Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Physics Pays?

A team of physicists hope to set off a controlled nuclear fusion reaction at Lawrence Livermore National Labs  in Livermore, California. Photo by Steve Jurvetson.
I recently stumbled upon an article written at Payscale.com examining high-paying careers. Specifically, they were comparing the salaries that recent college graduates earn to their Bachelors degrees. This chart shows a summary of the top degrees:



DegreesDegrees
Methodology
Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 2 years of experience; mid-career have 15 years. See full methodology for more.










As you can see graduates with physics degrees are the 7th highest-paid in this study (and only behind various physical-science engineering majors). These results are very surprising to me--it's not like they only studied different kinds of science degrees. For example, we can find degrees like art, physical training, and education on the list as well. Does this mean that everyone should go to college to major in petroleum engineering? Of course not! But, ... ... a few questions for you:

  1. What other important factors (when choosing a college major) are not considered in this study?
  2. Are you surprised by the results?
  3. Would you use data from a study like this to help you to make a decision about what you'd like to study in college? If not, what do you considered to be more influential on your decision?
  4. Many students say they'd like to become teachers. According to this study, what is the starting median pay for graduates with an education degree?
  5. As discussed above, the degree a bachelors degree in physics ranks 7th. What kind of job (or where does a person work) does person with a physics degree have? What would they do? 
Posted by Brian Bearss at 11:44 AM

16 comments:

  1. ilovesportsMarch 1, 2012 at 5:05 PM

    2. I am not really surprised by the results that many of the top paying jobs are in the Engineering field. These are very difficult majors that require a lot of schooling.

    3. I did not use this as a guide to the career choice that I would eventually pick, but my ideas of Kinesiology/ Physical Therapy/ Athletic Training are on the list, which is reassuring. I will not base my major on profitability, I will base it on what I will enjoy most and am most likely to stick with it.

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  2. iloveXCMarch 1, 2012 at 8:51 PM

    1. Job demand,which is an important factor when choosing a college major,is not addressed.
    2.I'm a little surprised that computer science isn't higher up because technology is growing so quickly
    3.I might use this chart, but i also agree that you need to choose something that you enjoy and love.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nicki MinajMarch 2, 2012 at 9:01 AM

    1.in this study they base it off of the pay of the job. Job availability and the demand for the job arnt included.
    2.I'm not really suprised with the results of this study because of the need for employees in these fields are high.
    3.I feel that this study could be very beneficial when choosing a major to study.
    4.$36,800

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  4. iloveXCMarch 2, 2012 at 4:16 PM

    I agree that the results are what they are because of the need for employees in these fields and also for #4 i found that the starting pay was around $36,800.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Taylor GMarch 3, 2012 at 1:51 PM

    2. I dont think it is very suprising, considering that many of the careeres with the top salaries are those that require a more demanding education and an education that requires more years of studying than many of the degrees with lesser salaries, and fewer a people are proably successful in acheiving those careers, making them a higher demand.
    3.no i dont think i would use this study to choose a college major. Not only does this study leave out the demand of these jobs but it also leaves college student success rate in the major and the amount of education needed. majors shouldnt be chosen just because of the amount of salary that a job offers

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  6. AnonymousMarch 3, 2012 at 5:57 PM

    1. many of the jobs in the engineering world dealing with phsics are high paying jobs, but as mentioned above, job demand and availibily are a huge factor in having a sucessful career.
    2. I dont think this is very suprising at all because i am guessing all of the top paid jobs dealing with physics, are very difficult subjects to deal with. By studying a subject like physics for a ling time like this, more money intially will be put into the education, but thats how it is for any job really.
    3. I think it would be an interesting career field definitly but its not something i am passionate about, i feel that if your making a decison on how to spend the rest of your career you should really have a love for it. (unless you really love money..)
    4. teachers starting salary is usually around 35,000$
    5. there are quite a few career options that deal with the area of physics and engineering such as industrial science, astronomy, meteorology, marine sciences, biophysics, geophysics or the health sciencesd engineering. these are just a feww of the many different types.
    -Halie foulks

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  7. Olivia VinckierMarch 4, 2012 at 2:00 PM

    1. Making sure that the job you choose will satisfy you and your lifestyle is not mentioned. I believe in really loving the career you have chosen so you can always be doing your best.
    2. No, I am not surprised by the results. You have to be a fairly smart individual to be doing any science related job. Plus, I'm sure doing anything with chemicals and other harmful devices would be dangerous. It only makes sense that those jobs are high paying.
    3. In a way, I guess. But I would end up doing whatever it is that I am most passionate about.
    4. Around $36,000.
    5. Teachers, engineers, and professors are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lil WayneMarch 4, 2012 at 9:20 PM

    1) what is not mentioned in this study is if the job you choose to major in will fit for you. Not every one is going to go into the science field. this goes with what olivia vinckier said that you should love the job that you will have for hte rest of your life, not just for the price you get to do it for.
    2) i am suprised about the results.
    3) idk if i would use a study like this to help me decided my major becasue of the answer to #1 this study doesnt help me decided if that job will work with my lifestyle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. KCMarch 4, 2012 at 10:29 PM

    1. Other factors that are not considered in the study are job availability, a student’s interest in a certain area of study, and the demand for a certain job.
    2. I am not surprised by the results because the others ahead of physics are very important and in high demand on a day to day basis.
    3. I would not base my decision off of how much money I could make with my career. I would look into the availability and demand for a certain job and then my own personal interest in it.
    4. Between $32,000 and $34,000.
    5. Someone with a physics degree could be a research scientist, medical physicist, scientific laboratory technician, radiation protection adviser, etc.

    - I fully agree with my classmates who don’t think this study would be beneficial when trying to decide what to study in college. It is something to base some things off, but ultimately money isn’t everything.

    --KC

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  10. ilovesportsMarch 5, 2012 at 7:49 AM

    I agree with most people who have said that some of the excluded information is the demand of these jobs and the success rate. These are very important factors that will likely sway your decision of persuing this field or not.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Brian BearssMarch 5, 2012 at 8:31 AM

    Thanks for the comments this week.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousMarch 5, 2012 at 9:32 AM

    I agree with Olivia and Halie when they say you should love the job you want to do. This is a major key in choosing what to study in college. Also, not everyone is cut out to have a job in petroleum engineering. It is probably a very difficult area to study in college. As many people stated there are many different jobs to pursue in when you have a physics degree. Most of these jobs will take place in a field such as medicine, engineering, chemistry, ecology and archaeology.
    -Hannah Zwiernik

    ReplyDelete
  13. PaulitoMarch 6, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    I agree with everyones posts, jobs are needed everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousMarch 8, 2012 at 6:25 PM

    I think it's also important to factor in the years you would have to study that major


    You also have to actually like the subject you study and have a passion for it
    Iloveweekends

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  15. AnonymousMarch 15, 2012 at 9:18 AM

    2.I'm not surprised with the results because i think a lot of people choose a career based on the money you earn annually. iloveweekends

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yale13March 18, 2012 at 7:26 PM

    2. I'm not surprised about the results. It makes sense that the engineering fields are most of the top paying jobs. However I disagree with Iloveweekends. I think.... or would hope to think that people pick their career based on what they actually enjoy doing.
    3. I don't think this study would affect what career i go into in college. I would have to love the career that I go into to be able to stick with it and enjoy it, I wouldn't just do it for the amount of money.

    ReplyDelete

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