I’m a high school junior looking to get into astronomy. The path I want to take is geology/astronomy undergrad into an astrogeology grad and hope to finish school in time to get with all of the Mars missions. For under grad should I try to double-major, or should one be a minor and if so which one? Should I avoid space entirely or would another science degree be better? And finally what are some good schools in the Midwest for this? I live near Kansas City, MO and am trying to avoid going too far from home for undergrad.
A path worth considering for this is a physics major with a concentration in geophysics, with a minor or second major in astronomy. Modern astronomy is, for all practical purposes, the same thing as astrophysics. It’s quite likely that you would need to have at least a substantial portion of the courses needed for a physics major in order to be considered ready for astrogeology at the graduate level. I’m only speculating though.
A double major will extend your time in your undergraduate program. Right now you are planning to go to graduate school but you can’t be sure in exactly what field (4 years is a long time). As @comfortablycurt says, physics is an option but geology is an equally good one as is astronomy. Your goal is to work on the Mars missions and it is not clear that one or another major will be more valuable for that goal. Engineering will also be important for the Mars missions.
You don’t say what year you are in. If you are a Junior and have a bit of time before applying then do some research about the career paths that each major offers, go visit some different departments and then make a decision based on what is most interesting to you.
Thanks for the replies, I’m a Junior and I’ve started visiting departments. I was trying to avoid a Physics major because much of that is useless to I want to do. Can a double major still be finished in 4 years or should I try to major/minor? And if so, what ought to take priority?
Is double minoring a thing?
With careful planning, a double major can definitely be finished in four years. Policies will vary from school to school, but double minoring is typically a possibility.
Yeah, sounds good, my question about double minor came from KU because they have astronomy and astrobiology minors.
Be aware that many of the courses required for an astronomy minor are likely to have at least the three semester university physics sequence as a prerequisite. At least some of these physics courses are likely to be required for the geology major as well. There may be some prerequisites (beyond introductory biology) for the astrobiology classes too. These are definitely important points to keep in mind.
I’m aware, I’m not against physics(taking it next year) but I love science whether chem, bio, geo, etc. There is actually. A lot of overlap of the degrees making it miuch simpler but KU is a backup, really trying for the University of Chicago, which is physics heavy but like I said, not against physics I just am iffy about going all out on physics.
If physics really is a better route, I’d love to hear it.