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the physics department. This meeting took place on Tuesday, November 27th at
3:30 P.M. in the physics building, room 152. I met with Janice Thomaz, the
academic advisor for students who are planning on changing their degree
objective to physics.
2. Describe in your own words the purpose of this event, who was in attendance and why
related courses I have yet to take and to make sure that my spring 2019 semester
schedule was adequate for transitioning into the college of science. In short, I wanted
help with creating an organized plan of study for my next three years at Purdue.
graduation as well as how doing a dual major in physics and mathematics would
a. The most interesting thing that I learned during this meeting was that people who
have a bachelor's degree in physics generally have no problem finding a job post-
graduation. The problem solving skills gained through a physics education are highly
education, medicine, law and even research in closely-related scientific fields. This
was surprising to me because much of what I've read online has said that most
employers will choose someone with a degree in the same field as they are applying
b. Another thing I learned during this meeting, is that I should begin looking for and
degree in physics. I found this interesting because I figured that I wouldn’t be able to
participate in research until junior or senior year after I've completed some of the
c. The third thing that learned in this meeting was that a number of the physics courses
that I have to take can be substituted with math courses that are required to get a
4. What information did you learn that might be helpful in your major or career decision
making.
my major and career decision making. First and foremost, my biggest concern about
this is a topic that I’ve done little research on as I’ve always figured that I would end up
with a job in education, industry or academia. However, after realizing the value that a
physics degree holds to employers in a variety of fields, my concern over this issue has
dissipated. While I still want to and plan to do research for a living, it is reassuring to
know that I will have other careers to fall back on if things don’t go the way I plan.
5. After having attended this meeting, I feel more sure of my decision to major in physics
than I ever have. I hesitated to turn in my CODO papers for almost a month after receiving them,
due to lingering doubts about the practicality of a physics degree post-graduation. During this
time I had several long discussions with family members and friends about whether majoring in
physics was a good idea, most of which ended with something along the lines of “It’s your
future”. I found this to be an inadequate response that only served to increase the anxiety I was
having about choosing my major. It wasn’t until I met with Janice Thomaz, however, that I felt
well as potential career opportunities helped ease much of the anxiety I was having and reassured
Near the end of the meeting, Janice warned me that courses would become increasingly
difficult moving forward. She said that future classes will require and understanding of not just
how but also why physics works. This put a smile on my face as I have always had a burning
desire to understand physics and math at a deep theoretical level. My ideation and intellection
strengths as well as the Investigative aspect of my STI theme code will prove to be very useful
In conclusion, if it wasn’t for this meeting with Janice Thomaz I think I would still be
having second thoughts about codoing into physics. Janice was very helpful and provided me
with great information regarding the remaining questions I had about majoring in physics. Now I
feel confident and am ready to start my undergraduate degree in physics next semester.