I'm 14, and I think it would be cool to be a theoretical physicists from what I've heard that they do, what exactly do they do for sure?

Any good colleges for this?
What would I go to college for?

Any recommended classes in highschool for it? As I'm in freshman at the moment.

take sculpture

Theoretical physics requires a really strong background in math and physics, maybe some chem too. Take all those that your high school offers and get exposed to it as soon as possible.
I've been studying physics for maybe five years and it takes a lot of getting used to.

Don't skimp on the hard stuff either. By that, I mean booze. Shitloads of it.

While in high school, take all the science and math you can. If your school offers a computer science course, I suggest taking that too because programming is a necessity.


Vouch. Nearly every one of my fellow physics majors at SUNY Geneseo (good school for physics if you're from New York state since tuition is much lower than you'll see at a private school) would get quite drunk at least once a week. If all you do is churn through physics and math constantly, you'll burn yourself out, and alcohol's a good way to relax on the weekends.

There's plenty of good physics schools out there. Luckily you have 4 years to do some research on them and figure out where you wanna go. Just take as many math/science courses as you can. If your on track for it AP calc is a good course to take so you can jump into calc 2 when you get to college. The actual classes you end up taking in HS are less important than the grades you get though. Keep your GPA up and study for your ACT/SAT so you'll have a lot of options when your applying for colleges.

I dunno, my unweighted grades in high school were not too awesome (like 3.8-ish) in a class of ten valedictorians , but I would recommend taking classes that challenge you and expose you to new material as soon as possible, so you have that much less to learn in college. Even if you don't think you understand AP chem, calc, or physics worth a shit, you are learning them to some degree. Familiarize yourself with it, at the very least, and try to get B's. High school sucked because I never had access to after school computers or help or anything (which would have helped me out tremendously), but definitely try to communicate with your teachers outside of class on a semi-regular basis. The difference between a grade can depend on it, and you'll learn stuff you wouldn't have otherwise.

Yeah, definitely study for that ACT.
I didn't study (personally), but I can say that getting over a 30 is the best thing you can possibly do for getting collegiate funds and opportunities to go to great universities. Because I got a 32 (I think) on the ACT, I was automatically given the top scholarship at a private university and was given offers to shitloads of other very excellent schools. This is saving me so much loan money that I'm taking three majors because I can afford to qualify myself. My grades aren't especially awesome in college (like a 3.5 cumulative), but I'm learning a ton.
As a comparison to this, my friend at school here got a 23 on his ACT, and is paying three or four thousand a semester (in interest and whatever is left over after loans) just to go to school here, not to mention all the loans he will have to pay off once he leaves school for six months or so. I pay six or seven hundred bucks a year to cover some of my meal plan, with maybe two or three thousand in loans a semester.





I second the programming
Sure wish I took that in high school
Learning how to solve problems is 90% of the learning with any kind of math or science field. The rest is terminology :/

This post was edited by general_patton on Dec 15 2010 01:25am

Are you a genius.

It's really hard to make an actual living with this profession.

Only the best survive, it's really hard to get a good job if your grades don't back you up.

You need to be really smart and go through with it.

or you could just study philosophy and take acid.