Doing a Physics degree if cannot get into Engineering

[blueshoes]

Is it a viable option for ds to study Physics at university, rather than Engineering, if Ds wants to be an engineer when he graduates?

Ds is waiting for his A level results and has to go into clearing in August as he wishes to swap from his UCAS firm choice of Economics into an Engineering course. Being a serial mind changer, it is a matter of chance whether a place comes up in clearing for him to get into an Engineering course of his choice (General, Mechanical or Aeronautical) at a university of his choice.

In the spirit of hedging his bets, it looks slightly easier to get into Physics courses. He might be able to get a Physics course in clearing at a more competitive university.

Is is wise for him to do Physics if he wants to be an engineer is in terms of getting a job and desirability to big employers? Dh and I have no background in engineering or sciences and have no idea.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, ds might change his mind again and decide to go into finance on graduation. How would a Physics (as opposed to Engineering) degree be regarded by Finance employers?

All tips and thoughts gratefully received, as they were on my previous thread🙏

Could he take a year out and apply with grades in hand next year if he really wants engineering?

He needs to slow down a bit because these are big choices and expensive ways to spend a few years studying the 'wrong' subject.

Engineering is directly vocational whereas physics is a pure science, so I think there would be substantial differences in how it is perceived by engineering employers.

I say take a year out, consider doing some work experience in an engineering environment and see if it is really for him.

I wouldn’t, my dsd really struggled to get anywhere with her physics degree, despite jobs being advertised as accepting physics, when she got feedback as to why she wasn’t successful they said they went with mechanical engineering grads instead. On the flip side, she didn’t need tj state which university she attended at all, they had blind admissions, so take engineering at a university even if slightly below what you would get physics is my advice

Thank you for the replies @LittleGreenDuck @BadSkiingMum .

A year out with grades in hand is one of the options he is considering.

Ds has applied for the etrust year long engineering internships for 2025/6 but has not heard back. He might have been too late in applying. It would be ideal if he could do an engineering intership to give him the space to think about whether engineering is right for him.

Without that work experience/internship, I am not sure how useful it would be for ds to take a year out if he ended up doing part time holiday-type jobs.

Would be grateful for any links and ideas on how to get engineering internships.

@mamagogo1 really appreciate your useful feedback. Hope your dd has found something or will find something soon. It is such a tough market out there.

If he wants to be an engineer, he needs to do engineering - DBro did aero and it is a very different curriculum. Plus if he wants to be a chartered engineer, I think he would need a four year course? Though obviously he’d need to check.

Physics would be fine for the mathsy or general jobs in finance - would say it was roughly the third most common degree there after economics and maths where I worked. Though lots with physics and maths seemed to have PhDs but that might just be where I was.

Finance employers like physics degrees in general because they have a lot of maths in them and usually some programming.

my DD has just finished a physics degree and while there is a lot of hard maths in both there is virtually no overlap with the engineeeing.

(think that French and German are both foreign languages but learning French will not really help you learn German except a little bit).

Degrees heavy in Maths often frown on gap years as the skills are lost in that time.

As per pp if he wants to be an engineer he needs to do engineering. He might be able to switch courses after one year at university is that what he was thinking? But he cannot apply for graduate engineer jobs without an engineering degree.

I did a physics degrees 30+ years ago because I couldn't decide what type of engineering to go for so thought this would hedge my bets. It didn't, engineering jobs wanted engineering degrees.
I have worked in finance and IT since though and once you have your first graduate job then the degree subject is much less important. Physics is a good solid numerate degree but I wouldn't think it'll work to get into engineering.

It’s swings and roundabouts which degree is easier to get into. It depends on the university but engineering isn’t typically harder than physics to get into at all.

it also depends which branch of engineering.

Physcs graduates can sometimes get jobs in software engineering, or at least in IT. Lots of graduates can't get jobs there is a distinct lack of graduate entry level jobs at the moment, and too many graduates. I would advise an apprenticeship as it includes work experience which is more use than a degree atm, or get some work experience in anything, then go to uni.

