<p>I am very interested in astrophysics, but only a handful of schools have great departments (Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley just to name a few). MIT, a school I'm looking at, does not have a specific Astrophysics major, just a physics major. My question is this: is there a huge difference in astrophysics and physics majors? Math courses are typically the same and astrophysics does require a lot of the physics major courses, but would I benefit in majoring in physics and then doing graduate astrophysics or something similar?</p>
<p>bueller, bueller?</p>
<p>If you are just interested in astro*physics*, a physics major with a concentration in astrophysics at MIT would serve you just fine. Most astrophysics majors are mostly a regular physics major with a few astrophysics or astronomy courses added anyway.</p>
<p>Or maybe you are fascinated by space beyond the mere scope of physics. Then it might make sense to search for colleges with actual programs in astronomy or space engineering, even if you just want to take a couple of classes in them in addition to a physics major. The drawback of MIT is that it only offers 5 astronomy and astrophysics courses in total, so your class choices would be somewhat limited. (But then, it's MIT and you could probably find a way to do an independent study or work on a research project.)</p>
<p>Scratch the last paragraph. MIT does have a very respectable department in astronautics if you are interested in space engineering at all. You could also benefit from the department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences which offers classes like Extrasolar Planets: Physics and Detection Techniques, Atmospheric Physics and Asteroids and Small Bodies. Unfortunately MIT does not offer a lot in terms of astronomy if that's what you are looking for.</p>
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Math courses are typically the same
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<p>You'll need to know a lot more topology to be an astro major than a physics major.</p>
<p>hmm...i don't think i've ever seen any required courses about topology, but i would certainly benefit from taking any that the school offers. b@r!um, i'm not that interested in learning about planetary science, but i have seen that MIT offers several courses specifically related to astrophysics and the theoretical physics i'm interested in. with the exception of MIT, if i were to go to princeton or another school with an astrophys department and major in physics, i would have a wide selection of courses related to my interests to take for electives and such. thanks for the help guys!</p>
<p>I am also interested in going into astrophysics as a major, but I still have two years ahead of me in high school. I was wondering (and if you want, you could reply privately to this), “astrophys”, what were your credentials in high school? I would be looking at some of the colleges you are looking at, and I was wondering what sort of courses you took and how you did in them, as well as other extracurricular activities you participated in. Also, besides the few colleges you mentioned above, what other colleges are you looking at? I too can only find a handful of colleges with astrophysics majors and I am trying to make a larger list so I can start visiting them throughout my junior year.</p>
<p>Just like math12345, I too am interested going into an astrophysics major. I’ve only found a couple of schools, that offer it. And am currently a Junior in high school, so if you also supply me with the same information as math12345, that would be a great help! so you can pm me.</p>