Expert: Carlo Segre - 9/3/2011

Question
QUESTION: I recently graduated with a degree in physics, and for a long time I really thought I wanted to be a physicist. In particular, I really only ever could see myself doing theoretical physics as an academic....I have no interest in working in private industry and despise doing experiments as much as an arts major. Working things out use thought and math was what I enjoyed, leaving those ideas to be tested by others. I loved lecture and working problems in textbooks, and trying to think of new ones. However, extremely negative things I've read about the job market in academia for physics have deterred me from this. I have read so many horror stories about many, even the majority, of physics PhDs being stuck in limbo, going from post-doc position to post-doc position, working outrageous hours for wages a secretary could earn because there are simply far too many PhDs for the number of professorships. I have read that tenure track positions even at liberal arts colleges in the middle of nowhere are garnering 120+ applications, and that people getting into their late 30s with many papers published still don't have a position. Even after all that, it seems that people are being denied tenure once they get a tenure track position increasingly often, leaving people in their late 30s or early 40s without any job security. According to a physicist whose blog I read, Sean Carroll, over half those physics PhDs seeking a job in academia never get tenure and leave the field. So in short: in your opinion, is it really as bleak as that, or even close?

Second, another reason I did not apply to grad schools my senior year is that I do not have enough research experience. My school is not heavily research oriented, and many of the professors were either not really involved at all anymore or between projects when I asked. I was hired at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab in the summer of 2010, but they ultimately didn't give me physics to do! They instead had me design a website describing work they were doing (and I have no experience at all in web design). I have the grades, I think, to go to a top program. I graduated with a 4.00 GPA and got a 1510 (720 V, 790 M, 5.0 writing) on the GRE. I did not take the physics one yet--it is impossible to exaggerate how bad my upper level mechanics classes were, and I would not have been ready, though I'm now comfortably teaching myself from books. However, with no real research experience I don't think I'd have a chance at applying to a good program. Basically every student research program I've encountered only accepts current undergrads, and they also all seem experimentally oriented. Do you know of somewhere I could get an internship as a post-grad that emphasizes theoretical research?

ANSWER: Hi Anthony:

Wow, a lot of questions to answer!  Let me take them in order.

I would have to say that the field of theoretical physics in academia is a hard one to follow.  It is true that theoretical physicists often take multiple postdoc positions before landing the tenure track job.  I am not sure if it is quite so bleak as what you describe for getting tenure, though.  The reality is, however, that a theoretical physicist is somewhat limited in obtaining research funding so this is definitely taken into account when the tenure decision is made and there are other ways to compensate.  It also depends on the university.  All that being said, there are opportunities for theoretical physicists in computational physics, where there are significantly more resources.  You will find physicists in materials science and engineering departments being quite successful.

The bottom line is that pursuing an academic career is a tough road and if you choose it, you won't be compensated nearly as much as in the private sector.  Some of us have a passion for it though and are willing to make the sacrifices and there are a lot of universities out there.  A theorist who is passionate about teaching will be able to find a position, even if in a small college, where he/she can continue research while fulfilling the teaching obligations of the college.

As for your future application to graduate school, I have to think that you are a potentially excellent applicant, depending on your Physics GRE score.  Note that not all programs require the Physics GRE but it is a good exam to take.  yes, many of the top programs insist that applications have research experience but what you did at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab is probably good enough even if it was web design.  The fallacy that you have been operating under is that it is possible to do theoretical physics research as an undergraduate.  This is nearly impossible and i always advise students interested in theory to get involved in experimental research as undergraduates.  There are several reasons for this

1. As an undergraduate you do not have the tools to do original theoretical research.  At the most, it will be a computational project but not theory!  Most theoretical physicists won't take a graduate student on until they are finished with all their coursework, they simply need to have all the coursework in order to function effectively.

2. Any good theorist will tell you that it is essential to calculate things that actually stand a chance of predicting quantities or phenomena which can actually be measured.  If you have some experimental experience, you will be much better able to understand this.

3. Many of us start graduate school wanting to be theoretical physicists and we are all smart and have good grades, particularly if we get into a top 20 school.  Once we get there, however, many of us realize that we don't have the chops to be theorists and we change to experimental physics.  Having a bit of experimental undergraduate research is quite valuable in making this transition.

My suggestion to you is to find a university near you and volunteer with a faculty member to gain experience.  It will probably not be theory but that is OK for the purposes of graduate school applications.  In the meantime, take the physics GRE at the earliest and then apply to at least 5 schools, one of which should be a safety school (don't choose only top 10 programs!).

Hope this helps,

Carlo

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

QUESTION: Thanks a lot for your help. Your insights were much clearer on these matters than I ever got during advising in college. As for the fact that you can't really do theoretical research as an undergrad, I had kind of figured as much,  and for the basic reasons you said, but I thought it was worth a shot. There is a theorist at my college who used to have students do computational work for him, especially with grinding out the raw numbers for cross sections, and I would have been happy to do that, but he decided to change fields and was spending time teaching himself so that he could move into field theory. I do like teaching (I worked in the math tutoring center in college) so I like what you said about small colleges being interested in theorists who also teach. There is an additional concern I have, however. My understanding now is that the job market, especially for theorists, is pretty thin, but maybe not catastrophically so. Let's say that after getting a PhD at 29, things work out and I did two post-docs for two years and three years each, then got a tenure track position at 34. However, it seems from what I've read that because there's such a relatively small number of jobs scattered all over, that in all likelihood these positions will entail moving all over the country, repeatedly. Let's say I get a PhD in the Philadelphia area. Would it be a typical course of events to get a first post-doc in Syracuse, then one in Ohio State, then get a tenured position at NC state where I would ultimately have to settle--moving hundreds to thousands of miles every two years because filtering opportunities based on geography is, from a career perspective, suicidal? Does the academic physics route necessarily entail very little control over where in the country you will live?

Answer
Hi Anthony:

Unfortunately, the answer to your question is yes.  The decision pursue an academic track limits your choices.  I know of physicists who have been able to control this situation, one is in my department at Illinois Tech, but he had to wait a long time for a first academic position.  When you constrain yourself geographically, you are also limiting your career possibilities.  I think that you need to just embrace the opportunity to move around (even to Europe, for example) and take advantage of the fact that this career makes it possible to experience many different places.

Good luck in your graduate school applications,

Carlo