Full employment after a double degree in Physics and Mathematics, the most exclusive: “They look for us because we know how to solve problems”

It is the degree in Catalonia with the highest cut-off mark for access: 13.53 out of 14. And, each year, only twenty students have the opportunity to study it. The double degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) remains unrivaled and is the most difficult degree to enter. About twenty students enter it this Monday, the first day of class in Catalan universities according to the calendar drawn up by the Ministry of Education. The fact that the grade is so high “is a filter, a guarantee of success and that the students will have a high level,” says Vicenç Méndez, coordinator of the double degree at the Catalan university. “The students arrive well prepared and finish their studies without difficulties,” he adds. This is the case of Martín Campos, 28, who studied the degree between 2012 and 2018. He had a 12.58 and at that time the cut-off mark it was 12.55, so he entered “by the hair”, he explains. “He wanted to try and compete with myself to be among the best,” says Martín, at the same time that he acknowledges that he was good at both mathematics and physics. Today he works as an Artificial Intelligence data scientist at the AIA Group, in Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona).”There is no unemployment”The employment of graduates is very high, especially among those with a scientific profile, he assures Vicenç Mendez. An example is Martín, who affirms that practically all the people who have studied the double degree have a job, especially when they gain experience. “Programming has opened doors for me”, he admits. unemployment”. Something that reflects, he says, that studying to access the double degree has been worth it.”They teach you a new way of thinking”Laia Domingo also studied Physics and Mathematics, between 2014 and 2019, and is now doing her doctorate at the University Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), which he combines with a three-month online stay at a company in New York. She is focused on the intersection between quantum computing and artificial intelligence and applies her knowledge in the discovery of new drugs or oncological therapies. She explains that during high school she did a lot of calculations and, instead, in her career “they teach you a new way of think, to know how to face a problem and find ways to solve it”. This has led him to understand that the companies or institutions that hire graduates “will not look for us because we know how to do a specific calculation but because we are people who know how to solve problems.” Could the number of students be increased? The fact that only There are twenty students studying the double degree, it contributes to increasing the cut-off mark and restricts access. It is a figure that could be increased, but this is something that, according to Vicenç Méndez, would have consequences. “It’s strategic,” he says. “If we lowered the threshold, more students would enter, but then the level could decrease”, explains the coordinator of the studies.