Is it really that hard to study physics?

Ah yes girls, haha.
Oh and considering jobs, which kind of jobs are aviable for Physics? I googled a bit most comes up is teaching, and no, i do not like other teenager/ and or kids.

Also, university rankings are bullshit and only matter when applying for grants, which doesnt matter for you unless you plan to stay in research, and if you do you can change after bachelor.
i recommend picking a smaller uni in a 100k-200k people city. Classes are smaller, profs will even remember you, living costs are cheaper and the commute takes 10-30 min

depending on what you specialize on in your master, you will steal jobs from electric engineers, material scientists, software developers or bankers (consulting and insurance companies like people with scientific background) Its a "Jack of all trades, master of none" path, so if you want to earn money outside of uni, dont write your thesis about the theory of some super specific field nobody cares about and do something more technical instead

>visualization
this is the word I was looking for, thanks user

>you will steal jobs from electric engineers, material scientists, software developers or bankers (consulting and insurance companies like people with scientific background)

don't listen to this guy, he keeps spouting the same bullshit whenever he has the chance

OP think about it like this: What do you want to do after you finish your studies?

Do you realize that it is extremely hard to get a permanent position in academia?

why? like, assuming you do get a PhD is it still very shaky from there?

you will hop from one postdoc position to the next until you get tired of it and leave academia for greener pastures or a professor dies and a permanent position opens up

Generally I would say only study physics if you want to go into research.

If you want to do something practical (like working in insurance or finance) later, study math or economics/statistics.

I would suggest you trying Physics out and deciding after one year if you want to go on.
Your probably 17 or 18 anyways so just try things and see how you like them.

And keep in mind that you have to study a lot. My friends that study physics at german unis and want to do somewhat good have 0 social life.

And I would suggest you joining a fratenity because your fellow students will be losers and nerds.

is it typically difficult to get those postdoc positions?

>And I would suggest you joining a fratenity because your fellow students will be losers and nerds.
Yea, I second this

No if you are good, but travelling around the world (every year to a different place) is the last thing you want when you want to settle. Also it can lead you nowhere, as has already been suggested.

ty guys for your opinions!

It's not "hard" per se, but it can be a lot of work, like all STEM degrees.

Are they typically limited to one year? At my university, postdocs usually stay for several years, as to how they fare afterwards, I can't tell you.

YES, it is reasonable stable until you get your PhD. Then the real challenge starts.

>captcha in these threads should be a randomly generated PDE to stop the freshman faggots from giving absolute horrible advice ffs.

Dies. Ich hab mein Physikstudium verkackt und musste abbrechen. Ich glaube am Talent hats nicht gelegen, die GOP hab ich locker geschafft aber danach hab ich das Studium zu sehr auf die leichte Schulter genommen, Vorlesungen ausgelassen und mir gesagt ich lerns halt nach. Du musst dich da richtig reinhocken und voll mitarbeiten. Sei ein richtiger Streber und hab keine Angst einer zu sein. Du wirst merken dass die die sagen dass alles ganz einfach ist nach 2 Semestern weg sind und anstatt 100 Leute nur noch 30 da sind.
Abitur ist ein Witz gegenüber das Studium. Mach ruhig vorher noch nen Urlaub und nutze die Pause vor Semesterbeginn um mal schön zu verreisen denn danach musst du schuften und zwar richtig.

Oh und schau ob du dich für einen Forschungsstudiengang bewerben kannst

It's mostly about mental strength. You'll see things that will freak you out, no kidding. And you probably won't really understand what the fuck you are doing until the 3rd semester or so. What's important is to realize you are no longer in school and passing the exams is your own problem. Good luck kiddo

Study physics, finsh your masters in an engineering department, stay for your PhD for that sweet 100% TVL-13, do whatever the fuck you want afterwards because youve grown old and noone gives a fuck about old people.

Study in Britain, or definitely join a frat currently studying physics at a German uni and its a cunt mostly because you have no social life and there are basically no societies. Plus british uni's top grades are easier to achieve and at the end of the day it's not so important what you learn but what job you can get where you do interesting shit that you wont mind learning. * Not saying british uni's are bad it's just only having 4 grades or so means there is far far less differentiation.

