/sci/ - Science & Math

Being a highschool teacher sounds fun as fuck.

Just make it interesting. You can really change some lives.

I still remember my calculus/physics teacher.

>>5693880
yeah, also reason i even started doing any of the studying shit is because i'm good at it, as in very good but i just fucking hate it (atm, might change when i become more grown up but as of now i don't see myself going back to school ever).

(4 year uni math now going to work dealing papers after the summer).

>>5693883
change lives, woho i am in an american tv show where shit has higher meaning etc.

>Implying plumbers don't make tons of money

Pic related, 2 days worth of work we got a check for nearly $6k

Sucks about only being able to get a job as a teacher man.

I feel you, but not on the not liking my subject. Math is interesting, but I do fear that I'm going to end up teaching.

I literally can't imagine a worse fate for myself than teaching uninterested, dumb kids about something I enjoy so much. I understand that everyone has their own tastes, and I'm fine with that, but I don't want to think about having to listen to kids complain about factoring and how no one does math in "the real world".

>>5693880
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7gkD5uyl-U

>>5693898
>>5693887
I really like math aswell, what i don't like is studying.

Wut. Plumbers make mad money. Way more than a teacher.

Third year here, and I'm hating it as well.

How do you make money with a physics degree if you don't want to go to grad school or be a prof/teacher?

Making as much money as a plumber is DOPE AS FUCK. Check out average yearly income.

Why you people all think you should be rich, escapes me. Explain!

>>5693890
>>5693915
>>5693929
OP here, I didn't realize they were paid so handsomely, I don't get out much.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be a thankless highschool teacher if they got paid that well, but they don't. Ever.

A master plumber can charge like $200/hr

>>5693932
Got a question, what's an engineering equivalent of plumber?
EE has technician
ME has mechanic
Civil Eng. has carpenter

>>5693880
just take an organic chemistry sequence, review some shit, take the Chem GRE, and get to grad school for a PHD in Chemistry. Aside from Orgo, you'll be able to deal with most chem courses with your math/physics background.

Or you could go work for a hedge fund, or investment bank--yes they hire physics and math majors

>>5693976
Also, Math/Chem/Physics teachers are being hired at premium salaries in many areas. Most school systems base pay on year-of-employment, but what they do is start you at "5 years experience" or 10, or whatever you negotiate. There's hiring flexibility like any job--at least in the decent school systems.

>>5693919
Finance

>>5693976
>>5693984
After this ordeal, I never want to go back to school, I'm definitely not going to grad school.

I guess finance is my only option after all.

>>5693974

Construction Engineering

>>5693974
ChemE obvious

Kind of same here, research seems boring as fuck, be it experimental (doing the same experiment again and again) or theoretical (lost in nonsense mathematics).

>mfw I see kids inspired to be physicists by pop science books and professors
top lel

>>5694011
>mfw I overhear a crowd of underclassmen talking about popsci shit and about how they're majoring in physics

It is depressing to think about how all of their dreams will soon be crushed.

Work in industry instead. There's lots cool applied stuff in computing and energy technology. To a extent: research is research and can have boring aspects, but there's a different mentality when you're developing a product and trying to help build or maintain a business that you might find more satisfying.

There's also policy work in government. You could apply to the Department of Energy--though I think bureaucratic work is generally soul crushingly boring by experience, but it might depend on your content area. There are however tones of lobbying organizations, advocacy groups, and think tanks promoting research and general policies towards science. We need more science literate people in those organizations, not just lawyers.

>this poster everywhere in our physics building
>lel

you can still do modeling and shit with a physics degree can't you

>be a researcher in US, they said
>you'll be working on high tech nanotech, AI and 3D printing for the FUTURE, they said
>the US needs more scientists, they said

>tfw you realize most science grads end up not in research
>tfw they lied about being enough openings to research
>tfw you realize research done by the lower ranks is about ass kissing and publishing wars
>tfw you realize that getting into the extremely interesting research without the bullshit is as difficult as getting into div II and up college sports
>tfw you realize getting a tenured position is like getting into the NFL

>>5694032
>If you study physics, you can still do engineering

>>5693974
Chem E, definitely

chemical engineering is the biggest misnomer. all these duckers start out thinking it's about chemistry and it's just not

>>5694032
I hate all the current internet and media portrayal of science as SUPER ZANY AND WACKY AND FUN XD. Science is already interesting in its own right because we get to build shit with, as they mentioned, lasers and send shit to the fucking moon. Why does it need all this shit that's aimed at the leddit crowd around it?

>>5694039
>science
>building anything
>sending anything to the moon

>implying those aren't engineering projects

>>5694050
there's a great blur between applied physics and engineering. they're pretty much the same thing at this point.

>>5694039
I used to think like you and get annoyed by the portrayal of science as pop-science, but you know, it get's the kids interested and the art majors pro-science, so it could all be a lot worse.

>>5694032
I your department run by 16 year olds? How can this be allowed?

