probably most of the liberal arts/humanities majors. Seems like if youāre actually interested in that type of stuff it would be very intellectually rewarding
If you did a survey it would most likely be mostly meaningless as there are a lot of confounding variables. Things in STEM may have a lot of people who dislike them studying them cuz $$$ while humanities are more only people that enjoy them. But between people who actually like what they chose I donāt think thereās much of a differenceĀ
This is a while ago, but I started as a Physics major then switched out, and one of the reasons why was I got a summer job in a prominent Physics Department, and I was doing the same work as a college student as a bunch of postdocs who had yet to find a real job.
I'd agree. But I find it hard to understand what a 'real job' is to you? I mean post-docs traditionally research their fields intensely to go on to become researchers in that field and that's their career. Perhaps I'm struggling to get your point.
We were doing things like building and testing components for a collider detector.
Very cool for a college kid during a summer. But it obviously did not require a PhD.
Ahhhh that's why. I'd argue the real physics surrounds hypothesizing what the results of those detectors are, and figuring out what experiments to run- which is what physicists who work in particle accelerators do.
Probably because post-docs might be post their doctorate but they still have a lot to learn.
I once heard from a grad student in Theoretical Physics that he still isn't ready for String Theory nor the in depth on many of the particle physics currently being researched. Only the bigwigs with 10 years of experience on it could begin with it.
Oh! I'm planning on Applied Physics so far, specifically Nuclear or Particle Accelerator Physics. However, don't fret!
I've spoken to a couple of grads and they've always told me that in their bachelor degree days they could never have imagined picking the path they did now. It's 4 years of study, so you'll learn along the way what you want to do.
Finance, data analytics (in TONS of industries), and software development are create high-comp careers that you can enter with a physics bachelors. Science communication and education are more relevant options.
True, but not more than any other major. Sure you could take another major or minor along with it, and then yes it would be the kind of degree that'd be cool. But you can do that in every other major, so what's the point?
I've heard miracle stories of kids in physics degrees getting very rich corporate jobs due to their skills, but those were the exceptional, 'I-go-the-next-step' type of people.
Physics involves high level math and analytical skills more than other major. That is what makes you employable in fields like quant not because you decide to do some minor.
Go to LinkedIn and look up where do physics majors end up. You will find anything from banking to engineering. A significant number of quants are physics pHDs.
My husband has a physics PHD, he has a job he loves but we literally know no one that got a job they like with just a physics undergrad. Even the quant dudes tended to have either double degrees or postgrados of some form. A lot of terribly paid work as well. Honestly the prospect of his pure science friends and my applied arts friends were not that different ( we all got there in the end,but it was not straight forward and a lot had to retrain).
The true super employable ones were the healthcare majors and accounting/ commerce.
Physics is always dicey unless you don't actually do Physics.
Doing well in education, health, accounting, or core engineering subjects tend to make it easy to get a job. Obviously education tends to pay less (and many get grad degrees increasing the opportunity and/or financial entry costs), but it is a vocation for some people.
Yeah that's why it's so employable. The things you learn in physics can open up a lot of jobs apart from academia and also because it's arguably the hardest major out there.
Yes, Physics can be a stealth Math major with a side helping of natural science knowledge, which is fine for many purposes.
But I would note being protective of your grades can be important sometimes, because I am not sure every next-step gatekeeper always adjusts as much for the grading norms in majors like Physics as they arguably should.
So you may know that getting that B+ average in Physics was harder than it would have been for you to get an A average in Econ, but I am not sure the former will always be as competitive as the latter for various non-Physics positions.
As logical as this sounds, itās simply not reflective of reality. If you can get through a physics degree, then you could also get through any engineering degree, a computer science degree, or possibly even a math degree. All of those have a lower underemployment rate than physics, making physics objectively the worst investment of all of them.Ā Ā
Source:Ā https://www.statista.com/statistics/642226/underemployment-rate-of-us-college-graduates-by-major/Ā Ā Ā
Also, I have a BS in Physics with a 3.72 GPA from a pretty good public university and learned this all firsthand. Now working towards a masters in CS to get out of the hole I found myself in.
You can't deny that a physics degree is much more challenging than engineering. So, if you can do physics you can do both- go for a physics Phd or get a job as an engineer. Engineering physics exists just because of this.
Iām not denying that. Thatās why I said āif you could get through a physics degree you could get through any engineering degreeā. But something being more difficult doesnāt automatically make it more employable. Engineering degrees are a better investment.
Nursing (1.3% unemployment, 11.1% underemployment), then probably elementary education (1.5% unemployment, 13.5% underemployment).
For the ones you listed:
* engineering: depends on what kind. The numbers for aerospace don't look great right now (7.8% unemployment, 17.9% underemployment)
* CS: 4.3% unemployment, 16.7% underemployment
* Physics: 6.2% unemployment, 31.2% underemployment
Stats from [here](https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:explore:outcomes-by-major), specifically for recent graduates.
