Interested in becoming a physicist?

Question

I would really like to become a physicist when I get older, but I'm currently in high school and I don't know how to go about doing it.

I transferred schools after my freshman year (I had a little higher than a 3.5 with A's in everything except a C in Biology). Now I have a 3.7 with an A- in Chemistry and a B+ in Honors Algebra II/Trig. I'm worried these grades will make it harder to become a physicist. Will these grades keep me from going to a good college and pursuing physics? Will it weigh in my favor to these tough colleges since I am a woman interested in this field?

Also, what kind of physicist should I aim to become? I would prefer to make more money considering it takes a lot to go to graduate school and get a Ph. D. Should I look into university work? Also, how difficult is it to specialize in String Theory?

Anyone who has any helpful tips, please tell me! I really appreciate it!

Answer 1

I don't think there's any college that would admit you on one hand, but then refuse to let you be a physics major, based on your high-school grades. If you can get into a college that has a physics program, you can major in physics. (Of course, if you declare some other major in college and get crummy grades, you may not be allowed to change your major to physics, so if you know you want to study physics, declare it as your major from the start.)



I don't know what it takes to get into a "good" college these days (it's been more than 30 years since I had to worry about that). But if you work hard on your undergraduate degree, you should be able to get into *some* graduate program, somewhere. And then once you are in graduate school, your own drive and determination will matter much more than where you did your undergraduate work.



So I guess I'm saying, don't think you can't become a physicist just because you don't get into some elite college.



It's far too soon to be worrying about what kind of physicist to become. During your undergraduate career, you may find some areas of physics more interesting than others. Try to get into a graduate school that has strong research programs in those areas. It is only once you've started research in a field, that you'll know what the field is really like. Please go into a field you enjoy, rather than making your decision based on money. A career in physics is much too time-consuming for you to be a success unless you really like what you are doing.

Answer 2

If you want to grow to be a theoretical physicist, you need math, math, and more math. Essentially all theoretical physicists are extraordinarily good in math. Like, one individual in one million just right at math. Algebra/Trig is solely the starting. You need calculus, multi-variable calculus, differential equations, analysis, calculus on manifolds, linear algebra, chance thought, intricate evaluation... You may no longer yet be evolved adequate in math to understand if you're excellent at it. I've recognized some individuals whose math capacity rather started out to bloom when they bought into developed math. In the event you do not love math, then forget it, do anything else with your existence. Theoretical physics just isn't, most often, a path to happiness. It's anything individuals do considering they have a psychological must do it. "String thought" is sincerely an particularly evolved mathematical method on multi-dimensional manifolds. It should or may not have utility to physics. You might come to be an experimental physicist. That is much more like engineering. In theoretical physics, there is particularly no "affirmative action". Both that you could make a novel contribution, or you cannot.

Answer 3

Im glad to hear about another person interested in physics. Here are some things you will need to know.



1) The most important part of physics is math. Math is the language of science.



2) Biology won't/shouldn't hold you back.



Theoretical physics is using mathematics to unlock the greatest mysteries of the quantum world, as well as the macroscopic world that we live in. If you want to become a theoretical physicist, which mainly includes string theory and quantum physics, it would probably be in your best interest to study up on math (calculus, algebra, trig) and relativity. You would be very surprised how much relativity comes into quantum physics and string theory. String theory is a very complex study of theoretical strings that are inside quarks. Also we study how they act on their own in space-time and their worldsheets and how they interact. It is very complex. it is also a very new field to us physicist. If you don't know, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) releases their classes after they have been taught for free online. I use it a lot. here are all the courses you should look at for being a physicist. Remember these are real courses that were taught at MIT and were taught to real physicists by physicists.



Einstein equations: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-224-exploring-black-holes-general-relativity-astrophysics-spring-2003/index.htm



Particle Physics: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-811-particle-physics-ii-fall-2005/index.htm



Relativity: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-033-relativity-fall-2006/



Modern Physics: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/sts-042j-einstein-oppenheimer-feynman-physics-in-the-20th-century-spring-2011/





And at last, use any of these courses to get a gist of what being a physicist in training is like.



http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/



Good luck and its great to have a woman interested in this. I am one of 4. and I am the only boy. I was always given a hard time about my physics interest.



P.S. Im only 13, I've been studying and researching string theory for a couple of years now, and my college courses have really helped me become a physicist. Excuse my young age.

Answer 4

Talk to your Guidance Counselor in HS.



And consider this.



Cal Tech, one of the premier schools in the world for physics, accepted only 17% of its applicants in 2010. And of those, most had perfect or near perfect SAT scores and GPAs. And most were honored in some way for physics or other sciences work outside normal classwork; e.g., state competitions in physics or blue ribbon winners at science fairs. You can find these data on the web.

Answer 5

Physics is not only the math but you must understand and master the concepts.

I would see how you do with Calculus, many problems in physics are solve using the calculus.