>>5694039
Yeah, they shouldn't lie to those kids, they should just show pages upon pages of vector calculus and diagrams written by a greasy student who hasn't slept or showered in 2 days.

Then they could show the kids how their only reward for doing all of that work is to have the privilege of continuing to do the exact same thing for the rest of their lives for minimal pay.

>>5694052
Basically, unless you're in non-research based engineering jobs like manufacturing, factory management, or construction for which engineering degrees act more like an requisite professional credential like getting a JD or MBA.

>>5694038
>all these duckers start out thinking it's about chemistry and it's just not
I don't know, my department was quite vocal about how different it is from chemistry during recruiting, I also had the right idea of what to expect when I signed up.

Also it's not really a misnomer at all when you think about it.

>>5694061
>exact same thing
Not really, take a look at something like accounting if you think anything WE do is repetitive.
>for minimal pay.
Speak for yourself.

>>5693880
I hope I never feel that feel bro. But I'm starting to get seriously burned up. I mean, what the hell, I am getting to obsessed with physics and math but I don't feel like I'm progressing for real.

>>5694055
It might get them interested, but they will hate it later anyway, because they are confronted with its true nature. The net result is that there are marginally more people in science. And even that is not good, given the immense glut of positions and oversupply of candidates

>>5694068
Are you a postdoc/Phd student/professor? I don't see how the majority of their work is not grunt work. And yes, the pay is shit

>>5694066
I mean in terms of perception it is, my department was not very vocal about it so lots of people took the intro class and hated it

>>5694039
Because propaganda. Clever physicists and engineers sometimes make smart phones etc. which consumers buy like hot cakes, which makes capitalists and governments very rich.

>>5693905
Bullshit. If you liked it, you'd want to study it.

no

>>5694220
no

>>5693880
High school teachers can change lives. My 11th grade physics teacher saw I was going down a terrible path of depression, idiocy, and was going to waste my life.

He turned my life around by helping me with physics and letting me have someone to talk to. I still talk to him. Thanks to him I'm now going to a good university and doing well in my classes. All thanks to him. Just find a good school district and you can really help some kids like me.

Lololol story of my life, graduating in a couple weeks and looking for a nice cubicle to curl up and die in with my fancy physics degree from a top tier U. Fucking great.

>>5694032

>"and that cutie you have your eye on"

>>5693880
Enjoy being hated by the media and politicians for not much pay. But most teachers are awesome OP, if that's what you want to do, good luck! My parents being teachers put me off, oh God I hope I get a good 2,1 or above in my degree...

I am not saying that teacher is a bad job; long holidays, work certainty (hard to get fired) and there are probably a lot of teachers out there who enjoy their job very much, but I personally would rather shoot myself in the face than become a highschool teacher.

1 month and a half and then my physics undergrad is over...what the fuck am i going to do?

i like knowledge and science and shit, but i don't want to go to grad school - i just wanna read books and extend my knowledge in as many directions as possible.

i'm pretty sure my parents aren't going to subsidise my lazy ass doing nothing all day though.

I've found it easy getting jobs in game's design with my physics degree. I don't have working in physics at all, but I try to change the scenery every once in a while. I think misleading popsci might have something to do with it.

>>5693880
code monkey
engineering technician

get masters in ME or EE.

>>5694374
>I don't have working in physics at all
meant to type hate

>>5693880
ITT: A bunch of cocky little faggots realize that maybe they should have used their "super duper rational logic powerz!!1!1!!!" for something better than a worthless degree in something they hate.

Have fun living out the rest of your life without changing anything because you're a fucking BETAFAGGOT who can't handle his feelings. Maybe if you had studied Psychology instead you would no why no one cares about you and why you dont understand who you are.

Sniff sniff, you piece of shit.

>>5694378
>psychology
>only job is administering psychometric tests and being mediocre HR "professionals"

>>5694378
you're genuinely mad on 4chan.
also

>instead you would no why no one cares
are you retarded?

>>5693880
Its the mediocre performance that gets to me. It is also troubling that academia is not something that I enjoy.

Not a physics guy but a electrical engineering.

I'm actually contemplating suicide.

>>5693880
>highschool teacher making as much as a plumber
hahahah you wish m80, try half the amount a plumber makes.

>>5693890
not deep enough, do you guys even have regs?

>>5694524
cmon m8 don't do that. I'm in the same boat as you. EE and everything, (i haaaate it!). I've been poor my whole life, it ain't no thing to have no purpose or direction. I'd say let's be friends, but eh, a face to face kind of thing is always better.

>>5694550
>aaaate it!). I've been poor my whole life, it ain't no thing to have no purpose or direction. I'd say let's be friends, but eh, a face to face kind of thing is always better.


When you realize that the only goal you had in life is gone, and that life is going nowhere, can you really call this living?