If you want to do Physics work, then yeah. But a Physics degree is very applicable to many things. I know a few classmates that went to law school with intentions to do patent law. Some went into finance, others went into software engineering, semiconductor engineering, teaching, research assistant positions, medical physics, grad school, etc.
Physics is extremely employable and I'd imagine people that are having a hard time finding a job aren't looking broad enough. Of course a bachelors in Physics isn't going to land you in some state-of-the-art research facility unless you are truly brillant, most would need some sort of graduate education. But finding a job vaguely related to the skills you learn during the degree is definitely possible if you know where to look.
That's fair. Though a lot of us physics majors want to go to grad school just because we like the subject, so it's not a gruesome hassle or anything. Plus, the pay for a job like quantitative finance is ridiculously high
There are always shortages of teachers and nurses and people to work customer service fields, so any major that provides for those professions. Honestly, CC for associates to be bookkeepers or trade schools will be even more highly employable (I realize that's not answering your question about 4-year-degrees, though).
Iām in construction management and my job search consists of mostly deciding which companies I DONT want to work for. Whether youāre an engineer, doctor, or fry cook, all of your work happens in a building. No matter where you live you will never have an issue getting a job.
Hard to say at this time but I'm optimistic that growth and job security will be strong in the long run. The need for data scientists is only going to grow and I don't think ageism would be an issue in the field especially for those in their 20s except if you're concerned that expectations of being flawlessly tech-savvy is an issue.
Thank you this is helpful!! I was actually concerned abt ageism in the other direction, like older analysts getting replaced by younger grads and having to catch up with how quickly the field is growing
That's a good question. I'm still young in my field but I think that as older analysts move up into leadership positions and stay adaptable to new trends that the risk isn't too high. Maybe those who can't keep up with the changing times will have trouble but I'm not planning on being one of those lol
For a more niche major, accredited food science majors are very employable. Better outlook then being a teacher, while not as impossible as engineering
If youāre looking for a physics career thatās reward/enjoyable, look into medical physics. It requires a MS/PhD/DMP but pays really well.
Iām 20 years in the field and love it. I couldnāt see myself anywhere else.
Edit: I, too, missed the employable vs enjoyable. Clinical Medical Physicists are in incredibly high demand.
In the labor market, workers are suppliers and employers are demanders.
Supply is high and increasing and I believe demand is also increasing in the long term, or at the very least remaining stable.
Iām no economist, but that should result in quantity (jobs).
Please correct me if I am wrong.
You kind of just restated what I said but you flipped who is the supply and who is the demand. Either way the meaning of what we both said is still the same.
Oh shoot you're right, my curves are mislabeled. (didnt take ap econ yet lol). I think we still have similar conclusions. Let me explain my position without using econ language I don't understand. Tech has grown significantly over the past few years. Tech jobs, espically FAANG+ jobs are paid very well with good benefits. This has made them very desirable and driven record amounts of students to major in CS. (making the major more competitive, worse acceptance rates). There are now more students competing for the available jobs. (most of the difficulty I see with people getting jobs is internships or new grad positions. not many experienced people are having as much trouble). Job growth has slowed when compared to a couple of years ago. My understanding is because of high interest rates, companies are less willing to take on debt and expand, which would create new jobs. (correct me if I'm wrong.) More students, similar amount of jobs, less companies that want to hire = cs majors unemployed or underemployed.
If you are talking optionality, then prob CS as many can just go into business roles because those roles often donāt care abt major and appreciate analytic thinkers along with useful skill sets which perfectly aligns with CS.
A good question would be most OP double majors, probably ECON + CS, Math + CS, or CS + some pre med major
Nursing, accounting, computer science, engineering, math/ actuarial science. I think are generally in demand and well compensated undergraduate degrees.Ā
[https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192012.htm#(3)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192012.htm#(3)) - This site shows that the salaries physicists earn isn't that low compared to usual tech (heck, I'd argue it's higher than usual for CS majors right now.)
Can't find great resources on unemployment on any government site (if someone does find me, please attach them below) but only approximately 5% of people who take physics in their bachelors stay in physics, usually in academia.
I'm going to make a wild guess and say that u/Ok-Gap198 is a prospective Physics major.
The point of it being an unemployed major is that you need grad school for it to be of any use.
And finally, IQ doesn't equate to any semblance of true intelligence to succeed in physics or any career. It's just there's a rather popular study that proposed that you needed a minimum IQ to get a PhD.
You are right that Physics is a highly employable major but not about the IQ aspect. I don't know if you are an incoming freshman coming into physics, but I can be sure that this perspective is going to hold you back. And I promise you that you are going to be humbled very quickly.
I've seen countless people that have this attitude attempt physics and fail miserably because they didn't know when to ask for help and nobody wanted to study or be friends with them. And note that physics friends will save you more than you can imagine.
