The emphasis in physics and astronomy is always squarely on analytical thinking: the formulation of relevant questions, careful examination of the data, testing of alternative hypotheses, and the rigorous give-and-take of logical debate and discussion. These skills can serve students well in virtually any career, including research and development, medicine, law, journalism, computer science, business, and education. In addition, the strong emphasis upon the use of mathematics and computers allows physics/astronomy majors to move easily into any number of quantitative fields. Historically, about 60% of the physics majors at Northwestern have chosen to pursue advanced degrees after graduation. Most of these degrees are in physics and astronomy, but include many other disciplines: law, business, medicine, and engineering. On average, physics majors score high on the MCAT and higher than other undergraduate majors on the LSAT (more data is available here). A rapidly growing area of graduate interest is medical physics, including nuclear medicine and diagnostic technology. A more detailed listing of the physics graduate schools that our majors are attending is available here. Nationwide, over 90% of the students who pursue PhDs in physics or astronomy are fully supported as either research or teaching assistants throughout their entire graduate careers. They receive full tuition waivers and monthly stipends in return for part-time teaching or research. The very low cost of obtaining a graduate degree in physics or astronomy is one of the major incentives that leads the majority of physics bachelors to enter PhD programs. Afterwards, most PhDs enter careers in basic research in universities, government, or industry. A recent survey of Northwestern physics/astronomy undergraduate alumni who chose not to attend graduate school revealed a remarkable diversity of career paths. The largest group, about 24% of the total, had become self-employed entrepreneurs, mostly in the areas of computer and engineering consulting. Other employment paths included industrial research and development, business management (often in technological companies), computing, government public-policy research, law, engineering, medicine, the military (with technical/engineering duties), technical sales (such as very expensive, very complex CAT-scan equipment), high-school teaching, accounting, museum or library work, police forensics, nonprofit social work, freelance writing, veterinary medicine, and stock brokerage.

career, including research and development, medicine, law, journalism, computer science, business, and education