Careers
Miss Caroline Smith
Age: 21
Course Title: MPhys Physics
University: Somerville College, Oxford
It was always inevitable that I was going to end up doing something physics related. I was good at it, it was kind of fun, and the practicals even worked sometimes. And after doing A-Levels (1999) in physics, maths, further maths and economics I decided it was either that or maths, and if I did physics then at least I got to play with liquid nitrogen and soldering irons a couple of days a week. Age eighteen, I had direction. I was going to do physics with space science at university, then go and join the RAF as an engineering officer. But like all the best laid plans...
It started with the UCAS form. Five universities offer a physics/space science course (well, six, but the sixth offers it without a professor!?) and there were six boxes on the form. School suggested Oxbridge. Cambridge was a no-go because I didn't have the chemistry you need to do Natural Sciences (Physics), so Oxford it was. Then the choice of college... hours spent trawling through the prospectuses were brought to an abrupt end when the Principal of Somerville came to school to give a lecture. It ended with her saying "and I look forward to many of you coming to Somerville." Decision made.
Interviews, mocks, more interviews and A-Levels passed in a bit of blur. I was still torn between Oxford because it's Oxford, or a really good course with a year in America and exciting research prospects somewhere else, so I let the grades decide. And in October 1999 I arrived at Somerville College, Oxford, and I've never looked back.
Four years of straight Physics (coming out with an MPhys) might seem like a long time, but now, at the end of my third year, I'm glad I don't have to stop being a student and face the real world just yet. And in retrospect, those long days sweating over a hot oscilloscope with the other 200-odd people in my year were worth it for the deep, meaningful graphs I have proudly glued in to my lab book! (Well, I'm sure I'll understand them some day...)
I'm just coming to the end of a term-long project, which has been a huge insight into the world of a post-grad. Next stop is a ten week internship at UBS Warburg in the City, then back for a fourth year of lectures and labs to get my MPhys. I think I came to the conclusion part way through the second year that I wasn't going to end up in either academia or research, so it was time to start playing on the strengths of those "transferable skills". Oh, and the extra-curricular activities of course (ROWING! Well, coxing but still...).
I won't deny that it's been hard work, but it's been a lot of fun too. And, despite what my tutor seemed to think, university is definitely about more than what degree you do. Although every time I write "physics" on an application form, things do seem to swing my way. All those equations and derivations are a bit evil, but if you can persuade a computer to solve differential equations in PASCAL, or find the specific heat capacity of terbium, then I reckon the world is your oyster.
^ To the top ^