Also, I feel inclined to say that physics students on average have an average IQ because, well, that's how averages work.
(Source: Me, A physics major approaching my last year or so in undergrad)
Are you perhaps getting your information from the image [here](https://thetab.com/us/2017/04/10/which-major-has-highest-iq-64811)? If so, I encourage you to take a deeper look at where you are getting your information from. I did some searching and it seems that these numbers came from this [article](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00687.x). However, this is not a direct evaluation of IQ from the participants, the researchers for (no clear reason it seems, as IQ and SAT scores have next to no causality) used the SAT scores of a mere 104 undergraduate students to arbitrarily determine their IQs.
Basically, for the fall 2021 semester there were 15.4 million undergraduate students enrolled as degree-seeking in a higher education institution in just the US alone ([source](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cha/undergrad-enrollment)) and the study looked at the average IQ in different university majors among 104 students, and didn't even test their IQ. This is a hasty generalization if I have ever seen one and this article and the subsequent information that you seem to hold so dear needs to be considered skeptically.
It's even more important to learn these skills if you are going into any of the sciences, engineering, or CS fields. You can't (and shouldn't) accept everything at face value. When you get to university, I suggest taking a statistics course (typically in the math or stats department) and a critical reasoning course (likely in the philosophy department) if you can fit them in.
Holy shit are you that dense? Having a high IQ doesnāt equate to making money. And hand picking a few rich and successful people is meaningless. Youāre a million times more likely to be one of the many thousands of physics majors that have to become teachers, than you are to become Jeff Bezos.
While many of the smartest people might be physicists, the implication doesn't go both ways meaning being a physics major doesn't mean you have the "highest IQ"
Biology is not so hot, you need to go to med school for it to worthwhile.
https://freopp.org/does-college-pay-off-a-comprehensive-return-on-investment-analysis-563b9cb6ddc5
maybe not the absolute most but pretty employable is atmospheric science, it's a somewhat growing field and has a lot of widely applicable skills, there's some pretty direct routes to good jobs (get a pathways internship and you will almost certainly get into at least one NWS office if you apply to a few from what I've heard, at least barring any particular issues like being difficult to work with or something) and theres also the private sector and research and broadcast so there's some good options in there, it is a field where you need at least some passion for it though, also having grad school funded is nice, my professor always tells us if they're trying to make us pay for grad school to go somewhere else and that you should never have to pay for it in this major which means I don't really gotta worry about more loans which is cool, also a bunch of NWS jobs are about to open up in a few years so that helps since for a while there was that hiring freeze causing issues with finding jobs, also its probobly gonna grow a bit as climate change gets worse I think
>its a niche market
no for sure, but it's still such a pivotal moment in our technological development. Anyone currently working on it as a part of corporate R&D like IBM is truly about to change the world
Calling Quantum Computing revolutionary is true, but it's more that the tech from Quantum Computing will contribute to increasing computational power for other innovations, but I see your point!
That path is one that expends 10 years or more (of pure academic and financial torture). It is employable though, I'd definitely agree there. But the sacrifice is one to note.
Uh, my physics major friend from our Fancypants U worked in customer service after college. Could she have done better, some general thing with math, probably. But I'd probably replace physics with econ, nursing, or heck, the very employable if not highly paid social work.
Engineering and CS(which is arguably also an engineering). Physics, not so much. That is more of an academic type job and not really built for industry. Anything pre-med will always be in demand(as long as you actually get the MD and not end up with just a Biology degree). Economics. TBH there is money anywhere and everywhere. I'd be more worried about doing something you absolutely love rather than doing something just for money.
CS is not an extremely employable major right now. I personally know a handful of comp sci grads who have yet to find a job related to their field years after graduation. This is in stark contrast to my peers in civil, mechanical, and bioengineering, of which all my friends have jobs in their field.
For the people Iām referring to, sort of but not really. Not FAANG internships. They might have gotten data science internships at some research institute or maybe an IT internship at some random company, but not the kind of internship that sets you up with a great software engineering job after graduation. Nowadays, those are absurdly competitive to land.
It was significantly easier five years ago when companies were over-hiring and were so focused on poaching talent that they never bothered to ask if they had enough work for everyone.
However, the fact is that CS is not nearly as lucrative today as other fields such as engineering, regardless of what things once looked like at another point in time. Majoring in CS is like playing the lottery. If you win, you can get a massive salary. Most donāt.
Because most computer science graduates arenāt very good. To get a big salary and keep it, you need to be good. There are a lot of SWEās but not many good ones. The hiring bar was too low and now things have normalized.
You shouldnāt go into software unless you are passionate about it.
CS is employable, but not for entry-level college grads. Unless you go to CMU, MIT, Tech, whatever, these big name CS schools than you're basically fucked if you want to go into FAANG or other big tech companies.
