Bachelor's in Theoretical Astrophysics at 18?

In summary: It's not about "enjoying" it, it's about gaining an education. If you're not healthy enough to enjoy it, then you should find something else to do. In summary, it is possible to get a bachelor's degree in theoretical astrophysics if you are 16 and take 2 dual credit college classes, have a high score on the final exam, and test out of any college course. However, it is not the best way to go about getting a degree and you will have a very flimsy knowledge of the subject if you just cram for the exam.
  • #1
saganforever
12
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I wanted to know if it would be at all possible to get my bachelor's degree in theoretical astrophysics at the time I'm 18. I'll be 16 when I graduate this year from high school, and I'm taking 2 dual credit college classes (the max a student can take). I'm also taking AP Physics and AP Chemistry, and from what I understand is that if I make a high enough scores on the final exams, I will have the choice of getting some college hours from those scores. I plan on going to college the summer I graduate, and going to college year round after that. My birthday is the 23rd of September. Would it be possible to get my bachelor's degree when I'm 18? Also, if I want a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics, do I have to get Bachelor's, Master's, and then a PhD?
 
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  • #2
saganforever said:
I wanted to know if it would be at all possible to get my bachelor's degree in theoretical astrophysics at the time I'm 18.

No.

There is no such thing as a BS in "theoretical astrophysics". Bachelors degrees are not this specialized: they will be in physics or astronomy.
 
  • #3
It's possible to get a 4 year degree in 2 years but I'm not sure if you'd get any sleep. You can test out of any college course you want, you just have to pay for the exam fee and pass the exam. You can pass out of your entire first year if you are familiar with Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and maybe even English. I had a friend who passed out of both Organic Chemistry classes just by studying for the exams, even though he never had any formal training for those courses. On top of that, you can take a maximum of around 25 hours a semester but you have to get an approval from your dean. I know of one person who took 23 hours in a semester. I'm not sure how well she did but I'm not one to judge.
 
  • #4
Wax said:
I had a friend who passed out of both Organic Chemistry classes just by studying for the exams, even though he never had any formal training for those courses.

Surely that's not the way to take an undergraduate degree, though, cramming for an exam without attending any classes or looking through any theory. Sure, you may get a degree early, but you'll have a very flimsy knowledge of your subject.
 
  • #5
Some people just like to be challenged and the OP sounds like that type of person. He's finishing high school at 16 and he's taking AP courses. Why waste your time in a full semester when you can just spend one month studying to pass out the course? If you are able enough to pass a college placement exam and you never had any formal training in it, I wouldn't call it flimsy knowledge. I'd say that your IQ is higher then the general college population and your time is better spent elsewhere.

Also, some Universities offer Mini semesters that last for 3 or 4 weeks for certain courses. They are generally offered between regular semesters.
 
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  • #6
Wax said:
Why waste your time in a full semester when you can just spend one month studying to pass out the course?

Because "passing out the course" isn't what university is about. University is about studying and gaining knowledge to apply to later courses, or research, not studying just enough to pass exams. If you just fly through exams without studying courses properly, then you will come into difficulty later on in your studies when you realize you are lacking fundamental knowledge.
 
  • #7
cristo said:
Because "passing out the course" isn't what university is about. University is about studying and gaining knowledge to apply to later courses, or research, not studying just enough to pass exams. If you just fly through exams without studying courses properly, then you will come into difficulty later on in your studies when you realize you are lacking fundamental knowledge.

Can't you agree that a college placement exam is about what knowledge you know and what you don't know? Summer school is only one month and mini semesters are only 3 to 4 weeks, would you consider that flimsy knowledge? If you spend one month on your own as compared to one month in summer school and you pass out the course, then what's really the difference? In theory, placement exams are harder then course exams, since the faculty make up the exams. You'd be an advantage to have only your course professor provide the exam.
 
  • #8
whats the point of doing this if ur not going to be healthy enough to enjoy it?
 
  • #9
theman408 said:
whats the point of doing this if ur not going to be healthy enough to enjoy it?

:biggrin: Yeah I kinda agree with you but who are we to judge the OP's capabilities? He could be a genius for all we know and he is clearly on his A game for finishing high school 2 years before most students.

Link to someone who finished community college at age 11. (Monday, June 08, 2009)
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/june/08/yehey/top_stories/20090608top7.html [Broken]
 
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  • #10
College is very fun. I'd pity you if you try to rush through it in two years - you'd be missing out on some of the best times in your life.
 
  • #11
Wax said:
Can't you agree that a college placement exam is about what knowledge you know and what you don't know? Summer school is only one month and mini semesters are only 3 to 4 weeks, would you consider that flimsy knowledge? If you spend one month on your own as compared to one month in summer school and you pass out the course, then what's really the difference? In theory, placement exams are harder then course exams, since the faculty make up the exams. You'd be an advantage to have only your course professor provide the exam.

