What Can I Do With a Physics Degree?

Anything! Seriously!

A physics degree opens doors to an enormous range of intersecting disciplines and possible careers. Physics majors master a highly valued skill set for high-level careers in technology or research and development.

Physics graduates can:

• Analyze data to solve sophisticated problems such as those found in hospitals, national labs, silicon valley, and Wall Street.
• Clearly communicate complex ideas, a valuable skill set in the government, media, and courtrooms.
• Understand the universe at a broad, yet detailed level, which is valuable in virtually all sciences.
• Enter interdisciplinary fields like climatology, biotech, nanotech, meteorology, aeronautics, and oceanic physics.
• Ruin any superhero movie for their friends watching at the same time!

Prepare to be challenged – understanding the universe isn't easy, but it is worth it. Physics graduates earn salaries comparable to those in computer science and engineering as you can see in the figure below.

Typical Starting Salaries for Physics Bachelors*

Data courtesy of APS.org
*Figures include only bachelors in full-time, newly accepted positions from the classes of 2015 and 2016 combined. Typical salaries are in the middle 50% i.e, between the 25th and 75th percentiles. STEM refers to positions in natural science, technology, engineering and math.