It is never too early to start thinking about your future career path. Following these steps will help in making your decision easier.
- Undergraduate Education
- Research as an Undergraduate Student
- Applying to Graduate School
- Non-academic Jobs
U Albany Career office coordinates and promotes career fairs, events & networking with different companies, and offer 1:1 appointments for resume review, grad school materials, the job/internship search, etc.
Undergraduate Education
- Join the UAlbany chapter of the Society of Physics Students as early as possible. You will get exposure to lectures that go beyond the required classes, to hands-on activities, such as rocket building, and to discussions of interesting career choices. Also, consider joining the Math Club.
- In your sophomore, junior and senior years participate in the Annual Joseph Henry Competition. Exposure to non-standard physics questions sharpens your problem solving skills, the most attractive feature of physics majors for prospective employers.
undergraduate
Research as an Undergraduate Student
- Talk to faculty members about their research and take elective courses. Having exposure to various research areas will help you to choose your future career path.
- Consider applying for REU programs after your sophomore and junior years. REU is a paid internship funded by the National Science Foundation which allows students to join various research groups in the summer. Exposure to this program provides you with valuable experience and increases your chances of getting to the best graduate schools.
- There is an office on campus that is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research on campus, and are a valuable resource for finding out about non-physics opportunities
research
Applying to Graduate School
- If you are interested in applying to graduate schools, start preparing for the GRE exams (general and subject tests) in your junior year. You can use various study guides to study for these exams. Subject GRE is only offered few times a year, please check the registration deadlines.
- If you are interested in applying to graduate schools, identify the universities which have strong research groups in the fields you are planning to pursue. The rating of physics graduate programs can be found here. Notice that most programs waive the tuition costs for PhD students and provide additional financial support.
graduateschool
Non-academic Jobs
If you are interested in a non-academic job immediately after graduation, you can use the American Institute of Physics website to get helpful suggestions, e.g., these links lists companies who routinely hire Physics Bachelors:
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
A very useful resource can be found at the Careers Toolbox page.
Here are some links that show where all people with B.S. in Physics work, common job titles, starting salaries and how that compares to other disciplines:
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
https://ww2.aip.org/statistics
jobs