Expert: Carlo Segre - 7/10/2011

Question
QUESTION: hello, i am a student of 3rd year physics hons. in Delhi university.
i am highly confused about my future.
i want to do M.Sc. in physics, but have doubt in my mind.
which is a better option, doing M.Sc. from USA or from INDIA?
and if USA, then what are the best universities for it?
eagerly waiting for a response.
thank you.

ANSWER: Dear umang:

This is a difficult question.  It depends on your career goals and the kind of degree that you are getting in India.  Often U.S. universities will not accept students with 3 year B.Sc. degrees without an additional year of masters level courses.  This means that you would have to likely take a 4th year in India and then go to the U.S. for a 2 year M.S. program.  Doing the entire M.Sc. in India might take a bit less time.

The question of which universities in the US are best for a Masters degree is also difficult to answer.  Some universities will not admit any students who apply for the M.S. only.  The M.S. is used as a degree for students who do not complete the Ph.D.  Other universities are very happy to have M.S. students and have designed programs for this kind of student.  You will have to do a lot of homework to choose the best one for you.  Don't ignore the Professional masters degrees which are now becoming more common in the U.S.

One thing is sure, the core physics courses you take in any M.S. program in the U.S. are pretty much the same so the content is consistent.

Hope this helps,

Carlo

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for answering my question.
I would like to know that as you know i am doing B.Sc. physics hons. , so what are the career options for me besides doing M.Sc. in physics.
Also you said about the professional degrees in U.S., so would you like to elaborate that for me.
Thank you
Umang

Answer
Dear umang:

I can only speak for the U.S. as far as career options with a B.Sc.  I expect that there might be similar opportunities in India.  Physicists with a B.Sc. can find jobs in industry in the R&D areas, just like engineers.  In fact there is a major aerospace company which consistently is looking for physics majors as well as engineers.  Another option is the software industry.  While a physics major does not necessarily know the formalities of software engineering, he/she has had a significant programming experience which is valuable to many companies.  One of our graduates got a job at Google last year.  The financial and energy industries also hire physics majors on a regular basis.  The fundamental mathematics and science that is learned in a physics curriculum is valuable in a number of fields.

The Professional Science Masters are relatively new degrees which provide more targeted training in, say nanotechnology, health physics or environmental physics, to name a few.  They specifically prepare students for a career in those areas and therefore have a relatively narrow focus.  You can read more about these degrees by googling "Professional Science Masters".  Some of the sites you would find are

http://www.sciencemasters.com

http://www.npsma.org

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44373/title/Professional_Science_Mast

Cheers,

Carlo