The reason I'm disagreeing is probably because I'm not from the US. Where I'm from, you can't "pass out" of core classes, regardless of whether you have studied things in your own time or in your high school, and you can't take courses in a month over the summer holiday, since you're clearly not going to have the same fundamental knowledge as someone who's taken a course for a semester, or even for a year.

Perhaps that is standard for undergraduate degrees in the US, though; I'm not sure. I guess I'll leave you people with experience of the system to comment further on the OP's situation.
 
  • #12
cristo said:
The reason I'm disagreeing is probably because I'm not from the US. Where I'm from, you can't "pass out" of core classes, regardless of whether you have studied things in your own time or in your high school, and you can't take courses in a month over the summer holiday, since you're clearly not going to have the same fundamental knowledge as someone who's taken a course for a semester, or even for a year.

Perhaps that is standard for undergraduate degrees in the US, though; I'm not sure. I guess I'll leave you people with experience of the system to comment further on the OP's situation.

The average number of years most students spend in college is six years so it's not really a big deal. There are very few who are capable to finish in 4 years, not to mention 3 or less.
 
  • #13
Why do you want to get your degrees so early? So you can work for an extra 2 years in your life? :rofl:
 
  • #14
Wax said:
The average number of years most students spend in college is six years so it's not really a big deal. There are very few who are capable to finish in 4 years, not to mention 3 or less.
4 years is standard, in the US at least. Probably 95% or more of the people I know did their bachelor's degrees in 4 years.

With respect to testing out of core classes (or any classes) or taking summer classes, it depends on which college you're at. Different colleges have different policies in place. (again, at least in the US)
 
  • #15
diazona said:
4 years is standard, in the US at least. Probably 95% or more of the people I know did their bachelor's degrees in 4 years.

With respect to testing out of core classes (or any classes) or taking summer classes, it depends on which college you're at. Different colleges have different policies in place. (again, at least in the US)

In the US, 4 years isn't the average unfortunately. Our university is a 6-year graduation average even though I know plenty of people who graduated in 4.

As for the thread, some universities will not confer a degree to you if you haven't actually done a certain number of units in their entirety at the university. That is no testing out, no credits from other schools or AP, etc. Our university is 60 units which is 2 years worth of courses if I remember right.
 
  • #16
diazona said:
4 years is standard, in the US at least. Probably 95% or more of the people I know did their bachelor's degrees in 4 years.

With respect to testing out of core classes (or any classes) or taking summer classes, it depends on which college you're at. Different colleges have different policies in place. (again, at least in the US)
Sorry but you are misinformed. You can find this information anywhere from google.
33.1 percent of students who started college full-time in fall 1996 graduated in four years. The study also indicated that 16.5 percent graduated in five years and 5.1 percent finished in six years. The remaining students took longer to earn a degree or never finished at all

http://www.dailytargum.com/2.8663/more-students-fail-to-graduate-in-four-years-1.1514424

You also have to take into account how many students start off at community colleges and when they start there, they start in remedial courses which set them back at least one year.
http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/Summary.aspx?reportNum=07-31
You can read more here if interested.
http://www.aei.org/paper/100019 [Broken]

College is no joke and if you have no idea what you want to major in or what your capabilities are then you will not succeed.
 
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  • #17
I fail to see why you're saying I'm misinformed. Every American college I know of assumes a four-year schedule by default - for what it's worth, [URL [Broken][/URL] says "Bachelor's degrees in the United States are typically designed to be completed in four years of full-time study." Even the data you cited show that more students finish their bachelor's degrees in four years than in any other duration. (I'm not claiming that 4 years is the average graduation time.)

Maybe some universities have a longer standard graduation time, like 5 or 6 years. But they would be in the minority.
 
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  • #18
diazona said:
I fail to see why you're saying I'm misinformed. Every American college I know of assumes a four-year schedule by default - for what it's worth, [URL [Broken][/URL] says "Bachelor's degrees in the United States are typically designed to be completed in four years of full-time study." Even the data you cited show that more students finish their bachelor's degrees in four years than in any other duration. (I'm not claiming that 4 years is the average graduation time.)

Your post was a response to him saying 6 years was the average so I think it is safe to assume you meant to reply with your own understanding of the average was. Yes 4 years is a standard course layout for universities, but 6 years is probably about the average time people take to complete their bachelors. Not much else to be said. I think we all think that so nothing to argue haha
 
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  • #19
Pengwuino said:
Why do you want to get your degrees so early? So you can work for an extra 2 years in your life? :rofl:

This was my thought too. Not that there's anything wrong with that; more worker bees = more taxpayers :biggrin:.

