Hi,

I graduated last year with a 4 year undergrad. MPhys in Physics and Astrophysics. I have been working in a graduate job for around nine months as a scientist, which is quite engineering based, and certainly not what i did at University. I really enjoy my job but it is increasingly clear to me that I would like to a PhD before too long (I'm 23).

I'm thinking maybe to start in late 2010, I'm not desperate to leave my job and it's a great opportunity to learn more. Anyway - down to business!

I was wondering what experience people have - if any - of doing a PhD in a subject outside of their undergrad masters/bachelors. Although I would enjoy an Astro. PhD I think it may be rewarding to do something slightly different. I realise i couldn't do one in history or anything that different. But could I get on a engineering course? Mechanical Engineering maybe or aeronautical? Is there anything to be said for teaching myself some new stuff (engineering textbooks etc)? I can't really afford to go through another undergrad. to retrain properly as it were.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Has anybody made this sort of move?

Thanks

Dan

:-)

I haven't got any experience of this myself, but have you thought about doing a Masters in a field more relevant to what you want to do a PhD in first? That should give you a good background of what you will be researching, as well as prepare you for PhD study. I'm in social sciences and I know its very difficult to get supervision for a PhD without a relevant masters, might be different for physics/engineering though.

Yes a Masters is a good way to go. My husband's first degree was Physics and Astronomy with Astrophysics. He took a Computer Science Masters, and went on to a Computer Science PhD.

I agree - a Masters is the way to go. I'm about to start a masters in a different area to my undergrad - not quite as much of a transition as some of those you discuss, but different nonetheless. In my case I reckon I probably *could* skip the masters and start on a PhD, but I would only end up learning the bits pertinent to my PhD and I think I'd be worse off the other side than if I do an MSc and get to find out the range of topics that someone in that field should be well acquainted with.

It's also a good opportunity to get to know other people in the field etc, and would make the transition into PhD far easier for you.

Hi, to add and be repetitive... my BSc was in geography and my MSc in media and communications and am doing a PhD in Media and Communications :-) Good luck!

great advice from everyone - i did my BSc in biochemistry, then a masters (MRes) in bioinformatics, followed by a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences. (my masters sort of bridged the gap, but was still fairly unrelated to my phd in many ways - but it was invaluable to prove to my phd supervisors that i was capable of independent research).

Hi Dan,

I agree 100% with everyone else that a masters is the ways to go ( even if considering a phd in the same feild as undergraduate ). You are considering engineering? If you you do an engineering MSc or Mres in an engineering feild you are considering then this could be very beneficial. You will get the opportunity to consider what engineering topics you may be interested in pursuing for a PhD/ have an aptitudes for.... do some practical and theoretical course work which can be good preparation for a PhD and scope out potential supervisors which is a very important aspect in its own right.

In general, physics seems to be a very good undergraduate degree to have regardless of what profession you want to get into. I know quite a few people who have made the transition from Physics to Engineering without any major problems

Consider it from my perspective: I went straight from undergrad ( mechanical engineering) to a phd in another related but different engineering feild ( i had no backround) i didn't know the supervisor (asshole). I really hated the project, didn't really make much progress and dropped out in first year.

I'm now doing an MSc and I feel I would have been in a much better position to tackle a PhD had I completed an MSc  before. This course has been very useful preparation for research in the feild, I've taken modules in a number of different topics and I now have a much clearer vision of what I'm interested in ( research wise) and we have had a lot of contact with different lecturers in the department so its a great opportunity to get the skinnie on potential supervisors. I've found out quickly enough who the really good and bad supervisors are here, but I wouldn't have known otherwise if id just jumped straight to PhD.

hope this helps

rjb