Study physics or electrical engineering?
Hi, I'm graduating next year and am currently thinking a lot about what I want to study afterward. At the moment, I'm mainly wavering between physics and electrical engineering. I'm actually doing very well in both math and physics at school, and I'm very interested in theoretical physics, which actually speaks more in favor of studying physics. However, I'm worried that if you're not one of the best, it'll be difficult to find a job with a physics degree and that you'll essentially "have to" go into research. I'm currently finding electrical engineering very interesting in class, but I'm worried that there's too much computer science in the program and I won't be able to cope with it, since I dropped computer science in 10th grade with a grade of 4 and never understood anything in class back then. And the thing is, I'd like to study in Erlangen, but you can't even study electrical engineering per se there, only electrical and information engineering.
1) Is physics or electrical engineering "harder" (I know this is very subjective)
2) the computer science component in electrical engineering studies is very large or difficult
3) what is the proportion of women in the two degree programs (I would hate to be the only female person haha)
4) Does anyone have experience with dual studies in electrical engineering
Thank you in advance for all answers!
-Eve
(2 votes)
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I'll provocatively mark "Physics."
Ultimately, the question is which topic excites you the most and which topic you would be willing to stay up all night studying.
You'll manage everything else, you're smart enough for that.
You can decide to study based on its "usability," but you might lose motivation halfway through.
On the individual points:
(1) I studied physics (and don't work as a physicist, but I earn a decent living). It was "intense," and I wouldn't have stuck with it if I hadn't been so deeply interested in it. Electrical engineering, calculating circuits, etc. – I fail even at relatively simple resistance calculations in circuits with multiple nodes.
(2) You'll be able to scrape together as much computer science as you need for electrical engineering or physics. And depending on your chosen major, the percentage may be higher or lower.
(3) As long as you do not study mechanical engineering in KA or mining in Clausthal-Zellerfeld (that's the cliché), you will not be the only one, even if you are partly "one of the few".
(4) (I abstain.)
Do what interests you. You'll find a job with either degree program.
It's kind of funny that you write that. It's exactly the opposite. Very few manage to stay in research long-term; the vast majority have to move up sooner or later and find a "normal" job.
I was actually always good at and interested in physics in school. I studied it for a semester and a half… and then switched to electrical engineering and information technology.
I consider physics more challenging… there's a lot of math involved. (I had the choice between math for mathematicians and math for physicists… and I made the wrong choice. This resulted in three-quarters of my weekly time in the first semester being spent on math—different sub-areas in parallel, some of them very abstract—and there were rarely any problems involving numbers like in school.) In my experience, I've seen more women in physics classes than in electrical engineering. In the latter, they were truly rare. 😉
In either case, you certainly don't need to worry about finding a job – provided you're flexible. Physicists also work as management consultants, programmers (that probably wouldn't be for you), in development work with engineers, etc. Very few will do direct (basic) research. In my opinion, physicists are well-respected; it's well known that the degree program is demanding, and their advantage is their abstract way of thinking, which allows them to grasp and adapt quickly to new areas.
But I'm happy as an engineer—it's pretty much what I wanted to be as a child. I tinker with electronics at work, constantly deal with different problems, and program (which I enjoy).
Electrical Engineering: In our undergraduate program, programming was really manageable. Absolute basics, then a semester of object-orientation, and then work on a medium-sized project. Depending on your specialization, in my opinion, you don't get to deal with much more than that. (I specialized in digital logic/computer systems/data engineering—so I studied that part much more intensively.)
I studied communications engineering in Aachen, but I didn't study computer science.