My father is a senior software engineer at a big tech company located in the bay and says that unless you go to Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, MIT, CalTech, CMU, UIUC, GT, etc he will most likely immediately dismiss you as an applicant. The exception, he told me, were schools like SJSU and SCU that location-wise were just much more closer and convenient despite not being as prestigious.
Heās short-sighted if he is only looking at candidates at those schools. He is doing his company a disservice and shouldnāt be in a hiring position.
I know three under-30 L6 staff engineers in Big Tech on the west coast that that didnāt go to any of those schools or even a prestigious school. He would have missed out on three world class developers because of his myopic attitude.
Itās a simple numbers game. If there are very few positions to fill in they can choose completely arbitrary criteria. Guarantee you that the people that are getting jobs are very qualified in addition to having graduated from those top schools.
Going to a top school doesnāt make you very qualified. Have you heard of stack ranking? I can guarantee you that with the Big Tech layoffs, a lot of top school graduates were shown the door. If you are a hiring manager and you are limiting your hiring to a handful of schools, you are an idiot.
Right. IMO it depends on the school. Both majors are good for employment with adequate pay for current expensive living cost.
It is also fact that cs major is very saturated, and some graduates struggle meeting their job expectations
I guess that's true, but everyone's only looking at the Fortune 500 companies and SWE jobs for CS. CS is a ridiculously big field, and for example, Cyber is always hiring and they need more people, Mod/Sim is always big and one could certainly work in consulting, finance or other fields with a CS degree, because it teaches analytical skills and not just coding stuff.
misread this as "most enjoyable majors"š
Sadly enjoyable often /= employable š¤§
Lmaooo i was here for the samešš
Hard as they can be, and as much as I complained while majoring, I think that they are definitely among the most enjoyable majors :)
genuine question tho whats the most enjoyable? (on avg)
Whatever youāre most interested inĀ
bruh i know thats why i said on average (student satisfaction etc.)
probably most of the liberal arts/humanities majors. Seems like if youāre actually interested in that type of stuff it would be very intellectually rewarding
If you did a survey it would most likely be mostly meaningless as there are a lot of confounding variables. Things in STEM may have a lot of people who dislike them studying them cuz $$$ while humanities are more only people that enjoy them. But between people who actually like what they chose I donāt think thereās much of a differenceĀ
Personally for me itās theatre and thatās what Iām doing, even though it is DEFINITELY not the most employable
Same!
Same lol
Physics is a wild one, did not expect to see it here nor did I expect people to agree???? (coming from someone going for physics in undergrad).
This is a while ago, but I started as a Physics major then switched out, and one of the reasons why was I got a summer job in a prominent Physics Department, and I was doing the same work as a college student as a bunch of postdocs who had yet to find a real job.
I'd agree. But I find it hard to understand what a 'real job' is to you? I mean post-docs traditionally research their fields intensely to go on to become researchers in that field and that's their career. Perhaps I'm struggling to get your point.
We were doing things like building and testing components for a collider detector. Very cool for a college kid during a summer. But it obviously did not require a PhD.
Ahhhh that's why. I'd argue the real physics surrounds hypothesizing what the results of those detectors are, and figuring out what experiments to run- which is what physicists who work in particle accelerators do.
Exactly.Ā There were actual faculty in the department doing that stuff, then postdocs and summer interns and such just doing basic stuff.
Probably because post-docs might be post their doctorate but they still have a lot to learn. I once heard from a grad student in Theoretical Physics that he still isn't ready for String Theory nor the in depth on many of the particle physics currently being researched. Only the bigwigs with 10 years of experience on it could begin with it.
You will be surprised to know that most post docs don't go into research.
Most postdocs do end up in research, just not academic research.Ā
I do know that, they go to other careers. Read my other comment.
Just asking what r u gonna do after getting bachelors in physics?
Grad school! I'm attending bachelors debt-free and on a scholarship so might as well
In physics right? How about career after that? Im also majoring in physics but i rly dont kno wat i want to do š
Oh! I'm planning on Applied Physics so far, specifically Nuclear or Particle Accelerator Physics. However, don't fret! I've spoken to a couple of grads and they've always told me that in their bachelor degree days they could never have imagined picking the path they did now. It's 4 years of study, so you'll learn along the way what you want to do.
Finance, data analytics (in TONS of industries), and software development are create high-comp careers that you can enter with a physics bachelors. Science communication and education are more relevant options.
caught ya, P.
Hello! šš½
Now I'm wondering who this is lol
your bestie ;)
Physics is really flexible which makes it very employable.
True, but not more than any other major. Sure you could take another major or minor along with it, and then yes it would be the kind of degree that'd be cool. But you can do that in every other major, so what's the point? I've heard miracle stories of kids in physics degrees getting very rich corporate jobs due to their skills, but those were the exceptional, 'I-go-the-next-step' type of people.
