Advice on Undergraduate Education.

[oooo35980]

Hey, so I just got out of the Navy, where I was a Nuclear Electricians Mate, I also have an AS in electronics engineering. There is this college called Excelsior which basically takes your navy Nuke experience and turns it into a BS in Nuclear Technology in a couple semesters. Problem is, I don't want anything to do with Nuclear technology. It is a quick way to a bachelors degree though, and with the GI bill, free.

My ultimate goal is a PhD in Astrophysics, would this BS, along with some prerequisite classes, help me get into a graduate program somewhere? Or would it just be a waste of my time? I could begin somewhere as a freshman, but the GI bill would only get me through my bachelors, so if there is some way to use part of it for graduate studies by skipping some undergraduate courses that I've already had or had the equivalency of, that is really what I'm looking for.

 

[MissSilvy]

You almost never pay a cent for graduate school in physics. You are a teaching assistant (teach undergraduate discussion sections or hold lab classes) or a research assistant, and they waive your tuition and provide a small living stipend. So your fears about paying for physics grad school are unnecessary. Of course, this is assuming you get in somewhere.

Also, a BS in Nuclear Tech is nowhere near enough physics classes you would need for physics grad school. It may cover rudimentary quantum mechanics but classical mechanics, E&M, thermo/stat mech, subatomic, condensed matter, and the labs would all be lacking. If you want to do a PhD in physics, get a BS in physics or you will have a hard if not impossible time.