To the OP: I suppose if you're really bored with taking the normal route and you have an irrepressible drive, you have to do what you have to do. But you shouldn't see a university education as simply a check list of tasks to get through as fast as you can.

I agree with cristo...if you hurry through, I don't think you'll get the same quality of education than if you took more time with your studies.
 
  • #20
Wax said:
I'd say that your IQ is higher then the general college population and your time is better spent elsewhere.
Thats the worst attitude regardless of your IQ and is the surest way to become a mediocre prodigy.
 
  • #21
diazona said:
4 years is standard, in the US at least. Probably 95% or more of the people I know did their bachelor's degrees in 4 years.

With respect to testing out of core classes (or any classes) or taking summer classes, it depends on which college you're at. Different colleges have different policies in place. (again, at least in the US)

That is due to top schools having more students graduate in time but in general community college students are included in those statistics and the time to complete bachelors for community college students on average is nowhere near 4.
 
  • #22
Vanadium 50 said:
No.

There is no such thing as a BS in "theoretical astrophysics". Bachelors degrees are not this specialized: they will be in physics or astronomy.
Thank goodness you told me that. I just don't know whether to get a bachelor's in physics or astronomy now. If I were in pursuit of a PhD in theoretical astrophysics and interested in cosmology, which one would likely be best suited for me? Is there a PhD degree in theoretical astrophysics or just astrophysics?

Wax said:
It's possible to get a 4 year degree in 2 years but I'm not sure if you'd get any sleep. You can test out of any college course you want, you just have to pay for the exam fee and pass the exam. You can pass out of your entire first year if you are familiar with Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and maybe even English.
I’m willing to work hard for it. What would testing out of courses do to a person’s gpa?

Monocles said:
College is very fun. I'd pity you if you try to rush through it in two years - you'd be missing out on some of the best times in your life.
My friend said something similar to that when he learned I was finishing high school in three years. He said high school is fun. But is it going to high school and college that is fun or is the age at which a person does these things is fun? I really haven’t had any enjoyable experiences in high school except for learning and going to homecoming my freshman year.


lisab said:
To the OP: I suppose if you're really bored with taking the normal route and you have an irrepressible drive, you have to do what you have to do. But you shouldn't see a university education as simply a check list of tasks to get through as fast as you can.

I agree with cristo...if you hurry through, I don't think you'll get the same quality of education than if you took more time with your studies.
That is probably true. I might be able to get a better quality of education by studying concepts other than just those presented in the exams alone.
 
  • #23
j93 said:
.. mediocre prodigy.

Cool. I'm totally going to name my band that. Thanks, dude. :cool:
 
  • #24
saganforever said:
I’m willing to work hard for it. What would testing out of courses do to a person’s gpa?

My friend said something similar to that when he learned I was finishing high school in three years. He said high school is fun. But is it going to high school and college that is fun or is the age at which a person does these things is fun? I really haven’t had any enjoyable experiences in high school except for learning and going to homecoming my freshman year.

Testing out of a course does nothing to your GPA. You will get the credit towards your major but you won't get the grade. Some people decide to not test out of courses just to raise their GPA.

As for the whole "college experience", it's over rated. The only real way to get the complete "college experience" is to join a Frat. If you're not going to join a Frat then you are better off just finishing school. Joining a Frat opens your option up to parties and meeting girls. If you don't join one then the only people you'll ever meet are the people in your major and all you generally do with them is study.
 
  • #25
Wax said:
Testing out of a course does nothing to your GPA. You will get the credit towards your major but you won't get the grade. Some people decide to not test out of courses just to raise their GPA.

As for the whole "college experience", it's over rated. The only real way to get the complete "college experience" is to join a Frat. If you're not going to join a Frat then you are better off just finishing school. Joining a Frat opens your option up to parties and meeting girls. If you don't join one then the only people you'll ever meet are the people in your major and all you generally do with them is study.
That is a HUGE generalization, and it completely depends on what school you go to. I am having a great time in college, and I would not pass up the next two years to graduate now. I go to a liberal arts college with very little greek life, and there is no need to join a frat to either get into a party or meet girls. Sounds like you just don't know how to socialize, or you went to a very Greek-centered school. And if the latter is true, then that is to be expected, is it not?

If you want to try to graduate in two year for whatever reason, fine. You may get to college and realize you would like to spend four years though. College is much different than high school, and most people seem to think for the better. Just leave your options open.

As for your major, go physics or, if your school offers it, astrophysics. Astronomy is less physics-heavy, and if you want to pursue graduate school in astrophysics, you definitely want more physics. A lot of schools do offer astroyphysics, or at least physics with a concentration in astrophysics. I would consider that.
 
