Undergraduate Physics at The Ohio State University

Undergraduate Physics: Career Options

Employment

Employment in the Government or in Industry

Computer skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills are in more demand for jobs in Industry or in the Government because you are more likely to spend time writing and making verbal presentations. Taking a computer course or an extra english course could show you have a wide range of skills, which will enhance your resume.

Jobs in the Financial Sector:

Science and Math majors enjoy working with computers and difficult equations. Because of this, banks, investment firms, insurance companies, and other financial companies are intersted in hiring Science and Math majors. Taking a class that involves numerical computations or statistics would be useful in finding a job in the financial sector.

For more information:

Arts and Sciences Career Services

Engineering Career Services

The Ohio State University Career Services

Graduate School

Graduate Study in Physics, Math, or another Science:

GRE scores, grades in math and science courses, letters of recommendation, and undergraduate research experience are what graduate schools pay the most attention to. Although non technical classes will not be as important for your graduate school application, it is important to have good communication skills, so try to take a few courses where you are required to do a lot of writing and presenting.

For more information:

AIP's Gradschool Shopper

2008 GRE Prep Course

Teaching

Teaching High School:

For a position at a public school, you will need to be certified in the state you will be working in. To do this, you will probably need to get a Master's degree. The Department of Physics at Ohio State offers a physics program that allows students to get involved with the College of Education as an undergraduate. The acceptance rate from an Undergraduate in Physics at OSU to a Graduate student in the College of Education at OSU is 100%.

In order to teach at a private school, a teaching certificate is not required. In either case, however, communication and interpersonal skills are a must. Many high schools prefer to hire someone who could teach a wide variety of classes. For example, physics, chemistry, and a general science. It is a good idea to take a wide range of science classes in order to be better prepared.

For more information:

OSU College of Education M.Ed. Program website

Professional School

Medical School:

The Department of Physics at OSU offers a physics program that allows students to fulfill the requirements for Medical School. The program combines physics and math courses with biology and chemistry courses in order to satisfy both the physics degree requirements and pre-med requirements. When applying to medical school, above average grades and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores are very important.

For more information:

Offical MCAT website

Law School:

Law schools do not require an appliant to have taken a certain set of courses or have an undergraduate degree in a certain field. Law schools look at overall GPA and LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) scores for admittance, as well as letters of recommendations and personal statements. A student must have a Bachelor's degree in a technical field such as physics or engineering in order to be qualified to prepare or submit patent applications,. admittance. No matter what field of Law you puruse, it is important to have good writing skills, so try to take a few courses where you are required to do a lot of writing and presenting.

For more information:

Law School Admission Council website