What Can I Do with a Physics Degree?

Why major in physics? Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Physics Soci­ety (APS), physics is nec­es­sary to under­stand the nat­ur­al world around us. It also holds the key to under­stand­ing the world with­in, what we are made of, and the world beyond, space, and the uni­verse. It’s the fun­da­men­tal sci­ence on which all oth­er sci­ences are based.

Is physics a good major? A bachelor’s degree in physics chal­lenges the imag­i­na­tion with con­cepts such as string the­o­ry and rel­a­tiv­i­ty. Ask­ing fun­da­men­tal ques­tions led to inven­tions such as com­put­ers and elec­tric­i­ty. From heal­ing joints to pow­er­ing sus­tain­able ener­gy sources, under­stand­ing physics is key to advanc­ing as a society.

From sub­atom­ic par­ti­cles to infi­nite galax­ies, every­thing around us that we can see or know is based on the fun­da­men­tals of physics. Oth­er sci­ences such as seis­mol­o­gy, chem­istry, and astron­o­my all broke off from the ques­tions asked by the orig­i­nal physi­cists thou­sands of years ago.

What do you do in physics? Most physi­cists are prob­lem solvers and have excel­lent ana­lyt­i­cal skills. Study­ing physics makes physics stu­dents high­ly adapt­able and often helps them advance in their careers. Physi­cists work in gov­ern­ment lab­o­ra­to­ries and on col­lege cam­pus­es. You can find physi­cists in space and under the ocean, con­duct­ing exper­i­ments and liv­ing a life ded­i­cat­ed to science.

Are you won­der­ing what to do with a physics degree? Physics gives stu­dents a broad per­spec­tive and many peo­ple with an under­grad­u­ate degree in physics go on to find careers in the fol­low­ing fields:

• Jour­nal­ism
• Finance
• Med­i­cine
• Law
• Engi­neer­ing
• Astron­o­my
• Biol­o­gy
• Com­put­er Science

School and Program Accreditation for Physics

Rep­utable col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties go through the process of accred­i­ta­tion. Accred­it­ed col­leges have met stan­dards set forth by var­i­ous legit­imiz­ing orga­ni­za­tions. For exam­ple, region­al and nation­al accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tions are list­ed under the web­site of the U.S. Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion (DOE). The Coun­cil for High­er Edu­ca­tion Accred­i­ta­tion (CHEA) also tracks accred­it­ed insti­tu­tions. Only schools rec­og­nized by the DOE qual­i­fy for fed­er­al finan­cial aid for students.

Region­al accred­it­ing agen­cies ver­i­fy the aca­d­e­m­ic stand­ing of col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties with­in their geo­graph­i­cal area. there are six region­al accred­it­ing agen­cies as follows:

There are sev­er­al agen­cies that pro­vide nation­al accred­i­ta­tion. This means that they can accred­it any col­lege in the Unit­ed States. Trade schools, for-prof­it col­leges and reli­gious schools often have nation­al accred­it­ing boards. These are typ­i­cal­ly less rig­or­ous then region­al accreditation.

Pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion applies to spe­cif­ic pro­grams or pro­gram types with­in an insti­tu­tion. In many dis­ci­plines, even if you obtain a degree from a col­lege with pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion, you might be required to take a state licens­ing exam to prac­tice. One exam­ple of this is nursing.

You might not need a physics degree that has pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion for this par­tic­u­lar sub­ject. For exam­ple, ABET pro­vides accred­i­ta­tion for com­put­ing, nat­ur­al sci­ences and engi­neer­ing for more than 3,800 pro­grams worldwide.

Vis­it the Depart­ment of Education’s data­base to check the accred­i­ta­tion of a par­tic­u­lar col­lege or university.

Types of Physics Degrees

So you want a degree in physics? What kind? Attain­ing an associate’s, a bachelor’s, a master’s or a doc­tor­al degree in physics is pos­si­ble online or in a tra­di­tion­al class­room envi­ron­ment. If you’re won­der­ing how to get a physics degree, this arti­cle focus­es on obtain­ing a bachelor’s degree with an empha­sis on get­ting an online degree in physics.

Get­ting a degree in physics online or in the class­room pre­pares the way for careers in the sci­ences. Of course, online physics degrees are more con­ve­nient because you can take class­es remote­ly and com­plete the lessons at a time that fits your schedule.

