学物理将来会很穷吗？

作者： physixfan

本文很俗，谈的是钱的问题。

不知道为什么，人们似乎都觉得学物理的将来一定是清贫的。无论是学物理的人开玩笑地自黑还是家长考虑给孩子选专业的时候，甚至是北大招生组在专业介绍的时候，总是把学物理将来赚不到什么钱作为一个基本事实似的。可是为什么会这样？实际上根本不是这么回事啊！事实到底如此，我们得靠统计数据说话。不多说了，下面直接贴各专业收入的统计数据，因为中国没有这种数据，所以只能贴美国的：

(1) Majors by Salary Potential – Full List：

Rank

（该数据来自http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/majors-that-pay-you-back ）

这张表格是按照本科专业来统计的收入排名。从这张很大的表格来看，物理排在第11位，已经是属于非常靠前的专业了！请自行查找例如经济、金融、法律等专业的排名进行对比。

(2)  Majors by Mid-Career 90th Percentile Salary:

Undergraduate Major Starting Median Salary Mid-Career Median Salary Percent change from Starting to Mid-Career Salary Mid-Career 10th Percentile Salary Mid-Career 25th Percentile Salary Mid-Career 75th Percentile Salary Mid-Career 90th Percentile Salary  ↑ Economics $50,100.00 $98,600.00 96.8 $50,600.00 $70,600.00 $145,000.00 $210,000.00 Finance $47,900.00 $88,300.00 84.3 $47,200.00 $62,100.00 $128,000.00 $195,000.00 Chemical Engineering $63,200.00 $107,000.00 69.3 $71,900.00 $87,300.00 $143,000.00 $194,000.00 Math $45,400.00 $92,400.00 103.5 $45,200.00 $64,200.00 $128,000.00 $183,000.00 Physics  $50,300.00  $97,300.00  93.4  $56,000.00  $74,200.00  $132,000.00  $178,000.00  Marketing $40,800.00 $79,600.00 95.1 $42,100.00 $55,600.00 $119,000.00 $175,000.00 Industrial Engineering $57,700.00 $94,700.00 64.1 $57,100.00 $72,300.00 $132,000.00 $173,000.00 Construction $53,700.00 $88,900.00 65.5 $56,300.00 $68,100.00 $118,000.00 $171,000.00 Electrical Engineering $60,900.00 $103,000.00 69.1 $69,300.00 $83,800.00 $130,000.00 $168,000.00 Political Science $40,800.00 $78,200.00 91.7 $41,200.00 $55,300.00 $114,000.00 $168,000.00 Philosophy $39,900.00 $81,200.00 103.5 $35,500.00 $52,800.00 $127,000.00 $168,000.00 Mechanical Engineering $57,900.00 $93,600.00 61.7 $63,700.00 $76,200.00 $120,000.00 $163,000.00 Computer Engineering $61,400.00 $105,000.00 71.0 $66,100.00 $84,100.00 $135,000.00 $162,000.00 Aerospace Engineering $57,700.00 $101,000.00 75.0 $64,300.00 $82,100.00 $127,000.00 $161,000.00 International Relations $40,900.00 $80,900.00 97.8 $38,200.00 $56,000.00 $111,000.00 $157,000.00 Geology $43,500.00 $79,500.00 82.8 $45,000.00 $59,600.00 $101,000.00 $156,000.00 Computer Science $55,900.00 $95,500.00 70.8 $56,000.00 $74,900.00 $122,000.00 $154,000.00 Drama $35,900.00 $56,900.00 58.5 $36,700.00 $41,300.00 $79,100.00 $153,000.00 Accounting $46,000.00 $77,100.00 67.6 $42,200.00 $56,100.00 $108,000.00 $152,000.00 Agriculture $42,600.00 $71,900.00 68.8 $36,300.00 $52,100.00 $96,300.00 $150,000.00 History $39,200.00 $71,000.00 81.1 $37,000.00 $49,200.00 $103,000.00 $149,000.00 Chemistry $42,600.00 $79,900.00 87.6 $45,300.00 $60,700.00 $108,000.00 $148,000.00 Civil Engineering $53,900.00 $90,500.00 67.9 $63,400.00 $75,100.00 $115,000.00 $148,000.00 Business Management $43,000.00 $72,100.00 67.7 $38,800.00 $51,500.00 $102,000.00 $147,000.00 Management Information Systems $49,200.00 $82,300.00 67.3 $45,300.00 $60,500.00 $108,000.00 $146,000.00 Journalism $35,600.00 $66,700.00 87.4 $38,400.00 $48,300.00 $97,700.00 $145,000.00 Communications $38,100.00 $70,000.00 83.7 $37,500.00 $49,700.00 $98,800.00 $143,000.00 Anthropology $36,800.00 $61,500.00 67.1 $33,800.00 $45,500.00 $89,300.00 $138,000.00 Film $37,900.00 $68,500.00 80.7 $33,900.00 $45,500.00 $100,000.00 $136,000.00 Architecture $41,600.00 $76,800.00 84.6 $50,600.00 $62,200.00 $97,000.00 $136,000.00 Biology $38,800.00 $64,800.00 67.0 $36,900.00 $47,400.00 $94,500.00 $135,000.00 Music $35,900.00 $55,000.00 53.2 $26,700.00 $40,200.00 $88,000.00 $134,000.00 English $38,000.00 $64,700.00 70.3 $33,400.00 $44,800.00 $93,200.00 $133,000.00 Geography $41,200.00 $65,500.00 59.0 $40,000.00 $50,000.00 $90,800.00 $132,000.00 Information Technology (IT) $49,100.00 $74,800.00 52.3 $44,500.00 $56,700.00 $96,700.00 $129,000.00 Psychology $35,900.00 $60,400.00 68.2 $31,600.00 $42,100.00 $87,500.00 $127,000.00 Art History $35,800.00 $64,900.00 81.3 $28,800.00 $42,200.00 $87,400.00 $125,000.00 Physician Assistant $74,300.00 $91,700.00 23.4 $66,400.00 $75,200.00 $108,000.00 $124,000.00 Hospitality & Tourism $37,800.00 $57,500.00 52.1 $35,500.00 $43,600.00 $81,900.00 $124,000.00 Sociology $36,500.00 $58,200.00 59.5 $30,700.00 $40,400.00 $81,200.00 $118,000.00 Graphic Design $35,700.00 $59,800.00 67.5 $36,000.00 $45,500.00 $80,800.00 $112,000.00 Forestry $39,100.00 $62,600.00 60.1 $41,000.00 $49,300.00 $78,200.00 $111,000.00 Interior Design $36,100.00 $53,200.00 47.4 $35,700.00 $42,600.00 $72,500.00 $107,000.00 Criminal Justice $35,000.00 $56,300.00 60.9 $32,200.00 $41,600.00 $80,700.00 $107,000.00 Education $34,900.00 $52,000.00 49.0 $29,300.00 $37,900.00 $73,400.00 $102,000.00 Health Care Administration $38,800.00 $60,600.00 56.2 $34,600.00 $45,600.00 $78,800.00 $101,000.00 Nutrition $39,900.00 $55,300.00 38.6 $33,900.00 $44,500.00 $70,500.00 $99,200.00 Nursing $54,200.00 $67,000.00 23.6 $47,600.00 $56,400.00 $80,900.00 $98,300.00 Religion $34,100.00 $52,000.00 52.5 $29,700.00 $36,500.00 $70,900.00 $96,400.00 Spanish $34,000.00 $53,100.00 56.2 $31,000.00 $40,000.00 $76,800.00 $96,400.00

