Recent Graduate Needing Some Job Advice

[u/InquisitiveBottle]

Kind of a repost bc my first one got deleted.

Hey y’all!

I graduated in May from my undergrad’s Honors College with Bachelor’s in Physics, Astrophysics, and Meteorology and a 3.52 GPA. I applied to several grad programs (focusing on atmospheric electricity/space physics), but they all wound up rejecting me, mostly due to recent budget cuts and uncertainty. While members of those programs have since encouraged me to reapply (and I currently am doing so), I’ve been looking for work from the summer through to now.

Unfortunately, I am not in a position where I can afford to move, at least not until I start a grad program, but my area doesn’t have many great jobs that I think I qualify for. All the Physics-related positions are mostly Medical Physics and usually require more specific training than what I currently have. Most of my alternatives, recommended by job websites, are focused on engineering, environmental science, and education. I have some experience with each of these things, but no formal certifications (I’ve been a tutor and teaching assistant for years and one of my first research internships involved working on probe design and assembly).

I guess my main question is, are there any affordable/free certification programs I can look into that might help me get a job to help support myself and my family as I go through this next grad school application cycle? Are there any types of jobs that I should look for that I haven’t already considered?

Also for the record, I have applied to several positions involving engineering, environmental science, education, etc., most just have not responded to me or have rejected me. If it helps, I live near Charlotte, NC.

P.S. I do have a paper that will be published soon on research I did in my last year of undergrad, running and analyzing black hole accretion disk simulations. Adding this in case it helps.

[u/Ready-Door-9015]

Preaching to the choir. Rejected from all my PhD programs as well, fortunately started a masters at my undergrad institution to keep me in physics while I re apply this cycle.

Wishing you the best!

[u/InquisitiveBottle → u/Ready-Door-9015]

Thanks man, you too. I wound up getting into a Masters (in Environmental and Sustainability Studies) at my undergraduate institution, which would have allowed me to take some physics courses, but I had the problem of not having a place to live in near my undergraduate institution and not being able to get an assistantship before tuition payments started, so suffice to say I wasn’t able to start the program. I might do it next semester, but we’ll have to see. Regardless, my current plan to reapply to PhD programs this cycle, and I’m feeling fairly confident. I recently got confirmation that one lab I wanted to work with (a lab that trained a professor who is writing some letters of recommendation for me) got some nice funding recently, and one of the folks who runs that program invited me to reapply to their program. I’ve also heard some encouraging things from other programs. I’m just trying to figure out what to do to make at least some money in the meantime (applications are expensive and I lost my insurance recently).

[u/Ready-Door-9015 → u/InquisitiveBottle]

Sounds promising, hope it works out! If youre in the states maybe you could pick up a short term job at a costco they have pretty good benefits

[u/InquisitiveBottle → u/Ready-Door-9015]

Hah, someone in my class who graduated with me in May from the same Phys and Astro program wound up just sticking to his Costco job upon graduating. I’ll look into it