Physics Vs Engineering | Which Is Best For You?

This video goes over physics vs engineering and how to know which major is best for you. There is a lot of overlap between what you can get into with both degrees but there are differences you should note.

[Jaccobtw]

The better you are at physics, the better you are at engineering

The better you are at Math, the better you are at both

[pouncebaratheon]

I agree with everything in this video. There's also a difference in approach that may be important to consider. As a Physics major, I usually had something like 6 homework problems per class in a given week. My friends in Engineering would frequently have 100+. But they were very different. Nearly all of those 100 problems were more difficult versions of what they learned in class and what was in their book. They'd often do 10 problems that were all, to the eyes of a Physics student, effectively the same problem but with different values or more calculation to reach the answer.


Meanwhile there would be maybe one of the six Physics problems that seemed solvable just from the equations and derivations that had been covered in class. Combing through a couple textbook chapters helps you solve two more. A spark of insight makes you realize a fourth can be solved via a clever symmetry argument. You speak to a savant classmate who helps you with the fifth problem then tells you the sixth requires some knowledge of group theory, so you spend the weekend in the campus library learning about quotient rings for no good reason and eventually find a grad student's forty page thesis on the exact problem you've been given, so instead of plagiarizing you leave it blank and eventually discover it was a ruse anyway to see if any students were cheating. And when you take the exam, the problems aren't going to resemble the homework anyway. You're expected to do a lot of work on your own to patch up the gaps in your own understanding.


The Physics student looks at an Engineer's workload and says "I wouldn't want to do that much work. I already know how to solve those problems, but they would take me so long I'm likely to make mistakes by the end anyway!" The Engineering student looks at the Physicist's work and says "I don't even know where to start."


But this is the situation they both need. If someone's going to be trusted with designing a building, you want them to have done thousands of ever harder and more demanding problems in basic mechanics. And for a scientist who's going to be studying cutting-edge physics that no one could have dreamed about a few decades prior, it helps to have a long history of solving unique problems that at the time, they didn't even know were solvable.

[noormohsin]

You missed a pros of physics: making fun of engineers.

[jordanmills]

Imagine learning physics and never getting to apply it...

This post was made by mechanical engineering gang.

[Erowens]

My heart screams physics. But my rational mind screams engineering. I wish I could just clone myself. One half to become a researching physicst. The other half to become an aerospace engineer.

[neurohackstv]

This video just made me more Indecisive lol

[saiavinash]

Engineering is the son of physics, it deals with all that surrounds us but physics deals more on a universal level. Here's a funny story Einstein being a physicist didn't want his son to go into engineering as he thought that was a rip-off of physics but he realized that engineering is just how you can exploit the world using physics. Physicists are the thinkers, the ones who lay down the foundation while engineers build from that foundation.

[jaimelubrani]

I'm both at the same time sadly... 5 year Mechanical Engineering and Physics degree between two local universities. It's hard, but damn is it rewarding.

[marklvrd]

This is just my 2 cents, but as an engineer i've noticed that the brightest engineers I've worked with have an undergrad in physics with masters in engineering, or a double bachelors in math and engineering. These types of engineers seem to grasp hard concepts easier and apply them more methodically, and i've learned to be a better engineer through them.

[ergpopler]

Nobody:
Engineering Physics: Am I a joke to you?

[kennex]

Those who disliked this video are history teacher.

[aman]

I just want to take a moment and appreciate the time and effort you took to do the necessary research, contact various universities, and offer an unbiased view of the two disciplines. I'm currently a freshman Engineering Physics Major and was juggling these questions in my head. Your video definitely helped me make a decision about what career and education path I want to take in the future, and so I'm just here to let you know you're doing an amazing job. Thanks!

[denkerstein]

I hve a bachelor degree in engineering n was an engineer..now im planning for a second bachelor degree in physic n will further to phd..just discover my passion in physic n what i wanted to b at my 30s..hope its not late..wish me luck..

[justrandom]

All the hate, without physics there wouldn’t be any engineering, without engineering there wouldn’t be any physics that could be develop to help people.Stop hating, we need both and they’re both imperative.

[mohamedhassan-tyby]

i’m a senior in high school about to apply to university ever since i was younger i’ve wanted to become and aerospace engineer but the more i learn about physics the more i want to major in it. so i’ve decided that i will be going into university for physics and eventually getting a degree in engineering as well

[smoug]

I've always though of it as: Physics is applied math, and engineering is applied Physics.


Posted by a Mechanical Engineer.

[baab]

I'm majoring in physics, with the last two semesters being applied and engineering physics, minoring in mechanical engineering and then pursuing a master's degree in aerospace engineering. I think it's the perfect combination.

[lucasfuhr]

This is hands on one of the best informative videos i've ever seen that helped me make a decision on my future career! I feel like a lot of students that leave high school don't have proper insight on these professions and this was actually a very helpful guide.

[quahntasy]

I did both, Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and doing masters in Physics. But I do find this channel awesome.

Update: I am now doing PhD in photonics which is a kind of intersection between physics and Electrical engineering.

[onlyhumanity]

I am a mechanical engineer but I love physics because it makes me enable to find out the solutions of every problems whether it's mechanical or electrical or any logical decision which is not even related to science and engineering