Should I Take a Gap Year Before Grad School for Astrophysics Research?

[majormuss]

Hi everyone,
I am currently a senior majoring in physics and I am scheduled to graduate in May 2015. I am pretty set on going on to graduate school and getting a PhD in theoretical Astrophysics, however, I missed the deadline for the physics GRE and I was consequently not able to take the exam. I can still get my undergraduate physics BS degree by May, but I now have 2 options, right? I could stay as an undergrad for 1 more year, and take additional classes including graduate courses that will make me more prepared for grad school. Or I could finish my undergraduate degree, graduate, and then work at a lab for 1 year to gain more research experience. Is the 2nd option possible? If so where could I get a job as a researcher in theoretical astrophysics?

 

[jedishrfu]

Perhaps you could take some compsci or applied math courses. For compsci look for computer simulations or computer modeling. These might come in handy as a lot of astrophysics requires computer work.

Talk with your profs about what's the best thing to do. Maybe they will have some work that will look good on your graduate application? that you could take as an independent study or research.