>regrets studying physics
>enjoys job
0/10.

Von allen Studiengängen wäre Physik das Fach, was ich am wenigsten studierne würde. Wenn man alleine von den Jobperspektiven ausgeht.
Du willst nicht wissen, wieviele Physiker arbeitslos, in der Promotions-Hölle oder fachfremd (IT) arbeiten. Nur (!) dafür würde ich nicht Physik studieren.

What's the most important factor when it comes to choosing a university? Is it commute time?

Science is not difficult if you obsessed with it. Like everything else in the world. So do what you feel like to do.

Ranking is really a piece of shit.
If I allow only the perfect students to Dorkville national institute of science it will be the best institute in the country.

Ein paar Fragen OP:
Wo hast du ABI gemacht?
Welchen Durchschnitt hast du in MINT-Fächern (Mathe, Informatik, Chemie, Physik, Bio, Technikfächer falls du an nem beruflichen Gymnasium warst)
Wenn du in diesen nicht 13,5 NP plus hast, erwartet dich Überforderung, was nicht heißt, dass es mit einem höheren Schnitt ein Parkspaziergang wird. Die Zahl bezieht sich übrigens auf Bayern und Baden-Württemberg, da hier das ABI-Niveau am höchsten ist.
Was erwartest du von deinem Studium?
Wie von einigen bereits erwähnt, ist ein Physikstudium suboptimal für eine Industriekarriere. Wenn überhaupt wirst du sehr wahrscheinlich fachfremd arbeiten (IT, Finanz etc.) was ja nicht gerade geil ist. Zum Thema Hochschulwahl: Welche strebst du konkret an? Ich weiß eine TU9 Uni (Bund der 9 besten technischen Hochschulen in Deutschland) klingt verlockend und prestigeträchtig, dies garantiert aber keineswegs, dass die Uni überzeugt, insbesondere in der Lehre. Ich war an einer TU9 und die Lehre war zumindest in einigen Bereichen sehr schlecht. Gerade MIN Fakultäten können auch an nicht technischen Unis sehr gut sein. Noch ein Tipp: Schraub deine Erwartungen an das Studium MASSIV herab. Als ich anfing hatte ich die Erwartung alles schön und sauber auf wissenschaftliche Art lernen zu können und notenmäßig zu brillieren, aber nix da. Zur Info, ich habe nicht Physik studiert, habe aber durch mein Curriculum einige Vorlesungen mit Ihnen gehört. Auch wenn es sich toll und elitär anhört einen Physikabschluss zu haben, bedenke dass auch sehr behinderte Leute das schaffen können.

>Auch wenn es sich toll und elitär anhört einen Physikabschluss zu haben, bedenke dass auch sehr behinderte Leute das schaffen können.
It's true. Anyone can get carried through the weekly exercises and get a 4,0 (worst passable grade) in the exam.

stop making excuses for not studying

ikr
and compared to the available jobs, that shit isn't even worth it, just do engineering

One year is the most common duration from what I've heard. If they really like you, you can typically stay longer, which practically means up to 3 years. After that, some funding restrictions may apply and it can be impossible for your professor(=boss) to let you stay longer even if he wants to.

I agree. PhD students are the cheapest labor, so every uni wants to have a certain percentage of them.

Why shouldn't I enjoy having a job? I feel like the work that I'm doing is finally getting appreciated, my coworkers are friendly non-autists and I earn enough money to not feel like I have to carefully think about every cent I spend.

Google translate plus elementary knowledge of German language reveals me that this guy is right.
>Auch wenn es sich toll und elitär anhört einen Physikabschluss zu haben, bedenke dass auch sehr behinderte Leute das schaffen können.
I agree with this. Employers simply don't know what skills do you have or what to expect from a somebody with an exotic sounding title. This makes most of them not even contacting you after receiving your CV.

