Congratulations on the department's recent vigorous activity! It sounds great in that it provides more research opportunities for undergraduates....

I can't speak highly enough of the broad-based physics education I received at HMC. I have done a lot of things over the years, and virtually all of them were made possible by my physics education. Yes, a job after graduation is important, but the broader your education, the more likely you are to be able to keep up with the rapidly changing times.

My point is that the baseline skills for success in industry (I believe) are common sense, good communication skills, a reasonably broad background in science and decent computer skills. There will always be a market for bright people who satisfy these criteria, and a physics degree is a big plus for the applied science shops.

I love teaching (but then, I learned from the best), and love my research - it's trying to do both all the time that I am finding taxing.