Maximizing College Time: Majoring in Physics/Astronomy in 5 Years

[Ceenaya19]

I'm majoring in Physics and Astronomy, and I am going to be a sophomore next year. My problem is that there are so many cool classes that I want to take that 4 years won't be enough time to complete them all; this is true even though I went into college with 30 credits from my credit-by-exam program. I looked around on my school's Astronomy Department website and noticed that there is a 5-year degree plan offered for students who are double majoring. I figure that I could follow this plan and replace the 30 credits of classes that I entered college with, with the classes that I want to take. I really enjoy the subjects covered in these classes, so most likely I will follow this 5-year plan anyway, but I would still like to know.

Also, my hope is to get accepted into the graduate program at my current school (UT Austin). Thanks al lot to whomever answers.

 

[graphene]

On the contrary, it could turn out to your advantage.
It's nice that you want to do more courses.
With the extra year you get, you could even do more research.
All these are positive points on your application.

Do not woory too much about grad school right now.
Just enjoy your college, keep your grades up, try to get some research experience & you should be able to get into a good grad school

 

[SpaceCowboy57]

It shouldn't hurt your chances. the advisor who determines whether or not they want to take you into their graduate program will probably be thrilled that you are passionate enough to put forth the extra effort for a second degree. It may however, hurt you wallet. My school has a couple of 5-year plans, but they never give undergrads scholarships past 4 years. for me that would mean scrounging together an additional 45K for that extra year.

If i were you i would ask yourself how much it will cost to do this, will you make that money back by having a second degree and then decide if it is worth doing.

 

[eri]

It probably won't hurt your chances if you're taking useful courses, but it all adds time to your program. You can take classes in other departments and undergrad courses as a graduate student too. Have you talked to any of your professors about your grad school plans? It's usually recommended you do NOT stay at the same school for undergrad and grad school unless you have a very good reason for doing so (like working with a specific professor in a small field).

 

[twofish-quant]

Agree with the other people here. It's not going to hurt your chances to go five years and could help you if you take more and harder classes. However, it's generally a bad idea to go to the same school for grad and undergrad, and some departments will refuse to admit their own undergraduates into the grad program. You can ask the professors at UT Austin to see if this is the situation there.