Most bach­e­lors degrees in physics include 120 hours of course­work that includes life sci­ences and math. Com­mon sub­jects include infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, aero­nau­tics, ther­mal dynam­ics and mechan­ics. All physics pro­grams are math-inten­sive and you will have to take com­pu­ta­tion­al sci­ences as well as cal­cu­lus and oth­er advanced math­e­mat­ics. There is also a lot of prob­lem-solv­ing in physics.

With a physics degree online, you can become a lab­o­ra­to­ry assis­tant, mechan­i­cal engi­neer or health care tech­ni­cian. An online degree in physics with a dual degree in edu­ca­tion or com­mu­ni­ca­tions can pave the way for a vari­ety of career choic­es. This includes becom­ing a sci­ence teacher or sci­ence journalist.

Stu­dents who get a degree in physics online often go on to earn a master’s or doc­tor­al degree. With online physics degrees, grad­u­ates often have many career choic­es open to them. Because master’s pro­grams are con­sid­ered the min­i­mum for many physics careers, there are a num­ber of accel­er­at­ed bachelor’s to master’s pro­grams that allow stu­dents to earn both degrees in just 4–5 years.

Spe­cif­ic cours­es for a physics degree online may include:

• Cal­cu­lus I, II, and III
• Ther­mo­dy­nam­ics
• Clas­si­cal Mechanics
• Gen­er­al Physics
• Elec­tro­mag­net­ic Theory
• Mod­ern Physics

Physics spe­cial­iza­tions include the fol­low­ing in-demand careers:

• Elec­tric­i­ty and magnetism
• Space and time (rel­a­tiv­i­ty, the­o­ret­i­cal physics, 4D geometry)
• Ther­mo­dy­nam­ics (how ener­gy works)
• Quan­tum physics (wave func­tions, Schro­ding­er equa­tion, and quan­tum mechanics)
• Nuclear physics (Radioac­tive decay, Big Bang theory)
• Rel­a­tiv­i­ty (space-time, Astro­physics, blackholes)
• Geo­physics (Earth sci­ence, waves, heat, magnetism)

These spe­cial­iza­tion in physics may appeal to you as part of your under­grad­u­ate degree. How­ev­er, you can also choose a more gen­er­al bachelor’s degree in physics and go on to get a Master’s in one of these physics spe­cial­iza­tions. Which of these spe­cial­iza­tion in physics would you choose? What jobs can I get with a physics degree?

Certifications in Physics

For stu­dents who aren’t sure whether they want to obtain a degree in physics, there are many online cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and cours­es to obtain a broad overview of the sub­ject. Free online physics cours­es with cer­tifi­cate include this one at Alison.com, a pop­u­lar site for IT and sci­ence cours­es. This par­tic­u­lar course offers a physics cer­tifi­cate online to all stu­dents who com­plete the work.

Oth­er online physics cer­tifi­cate pro­grams may charge a nom­i­nal fee of less than $100. Typ­i­cal­ly, stu­dents sign up and com­plete the nec­es­sary online cer­tifi­cate cours­es in physics. Then, they can access an elec­tron­ic, print­able cer­tifi­cate to prove they fin­ished the course.

Online physics cer­tifi­cate pro­grams often have an option to audit the cours­es for free if no cer­tifi­cate is required. For exam­ple, Open Uni­ver­si­ty offers a free physics cer­tifi­cate online that con­cen­trates on elec­tri­cal sys­tems and power.

Some online physic cer­tifi­cate pro­grams require a bachelor’s degree. These grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics class­es may focus on a sub­spe­cial­ty such as ther­mal physics or quan­tum mechan­ics. Obtain­ing a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in applied physics can help grad­u­ates advance in their sci­en­tif­ic job roles. Some stu­dents get a post grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics to pre­pare for grad­u­ate studies.

With an online physics cer­tifi­cate, stu­dents who majored in oth­er fields can bridge the knowl­edge gap and pre­pare for careers in physics. Free online physics cours­es with cer­tifi­cate are a great way to sup­ple­ment col­lege cours­es that may not have all the infor­ma­tion stu­dents need to ful­ly under­stand a par­tic­u­lar topic.

Some cer­tifi­cate cours­es in physics cov­er wide-rang­ing intro­duc­to­ry physics con­cepts, while oth­er online cer­tifi­cate cours­es in physics zoom in on spe­cial­ized top­ics such as sub­atom­ic physics.

Tak­ing online physics cer­tifi­cate pro­grams can help stu­dents bet­ter under­stand the his­tor­i­cal con­text of sci­ence. There are also pro­grams that con­fer a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics that stu­dents can use to qual­i­fy for grad­u­ate schools.

