Astro/CS/Math triple major?

College Majors Science Majors
1

Hi guys,

I’ll start this off with a little tl;dr summary: my current major is astrophysics with a minor in math and computer science. However, I’m concerned with job prospects for physics grads, and think I should consider taking up computer science as a major as well. At that point, I would only be missing five classes for a major in math as well. Should I do this? Is it worth it? Should I just stay with a major in astrophysics and minors in computer science and math? Some combination of those three?

Now, for the longer version.

I am currently a sophomore (junior by credits right now and senior by credits at the end of this semester, but a sophomore within my program–I transferred in from a community college) at a medium sized public university. I’ve had a very bad GPA up to this point but have turned it around a bit this semester so far. The bad GPA stemmed from a combination of personal family issues and simply not being motivated enough to study or even do homework.

My life goal has been to get a PhD in astrophysics. However, after looking at the student profile posts over at the physicsgre.com forum, I see that I have plenty of competition from individuals that are more qualified than I am. For example, some students have four years of research experience before they get their B.S., yet all I’ve got are citizen science programs that I’ve taken part in, and by the end of the degree I should have a grad level experimental physics course finished and a full semester (or two) long senior project. Many prospective grad students have GPAs around 4.0 and I’ll likely have a 3.0 at the end of this semester. All of this considered, I’ve realized that I could increase my employability by declaring a computer science major as well, so that one of two situations occur:

  1. I don’t get into grad school, but I am now able to take a decent paying job in the technology sector. Or,
  2. I do get into grad school, and I am now better equipped for the computational aspects of astrophysical research.

So, at this point I’d theoretically have a B.S. in Computer Science and Astrophysics, but I also would only be five classes away from a math major (at the end of this semester I will have a minor in mathematics.) Would it be worth declaring a third major in math?

I apologize for my lack of brevity, but I’d rather give people too much information than not enough.

Thanks in advance for your time.

2

Would the extra major require extra semesters at extra cost, or crowd out other courses that you want to take?

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3

If the extra major will cost you additional time then by all means. However, note that the American Institute of Physics posts information about job prospects for physics majors and they are very good. If you have some programming experience (which is usually part of a physics curriculum) you can make a good case for a job as a software developer. Physics majors often can find good jobs in insurance, finance and health care industries.

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I would talk to your physics adviser and ask what they would recommend.
Are you assuming you will do 4 years at your college? or only 2?