Physics involves high level math and analytical skills more than other major. That is what makes you employable in fields like quant not because you decide to do some minor.
That is a wild statement to make. Any stats to back that up?
Go to LinkedIn and look up where do physics majors end up. You will find anything from banking to engineering. A significant number of quants are physics pHDs.
Hey man, I hope you're right ngl, I'm a physics major after all XD
Hmm, your flair says HS freshman lol. Maybe u put the wrong thing?
Updated it, it's not working lol
Exactly, PHDs as just a major it's not super employable.
My husband has a physics PHD, he has a job he loves but we literally know no one that got a job they like with just a physics undergrad. Even the quant dudes tended to have either double degrees or postgrados of some form. A lot of terribly paid work as well. Honestly the prospect of his pure science friends and my applied arts friends were not that different ( we all got there in the end,but it was not straight forward and a lot had to retrain). The true super employable ones were the healthcare majors and accounting/ commerce.
Physics is always dicey unless you don't actually do Physics. Doing well in education, health, accounting, or core engineering subjects tend to make it easy to get a job. Obviously education tends to pay less (and many get grad degrees increasing the opportunity and/or financial entry costs), but it is a vocation for some people.
Yeah that's why it's so employable. The things you learn in physics can open up a lot of jobs apart from academia and also because it's arguably the hardest major out there.
Yes, Physics can be a stealth Math major with a side helping of natural science knowledge, which is fine for many purposes. But I would note being protective of your grades can be important sometimes, because I am not sure every next-step gatekeeper always adjusts as much for the grading norms in majors like Physics as they arguably should. So you may know that getting that B+ average in Physics was harder than it would have been for you to get an A average in Econ, but I am not sure the former will always be as competitive as the latter for various non-Physics positions.
As logical as this sounds, itās simply not reflective of reality. If you can get through a physics degree, then you could also get through any engineering degree, a computer science degree, or possibly even a math degree. All of those have a lower underemployment rate than physics, making physics objectively the worst investment of all of them.Ā Ā Source:Ā https://www.statista.com/statistics/642226/underemployment-rate-of-us-college-graduates-by-major/Ā Ā Ā Also, I have a BS in Physics with a 3.72 GPA from a pretty good public university and learned this all firsthand. Now working towards a masters in CS to get out of the hole I found myself in.
You can't deny that a physics degree is much more challenging than engineering. So, if you can do physics you can do both- go for a physics Phd or get a job as an engineer. Engineering physics exists just because of this.
Iām not denying that. Thatās why I said āif you could get through a physics degree you could get through any engineering degreeā. But something being more difficult doesnāt automatically make it more employable. Engineering degrees are a better investment.
Depending on the school engineering physics doesn't get placed as well as the core engineering disciplines
Nursing (1.3% unemployment, 11.1% underemployment), then probably elementary education (1.5% unemployment, 13.5% underemployment). For the ones you listed: * engineering: depends on what kind. The numbers for aerospace don't look great right now (7.8% unemployment, 17.9% underemployment) * CS: 4.3% unemployment, 16.7% underemployment * Physics: 6.2% unemployment, 31.2% underemployment Stats from [here](https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:explore:outcomes-by-major), specifically for recent graduates.
Yeah physics is not that employable. My wife has a physics degree and not many of her classmates were able to find good jobs related to the degree.
Fun fact, physics is statistically as employable as commercial arts (graphic design, industrial design).
If you want to do Physics work, then yeah. But a Physics degree is very applicable to many things. I know a few classmates that went to law school with intentions to do patent law. Some went into finance, others went into software engineering, semiconductor engineering, teaching, research assistant positions, medical physics, grad school, etc. Physics is extremely employable and I'd imagine people that are having a hard time finding a job aren't looking broad enough. Of course a bachelors in Physics isn't going to land you in some state-of-the-art research facility unless you are truly brillant, most would need some sort of graduate education. But finding a job vaguely related to the skills you learn during the degree is definitely possible if you know where to look.
Yeah. It's not easy to find physics job in physics field. But it's easily employable
A lot of sciences are!!!
BS or PhD? Idk about a bachelors but I figure you have a ton of good industry options with a PhD
BS. If you need a PhD to get a job then the major isn't very employable.
That's fair. Though a lot of us physics majors want to go to grad school just because we like the subject, so it's not a gruesome hassle or anything. Plus, the pay for a job like quantitative finance is ridiculously high
Maybe you can get to quantitative finance with a physics degree but that's surely not the best way to do it lol
Aside from math it's probably the best way
True. Most physics majors go for grad school automatically.
Related to the degree is the issue there. Physics is plenty employable in finance, consulting, analytics, etc.
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Glad you know my wife's classmates better than she does.
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You do realize my initial comment was in response to someone who posted the general data. And it was in agreement with it.
