My D has been admitted to (freshman fall 2024 undergrad)
Out of state;
Texas A&M ( Aerospace engineering)
Univ of Illinois (Astrophysics Intent)
Instate:
UNC-Chapelhill (Astrophysics Intent)
NC State ( Aerospace engineering)
She wants to become Astrophysicist, that’s her dream from childhood.
Can you help us decide which school will be right choice for her to pursue her dreams.
Thinking of doing double major one in physics and aerospace engineering as an alternate option , if that could put her in the right path or just go with pick a right college with strong Astrophysics program.
Can someone share their experience or provide some guidance.
As a general consideration, physics tends to represent the more comprehensive and respected major for an undergraduate interested in astronomy/astrophysics. Choosing electives that would lead to an astronomy minor would balance this approach. If your daughter might be interested in planetary science, she would benefit from geosciences courses as well.
I would check whether she can combine astrophysics with a CS or data science minor - a lot of higher level astrophysics involves math&CS nowadays.
Astrophysics means a PHD which (if worth doing) will be fully funded. It implies a higher GPA and solid research, with if possible article publication as a 4th or 5th author (or better) and/or conference presentation and/or post graduate fellowships. Honors college advising&opportunities would be of great importance - did she get into honors anywhere (or when will you know?)
My two cents is to maximize her chances of getting into a good grad program, she should focus on being one of the top Astrophysics students in a reputable Physics department. Adding engineering to me is unnecessary unless she actually wants to be an engineer instead.
Most people would probably agree Illinois has the best Physics and Astrophysics department on that list, but that really is going to matter much more for grad school. So if she wants to pick for cost, non-academic reasons, or so on, that’s all fine.
But if she is truly indifferent on those other dimensions, then I would suggest Illinois. Great Physics department generally, excellent in Astrophysics specifically, well-proven track record of placement in grad programs, fun all around university which would also be good for almost anything else if she changed her mind . . . .
But again, all that could be trumped for other reasons, at least for undergrad.
This isn’t true for programs with which I’m familiar. Nonetheless, astronomy/astrophysics majors will often be eligible for upper-level physics courses as electives.
Not all Astrophysics majors continue on for a phd. Most do not. But it is a well respected major with good opportunities for its graduates in the corporate and government sectors as well, which may be more aligned with her interests in 4 years.
One of my kids studied astro. Didnt think she wanted the lifestyle or committment of a phd-the field does attract introverts, and the work is often fairly socially isolated. She was delighted to have studied it and was recruited for jobs by employers.
Following! My kiddo is still a freshman, but he’s wanted to be an astrophysicist since he was five. Even though he’s kind of leaning towards math now, he may go back to his first love.
My brother-in-law is a theoretical astrophysicist. I think he took a lot of high-level math and CS classes in undergrad and didn’t specialize until grad school. His research does seem very data/CS-heavy – they use machine learning to study galaxy formation.
Of course there are all kinds of other branches, both experimental and theoretical. Has your daughter looked at the research in the different departments and figured out which faculty she might be drawn to? If she’s interested in grad school and research, that seems like an important next step. In general (and I say this as an English major who married into a family of physicists), I’d go with the options that limit your daughter the least at this juncture (and probably the physics instead of engineering programs.)
I think to actually be an Astrophysicist, you likely need to go to grad school.
But I also agree it would be a perfectly fine major for all sorts of other purposes. You would have a really good math background, very likely a good computer background, interesting basic knowledge about the physical world . . . definitely could do all sorts of things besides becoming an Astrophysicist.
A suggestion. Astrophysics is more balanced than physics, but both areas skew heavily male. I would look for a school like UNC that has a good amount of female faculty to act as mentors/ research advisors/role models.
As an opinion on the particular schools under consideration, I’d say that UIUC should place within the top two final choices based on strength in physics. If your daughter likes another school based on general attributes — an important aspect — then that school might make a good alternative choice.
Wesleyan has an Astrophysics track within the Physics Department:
Astrophysics is the science of explaining the universe on large scales. The astrophysics track is designed for students who do not plan to go to physics graduate school but wish to apply their physics background to the exciting field of astronomy. Astrophysics - Wesleyan University
One more suggestion. Ask how many majors are enrolled at each school. Astro is a niche major-at my kid’s HYPSM school, it attracts about 8 per year. Physics gets maybe 25. I would expect smaller numbers at a LAC. That influences the frequency of courses taught and other things
