Im confused on my plans...

stargirl
Sun, 07 May 2006 12:03:46 +0000

Ok here’s how this works. Essentially an astronomy degree nowadays is nothing more than a very specialized subset of physics in the sense that you’re going to take astronomy classes instead of, say, upper level physics ones or a few extra physics labs. Any good program, in which I’d definetely count Maryland, will make you so top-full with physics that I wouldn’t worry about having a good degree out of it for what an astronomy degree does (see below). The “physics before astronomy” advice tends to run in small schools where your astronomy degree doesn’t have enough physics to back it up, and hence it’s not very good for later on (but as I said before, I don’t think I’d worry about this at Maryland, but talk to the professors there about your concerns for sure).

That having been said, an astronomy degree is primarily good for going to grad school to become an astronomer (ie either grad school in physics or astro down the line), or maybe a planetarium person as Lancer said. If you tried to join the workforce you’d have a reputation that you sat around counting stars for four years, and while this isn’t the case if this concerns you at all go with the physics for undergrad.

So yea, in case you haven’t had the idea driven home yet the main point is do astronomy as long as it does not compromise your physics background, as that is the most important thing to gain in undergrad. You can always learn astronomy after you have this knowledge when it comes time to grad school!

Best of luck, and see you on Mauna Kea in a few years! :)