- #1
wynton
- 3
- 0
My son, a high school senior, is on the verge of applying to college. The potential problem we are encountering is that he thinks he'll want to study astrophysics, but his top college choices are mostly small, liberal arts schools that offer neither astronomy or astrophysics as a major. And some appear to offer just 1-2 astronomy classes (though I suspect that they all offer at least that).
The question we have is whether this really matters.
I guess this question really addresses two things:
First, if he attends a small college and majors in physics, will his actual course-work differ much from the experience of attending a school that offers a major in astronomy or astrophysics?
Second, will he be at any disadvantage when it comes to applying to graduate school if he has taken very few astronomy or astrophysics classes?
I suppose I'll also mention some schools he's currently considering, just in case anyone has any first-hand knowledge of their physics departments:
Clark University (his first choice at the moment, but for the lack of a major in astrophysics)
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Rochester
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Skidmore
University of Wisconsin
Franklin and Marshall
Oberlin
Kenyon
Denison
University of Indiana
Miami at Ohio
Thanks for any thoughts.
The question we have is whether this really matters.
I guess this question really addresses two things:
First, if he attends a small college and majors in physics, will his actual course-work differ much from the experience of attending a school that offers a major in astronomy or astrophysics?
Second, will he be at any disadvantage when it comes to applying to graduate school if he has taken very few astronomy or astrophysics classes?
I suppose I'll also mention some schools he's currently considering, just in case anyone has any first-hand knowledge of their physics departments:
Clark University (his first choice at the moment, but for the lack of a major in astrophysics)
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Rochester
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Skidmore
University of Wisconsin
Franklin and Marshall
Oberlin
Kenyon
Denison
University of Indiana
Miami at Ohio
Thanks for any thoughts.