Which course should I take? (General/Special Relativity or Astrophysics)

[Vitani1]

I'm about to be a senior in the physics program. I can choose General/Special Relativity or Astrophysics. The astrophysics course is not as intensive - the GR/SR course requires mechanics and is more math-savvy. I've been doing some modeling with Lagrangian mechanics for star systems etc. and I've found anything having to do with gravity and stars/planets fascinating (for the most part). I don't know a single thing about GR/SR except some basic lorentz transformations and such. What would you do? Why?

 

[mcastillo356]

When I was 20, I will always remember: I was in doubt whether to eat a snack or wait at lunchtime: my best friend stared at me and asked me: what do you want? I said: "A snack".
What do I mean? You are the only one who knows the answer.
I will give my choice, if I was in your place: Relativity. Why? First of all I confess you I'm an absolute beginner in physics, but I think that first of all, the first lesson to take before learning astrophysics, is to learn SR, and then GR. But this will not help you; it shouldn't. I hope so.
Vitany1, it's a poor answer; I'm sorry. Hope someone more wise than me answers you. Greetings!

 

[gleem]

What is your plan after graduation? That should provide some clue as to what is more important. If your plan does not include anything related to astrophysics or GR then I guess it is a tossup.

 

[Vitani1]

I am thinking about graduate school in astrophysics. I'm afraid this astro course is plug and chug (the required courses don't exceed something like calculus two and a general physics course) so even if I was interested in the field I don't know if it would be worth my time at this point. If you've ever played world of warcraft it's like when your enemy's name becomes grey because you are a higher level but their could still be some nice loot. I think I might go with SR/GR.

 

[gleem]

Go for it. The astrophysics course may be basically descriptive which you might more easily pick up on your own vis-a-vis GR.

 

[romsofia]

I am a PhD candidate that does research in relativity, and I took a similar astrophysics class during undergrad (in terms of requirements, only calculus two and modern physics was required!) and at the time I had a similar opinion of it being a waste. EDIT: The book we used was "Introduction to Modern Astrophysics" by Carroll and Ostile just so you can compare to your own course.

Of all my undergraduate classes, that's the one I remember the most from. It presented information in easily digestible chunks that I was able to tell my friends and family members some cool facts about stars that I still share to this day, and that I attempt to use on children to keep them interested in science when I tutor math once in a while. My undergraduate GR course, however, left a lot to be desired. The rigor just wasn't there, and I suspect that would be the case for a lot of them.

But, I guess without real course descriptions and books, we can only speculate (as I did above), so always talk to your academic advisor if you haven't.

 

[Vitani1]

This astrophysics book is also the book I would be using. I'm just worried about getting stuck in a class where I'm plug and chugging all day and not doing anything useful. Thank you for your feedback. I have ~5 days until school stars so there exists some time to choose.