Expert: Daniel Mazur - 4/15/2010

Question
I am currently a high school senior who has chosed definatively to pursue a career in the world of physics. I am going to UAB (university of alabama at Birmingham) to obtain a B.S in general Physics, however i reallt want to pursue a career in a form of theoretical Physics but UAB doesn't offer a a masters or a PH.D. in that field. I have triend college search engines seaching for a credible school that could get me that lever of education in Physics but i haven't had any luck in finding one, so i was wondering if you knew a college (preferably in Alabama or in the south east) that has a good Rep and that could help my get my degrees? and i was also wondering what kind of industries or companies could be of use to a person with a Ph.D. in a field of Theoretical Physics and what to expect for a salary both starting off and after a few years of being in that job?

Answer
Hi Caleb,

let me start from the other end, as that has shorter answers.
Theoretical Physicists only ever get hired by industry to do something other(!) than theoretical physics. Theorists don't produce anything suitable for making goods to sell to the crowds. Or to sell to anybody. Theories are available to all, who pay for reading the articles in a journal - they are everybody's property, as long as they pay the publishers of the journal. Theorists are not paid from sales.

Salaries around the world vary. I think that theorists have starting salaries (just after doctorate, Ph.D.) about the same as us, experimentalists. In the States this may mean as little as $30k/year or as much as $70k/year, depending on the hiring institution, on the schools YOU got your degrees from, and on the success you make out of your Ph.D. project. What you get after a few years depends on the same things on the next level. But mainly it depends on your particular path: do you expect to do several post-docs? Do you expect to be an assistant professor? Or a permanent staff member at some National Laboratory? As a post-doc, you will stay in the same range you'll have started. As a professor or a NL scientist you may get to or over a $100k/year (in today's currency already). Whether you'll be below or above, that will be determined by your previous successes, and always (sad truth) on whether your degrees came from Big Name schools like the Ivy League or CalTech...

I really know little abou South East universities. I gather U of North Carolina is fairly good in T.P. and U of Florida has a pretty good name as well. Unfortunately, you and I and everybody else must do our searches for good schools and employers by ourselves. Only you know, what you already know and what would suit you. When choosing, we rarely find an option perfect in every respect. We rather weigh pros (like school's fame, particular curriculum offered) and cons (tuition, long distance). My advice is don't use search engines, dig in the websites of the universities themselves to learn about their programs. From google, if you do it right, you can find answers to your questions about salaries of postdocs and professors here and there, statistics about their general level or in particular fields. In the end, you may with luck fiind a clear winner among the options.

Best of luck to you with it!
Daniel