Careers/Education Questions - Weekly Discussion Thread - August 21, 2025

[u/AutoModerator]

This is a dedicated thread for you to seek and provide advice concerning education and careers in physics.

If you need to make an important decision regarding your future, or want to know what your options are, please feel welcome to post a comment below.

A few years ago we held a graduate student panel, where many recently accepted grad students answered questions about the application process. That thread is here, and has a lot of great information in it.

Helpful subreddits: /r/PhysicsStudents, /r/GradSchool, /r/AskAcademia, /r/Jobs, /r/CareerGuidance

[u/friendlypotato44]

So I'm stuck in the "applying to college but realizing that an engineering degree is a lot more versatile than a physics one" boat. Basically, I get the whole reason that engineering is a smarter decision because you can do more with it. But I'm worried that I won't be interested in the actual work as much. I *think* (because I kind of feel like, how could I possibly know for certain) that I'd be more interested in the theory and thinking work done in physics, and was just wondering what the most "theoretical" engineering principle is? I feel like mechanical seems the most general, but also the farthest from modern physics, so would aerospace be better? I don't know. I'm lazy so I probably haven't looked deep enough into what each path would have me doing, but I'm honestly really scared that I have no idea what I actually want to do or what a career in either field would be like. I mean, how am I supposed to know `_0_/` I guess that's my issue, what does an engineer or physicist actually do on a daily basis? And if lab research is an answer, what does that mean?

Just tell me I'm crazy and should do more research on my own first.