Take a year out, work full time and apply with grades in hard. Don’t do a degree that they don’t want to do.

My husband’s physics students usually go into the City to work in finance.

As an engineer I have one colleague who has a PhD in Physics from Cambridge and is a geophysicist and works as an engineer. Other Environmental scientists have worked in consultancies I’ve worked in, other than that I’m not sure how transferable physics would be in Engineering. Engineering is generally pretty vocational as a discipline and even though the categories are very broad it is still very different to a physics degree.

When DBro was doing engineering at Imperial, that was where most people on his course ended up too. He’s a brand manager (marketing essentially). Only one or two people ended up working in engineering. I don’t think there are actually that many graduate opportunities in the UK to employ all engineering graduates. But it is still an interesting degree to do.

I agree with previous posters about delaying a year. It really doesn't sound as if he knows what he wants to do and doing a degree is expensive.
Also, the graduate employment market is cut throat at the moment even with a masters in engineering.
Could he find some work experience for a year?
I know someone who thought he wanted to do a degree in aeronautic engineering. He decided to be brave and take a gap year travelling the world doing work as he could find it. Enjoyed it so much he decided to stay in Australia helping to manage a sheep farm
Loves it ! Total change in career direction.

Unless the UK is very different to the EU there is a dramatic shortage in most Engineering disciplines. Demand and supply means it is well paid at every level but maybe it is very different in the Uk.

Most Engineers continue to masters level as it is typically a requirement for chartership from most Chartership bodies these days.

Lots of Engineers from the better universities work outside of traditional Engineering jobs as it is a very transferable degree.

I suspect the UK is different from EU because the UK introduced student loans and numbers on all courses including engineering courses went through the roof, funded by the student loans. In EU students probably still get free tuition and the numbers are limited.

If you go on DiscoverUni site it shows what graduates do and earn after each degree - example one:
https://www.discoveruni.gov.uk/course-details/10007774/LN12/Full-time/

My DH works in engineering and they are constantly recruiting but pay lower than finance and people sometimes leave for finance roles in London and have very large pay increases. Cost of living is quite a bit cheaper though where it is compared to London and its still a comfortable lifestyle as an engineer. Never been out of work in his life. They mostly have engineering degrees though for some roles they take from physics e.g. modelling.

I think gap years are great but if the issue is he changes his mind a lot, it may not solve that.

I would say Engineering is a more versatile choice- you can apply for engineering jobs or use it as a general degree to go into finance or something. I don't think you would get an engineering job with a Physics degree as it's won't be accredited for the subsequent professional qualifications. Engineering is a great career and very employable degree, if he enjoyed the more practical/applied parts of his physics A level (forces, materials etc) then it's probably a good fit. Information on careers is on the engineering institutions websites .e.g IMechE, and the IET (https://www.theiet.org/). if that's any help.

Southampton are already in clearing for various engineering degrees with slightly lower grades. Might be worth calling them already.

Interestingly, if a physics degree covers all the physics components found in a mechanical or aerospace engineering degree, a physics graduate could qualify to become an engineering officer in any branch of the armed forces and then undergo specialized training for their specific roles. Even better, you can get the training without spending a single penny.

I appreciate all the replies, so thank you.

Sounds like ds would be better off sticking with Engineering even if it is at a lower ranked uni than he is hoping for.

He is looking at 4 year MEng courses. He seems set on aero, mechanical or general, and not keen on civil, electrical, computer or systems. I just hope something comes up for him in clearing.

I hear you those who say take a gap year. That would be an option if he secured an engineering internship. But he hasn't. My concern is his maths will go rusty and having most likely missed the internship boat for 2025/6, he may very well doss around for the gap year which is likely considering his ADHD. I don't think he will end up on a sheep farm in Australia though (that made me smile).

The MEng is 4 years, so taking another year out as a gap year would put him even further behind. Although he does change his mind quite a bit, ds has been pretty consistent on the Finance and Engineering whipsaw path. I believe Engineering will keep his options open and is a good solid vocational degree, so don't think he can go that far wrong.