- #1
jcmacdon
- 1
- 0
Hello All:
So here is my story/situation. I started out college as a Chemical Engineering major. I made it through my first year well enough (~3.3 GPA), but I found I didn't enjoy the chemistry courses, or what I would be able to do with my degree. I also had a couple of thoroughly terrible professors that drove me away from engineering/mathematical sciences. For a lot of reasons I changed majors (multiple times) and eventually transferred universities. At my new university I chose the degree track (a BA) that would allow me to graduate in the shortest amount of time. Now, I will graduate this May, and I have come to realize the folly of that choice. I'm bored out of my skull, and have crap for employment prospects despite 2 semesters of paid research experience.
I have taken two calculus courses, two chemistry courses, and an algebra based physics designed for science and engineering majors. Recently, to abate my boredom, I have begun to teach myself basic astrophysics, and have gotten hooked. For a long time now I have been drawn to academia, so I would want to pursue advanced study down the line.
So then, questions:
In your opinion would it be better to continue my self-study in all things physics and take the subject GRE, or to suck it up and pay for a second degree (my first is totally unrelated)?
I'm really interested in cosmology, if I get a second bachelors should I pursue a degree from a math department, a physics department, or an astronomy department (keeping in mind that future advanced study is my goal)?
Do any of you have recommendations for texts suited to self-study in general physics/particle physics (everything I've seen says you need to understand the small stuff to understand the large stuff)/cosmology?
Thanks,
Caleb
So here is my story/situation. I started out college as a Chemical Engineering major. I made it through my first year well enough (~3.3 GPA), but I found I didn't enjoy the chemistry courses, or what I would be able to do with my degree. I also had a couple of thoroughly terrible professors that drove me away from engineering/mathematical sciences. For a lot of reasons I changed majors (multiple times) and eventually transferred universities. At my new university I chose the degree track (a BA) that would allow me to graduate in the shortest amount of time. Now, I will graduate this May, and I have come to realize the folly of that choice. I'm bored out of my skull, and have crap for employment prospects despite 2 semesters of paid research experience.
I have taken two calculus courses, two chemistry courses, and an algebra based physics designed for science and engineering majors. Recently, to abate my boredom, I have begun to teach myself basic astrophysics, and have gotten hooked. For a long time now I have been drawn to academia, so I would want to pursue advanced study down the line.
So then, questions:
In your opinion would it be better to continue my self-study in all things physics and take the subject GRE, or to suck it up and pay for a second degree (my first is totally unrelated)?
I'm really interested in cosmology, if I get a second bachelors should I pursue a degree from a math department, a physics department, or an astronomy department (keeping in mind that future advanced study is my goal)?
Do any of you have recommendations for texts suited to self-study in general physics/particle physics (everything I've seen says you need to understand the small stuff to understand the large stuff)/cosmology?
Thanks,
Caleb