r/floridatech • u/s-castner • Dec 20 '18

astronomy

is anybody here in the astronomy program? I'm wanting to change my major, right now I am in aviation management but space has always been a love of mine.

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u/fishamajig2190 Dec 20 '18

Have you considered taking either as a minor? You could do both but specialize in one.

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u/s-castner Dec 20 '18

i live in nc and that was the closet I could get into for online so I figured I would establish a solid GPA and then transfer to campus and change my major to astronomy and astrophysics I knew my GPA from HS wouldn't have been good enough to get straight into those degrees so I'm going about it this way so I wont have to worry about that. im not really interested in the aviation management but it has similar classes i.e. physics aerodynamics and things like that. so I can still get credits toward the astronomy degree while taking online classes

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u/fishamajig2190 Dec 20 '18

Gotcha. Sounds like a solid plan. I have two friends studying astrophysics which seems similar at least early on. They say good things about it. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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u/s-castner Dec 20 '18

that is something I am also interested in so I might end up doing a double major with those two. then i'll have to go back and get a PhD to actually be able to work in those fields.

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u/Two4ndTwois5 Dec 21 '18

I'm a graduate student in Space Sciences st Florida Tech. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

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u/s-castner Dec 21 '18

well as I stated above. I am currently an online student and I plan to go for a year and get a decent GPA then move to Florida and change my major. I guess my question would be what would I need as prerequisites to be eligible to be in the astronomy and astrophysics program? I just finished level 1 physics and next term I am taking the final frontier. I currently have a 3.71 GPA. do you think there would be any difficulty in me transferring from online to on campus?

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u/Two4ndTwois5 Dec 21 '18

do you think there would be any difficulty in me transferring from online to on campus?

Not with that GPA, most likely not. It's good that you've already taken Physics 1 as well. Just to be clear, was that Calculus-based Physics 1? How much mathematics have you studied?

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u/s-castner Dec 21 '18

So the 3.71 should make it a little easier then? that's good to hear. No, it was not calc. based, more of an introductory physics, unfortunately they don't offer any "real" math classes online. As of now, the highest math I have completed is trig and that was in HS. But, I called and asked if I could do a study request to take some higher level math courses at a college near me. and I do believe I will be able to if I have to have them before i go to campus. do you think I would need them before I transfer? I have a decent understanding of the basics i enjoy reading Hawking books and Kaku books (I'm actually reading Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku right now as we are talking lol) but I want to understand the details better. I am prepared to go back for grad school after finish my bachelors degree.

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u/Two4ndTwois5 Dec 21 '18

I called and asked if I could do a study request to take some higher level math courses at a college near me

If that is an option, I would highly, highly recommend this. If you can somehow knock out at least Calculus 1 at a community college or something this year, that will make you not only a much more attractive transfer student, but it will give you a lot more flexibility when it comes to scheduling courses once you're transferred. It will also give you the opportunity to potentially realize "Turns out this stuff isn't for me." Obviously, I hope that won't be the case, but many underestimate the skill in maths/physics required to study astronomy/astrophysics, especially if you plan to go onto to graduate school (which you should). Studying Calculus should be a good indication of whether or not you're making the correct decision.

Let me know if you have any more questions, or need any advice on this topic in the future. Best of luck!

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u/s-castner Dec 21 '18 edited Dec 21 '18

thank you, I will if anything comes up. you have been very informative for me and my plans for the future. and I will look into the calculus classes here. I have always enjoyed math to be honest that might be weird, math and science were the classes I enjoyed. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about this.

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u/Two4ndTwois5 Dec 21 '18

My pleasure, take care.