I just finished my second year of physics studies and I feel like I'm starting to lose my passion for it and I doubt I could enjoy or even make it in research. I was convinced that this was my calling coming out of high school but last year I just didn't feel interested in the material anymore, Em and thermo were kinda okay but condensed matter was the worst. I could make a relatively painless transition into another math-related program at my uni that should offer better chances of employment in the private sector and higher pay afaik. I'm kinda conflicted whether I should give up on physics though, any thoughts?

get bachelors. then switch.

otherwise youre the 'not smart enough for physics' guy.

was directed at you

I study engineering and trust me, every university major sucks in its own right. They can never satisfy everything 100% of the time. Even at the best unis.

No matter how difficult or easy your subject. Universities suck, while being awesome at the same time. You need to focus on the better teachers, the better subjects and just pass exams in the rest.
In the end, its your bachelor and master thesis where you indulge in a lot of what interests you. And you can always enter research or science as long as your topic is narrow enough. I have seen some idiots and a lot of normies with Phds. Its not difficult to get a Phd, its not difficult to enter research with a Phd (but impossible without).

I took enough physics courses last year to make it my minor and all the basic first year courses were shared with the other programs anyway.
So I could just take all the required courses of the other major next year and make physics my minor so it wouldn't be a waste.
I got above average grades despite the lack of motivation and I don't really care if someone thinks that I wasn't "smart enough for physics".
Studying something that you no longer have a passion for and something that's less than optimal in terms of landing a job is just depressing.
Even if I hated my new major the thought of getting a well paying job would motivate me more than my interest for physics does at the moment.

>In the end, its your bachelor and master thesis where you indulge in a lot of what interests you.

but I feel like nothing about physics interests me anymore. I don't know I might just be depressed. Sorry for the blog post and thanks for your advice anyway.

>Studying something that you no longer have a passion for
I had passion when I started engineering. For all the right reasons and the reasons still prevail. I reconed I can not continue doing it passionately because then it turns to shit. Its about routine - not passion. Passion is to start things. Routine is to continue things. You can become passionate about some particlar thing within your subject. You cant be passionate about the sheer existance of your friggin subject.

What I'm saying is that all majors will turn to shit if you take them too seriously too long. minor goals make a major, not the big picture (which is always shit)

pardon me if im too harsh.

>
captcha in these threads should be a randomly generated PDE to stop the freshman faggots from giving absolute horrible advice ffs.

yet you cannot do something as simple as greentexting

Wouldn't work, I learned how to solve those freshman year

German studying at a british top uni here, AMA.
Would definitely recommend coming here over germany, as most students actually finish their degrees and aren't kicked out halfway through. Much harder to be admitted though, in germany you can probably get a place at any uni with an abitur average better than 2.0ish whilst here there are entrance exams and interviews at most good unis

I always wonder how people fund this shit.

All EU nationals can get the same government loan UK students get, which covers all of the tuition fees (9000£ per annum). Unlike them we cannot get a loan for living costs though, so you either take out a loan with a bank or get your parents to pay for that.

I'll ask since there are Germanbros in this thread.

What does it take, generally speaking, to be competitive for graduate admission at top German unibersities? Heildelberg in particular.

For which subject? In most sciences getting admitted will not be that hard, but many people drop out, much more so than in UK and US unis. I applied to Hiedelberg and got admitted for physics with a 1.6 Abitur easily, generally if you are under 2.0 you will not have any trouble getting into pretty much any german uni for sciences if you have done some internships and other stuff. If you are applying for medicine its a whole different story though

Ah shit just noticed that you were talking about graduate admissions, not undergrad. Just ignore my comment

>for graduate admission
So for Master? Generally >2.0 if you change uni, top 20% if you don't, but it depends on the program.

If for a PhD program, make sure your Bachelor thesis is somewhat research related and get a non-teaching HiWi job as fast as possible. Once you start your second thesis your advisor should be able where there are open positions in your field of interest.

You can be pretty much anything, i choose my career based in what i don't know and chose electronic, now that iam out, is very use full, but i work in other area since i have my own company, if i was in germany i surely go for chemistry since there are the Olympic gods of chemistry

Yeah, for a master.

I'd be looking at the equivalent of a German 1.5 or 1.6, and wonder what it would take to get in with that.