When I was a kid I wanted to be an aerospace engineer until I grew older and realized my true love is space science aka astronomy or astrophysics. I’m currently at community college in California and I don’t know whether to major in aerospace engineering or astronomy. My family and friends are saying aerospace engineering is better since they’re more jobs in California and good pay as to only 33% of astronomers work for the government while the other 67% work at universities and other colleges. I don’t want to end up as a professor at a college. I want to be an actual astronomer either in LA or NYC, which I’m not sure if there are many jobs for this major there. What do you guys think? Is it better to do aerospace engineering or risk being a professor and chase my dream of being an astronomer/astrophysicist? Thank you for your help.
I’d think the odds of getting the kind of astronomy job you want is pretty low, though that doesn’t mean impossible.
I once shared an office in Silicon Valley with a guy who had an Astrophysics PhD from Stanford. He became a programmer because he couldn’t find an astrophysics job.
If you’ve never spent time in an actual observatory for a few nights, you should see if you can attend the following -
I did it with my daughter a few years ago, and learned astronomy can be rather grueling. Don McCarthy, the guy who runs it, would be a great source of information
I’m a mechanical engineering major and I also can relate- I’m more interested in the science and theory than the practical applications and mechanics. Being an aerospace engineer is basically being a mechanical engineer with a focus in aircraft/ spacecraft. Lots of coding and mechanics and structures courses. However, it is an amazingly reliable fallback so I am really glad that I’m studying engineering. That way, if I pursue something else and decide a few years in that I can’t find a good enough job or one that doesn’t pay enough, I will always have my engineering degree. Also, engineering teaches you critical thinking skills that would be super valuable in any science field.
So I think you have 2 choices (assuming you want to follow your heart WHICH I RECOMMEND)
- Study astronomy, go on to get a Ph.D, be the best in your field and do research. This will require really intense devotion because if you decide one day that you don’t want to get your PhD, you will be severely limited.
- Become an engineer, THEN go into astronomy knowing that if all fails, you’ll at least have a really valuable degree under your belt.