<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I am trying to decide between UChicago and UCSD (and maybe UC Berkeley, but mostly UCSD since I got a good scholarship.) I want to do astronomy/astrophysics if I go to UofC and I want to do engineering if I go to UCs...I am fine with either major but how hard is it to find a job after graduating with a degree in astrophysics? What do you guys think...I'm really torn...</p>
<p>I suggest going the engineering route, but give UCB a careful look. It is the pinnacle of the industry / academia in the field, so it may be worth several thousand more a year in terms of the long term career payout (even if it means more loans). </p>
<p>Meanwhile, studying astronomy and astrophysics as a UG is kind of ridiculous, since the only way to make any headway in the field is to get a top flight PhD, and you dont know if you are of that quality until you are well into the major. Honestly, I think it is a little unethical for UChicago to offer it to UGs outside of the context of a plain vanilla physics major, which at a minimum can be easily rolled over into a lot of marketable applied sciences masters programs.</p>
<p>Ah, thanks a lot uchicagoalum. When you say “which at a minimum can be easily rolled over into a lot of marketable applied sciences masters programs”, do you mean that if you do physics at UofC, it’s okay to do, say, engineering for masters at some other university?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>flux</p>
<p>Yes. Altough, it is obviously easier to go from say, an EE program to a MS or M.Eng. in EE. Most the people I know who went the physics or math to engineering elsewhere route ended up taking close to a year of UG courses as remediation for not having an ABET degree.</p>
<p>Chicago doesn’t offer it “outside the context of a plain vanilla physics major.” It offers physics with a specialization in astrophysics.</p>