After Graduation

Physics is the liberal arts of the natural and applied sciences. By studying physics, you learn to be curious and inquisitive, think algorithmically and grapple with philosophical questions. These skills are rare and in high demand which means you can go on to do just about anything with your physics degree. We graduate many students who go on to medical and law school, into the engineering field, and on to becoming teachers.

Careers

You’ve laid a strong foundation of skills and theoretical, research-based inquiry with your degree in physics. With these abilities, you’re able to direct your career search in a wide variety of opportunities. If you start your career directly after your time at Hope, you can go into many fields. Past graduates have gone into cost analysis, petroleum engineering and technical writing. Forge your own career based on your specific interests.

Are you looking for career, internship, scholarship or research opportunities? Search these websites for guidance:

• The Nucleus
  The Physics Nucleus is a great place to look for opportunities in physics, whether it’s through research and internships or scholarship information.
• Career’s Toolbox
  The Career Toolbox, available from the Society of Physics Students (SPS), is a helpful website that showcases internship opportunities, research positions and grad school entrance information.
• American Physical Society (APS)
  Search for physics jobs, upload your resume and access additional resources from the American Physical Society.

Graduate School

Around 80% of all physics graduates nationwide pursue graduate education after completing their physics degrees. If you decide on grad school with a degree from our department, you have many options. View Grad School Shopper, the Purdue University Grad School Expo and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Graduate Program listing for more information.

Our recent graduates have enrolled in many top institutions throughout the world, including:

• Stanford
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michigan State University
• Purdue
• University of Nevada
• Carnegie Mellon University
• The California Institute of Technology
• Many others

Alumni

Visit Hope's alumni page for information on resources and services 

What graduates are saying

"Studying physics at Hope was an extraordinary experience. The degree program is broad and comprehensive, but the true strength of Hope's physics department is the professors and their approach to teaching and interacting with students. The opportunity to be involved in real, graduate-level research as a junior and senior allowed me to apply the classroom lessons to real-world problems and prepared me for graduate school better than the average entering graduate student with little or no research experience. But even that is not the most significant part of the Hope experience. The friendships I forged with other students and especially the faculty have persisted to this day. Hope faculty are now professional colleagues and collaborators of mine. Hope is truly a unique place to 'do' physics."
–Dr. Donald Peterson, Ph.D. Research Associate, Oregon State University