Astrobiology Advice: Advice for High School Student

[Domn]

Hello everyone, I'm currently enrolled in a community college as a high school student. The math class I am in right now is Calculus I, I haven't taken a physics class as of yet, but I am self studying out of University Physics by Young and Freedman for both AP physics C tests next year. The school I go to doesn't have a calculus based physics sequence.
I have also taken Biology 222 which is the second class in the biology for majors sequence. I'm very interested in both Biology and Physics and I found that Astrobiology is a new and expanding field. I was curious on what I should major into get into an Astrobiology graduate program. I was also wondering what people think about this field. My final question is what classes should I take? I have two more elective credits left for my AA and I can either continue to Calculus 3 or I can finish the introduction to Biology sequence.

 

[anonymity]

I am an undergrad engineering and math major, so take all of this with a grain of salt (though I don't think i will be too far off the mark, in the general sense).

As far as I can tell, astrobiology is a very general term used to describe a very wide-reaching field of study. I think that it is very feasible that at any given time, hundreds of different specialists are working in the field of "astrobiology".

In the different sub-divisions of astrobiology (astronomical, chemical, biological, physical, etc -- the field does, after all, deal with something immensely complicated [life], and furthermore, this is being studied on the astronomical scale), there are likely going to be people with background in the respective fields (astronomy, chemistry, biology, physics, etc).

That being said, I would figure out what it is about astrobiology that really interests you, and work towards that. (MOST OF ALL, I would advise you not to choose a major based on the prospect of astrobio grad school. If astrobiology interests you, then there is something SPECIFIC in it that catches your minds attention, though you may not know what it is right now. I would figure out what that is and get involved/declare a major in that. If said "thing" is your true interest in astrobio, and you work at it in undergrad, there will come a time to apply for an astrobio grad program, and if grad school doesn't make sense when the time comes, then you will still have a degree in a field which truly interests you. What I am trying to say is that you should not make a life-decision on a mystified-false pretense. Figure out what it is that interests you about astrobio, specifically, and start there.)

Do some research on the field, figure out if there actually are all different types of scientists (chemists, biologists, astronomers) working in the field. Which of these fields interest you? Check out what grad schools require of applicants.

 

[Choppy]

I have to agree with anonymity.

Astrobiology is kind of a specific niche area and even though it's interesting, it's probably best to stay general in your undergrad studies and then work towards something specific later on.

That being said, I think there are a number of routes to get there. One option might be to concentrate on physics as a major, and then supplement it with electives or minors in biology, organic chemistry, and geology or geophysics. It might be worth looking up some of the major contributors to the field now and reading up on their backgrounds to see how they got to where they are.

 

[anonymity]

as far as classes (sorry, I neglected to answer this), if i was you, I would likely want to take both the calculus course and the bio course. I think, regardless of the path you take (bio, physics, geophysics, chemistry, etc) you will very likely need the calculus sequence, and possibly also a bio/chem sequence (and definitely both if you plan on minoring in whichever you don't major in)

Your course selection is most affected by the path you end up taking (chem, phys, bio, etc -- I also not sure if undergrad astrobio programs exist) and the university that you plan on transferring into.

I would a) figure out what area of astro bio interests you, and b) figure out which school you want to transfer to. When you know this, you can take courses that are required by their program and/or will transfer to their school.

I think calculus III is a safe bet though. It will be required for any chemistry or physics program you look at going to (I am not sure about bio, it does seem less likely, though). If it's possible, i think taking both would be the safest bet. It would bring you one step closer to a minor in whichever area you don't major in. Don't take an unrealistic credit load though. Talk to an academic adviser.

 

[Simfish]

I know many of the people in the astrobiology department at http://depts.washington.edu/astrobio/ - which is said to be among the top in the nation - if you want to see more programs - look at http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/teams/. Anyways, there are no astrobiology graduate programs yet - there are only astrobiology certificates. You have to get in a participating department first (whether it's astronomy, atmospheric science, planetary science, or microbiology)

Anyways, they generally do like people with substantial computational/analytical backgrounds (it's safest to simply major in physics/applied math and then to do research with a professor whose research may be relevant). But certainly, it's a good idea to do undergraduate research in something that's interdisciplinary and potentially relevant to multiple areas in astrobiology. It's also a small field, which means that LORs are more likely to carry more weight (especially since it's hard to compare people who are from entirely different departments).

For the record, I'm a triple major in astronomy+physics+math, and my upcoming research is in modelling exoplanetary atmospheres, which will combine research in astronomy, atmospheric science, and possibly CS. It's important to show that you can learn a lot by yourself, because it's an interdisciplinary field where you have to pick things up from areas outside of coursework. I also have self-studied substantial areas of molecular biology, Earth science, and evolutionary biology (and read research papers in those fields for fun).

I'm extremely busy for the next few weeks, but if you have any further questions, feel free to send them to me. There are a few astrobiology students at reddit's AskScience, but I think I'm the only active one in many of the other major science forums (I hope that I'm wrong on this, of course, but it's awfully hard to find others interested in the same area).