Physics opens doors

New data support the oft-repeated claim that physics is a good launchpad for many careers. Among applicants to US law, medical, and business schools, physics bachelors as a group do well on the admissions tests.

On the Law School Admission Test in 2012, physics majors’ average score was 162.1 out of a possible 180. The median score of applicants accepted by all 193 ranked schools was 157, and to the top 13 schools, 170. Physics majors made up 0.2% of 66 197 law school applicants that year.

In the same year, physics majors were also among the top scorers in all three categories of the Medical College Admission Test: physical science, biological science, and verbal reasoning; premed and biology majors came in below average for each category. Among 44 464 applicants to medical school in 2012, 0.5% were physics majors. And in the period 2008–12, physics majors had the highest average score on the Graduate Management Admission Test (see http://www.f1gmat.com/mean-gmat-score-undergraduate-degree ).

For more details on LSAT and MCAT performance by college major, see the data compiled by the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics. The report, MCAT, LSAT and Physics Bachelor’s is online at http://aip.org/statistics/reports/mcat-lsat-and-physics-bachelors .