（该数据来自：http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html）

各专业内部的人水平是参差不齐的，因此有必要对各个专业的各个百分比做一个统计。上面的链接就可以自己选择百分比进行排序，本文只粘贴了按照top10%的人的排序。可以看出，这时经济、金融、市场等专业的排名立刻就上来了，但是，物理仍然位居高位。所以，你只要是按照一个固定的百分比去比，物理人的收入根本不比金融人差多少。不要把物理人的top10%去和华尔街投行搞金融的那些只占行业里连1%都不到的人比收入就行了。

（3）Employees with a Doctorate (PhD), Physics Degree

（该数据来自：http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Doctorate_(PhD)%2c_Physics/Salary ）

这张图显示了一个物理博士毕业之后大概能找到什么样的工作，以及收入是多少。大家肯定都觉得找到一个教职(Professor)是很难很难的事情，但是看这张表就可以看到，即使找不到教职，其他的较低的职位，例如Research Scientist, Staff Scientist之类的职位，收入也并不低，在美国生活的很好绝对是没有问题的。

而且读物理的话，只要学得好，去美国读博士期间就可以拿不少的奖学金了，换成人民币来看的话绝对不少。就算不换算成人民币，只看购买力，你看美国物理博士有哪个买不起好的电子产品或者买不起车的？

所以我就不明白了，为什么总有人觉得读物理会很穷。我觉得这种舆论对喜欢物理的高中孩子绝对不是好事，很有可能有本来喜欢物理的孩子迫于家长的压力或者迫于家庭条件而不选择物理，选择其他更“赚钱”的行业。殊不知物理本身给人的金钱回报都一点也不低。

所以希望大家从我做起，宣传一下读物理绝对不会穷的事实，改变这种社会对物理人的偏见！