Physics Bachelor's with Master's Degrees

by Rachel Ivie and Katie Stowe

The Academic Workforce Survey is conducted every two years and collects data about the number of physics faculty, retirements, vacancies, and new hires. The 2002 survey also collected data about the number of women physics faculty. The questionnaire is sent out to all degree-granting physics departments in the US. In 2002, the response rate was 94% out of 768 physics departments.

Highlights

Five to eight years after graduating, about 25% of physics bachelors have master’s degrees and are in the workforce. Almost 40% of these have master’s degrees in physics or astronomy, about 40% have master’s degrees in other sciences and engineering, and 20% have master’s degrees in non-science fields (Table 1).
Some master’s degree recipients went to graduate school because they were concerned about a lack of job opportunities after receiving a physics bachelor’s degree (Figure 1). These individuals were more likely to earn master’s degrees in engineering and other sciences rather than in physics and non-sciences.
Those who earned master’s degrees in engineering and other sciences rated their undergraduate physics, math, and problem-solving preparation higher than those who earned master’s degrees in physics (Figure 2).
Physics bachelors who went on to earn physics masters are most commonly employed either in software or in science or lab jobs. Less than one-half of physics bachelors who earned master’s degrees in engineering are employed in engineering (Figure 3).
Those with master’s degrees in physics, engineering, and other sciences earn significantly higher salaries than those with physics bachelor’s degrees. This effect applies even when controlling for field of employment, time in a career-path job, sex, and several career activities (Table 2).
Physics masters use more computer programming and physics on the job than physics bachelors, even when working in the same field of employment for the same amount of time (Figure 5).
Those with master’s degrees are more positive about some aspects of their undergraduate education than those with physics bachelor’s degrees (Figure 7). There is evidence that those from supportive undergraduate physics programs are more likely to earn graduate degrees than those from less supportive undergraduate programs.
As with physics bachelors, a majority of masters would get an undergraduate degree in physics if they had to do it all over again.