Nuclear physicist here, just started working at Brookhaven National Laboratory and I honestly have to say it get painfully boring working in research, but the pay is nice and I'm doing my passion (By the way I wanted a career in physics BECAUSE of a high school physics teacher, not shit popsci garbage like "Big Bang Theory")

>>5694592
Okay I lied, the pay if awful but I'm hoping to get a better paying job in nuclear engineering with Fermilab. Whether or not you'll be successful in the physics field depends on specialization, generalizing is honestly suicide.

>mfw /sci/ scared me when it comes to get a chem degree
>then I realized that I dont live in merrka and im not a faggot
>talked to most chem majors I know
>will make money and fuck bitches

>>5694601
Bull, where do you live?

>>5694653
ar-arg-argentina

this place is so backwards that I'll get paid to study in places like america, korea and shit and then I'll land a job here thanks to all that

everybody here wants to become a lawyer or a doctor (and fails horribly to do so), it's awesome for people that wants to study a hard science

>>5694669
estudias en exactas de la UBA?

>just started on physics courses for degree
>plan on teaching middle school just to try and help and make a tiny difference because middle school is awful and nobody even cares
>don't need to worry about money because family trust fund

I hope I continue to enjoy physics, I decided bio wasn't for me

>>5694550
>>5694524
my EE bros ;-;

>>5693898
Don't blame the kids because the education system is bad. Maybe you could put in work to refine Mathematics education instead of complaining about why teenagers would rather post about their swagger on instagram instead of drilling formula's like a boring asian kid.

>inb4 b-but everywhere is like that!
Doesn't make it any better. The system actually realizes it's shit, and is BARELY making moves to improve it.

>>5693880

i am, i've had a hard time in school. had a few setbacks despite being praised by professors in the department and getting published twice.

i decided to quit this semester, i'm probably never going back to academia

I see a lot of threads like this from time to time and can't help but wonder, why do so many people end up like this? I've noticed a significant amount of the times it happens to physics majors.

Do you guys just come in to school with completely wrong expectations which are slowly but surely chipped away through the years or what? Why did it take four years?

>>5694675
qu-que

sali, SALI

>>5694669
>>5694675
>tfw you're not alone and someone out there goes to the same uni as you
>he's probably a neckbeard

goddamnit

>>5694695

Thats because the system (IE the government) doesn't want free thinking individuals to be good at sciences. It is purposely made to be 'boring' and 'uncool', so that the mundane, order following kids, who are considered 'smart' and 'nerdy' achieve higher than those who are independent thinkers and therefore be put into submissive but important positions. Unless you are supremely powerful, nobody, at least in the US will allow math and science to be taught in an interesting way. They do not want independent thinkers to excel, in any way, because that is a threat.

>>5693991
>>5694032

the guys who get what is going on.
I'm on my last year undergrad physics course and already have a job at a finance company (I'm not hired and don't work full time, will be when I graduate).
People these days forget what money is all about (finance, dumbfucks).
Search for econophysics on arxiv.org

pretend to have a great idea for a startup (plenty of ways to cheat with prototypes), disappear to the world with minimally washed money

>tfw enjoy academics and research
>tfw scared you might not get into graduate school
>tfw mediocre grades because you fucked up hard two semesters

>>5693880
>Majoring in Physics without an Engineering or Mathematics double major

Are there really people this retarded to just get a SINGLE major in physics after 4 whole years?

>>5694718
My guesses:
1. Teleys make Physics sounds like all fun and no practice.
2. They are undergrads (hence the 4 years). These people don't know the sweet sweet eureka moment in research. Hell, they might panic when their result deviate within 5% error of the 'ideal' result.

tl;dr: I blame Michio Kaku. Why do you Yanks worship him anyway?

>>5694919
No need to worry there, mate. I experienced major depression and got 2.5GPA for 4 semester straight.

Just appeal to a supervisor and show him/her your work ethics (i.e. be a research assistant).

>>5694924
My school doesn't offer minors in subjects I have taken a bunch of electives in.

it's quite possible to get a job with a physics degree if you specialized sensibly. then it's just a really narrow-but-deep engineering degree coupled with having thorougly reiviewed all of hich school physics, though

>>5693919
If you're English skills don't suck, head to law school and go into patent law

Cram in as many *Engineering classes that you can and/or head to grad school for Engineering

Spend 6 months and learn C++ coding, data structures, architecture, OS, algorithms, and networking to become a coder

Get a job at a bank/finance and dream of killing yourself each night till you die

Join the army

>>5694032
>If you study physics, you can still do engineering

no, lmftfy

>If you study physics and take a bunch of applied engineering courses and do a bunch of engineering side projects or related work in you free time, then you might still do engineering if HR doesn't instantly toss your resume.

>>5694052

Applied Physics is Engineering. Physics majors (even if they're in some "applied track") don't actually study Applied Physics. Applied Physics is a bullshit title to a free-form Engineering major for someone who wants to bridge several Engineering disciplines (like EE and MechE if you want to focus on robotics) but doesn't want to spend x years majoring in all of them.

>>5693880
lift