My DS enjoys physics but plans to apply for Natural Sciences (focusing on physical sciences) at Cambridge as one of his five choices on his UCAS form. He was originally planning to choose Physics rather than Natural Sciences for his other four choices at other universities, partly because we think the Cambridge course is the only one where he could cover sufficient physics content to have the equivalent of a physics degree whilst also having the bonus of studying some broader science subjects. However, I have since heard and read that Natural Sciences degrees are considered useful for scientific research careers because many of the newer scientific breakthroughs are happening at the boundaries between the major scientific fields and hence studying at these boundaries may be beneficial for a budding scientist! I wondered though if, in practice, many Natural Science degrees on offer don't cover enough depth to enable easy progress to further scientific study (e.g. Masters or Phd)? Also, do many people pick Natural Sciences to keep their options open if they can't decide between the sciences or want more time to make up their minds?
I would really like to know what the view is in the scientific community and from parents/academics with students doing science degrees as to whether it is still desirable to focus on a single subject science degree if you are hoping for a career in science research? Also, I would love to get any insights into particular Natural Sciences courses that enable the student to specialise ultimately in Physics so that the degree still has quite a lot of depth in one of the sciences. Some of the courses seem more like joint honours sciences courses or seem to be stronger in biological sciences than physical sciences so they are not what DS would be looking for!
Thank you for any insight you can give me!