Astrophysics or Engineering: Which Path Should I Choose for Grad School?

[SpaceDreamer]

Hey, I need some advice. I am thinking about grad school for astrophysics and trying to decide what I should do. The question I am posing is that given the low availability of PhD astro job would it be better just to become an engineer (electrical) and do astronomy/astrophysics on my own if possible. The next option is get an Astro PhD and if I don't get a job, go to finance then retire early and study Astrophysics. And the last option is a Astro PhD and post docs.

I am also wondering if it would be possible for me to do Astrophysics if I did go post doc route.
Also I love space and want to help the make manned space travel a reality, and this sounds like an engineer I think.

Any advice is welcome, thanks.

 

[SpaceDreamer]

Anyone, any advice here please.

 

[carlgrace]

Hey, I need some advice. I am thinking about grad school for astrophysics and trying to decide what I should do. The question I am posing is that given the low availability of PhD astro job would it be better just to become an engineer (electrical) and do astronomy/astrophysics on my own if possible. The next option is get an Astro PhD and if I don't get a job, go to finance then retire early and study Astrophysics. And the last option is a Astro PhD and post docs.

I am also wondering if it would be possible for me to do Astrophysics if I did go post doc route.
Also I love space and want to help the make manned space travel a reality, and this sounds like an engineer I think.

Any advice is welcome, thanks.

A lot of astrophysics jobs are a lot like engineering day-to-day. You'll probably learn to be a good programmer and might (depending on the project) learn some electronics too. I work with some Astrophysicists who write incredibly complex real-time software and some that write FPGA firmware in VHDL.

You could think of an Astrophysics PhD as a lovely way to spend a few years (as long as you don't need the money) and then you would have top-shelf software skills to market. A lot of Astrophysics software is directly applicable to finance and, more interestingly in my opinion, materials simulations.