Choos­ing a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in applied physics can help stu­dents who want more hands-on expe­ri­ence in a lab­o­ra­to­ry set­ting. Addi­tion­al­ly, an online post grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics allows stu­dents to deep­en their knowl­edge with­out going to class in person.

Careers in Physics

What can i do with a physics degree? Jobs for physics majors vary great­ly from med­i­cine to applied sci­ences to relat­ed fields that require advanced ana­lyt­i­cal skills. What job can you get with a physics degree? Some jobs for a physics major include man­u­fac­tur­ing and busi­ness set­tings. Many physics jobs are relat­ed to acad­e­mia, like research scientist.

What jobs can you get with a degree in physics? Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Physics (AIP), jobs with a physics major include three main paths. The study on jobs with a degree in physics showed that:

• 41% of jobs with a physics degree were in the gen­er­al workforce
• 32% per­cent of jobs for physics majors were on hold for post­grad­u­ate training
• 22% of physics degree grad­u­ate went on to engi­neer­ing, math, med­i­cine, edu­ca­tion, law and oth­er post­grad degrees

What jobs can you get with a physics degree? Check out the careers with a degree in physics below.

Nuclear Physi­cist

Jobs for a physics major include nuclear physi­cist. This career involves research­ing safer ways to gen­er­ate nuclear ener­gy. because of the stakes involved, this is one of the high­est pay­ing jobs with a physics major. This job can include lab­o­ra­to­ry research and time in the field at nuclear pow­er plants. Oth­er jobs for physics majors include design­ing med­ical equip­ment that uses nuclear energy.

Astronomer

What jobs can you get with a degree in physics? Jobs with a degree in physics include becom­ing an astronomer. With a career in physics focused on the stars you might spend a lot of time in obser­va­to­ries or exam­in­ing out­put from com­put­er-gen­er­at­ed astron­o­my obser­va­tions. If you want to explore the out­er reach­es of the solar sys­tem and the uni­verse beyond, jobs with a physics degree in astron­o­my might be right for you. Astronomers make obser­va­tions and gen­er­ate the­o­ries about how stars and plan­ets form. Many of these pro­fes­sion­als work in gov­ern­ment agen­cies or universities.

Mate­ri­als Scientist

What jobs can you get with a physics degree? Careers in physics include this high-pay­ing role. This is a career in physics That focus­es on improv­ing syn­thet­ic mate­ri­als for dif­fer­ent uses. It is among the more prac­ti­cal careers with a degree in physics. Relat­ed jobs with a physics degree include design­ing pros­thet­ics, devel­op­ing ways to use ultra­sound and oth­er tech­nol­o­gy to uncov­er defects in soil, rail­way tracks and oth­er mate­ri­als. Grad­u­ates also become employ­ees at oil and gas com­pa­nies or com­put­er mak­ers for oth­er careers in physics.

Patent Agent

What job can you get with a physics degree? Careers in physics include work­ing for gov­ern­ment agen­cies. How about work­ing for the patent office and exam­in­ing inven­tions by inven­tors and sci­en­tist. A career in physics May take you to unex­pect­ed places. Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies, law firms, and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions over­ly­ing on patents to pro­tect their inventions.

Mete­o­rol­o­gist

Mete­o­rol­o­gy focus­es on atmos­pher­ic con­di­tions and earth sci­ence. For grad­u­ates inter­est­ed in broad­cast­ing and avi­a­tion careers, this could be a good career path. Some mete­o­rol­o­gists research par­tic­u­lar phe­nom­e­non such as hur­ri­canes or tor­na­does. Oth­ers work for local radio sta­tions and news out­lets to pre­dict the weather.

Data Sci­en­tist

With a degree in physics, you learn ana­lyt­i­cal skills that can trans­fer to oth­er fields. Data analy­sis is a great place for recent physics grad­u­ate to get some busi­ness expe­ri­ence and use their nat­ur­al skills. The mod­ern world is awash with data. There’s a huge demand for a data ana­lyst to inter­pret it in mean­ing­ful ways. Data sci­en­tists syn­the­size and ana­lyze large datasets and help deci­sion-mak­ers use this infor­ma­tion to make bet­ter deci­sions for their com­pa­nies. There are plen­ty of oth­er infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy jobs where physics majors can excel. For stu­dents who think they may end up work­ing in the pri­vate sec­tor, tak­ing busi­ness cours­es for their elec­tives could serve them well when they look for jobs after graduation.

