some difficulties. I've sent my resume to lots of places (high tech companies, defense contractors, etc.) and have gotten some interviews, however, they all wanted people whose physics background was more towardsthe materials science or electrical engineering side of things. Most of my research background was in high energy (particle accelerator experiements), and therefore not what they were looking for. This made me think that it might be useful to go back to school for electrical engineering, but I'm not sure. So I was wondering if any posters had any advice, such as what type of companies to look into and when I find them how to sell a physics background to potential employers? I'd rather do something of a technical/scientific nature than not, but I'm open to other suggestions. Any advice from people who have been in a similar situation or have hired physics people before would be greatly appreciated.