>>13593924Major in physics and minor in CS if your mind is on academics first and industry second but you want options. Doing physics undergrad goes nicely into engineering/CS, physics, and even some parts of math nicely in grad school, though you'll likely have to play catch up for a little while.
Major in CS and minor in physics if
1) your program is at least decent, if not excellent (an okay but not perfect litmus test is if they force you to take at least calc 1-2, intro linear algebra, intro CS, data structures, and intro to proofs before admission into the major)
2) you like math and puzzles
3) you like making optimal solutions rather than functional ones.
Know that at good schools, it's really not about code or computers. It's about solving pure math problems that show up in engineering pretty naturally and learning how to implement them. It's somewhere between math and engineering, and because it's seen as less "physical" (though not less physics related - there's a reason why a lot of CS profs are old physics PhDs) than engineering, there's this idea that your only workable skill is monkeying code. A better way of thinking about it is this: a good CS program teaches you to break down problems in specific ways and design solutions out of pure math.
A good engineering program teaches you how to break down problems in specific ways and design solutions out of applied physics.
...however, both of these people end up working almost entirely on a computer and coding.
Double major like me if you want to be bigger dicked than anyone in the room and great academic footing but have functionally the same job opportunities. I double majored in math and CS and feel on top of the world as far as ability, and that really helped me in grad school, but they don't give a shit once you're looking for work - at that point, it's the work you put in that matters way more.
I'll continue this in another post