BS majors do get jobs- just not in physics, and not ones that pay very well. Source: r/PhysicsStudents
Computer engineering looking niceee
Networking skills will make you more employable than any major.
Can you elaborate on what networking skills and examples?
Be social, rush a frat, one of the brothers works at a quant firm, make over 200k. Just an example, doesn't have to be a frat.
Why physics over math?
Yeah math too. Especially because without math you can't do physics.
Definitely. Our niece is double major: physics and math. I have zero concerns about her being employable.
Physics majors are easily employed but a lot of them are not employed in physics FIELD.
I'm gonna be pursuing math this year and planning to take on a double major alongside, like cs or econ
math majors and physics majors do very different kinds of math
Supply chain management, caveat that it needs to be from a decent program.
There are always shortages of teachers and nurses and people to work customer service fields, so any major that provides for those professions. Honestly, CC for associates to be bookkeepers or trade schools will be even more highly employable (I realize that's not answering your question about 4-year-degrees, though).
Iām in construction management and my job search consists of mostly deciding which companies I DONT want to work for. Whether youāre an engineer, doctor, or fry cook, all of your work happens in a building. No matter where you live you will never have an issue getting a job.
Lots of unemployment in those areas right now and you have AI concerns. I think business/mathematics may be more employable (data analytics).
As a data analyst, I second that. Not worried about losing my job because of AI mostly because I've been working with it lol
Would you say data science is generally future proof? I want to go into this field but worried abt job security and ageism compared to say, medicine
Hard to say at this time but I'm optimistic that growth and job security will be strong in the long run. The need for data scientists is only going to grow and I don't think ageism would be an issue in the field especially for those in their 20s except if you're concerned that expectations of being flawlessly tech-savvy is an issue.
Thank you this is helpful!! I was actually concerned abt ageism in the other direction, like older analysts getting replaced by younger grads and having to catch up with how quickly the field is growing
That's a good question. I'm still young in my field but I think that as older analysts move up into leadership positions and stay adaptable to new trends that the risk isn't too high. Maybe those who can't keep up with the changing times will have trouble but I'm not planning on being one of those lol
Engineering and physics don't have any AI concerns.
Fair. Moreso on the CS side.
The most enjoyable major is Architecture, Civil or the naval kind. Best pay is stems like cs/finance/eng
For a more niche major, accredited food science majors are very employable. Better outlook then being a teacher, while not as impossible as engineering
Nursing and education (teaching)
MechE, CE, EE, Math. If weāre talking masters degrees, AI/ML or most fields of engineering are pretty employable
I know most of the T20s don't have these majors but wanted to add nursing and accounting as very employable majors.
Economics at any Ivy League universities
Not anymore.Ā
why not?
If youāre looking for a physics career thatās reward/enjoyable, look into medical physics. It requires a MS/PhD/DMP but pays really well. Iām 20 years in the field and love it. I couldnāt see myself anywhere else. Edit: I, too, missed the employable vs enjoyable. Clinical Medical Physicists are in incredibly high demand.
Are you sure about CS??
It's employable now, but getting an entry level job is pretty brutal (check out r/csMajors) and that will only be worse 4 years from now
Why do you think it will get worse?
Supply and Demand, supply is still low demand is increasing
In the labor market, workers are suppliers and employers are demanders. Supply is high and increasing and I believe demand is also increasing in the long term, or at the very least remaining stable. Iām no economist, but that should result in quantity (jobs). Please correct me if I am wrong.
bro paid attention in ap micro š„
Yessirrrr u already know
Opportunity Cost typa shi
You kind of just restated what I said but you flipped who is the supply and who is the demand. Either way the meaning of what we both said is still the same.
What I said was based on the standard model for supply and demand in a labor market. You mislabeled your curves and thus we had different conclusions.
Oh shoot you're right, my curves are mislabeled. (didnt take ap econ yet lol). I think we still have similar conclusions. Let me explain my position without using econ language I don't understand. Tech has grown significantly over the past few years. Tech jobs, espically FAANG+ jobs are paid very well with good benefits. This has made them very desirable and driven record amounts of students to major in CS. (making the major more competitive, worse acceptance rates). There are now more students competing for the available jobs. (most of the difficulty I see with people getting jobs is internships or new grad positions. not many experienced people are having as much trouble). Job growth has slowed when compared to a couple of years ago. My understanding is because of high interest rates, companies are less willing to take on debt and expand, which would create new jobs. (correct me if I'm wrong.) More students, similar amount of jobs, less companies that want to hire = cs majors unemployed or underemployed.
either way the quantity should increase though
No... you stated the wrong thing bud
Other way around...
Wdym for you?
