My limited experience is that the German perception of science degrees is that they prepare people for a very broad range of work, not limited to academic science. When I was in Germany studying physics I was always blown away by the large class sizes. I was told that many/most of the students had no plans to continue on in physics, but rather in industry of some kind. I also once saw a billboard in a train station aimed at recruiting physics and chemistry graduates for some company.
In contrast, I'd guess that 90+% of my physics BS classmates in the US went on to do PhD's in physics or something very closely related. Of my PhD classmates, I'm not sure any are working tenure track jobs 3-6 years after graduating... I switched over to data science.
In the US, industry prefers to hire graduates with Bachelors of Engineering degrees rather than Bachelors of Science. Of course, engineering majors do take physics, but after the first few courses they start focusing in on specifically engineering-focused material rather than, for instance, continuing into a Modern Physics sequence that contains things like relativity, quantum mechanics, molecular physics, biophysics, etc.
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My limited experience is that the German perception of science degrees is that they prepare people for a very broad range of work, not limited to academic science. When I was in Germany studying physics I was always blown away by the large class sizes. I was told that many/most of the students had no plans to continue on in physics, but rather in industry of some kind. I also once saw a billboard in a train station aimed at recruiting physics and chemistry graduates for some company.
In contrast, I'd guess that 90+% of my physics BS classmates in the US went on to do PhD's in physics or something very closely related. Of my PhD classmates, I'm not sure any are working tenure track jobs 3-6 years after graduating... I switched over to data science.
In the US, industry prefers to hire graduates with Bachelors of Engineering degrees rather than Bachelors of Science. Of course, engineering majors do take physics, but after the first few courses they start focusing in on specifically engineering-focused material rather than, for instance, continuing into a Modern Physics sequence that contains things like relativity, quantum mechanics, molecular physics, biophysics, etc.