astrophysics cosmology

PhysicsHigh

Hello

Its 2010 now and I am not really up to date with careers. Is it still an extremely risky to go into astrophysics and/or cosmology? Can you guys tell me how things are going for scientists of all branches if you know? Thanks

fss

Define "extremely risky" ? "How things are going" ? It's pretty hard to find work in general these days if you're in the US, anyways.

fasterthanjoao

Like the post above me says, it depends what you mean by 'extremely risky'. With the slightly more esoteric subjects like cosmology, the hard (very hard) part is finding a job in the first place. There aren't many, and new positions are extremely scarce now that funding bodies are having to tighten their wallets quite a lot.

Astrophysics is a slightly different kettle of fish, in that 'astrophysics' is an umbrella term for lots, and lots of different subject areas.

Are you asking with a view to wondering what would be appropriate to study at undergraduate level? If so, you can't study more than a course or two in cosmology anyway, and the skills you'll get are still good so it's a non-issue. There are potentially a lot of 'astrophysics' courses to study at undergraduate, but you'll still complete the core physics curriculum, and even do a lot of the same types of work albeit in a different context to 'regular' physics majors. Thus, at the end of your degree whether you studied 'physics' or 'astrophysics' is a non-issue - both graduates are good at math, problem solving and can probably do some programming too so are equally desirable for hire with many disciplines.

That is, an astrophysics undergraduate degree will leave you as highly employable as a physics degree will (the good-level of employability doesn't mean it's either easy to get a job or you'll get a job that you'll enjoy, however).

PhysicsHigh

Risky meaning will you be able to find employment or have a chance doing research within the field. I am asking because I see a lot of old threads from 06 so I was wondering if things change at least for all kinds of physicists. What do you think it'll be like 5 years from now?

fss

Again, it depends. Not a very large percentage of PhD candidates in any branch of Physics (and probably other fields) get tenure-track positions at research universities. PhDs in astrophysics have pretty much the same job prospects outside of academia that any other PhD in a relevant field has; it's a matter of timing, being in the right location, and being able to sell yourself.

fasterthanjoao

You'll be able to find employment, it just might not be what you want to do. To get a job doing any sort of physics, if you're willing to work in industry or academia, is fairly easy. To get the job you want, is almost always very difficult.

You may have seen other posters saying that it's extremely difficult to get a (permanent) job in academia - and it is. This is the case no matter what your discipline is, and cosmology is perhaps even more difficult again. Thus, you shouldn't count on the fact that you'll get a job in academia, and rather consider what you want to do with your life just now.

If you study astrophysics, you'll be doing what you want to do. You'll have the same marketable skillset that a 'regular' physicist will have - so you can apply for those same jobs in industry, and same grad school positions.