Pursuing PhD in EE at Princeton or Physics at Caltech?

[aluminumfalcon3]

Hi everyone. I majored in physics in undergrad, and really enjoyed the research I did with quantum information and quantum circuits. So, in addition to applying to physics PhD programs, I applied to Princeton electrical engineering and was luckily accepted. I am now deliberating between pursuing a physics PhD at Caltech or pursuing an EE PhD at Princeton, with a focus at either place on quantum information and hybrid quantum systems.  I was wondering if you all could provide some insight on EE vs physics. I understand there is a lot of overlap, but at some point there are concrete differences between different departments. 

Also does your PhD field matter or is it really just important what research you do? My end goal is teaching and research in physics, would an EE PhD make that harder?

Edited February 24, 2016 by aluminumfalcon3

[flipflops]

A lot of research done at Princeton EE is based on physics. I visited there and talked to a number of professors, and my impression was it is quite similar to Caltech in terms of emphasis on physics and other sciences. I think the major difference is if you want to use physics and apply it to your research, Princeton will fit well. I am not entirely familiar with Caltech Physics although I know Caltech EE. So, I cannot comment on that.

[aluminumfalcon3]

Hi thanks for your reply. Do you think it would be easy to do research with professors in physics if I decided to switch fields from say quantum information to condensed matter?

[blacknighterrant]

On 2/24/2016 at 1:19 AM, aluminumfalcon3 said:

Hi everyone. I majored in physics in undergrad, and really enjoyed the research I did with quantum information and quantum circuits. So, in addition to applying to physics PhD programs, I applied to Princeton electrical engineering and was luckily accepted. I am now deliberating between pursuing a physics PhD at Caltech or pursuing an EE PhD at Princeton, with a focus at either place on quantum information and hybrid quantum systems.  I was wondering if you all could provide some insight on EE vs physics. I understand there is a lot of overlap, but at some point there are concrete differences between different departments. 

Also does your PhD field matter or is it really just important what research you do? My end goal is teaching and research in physics, would an EE PhD make that harder?

They are both incredible programs. Caltech is better in physics overall than Princeton is at EE, but they are both top 10 programs in the respective field. An advantage of EE is that it is more marketable in case something goes wrong on your path to be a professor or you decide to change your mind (an engineering degree will make it easier to get a pe if you decide to go into the field, you can use it to get a job in finance/consulting, and it is easier to get an engineering job.). I don't think being an EE PhD would make it much harder to teach as a Physics professor, the director of the undergrad physics department at my university was an EE PhD, in addition, you don't even really have to be a physics professor to teach physics classes (for instance, MIT has EE graduate programs with a focus around applied physics). In addition, there are many ECE programs in universities that do research in fields like quantum information/computing/etc (for instance purdue), so if your research interest and experience is similar it shouldn't be that big a deal. (Advantages for Caltech on the other hand are weather and a Caltech Physics Degree)