<p>I'm thinking of majoring in Astronomy and I am surprised that I barely see any threads about it. </p>
<p>Is anyone else majoring in astronomy? Any personal insights?</p>
<p>I'm a de-facto physics and astronomy double major. A few points:
1. You do an astronomy major if you want to become a professional astronomer usually, or at least something in graduate school. The degree by itself is pretty useless, so if you're not confident do a physics major.
2. You must love physics. It is your life, and any decent uni's not going to let you into the astro courses until a year of physics anyway. Heck, I'd be skeptical of any program that didn't essentially give you a physics minor just by requirements.
3. By the same token, you can't be a horrid mathematician. An ok one sure, but you're going to probably take two years of uni-level maths so don't let the words 'differential equations' worry you as you'll likely be taking a class in it.
4. For some reason, people care about the money astronomers make. If you really want to do it it doesn't matter that much; astronomers make a decent amount but aren't seriously wealthy or anything.
5. Stars are awesome. Need I say more? Have fun, and I hope to see you at Keck in a few years. :)</p>
<p>Keck? I'm guessing thats a good place to study astronomy/physics? Can you tell me more? (I googled it and I got a lot results so Im not sure which you are talking about)</p>
<p>How about job opportunities? Are there many? And what about for people that major in physics?</p>
<p>Hehe, sorry 'bout that. Keck[/url</a>] is the world's largest telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. It's sort of the Mecca of astronomers. ;)
As for job opportunities, other then being a pro astronomer there aren't <em>that</em> many other things you can do (for the record there are about a thousand astronomers in the country!). I did a little seminar thingy to learn about careers in astronomy, basically they translate into pro astronomer (aka a professor or someone at NASA), planetarium/ museum work, or teacher. I mean there are other things you can do, I know a guy who didn't get into grad school so he went off and worked on submarines or some such, but overall if one of the above does not sound appealing to you this is probably not the degree you should be working towards.
Physics majors are more diverse in what they do; only about one in twenty end up becoming professors in academia. The degree gives you a more diverse range of classes (think of an astronomy degree sort of as a concentration instead of an independent degree), and in all honesty the line between the two fields is so blurred nowadays that they're virtually interchangable. You can also go to graduate school for astronomy with a physics degree and vice-versa without it being an issue.
As for what specific job opportunities there are for physics majors, this page summarizes it better then I ever could- <a href="http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/undergraduate/whatdo.html%5B/url%5D">http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/undergraduate/whatdo.html</a>.
By the way, it's worth mentioning something most kids don't realize: if you go to grad school for the sciences you get paid to do it. No tuition and you get a stipend to work off of in exchange for research or teaching or some such, so this really shouldn't be an issue.
As for good schools, all the big names have great departments in both (from the Ivies to the UC system), techie schools are also great (such as Case Western, towards which I am biased), and state schools are also not bad. Basically any school that has a strong physics program that also has an astronomy program is worth looking into; if there is NOT a strong physics program I would be incredibly skeptical of any astronomy you'd learn there being beneficial. There are a few exceptions to this rule: Tufts University, for example, is decent enough in physics and engineering but abysmal when it comes to astronomy. All in all, you need to do your homework, but then that's the case for any school.</p>
<p>Wow...I was looking for such a thread...and even created a thread on both this board and the Engineering Majors board called "Choosing Between Science and Engineering."</p>
<p>I love math and the physical sciences. Considering engineering.</p>
<p>I am very interested in Astronomy but it is so specific that if I did major in it, then I would have to work, to my full extent, to get any job opportunities since Astronomy would only be used by NASA, telescope facilities, etc. That is why I decided to major in Physics instead. Physics is definitely going to be one of my majors. I was also thinking about a double, perhaps in engineering or something like Astrophysics or Planetary Science, and possibly even a triple or a minor, lol.</p>
<p>Astronomy is a very interesting field. If I can make it my career and have it be lucrative, then fine. But for now, I will major in Physics to have a broader education and perhaps an engineering background with my double major. </p>
<p>(As was required of graduation from my high school, I did my senior project on Astronomy. I had to do a research paper and create a tangible product. For the research paper, I wrote a 6 and 1/2 page essay (min 6 pages) about the fate of the universe from a scientific perspective. For the tangible product, I built my own telescope, haha. Telescope (reflector) is 8 in. diameter primary mirror, crap generic secondary, 35 mm and 17 mm eyepieces, 10 in. diameter tube, tube = about 6 ft. long (pretty huge when seen in real life). I love the telescope, and that's pretty much what got me interested in engineering. I discovered that I like to build things. That doesn't necessarily mean the traditional Mechanical Engineering. I am considering Aerospace Engineering (creating aero-stuff) and Engineering Physics (physics + engineering = devices that perform out-of-this-world tasks. =P )</p>
<p>My gosh xcron, that's what I''m doing for my senior project, also. I just need to find a mentor. Did it go over well with your judges? I tried to think of things that interested me, but that I didn't know much about. Astronomy was the first thing that came to my mind. I have never actually taken an astronomy class, but I would love to. I think I will really enjoy the building process. How long did it take you? I would love to hear more about it!!</p>
<p>Finding a mentor was a bit of a problem. I was able to get one at like the last minute, heh. I was finally able to get a mentor and he didn't help much with my research paper. I had never taken an Astronomy class either. All I had ever done related to Astronomy was go to a park near here and there were some astronomers who had their telescopes out for the public, I went up and got very interested (though I have a foggy memory, I remember already being a bit interested in Astronomy at the time...hehe). </p>
<p>The building process was hell for me. I like to see results of my hard work. The mirror, which tould like 75-85% of the time of the building process, does not show progress at all!!! It happens at such a small level that we don't see it and only try to convince ourselves that something is actually happening and we are progressing, <em>sigh</em>. That was tough for me. I kept telling myself and reminding myself of the rewards that I would have by finishing this project and that is what got me through. </p>
<p>At my high school, we had two speeches to give: one for the class and teacher, and the other in front of judges (who were just members of Glendale Unified School District and community people). The class one was really good, I got a perfect score (which was practically impossible). But with the judges, they just did not understand/appreciate my hard work and marked me off because of stupid technical difficulties that the room I presented in had with like computer and VCR...how stupid. High school is pathetic. I only got a 90% on that speech. I don't care. I have my telescope and that's what my goal was. Even if I had somehow failed, I was still able to get an awesome research paper and a good telescope hehe.</p>
<p>The telescope took 3 tedious months of hard work. The research paper was pretty easy. I read about 2 books and tons of articles and was able to construct an argument and support it with research. Very successful.</p>
<p>Other than that stuff, I am having a lot of trouble with the whole engineering or science thing. I have a Drafting class right now which just brings back and reminds me of my weakness in art skills. <em>sigh</em> I hate sketching...I just want to do the technical stuff!!! This is making me prefer Physics since it fits me so much more, but I wanted some engineering background (and thought a major in it would be awesome) and now I have to take this stupid, and 2 other, designing classes for Berkeley only, since I am thinking of transferring there from my community college. But, I'd also like to go to CalTech or Stanford. I dunno...dang majors.</p>