What Shall I study -- astrophysics or aerospace engineering?

[Prof Sabi]

I love astrophysics and cosmology, reading books of great men like Einstein, Stephen Hawking, NDGT and many more but I also have craze for rockets, their propulsion and aeronautical engineering like satellites and vehicles (SPACEX, NASA...) I am confused what Shall I do?

 

[Prof Sabi]

I love astrophysics and cosmology, reading books of great men like Einstein, Stephen Hawking, NDGT and many more but I also have craze for rockets, their propulsion and aeronautical engineering like satellites and vehicles (SPACEX, NASA...) I am confused what Shall I do?

Well I am fan of both Elon Musk and the physicist people...

 

[Choppy]

We can't pick a direction for you.

I'm assuming you're still in high school and trying to figure out a direction for university studies. (Also assuming you're in North America.) If so, remember that you don't necessarily have to make this specific decision right away. It's better to stay general for longer and get specific as you go. So right now, your biggest decision is probably more along the lines of whether to study physics (from which you could branch off into astrophysics when it's time to go to graduate school) or engineering, where you would specialize in aerospace in your second or third year of undergraduate studies. And in most cases the first year of physics or engineering programs are reasonably equivalent, so if you go in one direction, but decide you'd prefer the other, it's often possible to switch.

 

[Prof Sabi]

We can't pick a direction for you.

I'm assuming you're still in high school and trying to figure out a direction for university studies. (Also assuming you're in North America.) If so, remember that you don't necessarily have to make this specific decision right away. It's better to stay general for longer and get specific as you go. So right now, your biggest decision is probably more along the lines of whether to study physics (from which you could branch off into astrophysics when it's time to go to graduate school) or engineering, where you would specialize in aerospace in your second or third year of undergraduate studies. And in most cases the first year of physics or engineering programs are reasonably equivalent, so if you go in one direction, but decide you'd prefer the other, it's often possible to switch.

I Live in India BTW I have no interest to study here as I have heard that many professors try to rote info and lack in practical applications... I plan to take SAT and study at MIT or Caltech or any US university as an international student.

 

[Dale]

If you enjoy two topics equally then consider the job market. Personally, I was equally interested in medical imaging and in neural prosthetics. So I went with medical imaging because the market is bigger.

 

[Prof Sabi]

Okay, Let's get into this and I believe it would be interesting.
In this section there are most probably astrophysicists but hope that some aerospace engineering students also follow this section of forum.
The Motive is that let's have a debate upon Aerospace Engg And Astrophysics which is better and why? Which one do you love and why so?

So Let's start and once again share your thoughts which one you support more Astrophysics or aerospace.

For Mods: If I again posted it in a wrong section they may move my thread to the suitable place
<Moderator's note: Moved to Academic Guidance. The technical forums are for discussing the science of the topic.>
<My Note> : Okay Mr. Mod I got it :D

<Moderator's note: This post is the result of a merger.>

 

[Choppy]

Why are you so focussed on just aerospace engineering or astrophysics? There's a very, very wide spectrum of both educational and career paths for people who are interested in these subjects. One is not objectively better than the other. It would be like a debate on whether apples or oranges are better.

 

[stefan r]

You need several years of calculus, several years of physics, and some programing for aerospace or astrophysics. MIT or any U.S. university will also make you take some writing/literature and general studies classes like psychology or ancient civ. You can remain completely undecided for all of your freshman year. Might be able to change your mind the summer before your Junior year and still graduate on time without much extra effort. You can also get an undergraduate degree in physics or any subset of physics and then get into a masters program a different area of physics. So for example you could have a bachelor of science in astrophysics and the get a masters degree in aerospace engineering.

 

[Prof Sabi]

You need several years of calculus, several years of physics, and some programing for aerospace or astrophysics. MIT or any U.S. university will also make you take some writing/literature and general studies classes like psychology or ancient civ. You can remain completely undecided for all of your freshman year. Might be able to change your mind the summer before your Junior year and still graduate on time without much extra effort. You can also get an undergraduate degree in physics or any subset of physics and then get into a masters program a different area of physics. So for example you could have a bachelor of science in astrophysics and the get a masters degree in aerospace engineering.

Thats a good plan though having BSc AStrophysics and Masters in aerospace :)