Should You Major in Physics or Astronomy?
Prospective students looking to start their astronomy careers are often confused as to whether they should major in physics or astronomy.
This is an excellent question and one that does require a little forethought before getting started; although one could easily start one program and transfer to the other with relatively little impact if you do it before your, say, sophomore year.
Some universities don’t have an undergraduate program in astronomy, so the choice isn’t there, but if you can choose between the two at your school, then my advice is to major in physics.
When I attended the University of Colorado, there was only a minor in astronomy, but the physics program had three different ‘Plans’ one could choose from. Plan 2, the one chose, let you pick a specialty, like astronomy, and included classes like Astrophysics I & II. It was heavily weighted towards physics though.
CU has since added and astronomy undergraduate degree and among the differences I’ve noticed was a lighter math load. Math Methods, for example, a real pain-in-the-ass course physics majors take in their sophomore year was not there.
I think majoring in physics gives you a slightly better foundation for studying the specialized areas of astronomy. It’s also nice to have all that extra math under your belt, because you it’ll surprise how many times you’ll need it.
I was able to tailor my physics classes to suit my interests a little better. For instance, my Optics class that I took in my senior year was considered a physics course and I’ve noticed doesn’t transfer to the astronomy undergrad degree (at least from what I could find out). The same with Plasma Physics.
All in all, I feel like the physics degree better prepared me for doing astronomy. It also looks better on a resume because prospective employers and scientists in the field already know that the astronomy degree has less math in it and I don’t think they look on it as well as they do the physics degree, but that’s just speculation on my part.
Photo Credit: sylvar
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2 opinions for Should You Major in Physics or Astronomy?
Carter Hudson
Oct 25, 2007 at 9:32 pm
How about astrophysics? What’s the difference?
Madhav Ghimire
Nov 21, 2008 at 11:35 pm
its my curiousity……………
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