Achieving Astrophysicist Dreams - A First-Gen College Student's Story

[Turkagent]

Hi there, just need to give a little bit of my background before I get into my question.

When I graduated high school I was confused about what to do so I decided to join the navy to figure out what I wanted to do and get college money. I enlisted to become a Missile technician on a nuclear powered submarine. So fast-forward four years and here I am today. I've researched many things and I found out that I want to be a Astrophysicist and I am going to probably end up going to University of Washington. Unfortunately, I didn't know much about college or have anyone who knew a lot about them, so I will have to be a transfer student rather than entering as a freshman(I have taken a few college courses in what spare time I get).

I also will be a 'first-generation' college student. Meaning no one in my family has gone to college and I really have no one to advise me on how to register for college, where to go, what to ask and so on. So currently from what I have read up, I should have a Calculus level math education and basic physics education before starting to take physics courses. I also read many sites that suggested that I double major in physics/astronomy if I plan to go into "advanced work in the astronomy field" which I took to mean astrophysics.

So essentially, I want to become an astrophysicist and I currently am getting my math and physics abilities up to par so I'm not too far behind, but I feel if I don't learn more and get more information I will be too far behind. I was just wanting any advice, assistance, books I could read, or websites. Thanks.

 

[lubuntu]

I want to be an astrophysicist also, the way I am approaching it is to get a physics B.S. with a math minor. Getting some undergrad coursework in astronomy probably helps but from what I am read it is far from essential for getting into a graduate program in astronomy. In terms of math you should learn most everything you need on your way to your major in physics. Good luck in your ventures! Maybe we'll meet at a conference of astrophysicists one day :)