Looking for a community college, planning a career in astrophysics

College Search & Selection Community Colleges
1

Hi,

I am looking for a community college in California, I’m planning a career in astrophysics. What are the good community colleges that can allow me to transfer to universities like UCLA or ASU which have astrophysics majors. Of course it would even be better if I could transfer to prestigious universities like Caltech, MIT, Princeton but is it still possible if you start by a community college ? I know that in order to achieve these goals, I would need excellent grades but is the choice of community college decisive in order to transfer to top universities ? I don’t want to be trapped in the future by making wrong choices at the beginning blocking my path to universities, because of picking a community college that it not recognized or not enough to pretend transferring to a university that offers astrophysics degrees.
I am also taking into account the cost, I want to find an affordable and safe place to live and study in the best conditions, knowing that California is an expensive state to live in. Could you please help me.

2

The U of California campuses with ranked physics programs,
will be better for you, because you can get started on physics research
sooner, which you need to get into a good astrophysics PhD program. The U of Cal public physics programs
are are not all the same price,
some are less expensive and there is the Regent Scholarship.Do you qualify for it? Look at both UC Santa Cruz,
and UC Davis, which is strong in physics and both cost less then Berkeley (which is the top ranked physics
program in your state besides Stanford and Caltech )

You do not need to go to an undergraduate college with astrophysics, to become an astrophysicist, you need to get an excellent physics degree, then get a PhD in your preferred specialty which may be astrophysics, but give yourself time to decide by taking a wide variety of physics classes and also doing research in the summers.

If the only financial option is community college, then follow the rules to get into any of the top public physics programs in your state: UCLA, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, San Diego or Santa Cruz, with Davis on the list too. Ask your school guidance counselor about those rules, but you should be able to look that up, as the California system is
very clear about how to transfer to U of Cal campuses. You will need an exact list of credits, and top grades, is
my understanding.

3

MIT and Caltech are very small, and often accept only 2 or 3 transfer students a year, so transferring to a large public school is a more likely option, if you do attend community college. Good luck!

4

Thank you for the answers, I didn’t mention but I am an international student so I’m not familiar with the rules you are talking about. The reason why I’m looking for a community college is the cheaper price. It seems to be the best option for me, first community college then transfer to a 4-year institution but is it possible to pursue a career in astrophysics that way ? Who are the people who enter these top universities, I guess the best of the best students in the world but seems like most of them didn’t attend community colleges.

5

You may want to post on the U of California CC site to get more information both on how international students can get into community colleges and how to transfer.

MIT limits international students to only 10% of the undergraduate seats so will be exceedingly hard to transfer.

There may be other options for you, other than the state of California public system, that may be a good price. Look at U of Alabama, physics department, Arizona State, U of Oregon, . U of Tennessee Knoxville is strong, because its close to Oakridge National Labs. A few schools in New Mexico are strong in physics, because of connections to Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Labs.

Public schools in Texas and Illinois are also strong in physics. UT Austin may limit international students though.

Be careful to check on international student seats at any program. Some schools limit enrollment, like MIT and others like U of Illinois do not limit as drastically. UIUC has one of the top physics degrees in the USA. I don’t know
about community colleges in Illinois and if that would make sense or not.

6

It may be possible to start in community college. Do not give up your dream of becoming a physicist.
Also look at programs in your home country and consider getting only your PhD in the USA, to cover all your bases.
Are there affordable programs closer to home for you?

7

Thank you for the information, I would also be interested in other states as long as it allows me to finally get a degree in the field of astrophysics. Can you transfer from a community college of a state to a university in another state ?

8

What are your grades and test scores? If they are high, you could possibly attend a 4 yr school on scholarship.