  • #26
Wax said:
Testing out of a course does nothing to your GPA. You will get the credit towards your major but you won't get the grade. Some people decide to not test out of courses just to raise their GPA.

As for the whole "college experience", it's over rated. The only real way to get the complete "college experience" is to join a Frat. If you're not going to join a Frat then you are better off just finishing school. Joining a Frat opens your option up to parties and meeting girls. If you don't join one then the only people you'll ever meet are the people in your major and all you generally do with them is study.

If testing out of courses does nothing to a person's GPA, why do people not test out of courses to raise their GPA? And I don't plan on joinning a Frat. I don't feel comfortable at parties anyways.
 
  • #27
Wax said:
As for the whole "college experience", it's over rated. The only real way to get the complete "college experience" is to join a Frat. If you're not going to join a Frat then you are better off just finishing school. Joining a Frat opens your option up to parties and meeting girls. If you don't join one then the only people you'll ever meet are the people in your major and all you generally do with them is study.

That's completely subjective. The typical person I know who joins a frat to party ends up stuck at their university for years, gets mediocre grades, and ends up with some nice extra debt in the end because of the extra time... unless of course you're in some mick major. The REAL college experience for an intellectual is having millions of dollars worth of facilities and a massive amount of knowledge at your fingertips along with the abundance of people to hang out with and socialize with.

In high school you're running around with a bunch of kids who don't really want to be there in the first place with a bunch of teachers who in many cases, could care lessa bout education. In college, you're dealing with real people who have real lives ... most of the time.

Then again the college experience is what you make of it, you have way more flexibility.
 
  • #28
saganforever said:
If testing out of courses does nothing to a person's GPA, why do people not test out of courses to raise their GPA? And I don't plan on joinning a Frat. I don't feel comfortable at parties anyways.

Reread my post! Anyway, you don't sound like a social person from your response so finishing college early for you would be the right thing to do. Also, I really don't think you can do it by taking 25 hours a semester. That's just crazy. Take 18 or 19 hours a semester, go to summer school, and do the mini semesters. If you test out your first full year then you'd still be done early. You also have to check and make sure your college offers mini semesters and if they let you test out of certain courses.
 
  • #29
Pengwuino said:
That's completely subjective. The typical person I know who joins a frat to party ends up stuck at their university for years, gets mediocre grades, and ends up with some nice extra debt in the end because of the extra time... unless of course you're in some mick major. The REAL college experience for an intellectual is having millions of dollars worth of facilities and a massive amount of knowledge at your fingertips along with the abundance of people to hang out with and socialize with.

There's nothing wrong with doing both.
 
  • #30
Monocles said:
There's nothing wrong with doing both.

Absolutely! I know a few people who did the former for the first few years and... kinda did the latter, but the point is yah you can definitely do both but I have a feeling the OP is more interested in the latter.

Plus there's absolutely girls in the hard sciences departments!**not really
 
  • #31
Pengwuino said:
The REAL college experience for an intellectual is having millions of dollars worth of facilities and a massive amount of knowledge at your fingertips along with the abundance of people to hang out with and socialize with.

In high school you're running around with a bunch of kids who don't really want to be there in the first place with a bunch of teachers who in many cases, could care less about education. In college, you're dealing with real people who have real lives ... most of the time.

Then again the college experience is what you make of it, you have way more flexibility.

That's something I'm going to look forward to. There isn't much of a selection on mathematics, physics or astronomy books at my local library.

That's very true. In most of my classes this year I was about the only one who wanted silence either to hear the teacher or to concentrate. Most kids in my high school are ridiculously immature too.
 
  • #32
saganforever said:
That's something I'm going to look forward to. There isn't much of a selection on mathematics, physics or astronomy books at my local library.

That's very true. In most of my classes this year I was about the only one who wanted silence either to hear the teacher or to concentrate. Most kids in my high school are ridiculously immature too.

I like the way you think kid. Most kids in high school have absolutely no idea what they want to do with their lives and so they contribute to the high dropout rates in college. Just take the maximum 19 hours a semester and if you feel that you have too much time on your hands then you go talk to the dean about lifting the cap. I don't think the dean would even lift the cap unless you showed that you could handle 19 hours in one semester anyway.
 
  • #33
Wait wait, so again, why do you want to graduate so early? Other then you think college might be lame like high school was?
 
  • #34
Pengwuino said:
Wait wait, so again, why do you want to graduate so early? Other then you think college might be lame like high school was?

So what do you think please ?
 
  • #35
Pengwuino said:
Wait wait, so again, why do you want to graduate so early? Other then you think college might be lame like high school was?

It will be a challenge. Also I think it will look good on resumes.
 

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