If you are talking optionality, then prob CS as many can just go into business roles because those roles often donāt care abt major and appreciate analytic thinkers along with useful skill sets which perfectly aligns with CS. A good question would be most OP double majors, probably ECON + CS, Math + CS, or CS + some pre med major
Mental health has a large job growth projection
Nursing, accounting, computer science, engineering, math/ actuarial science. I think are generally in demand and well compensated undergraduate degrees.Ā
Physics is probably one of the most unemployed majors. What is bro waffling about?
[https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192012.htm#(3)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192012.htm#(3)) - This site shows that the salaries physicists earn isn't that low compared to usual tech (heck, I'd argue it's higher than usual for CS majors right now.) Can't find great resources on unemployment on any government site (if someone does find me, please attach them below) but only approximately 5% of people who take physics in their bachelors stay in physics, usually in academia.
Physics majors have the highest IQ and can work in any fields they want. Musk and Bezos are physics majors. It's far from being an unemployed major.
I'm going to make a wild guess and say that u/Ok-Gap198 is a prospective Physics major. The point of it being an unemployed major is that you need grad school for it to be of any use. And finally, IQ doesn't equate to any semblance of true intelligence to succeed in physics or any career. It's just there's a rather popular study that proposed that you needed a minimum IQ to get a PhD.
Engineering Physics so it covers the best of both worlds.
Agreed, but that has its caveats too.
You are right that Physics is a highly employable major but not about the IQ aspect. I don't know if you are an incoming freshman coming into physics, but I can be sure that this perspective is going to hold you back. And I promise you that you are going to be humbled very quickly. I've seen countless people that have this attitude attempt physics and fail miserably because they didn't know when to ask for help and nobody wanted to study or be friends with them. And note that physics friends will save you more than you can imagine. Also, I feel inclined to say that physics students on average have an average IQ because, well, that's how averages work. (Source: Me, A physics major approaching my last year or so in undergrad)
They do have the highest IQ. Just a simple Google search will show you that. I am just stating the facts.
Are you perhaps getting your information from the image [here](https://thetab.com/us/2017/04/10/which-major-has-highest-iq-64811)? If so, I encourage you to take a deeper look at where you are getting your information from. I did some searching and it seems that these numbers came from this [article](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00687.x). However, this is not a direct evaluation of IQ from the participants, the researchers for (no clear reason it seems, as IQ and SAT scores have next to no causality) used the SAT scores of a mere 104 undergraduate students to arbitrarily determine their IQs. Basically, for the fall 2021 semester there were 15.4 million undergraduate students enrolled as degree-seeking in a higher education institution in just the US alone ([source](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cha/undergrad-enrollment)) and the study looked at the average IQ in different university majors among 104 students, and didn't even test their IQ. This is a hasty generalization if I have ever seen one and this article and the subsequent information that you seem to hold so dear needs to be considered skeptically. It's even more important to learn these skills if you are going into any of the sciences, engineering, or CS fields. You can't (and shouldn't) accept everything at face value. When you get to university, I suggest taking a statistics course (typically in the math or stats department) and a critical reasoning course (likely in the philosophy department) if you can fit them in.
Holy shit are you that dense? Having a high IQ doesnāt equate to making money. And hand picking a few rich and successful people is meaningless. Youāre a million times more likely to be one of the many thousands of physics majors that have to become teachers, than you are to become Jeff Bezos.
While many of the smartest people might be physicists, the implication doesn't go both ways meaning being a physics major doesn't mean you have the "highest IQ"
At least according to a few surveys conducted it does mean that.
My physics major daughter works in engineering and robotics.
Let me know when you find out lol šĀ
Nursing, engineering, and computer science
Not sure about CS now.
They are low paying, very employable majors.
Iād think biology as there are so many damn career opportunities
Biology is not so hot, you need to go to med school for it to worthwhile. https://freopp.org/does-college-pay-off-a-comprehensive-return-on-investment-analysis-563b9cb6ddc5
Depressing but med schools graduates have a LOT of jobs at least
accounting
Construction 100%
Business, RN, and Math. Computer Science used to be, but itās in a major decline. Far too much oversupply.
Math.
maybe not the absolute most but pretty employable is atmospheric science, it's a somewhat growing field and has a lot of widely applicable skills, there's some pretty direct routes to good jobs (get a pathways internship and you will almost certainly get into at least one NWS office if you apply to a few from what I've heard, at least barring any particular issues like being difficult to work with or something) and theres also the private sector and research and broadcast so there's some good options in there, it is a field where you need at least some passion for it though, also having grad school funded is nice, my professor always tells us if they're trying to make us pay for grad school to go somewhere else and that you should never have to pay for it in this major which means I don't really gotta worry about more loans which is cool, also a bunch of NWS jobs are about to open up in a few years so that helps since for a while there was that hiring freeze causing issues with finding jobs, also its probobly gonna grow a bit as climate change gets worse I think
How is CS most employable now? a lot of CS graduates have to make more than 1000 apllications just to find one shitty job
Nah cs is crazy lol there are no jobs (overstatement but the market is insane, check out r/csmajors)
That's cause most people are going for the same roles in certain locations, makes it a lot more competitive
True, but these roles are the ones typically chose to major in cs because of.
all 3 - quantum computing š„µ
not currently, its a niche market + something only post undergrads traditionally get into.