Com­pu­ta­tion­al Scientist

For stu­dents com­fort­able using com­put­ers and com­put­er soft­ware, com­pu­ta­tion­al sci­ence may be a good career path. These pro­fes­sion­als use soft­ware to sim­u­late events in the real world. This often is applied to sci­en­tif­ic ques­tions. For exam­ple, com­pu­ta­tion­al sci­en­tist study flu­id flow and heat trans­fer using a com­bi­na­tion of com­put­er soft­ware and scaled mod­els. Many employ­ers in this field val­ue can­di­dates who have a degree in physics.

Quan­ti­ta­tive Research Analyst

Physics majors have high­ly devel­oped math­e­mat­i­cal skills and abil­i­ties. Some grad­u­ates choose to become quan­ti­ta­tive research ana­lysts to apply these skills in the finan­cial field. Many finan­cial insti­tu­tions hire quan­ti­ta­tive research ana­lysts. In this job, physics majors ana­lyze mar­ket­ing data and come up with com­plex finan­cial mod­els to help insti­tu­tions build trad­ing strate­gies that min­i­mize risk and max­i­mize prof­its. This field may also require expe­ri­ence with pro­gram­ming lan­guages. As with many oth­er physics jobs out­side of sci­en­tif­ic set­tings, stu­dents who take a minor, dou­ble major or cours­es in busi­ness and finance can excel in this field.

Aero­space Engineer

Stu­dents fas­ci­nat­ed by avi­a­tion may choose to go into aero­space engi­neer­ing. With a physics major, stu­dents can become rock­et sci­en­tists. These pro­fes­sion­als work on planes, mis­siles, and satel­lites. Job set­tings include gov­ern­ment agen­cies and pri­vate com­pa­nies with defense con­tracts. Sub­spe­cial­ties include con­trol sys­tems, nav­i­ga­tion and guid­ance for many dif­fer­ent types of aero­space devices and vehi­cles. Suc­cess­ful can­di­dates also must pass high-secu­ri­ty clear­ance if they want to work with com­pa­nies with gov­ern­ment contracts.

Health Physi­cist

Physics grad­u­ates may not rec­og­nize this job title. A health physi­cist ensures that radi­a­tion lev­els with­in med­ical set­tings remain with­in safe lev­els. This job is very impor­tant as it ensures the safe­ty of patients, employ­ees and vis­i­tors to hos­pi­tals, clin­ics and oth­er set­tings that may have equip­ment that relies on radi­a­tion. Bio­med­ical or med­ical physics includes x‑rays, scan­ning machines, imag­ing machines and oth­er advanced tech­ni­cal equip­ment. Hos­pi­tals, gov­ern­ment agen­cies and nuclear pow­er plants hire physi­cists who spe­cial­ize in health physics.

Tech­ni­cal Writer

Do you like to write? Do you secret­ly enjoy read­ing tech­ni­cal man­u­als or elec­tron­ics and oth­er equip­ment? If so, you may become a tech­ni­cal writer with a physics degree and some on the job train­ing. There are many web­sites and mag­a­zines that hire tech­ni­cal writ­ers who spe­cial­ize in the sci­ences. With a physics degree you can doc­u­ment prod­ucts that have sophis­ti­cat­ed fea­tures and trans­late the util­i­ty of these prod­ucts to users. If you feel like this career might be for you, you might want to take some writ­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion cours­es to improve your chances of employ­ment imme­di­ate­ly after graduation.

Tech­ni­cal writ­ers also find employ­ment in gov­ern­ment agen­cies that con­duct sci­en­tif­ic research. Tech­ni­cal writ­ers can write papers, Jour­nal arti­cles and press releas­es for their employ­ers. This field offers a wide range of oppor­tu­ni­ties for physics majors who love sci­ence but don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly want to work as scientists.

Process Engi­neer

If a job in man­u­fac­tur­ing sounds good, physics majors may choose to become process engi­neers. In this job, grad­u­ates will con­duct research to find the best mate­ri­als to man­u­fac­ture numer­ous prod­ucts. Process engi­neers work in solar ener­gy plants and for com­pa­nies that make semi­con­duc­tors and oth­er sen­si­tive sci­en­tif­ic equip­ment. Many employ­ers in this field pre­fer high­er degrees such as a Master’s or doc­tor­al degree in physics or relat­ed science.

Accel­er­a­tor Operator

What can I do with a BS in physics? This can be an excit­ing choice for recent physics grad­u­ates. Many employ­ers will require advanced degrees but there may be oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties for entry-lev­el jobs for stu­dents with a bachelor’s in physics.