For admissions to a top grad program in physics, you need an excellent UG GPA, UG research, LOR, and GRE and PGRE test scores. You can be admitted to a top program from an avg UG university. You do not need to attend a top UG institution. What you do while you are there and the courses you take as an UG are going to matter far more than where you go. BUT, a community college to 4 yr program will most likely put you at a disadvantage. Students on campus from freshman yr will be making connections with professors and starting research. Entering as a Jr means that those students will have already been working with the dept for 2 yrs. it isn’t impossible as a transfer student, but it might be more difficult.

some schools have automatic scholarships. Here is an example: https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships

9

A few questions:

  • Why California? (The UC’s are very expensive for out-of-state and international students, so, while a CA community college may give you a good transfer path to a UC, is that something you’ll be able to afford?)
  • And related to the above: do you have enough money for two expensive years, if you save money on the first two years?

Some other states’ public U’s are much more affordable than CA’s. U of Arizona and Ohio State both have top astrophysics programs.

If you do want to be in California, look into Cal State Northridge, which (unlike most CSU’s) has an astrophysics major that claims to feed into top grad programs: https://www.csun.edu/science-mathematics/physics-astronomy For maximum affordability within California, you could transfer from a cc to Northridge and it would be far more affordable than a UC. Or perhaps you could afford to apply to CSUN directly.

You will find that there are few if any community colleges that offer upper-division coursework in any subject; their purpose is mainly to get your general education and lower-division courses done before transferring. If you’re hoping to transfer to a top UC or competitive private university, then a CC with an honors program would be ideal. Also look for programs and services specifically for international students.

One example: Cabrillo College.
They have an intl students’ program: https://www.cabrillo.edu/services/international/
They have both a planetarium and an observatory, which is quite unusual in a cc: https://www.cabrillo.edu/academics/astronomy/ (I realize astronomy is not astrophysics, but for community college this is probably as good as it gets)
They have an honors program: https://www.cabrillo.edu/services/honors/
And they are not far from UC Santa Cruz, where you could augment the course offerings by taking open enrollment courses in the summer. Transferring to UCSC would be very straightforward, and they are very strong in the sciences. As you can see on the Honors page, there are also transfer paths to UCLA and to private U’s. But again, the question will be whether you can get the financial aid you need. (More likely at private U’s than at UC’s)

On the other hand, maybe look into community colleges in Arizona? It’s much more affordable to live there, and their public university system has astrophysics at all levels of competitiveness. If you can transfer into U of Arizona, it has a top program. As you mentioned ASU has the major too. And Northern Arizona U, which is a really nice school but even less competitive than ASU, also has a physics+astronomy department.

For example, in Tucson, the beautiful and affordable city where U of Arizona is, there is this cc:
https://www.pima.edu/new-students/international/index.html
https://www.pima.edu/programs-courses/honors/index.html
They have the same basic courses in physics and astronomy as the CA cc’s.
From there you could have a clear transfer path into the AZ public U’s, and also apply to private U’s (no particular advantage between one state’s cc’s and another in that regard).

Likewise, you could look at Ohio, where OSU has a top astrophysics program but there’s also OU, U of Toledo, U of Cincinnati, and Miami U of Ohio - you could transfer to any of these from an in-state cc.

There are some great schools in California, for sure. But if you determine that the 4-year U’s in CA aren’t going to be affordable for you, then it doesn’t really make sense to do community college here vs in a state where you could afford the flagship or other state U’s. Choose the state with the best in-state options (both for program quality and for affordability), as you can apply to private u’s from anywhere but at least you’ll have a good in-state CC-to-4-year pipeline plan as a default.

Hope that helps…

P.S. Also agree with @Mom2aphysicsgeek that UA Hunstville would be a fantastic choice if you qualify for automatic merit. Huntsville is a hub of the aerospace industry, so aerospace engineering and all of the related sciences are very strong there… and the merit aid is an unbeatable financial deal if you have the stats. Don’t even bother with community college if you can get the big merit $$ at UAH or another automatic merit school.

10

Can you study in your own country? A lot of PhD students in the US are international students. You might not get into MIT or Caltech, but if you do very well in your own country (and probably well on the Physics GRE subject test, as many programs require it), you have a good shot at getting a funded PhD position at a US university. Funded means (1) your tuition is covered, and (2) you are payed a stipend to live on. Not very large, but it is something. That is probably a better course than paying to come to college in the US. One of my kids is in a Physics PhD program at a state university in the US, and quite a few of her fellow students are internationals.