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Careers: Physics/changing major

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Expert: Daniel Mazur - 12/5/2009


Question
respected sir,

i just wanted to know whether someone with a bachelor in engineering is eligible for a masters in physics? i am in the final year of my electrical engineering and well it seems to me like i have made a huge mistake choosing engineering as my major. i am really into physics but really it seems to me that i have missed my chance. physics is my real passion and love and i feel like i have realized a little too late. i am really depressed right now and i am not sure what i am going to do. so far i have not seen anywhere that you can make that change. for an msc in physics you need a bsc in physics. well i cant go for that now coz i have my family depending on me. so its too late for that. so please tell me if it is possible for me to go for msc in physics now? any advice will be apprecaited.

mujtaba

Answer
Dear Mujtaba,
In the USA the switch is possible, I don't know anywhere else in the world, where this is the case. Even in the USA you will need to work harder than normal. Naturally, part of the courses you took for electrical engineering are different than those Bc's in physics take. Nevertheless, if you have a dependent family in Pakistan, you would do much better to accept working as an electrical engineer until you can afford to move with them all to pursue your dream career.
Good luck,
Daniel

Careers: Physics

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Questions anyone (teenager, undergrad, graduate, professional) may ask on physics, mathematics or inorganic chemistry. Questions may concern subjects themselves or a possible future career in them, if you need advice on a school or hobby project, or you just came across a question that is beyond your current curriculum. I answer bare textbook problems sometimes, but I reserve the the right to redirect you to Physics-Physics section. The kind of questions I like to answer: I just started having science classes at school and they seem difficult, but I enjoy them. Where do I find more information on this, which is not in textbooks but still comprehensible to me? Just leaving high school, and I feel science is really the thing for me. Can you recommend a school and an undergrad program suitable to my inclinations? I am in my second undergraduate year in Physics. We learned the basics of universe expanding this year, the Hubble constant and all that, but invited speakers that gave talks on astrophysics in our department seemed not to agree with this model at all. Is it of any use at all? I am building a [materials research] experimental device for my masters/doctorate thesis and I have the following problem:... I have tried ..., but it still doesn't work. Where might the problem be?

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