Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

This isn't a "correction," but just some more thoughts for The Sad Astronomer.

I think the person should assume they are not going to become a doctorate-level astronomer. If they're a trust-fund kid who can afford not to work and to hire a great one-on-one tutor, go for it. Otherwise, take the intro courses that Frère describes, realize they're kicking your butt and you're better at writing and reading by nature, and ask yourself the following questions:

What attracts me about astronomy?

If it's the opportunity to be around "smart" people, you may enjoy a career in teaching. BYU offers teaching degrees which offer a pretty darn good shot at gainful employment with a bachelor's. Investigate English Teaching, Physical Science Teaching, or if you ace Calc, Physics Teaching.

If it's the opportunity to explore new ideas and frontiers, you could combine your (presumed?) writing skills to become a science/tech journalist. Scientific literacy is sorely needed in the writing community: magazines, tech startups, possibly even planetariums if you're good enough, would be places to look for employment. Supplementing physics and writing courses with basic coding ones would be HUGE in this career path.

Is it the process of researching and employing the scientific method? Then get yourself into a lab and join some clubs. If you're a woman, the women in science and women in CS clubs are great. They could better advise you if your quant skills are lacking.

I also considered myself great at math and science in high school, O Chem murdered me, but I have an independent career in a STEM (emphasis T) field and was able to graduate in six months after dropping out.

(The only part that might be suited as a comment to the question?) I met a female physics/astronomy prof at a game night who is currently at BYU! Message me if you read this and want to be in touch with her.

But yeah, Physics 121 is not for the faint of heart. Got out of there with an A-minus but with a ton of hard work. Calc on the other hand was easy and I graded for a section: it was a good job. Hope this isn't discouraging but maybe a good dose of realism.

Or you could get the Physics degree, get a job at Goldman, and help implode the economy woooooo

http://streetid.com/newsblog/?p=2278

Idk I thought Physics 121 was pretty easy, but then again Alberta apparently has the best high school physics program in the world and I'm aware that I'm relatively alone in my opinion of 121.

Zedability wrote:Idk I thought Physics 121 was pretty easy, but then again Alberta apparently has the best high school physics program in the world and I'm aware that I'm relatively alone in my opinion of 121.

MY PROFESSOR THO

He used actual overhead slide projector and kept referencing MacGyver. I had to encourage the affections of a socially awkward dude who would wear gym shorts even in a blizzard to have any earthly idea what he was talking about. (Thus began a decade of encouraging the affections of socially awkward dudes, but fortunately they got better looking.)

I took honors physics in high school and got easy As. The question answer seems to have no background in post-algebra scientific thought, so that's its own can of worms about the poor quality of secondary education prepping for tertiary education.

Yeah...honestly, everything in 121 was covered in my high school physics class other than some of the calculus applications and torque.

Zedability wrote:Yeah...honestly, everything in 121 was covered in my high school physics class other than some of the calculus applications and torque.

This was Chem 105 and French 321 for me.

We had an ABSURDLY good french program though.

Portia wrote:

Zedability wrote:Idk I thought Physics 121 was pretty easy, but then again Alberta apparently has the best high school physics program in the world and I'm aware that I'm relatively alone in my opinion of 121.

MY PROFESSOR THO

He used actual overhead slide projector and kept referencing MacGyver.

Oooh, who was it?

Thanks to this schedule, I was able to figure out it was Robert Clark.

^Hahaha yes! I also took 121 from him.

But I also did high school physics in Alberta, so it worked out ok.

NerdGirl wrote:^Hahaha yes! I also took 121 from him.

But I also did high school physics in Alberta, so it worked out ok.

Did you go on in the program? I took 106/108 after, and that was the end of Physics for me. (I liked it more than Chem, which surprised me.)

Yes I did, a little too much on. Did my undergrad in physics-astronomy, then a master's at BYU in physics, then went elsewhere and did a phd in astronomy. Then decided that was the wrong career choice and went to med school. And now I'm doing residency and another master's degree (in medical education), because apparently I like school a little too much.

If someone does want to be an astronomer, though, BYU is a great place to be. The astronomy profs are awesome, and they are hugely supportive of undergrad research and will help you go to conferences and publish papers and do lots cool stuff.

NerdGirl wrote:If someone does want to be an astronomer, though, BYU is a great place to be. The astronomy profs are awesome, and they are hugely supportive of undergrad research and will help you go to conferences and publish papers and do lots cool stuff.

Nice!