We were talking about student recruitment the other day, as faculty are wont to do, and our chair suggested that we really ought to have a “Why You Should Major In Physics” page as part of the department web page. As I’m currently the web page coordinator, it will fall to me to write whatever goes on that page.
Now, there’s a fair bit of material out there about potential careers and stuff like that from the American Institutes of Physics and other sources, but that tends to be pretty dry. So I thought I’d throw this out to the physics blogosphere:
Why should students major in physics?
Imagine that a student comes to you, and she’s thinking about majoring in physics, but not sure. What would you say to convince her to go for it? It could be something about the many and varied career possibilities that a physics degree offers, or a more philosophical take on the joys of studying fundamental questions, or even a snarky run-down of how much all the other sciences suck. (I’d prefer positive suggestions, but I always enjoy quality snark…)
I’d run this as a contest, but I don’t have any swag to offer save some outdated desk copies of introductory textbooks. I can offer limited fame, though: If you come up with something exceptionally pithy, I’ll quote you by name on the page.
So, for a chance at limited nerd fame: Why should students major in physics?