Accel­er­a­tor oper­a­tors con­trol mas­sive par­ti­cle accel­er­a­tors and work on the cut­ting edge of the­o­ret­i­cal physics. In this role, physics grad­u­ates bom­bard sub­atom­ic par­ti­cles hop­ing for a glimpse of what makes the uni­verse work the way it does. A sol­id under­stand­ing of both applied and the­o­ret­i­cal physics might get stu­dents in the door. There’s a lengthy on the job train­ing peri­od and tremen­dous stakes in get­ting the job right.

Physics Teacher

What do you do with a physics degree? Physics grad­u­ates with a dual degree in edu­ca­tion can become high school physics or ele­men­tary sci­ence teach­ers. Those who enjoy ignit­ing pas­sion in chil­dren and young peo­ple for sci­en­tif­ic top­ics will do well in this field. With a physics degree, grad­u­ates can teach earth sci­ence, physics in math­e­mat­ics to ele­men­tary and sec­ondary stu­dents. With a master’s degree, grad­u­ates can become asso­ciate pro­fes­sors at uni­ver­si­ties and work towards their doc­tor­al degree and attain­ing tenure.

Seis­mol­o­gist

Seis­mol­o­gists study earth­quakes and try to pre­dict the con­di­tions that will gen­er­ate quakes in pop­u­lat­ed areas. This is a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary field that requires a deep under­stand­ing of weath­er, geol­o­gy and physics. If study­ing how tsunamis and land­slides work appeals to a stu­dent, they will do well in this field. Stu­dents who wish to become seis­mol­o­gists should also have an affin­i­ty for equip­ment as they will work with sen­si­tive sci­en­tif­ic gear and often have to work in the field.

Seis­mol­o­gists also con­duct research regard­ing the struc­ture of the plan­et. They may use seis­mic waves to find gas and oil in the crust of the earth. For stu­dents aspir­ing to work in the oil indus­try, geol­o­gy cours­es would make a great com­ple­ment to a physics degree.

Ener­gy Pol­i­cy Analyst

This is an unusu­al career choice and may appeal to physics majors inter­est­ed in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and gov­ern­ment ener­gy pol­i­cy. These pro­fes­sion­als deter­mine the finan­cial an envi­ron­men­tal impact of var­i­ous gov­ern­ment poli­cies. They make rec­om­men­da­tions to lead­ers in the form of writ­ten reports and oral arguments.

Sci­ence Journalist

A physics degree and strong writ­ing abil­i­ty is a great com­bi­na­tion and opens doors for grad­u­ates who want to become sci­ence jour­nal­ists. Great oral and writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills can take some­one far in this field. Oppor­tu­ni­ties include news orga­ni­za­tions, sci­en­tif­ic jour­nals and gov­ern­ment agen­cies that need strong writ­ers woo under­stand sci­en­tif­ic con­cepts. An intern­ship or expe­ri­ence in writ­ing and pub­lish­ing sci­ence jour­nal­ism arti­cles will make recent grad­u­ates stand out among the competition.

Your skillset with a degree in the phys­i­cal sci­ences — prob­lem-solv­ing skills, for instance — can also make you an excep­tion­al project man­ag­er, soft­ware engi­neer, pro­gram­mer, or any num­ber of career options.

Salary for Physics Majors

Physics degree salary ranges vary wide­ly and degree in physics salary ranges often depend on the spe­cial­iza­tion required for the job. With physics degree jobs salary, stu­dents can boost their earn­ing abil­i­ty with intern­ships and extern­ships that give them expo­sure to sci­en­tif­ic concepts.

Accord­ing to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, physics degree salary oppor­tu­ni­ties typ­i­cal­ly involve six fig­ures and above.

A degree in physics salary for fed­er­al gov­ern­ment agen­cies aver­age $120,000 per year, while physics degree jobs salary oppor­tu­ni­ties for state and local gov­ern­ments aver­age $79,000 per year. Ambu­la­to­ry health­care ser­vices pay an aver­age of $178,690 and physics researchers aver­age $131,870.

Professional Organizations

Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions that can give stu­dents infor­ma­tion on physics careers include the following:

• Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Physics
• Amer­i­can Phys­i­cal Society

There are many oth­er pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions for spe­cif­ic fields. Join­ing pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions can help stu­dents net­work and find jobs and intern­ships after grad­u­a­tion. There are many career oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents with physics degrees.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Physics

25 Best Online Accel­er­at­ed Com­bined Physics BS/MS

5 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Physics

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Physics