Comments on: Help me with grad school ideas

Question: Help me with grad school ideas

zgott300 — Thu, 11 May 2006 00:34:38 -0800

What are some cool/interesting grad school programs for someone with a B.S. in physics and 7 years of programming experience but which would be outside of those fields. I'm looking to take my degree and work experience and apply them in a new direction. Some directions I'm kicking around are

1.psychology/physiology as they relate to personality disorders, depression and moods etc..

2. Renewable energy technology

3. Business school.

4. Finance & Economics

5. Possibly law

I'm still in the exploration phase, and just looking for anything to get me excited. I know there are some really interesting schools out there. I just don't know where to start. I know I've always liked research.

By: dseaton

dseaton — Thu, 11 May 2006 04:24:52 -0800

Brown's Institute for Brain and Neural Systems brings together people from Physics, Cognitive Science, Psych, Applied Math, etc. So it might take you in a new direction that would use many of your old skills.

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Thu, 11 May 2006 06:42:56 -0800

Yeah, Like dseaton, my first instinct is Cognitive Science, which is (basically)the study of just about anything that makes decisions, from the brain to computers to social networks to a thousand things in between. Tons of overlap with your expertise.

By: thandi

thandi — Thu, 11 May 2006 07:59:04 -0800

From your descriptions alone, seems you would have more interest in number 1. And considering your background, I too would have to recommend a cognitive science program.

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Thu, 11 May 2006 08:41:15 -0800

Have you given thought to Systems Bio or Computational Bio?

By: ejaned8

ejaned8 — Thu, 11 May 2006 08:58:29 -0800

Take a look at the list of professional science masters. Financial mathematics (if I didn't like calculus least of the maths I'd consider it) or something closer to informatics might be of interest. HCI can also be similar to cognitive science, though I've found the grad programs can vary greatly.

By: JMOZ

JMOZ — Thu, 11 May 2006 09:03:50 -0800

Renewable energy technology is VERY different from the other options unless you're thinking public policy. Otherwise, it can easily be a full-on hard science program, which seems to be exactly what you don't want.

By: landtuna

landtuna — Thu, 11 May 2006 10:32:50 -0800

Meteorology, perhaps? I've worked peripherally with these guys, and some of it is really interesting and fun.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 11 May 2006 13:10:33 -0800

"Computational Finance." Then you could go to Wall Street and become a "Quant."