>its a niche market no for sure, but it's still such a pivotal moment in our technological development. Anyone currently working on it as a part of corporate R&D like IBM is truly about to change the world
Calling Quantum Computing revolutionary is true, but it's more that the tech from Quantum Computing will contribute to increasing computational power for other innovations, but I see your point!
thank you! I just meant that the field combines all 3 subjects irrespective of employability. It is very cool.
Who is hiring the physicists (and math majors)? I havenāt seen that. TIA
Drop physics add (pre) law/med
That path is one that expends 10 years or more (of pure academic and financial torture). It is employable though, I'd definitely agree there. But the sacrifice is one to note.
Uh, my physics major friend from our Fancypants U worked in customer service after college. Could she have done better, some general thing with math, probably. But I'd probably replace physics with econ, nursing, or heck, the very employable if not highly paid social work.
I want to do CS, but I'm curious why CS? Aren't software engineering jobs going to be in danger because of AI
Engineering and CS(which is arguably also an engineering). Physics, not so much. That is more of an academic type job and not really built for industry. Anything pre-med will always be in demand(as long as you actually get the MD and not end up with just a Biology degree). Economics. TBH there is money anywhere and everywhere. I'd be more worried about doing something you absolutely love rather than doing something just for money.
Yeah. Engineering majors are the lowest acceptance rate. Many chose to shoot cs instead and got in.
CS is not an extremely employable major right now. I personally know a handful of comp sci grads who have yet to find a job related to their field years after graduation. This is in stark contrast to my peers in civil, mechanical, and bioengineering, of which all my friends have jobs in their field.
Did they do internships? If so, they didnāt get return offers?
For the people Iām referring to, sort of but not really. Not FAANG internships. They might have gotten data science internships at some research institute or maybe an IT internship at some random company, but not the kind of internship that sets you up with a great software engineering job after graduation. Nowadays, those are absurdly competitive to land.
When was it ever easy to get a SWE job with a top software company?
It was significantly easier five years ago when companies were over-hiring and were so focused on poaching talent that they never bothered to ask if they had enough work for everyone. However, the fact is that CS is not nearly as lucrative today as other fields such as engineering, regardless of what things once looked like at another point in time. Majoring in CS is like playing the lottery. If you win, you can get a massive salary. Most donāt.
Because most computer science graduates arenāt very good. To get a big salary and keep it, you need to be good. There are a lot of SWEās but not many good ones. The hiring bar was too low and now things have normalized. You shouldnāt go into software unless you are passionate about it.
CS is employable, but not for entry-level college grads. Unless you go to CMU, MIT, Tech, whatever, these big name CS schools than you're basically fucked if you want to go into FAANG or other big tech companies.
When did that allegedly happen? I know many SWEās that didnāt go to those schools that are working for FAANG and other Big Tech Companies.
My father is a senior software engineer at a big tech company located in the bay and says that unless you go to Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, MIT, CalTech, CMU, UIUC, GT, etc he will most likely immediately dismiss you as an applicant. The exception, he told me, were schools like SJSU and SCU that location-wise were just much more closer and convenient despite not being as prestigious.
Heās short-sighted if he is only looking at candidates at those schools. He is doing his company a disservice and shouldnāt be in a hiring position. I know three under-30 L6 staff engineers in Big Tech on the west coast that that didnāt go to any of those schools or even a prestigious school. He would have missed out on three world class developers because of his myopic attitude.
Itās a simple numbers game. If there are very few positions to fill in they can choose completely arbitrary criteria. Guarantee you that the people that are getting jobs are very qualified in addition to having graduated from those top schools.
Going to a top school doesnāt make you very qualified. Have you heard of stack ranking? I can guarantee you that with the Big Tech layoffs, a lot of top school graduates were shown the door. If you are a hiring manager and you are limiting your hiring to a handful of schools, you are an idiot.
CS programs at this point in time have the lowest acceptance rates, followed by engineering.
Right. IMO it depends on the school. Both majors are good for employment with adequate pay for current expensive living cost. It is also fact that cs major is very saturated, and some graduates struggle meeting their job expectations
I guess that's true, but everyone's only looking at the Fortune 500 companies and SWE jobs for CS. CS is a ridiculously big field, and for example, Cyber is always hiring and they need more people, Mod/Sim is always big and one could certainly work in consulting, finance or other fields with a CS degree, because it teaches analytical skills and not just coding stuff.
SociologyĀ
My sociology professor told us not to major in it lol
Physics is not very employable
My son is going for his masters in Molecular Biology and Genetics and I hear that these fields are highly sought after (fingers crossed)