Junior in need of advice for science major

College Majors Science Majors
1

I began college with an intended major of Physics.
Astronomy and Physics have always been a passion of mine, specifically subjects like cosmology, the universe, stars, planets, etc…basically everything that is NOT Earth. I took a few physics and astronomy courses in high school and did quite well…my worst letter grade in any of them was a B and that was in AP Physics (mechanics).

However, halfway through my freshman year of college I abandoned that major because I became lazy and decided I didn’t want to do rigorous math. I changed my major to Political Science, another passion of mine. I’ve always been interested in world events, government, and policy.

I haven’t thrown myself fully into college yet…I’ve been working a part-time job for income and am still living at home while attending a branch campus of a large university and haven’t been taking full-time class loads. But as I’ve thrown myself into the Political Science arena, I’ve realized it’s not really for me. I have done work this year for political campaigns and organizations (it’s a big election year!) but I haven’t really enjoyed it like I thought I would. I did door-to-door voter registration canvassing once and absolutely HATED it. I’m not a people person…I’m very introverted and independent.

So I want to go back to the Physics/Astronomy route. But I have a few questions:

One of the areas I want to contribute to is Science Policy. Since one of my goals is to make sure science gets more funding and attention within governments of the world, should I perhaps minor in Political Science? Would that help me out at all in a career or no? I don’t really think it would, but that’s why I’m asking here.

I admire people like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, etc and want to follow similar routes to what they did. And none of them minored in anything like Political Science, and they have all had influence in government and/or held government positions. Or I would like to work for the government in NASA or another agency that utilizes physics and astronomy.

Since I DO intend to continue onto graduate school to pursue a PhD eventually, should I even bother minoring in, lets say, Astronomy (if my major is Physics)? My specific passion IS Astronomy, but most people have told me that just getting a bachelor’s in Physics and then doing my Masters or PhD in Astronomy is better because the Physics bachelors lays the more general (and necessary) groundwork for Astronomy.

2

You can major in physics and take elective courses of interest in astronomy and political science without worrying about getting an official minor.

3

I agree, don’t worry about the minor. If you want to go to graduate school in physics or astronomy, focus on getting the most rigorous physics education possible at your university. Get involved in research and then take whatever electives interest you. The reason the people you mention are listened to is not because they studied science policy but because they were accomplished scientists first.

4

They also were pretty extroverted as well, though. It takes people and influence skills to affect science policy. I applaud your intentions, but you will have to build some skills in addition to core science skills to accomplish your goals.

5

Agreed! Not every scientist has it in her to do it.