Who becomes an Applied Physics majors?

92% of physics majors had taken physics in high school.

When do students decide to become physics majors?
80% of the graduating class of 1997^* had declared physics as their major by the end of their sophomore year. While this statistic is for all physics majors in the US, the statistics for Kettering University Applied Physics majors are very similar. We currently have two students who declared Applied Physics as freshmen, four students who declared Applied Physics as sophomores, and two students who declared Applied Physics as juniors.

Year in college that physics bachelors formally declared physics as their major, class of 1997

If they didn't start as physics majors, what were they before?
70% of the graduating class of 1997^* began their college/university experience as physics majors and 14% more began college as engineering majors. At Kettering University, four of our majors transferred to Applied Physics from Mechanical Engineering, two transferred from Electrical Engineering, two are double majors, and two have always been Applied Physics.

Initial major of physics bachelors, class of 1997

*This data represents the graduating class of1997 from all physics departments in the US. A full report can be obtained in PDF format from the American Institute of Physics.