Melody, a high schooler

An email I received:


Hi!

Thanks so much! I don't know how much Susan told you, but I'm really interested in astronomy, especially planetary science! :) What field of astronomy do you study? At Caltech, is astronomy merged with physics and math? Or are there plenty of astro courses and professors?

I also know that JPL is near Caltech (or it might be in Caltech, haha). Do you get to intern / work there a lot?

Thank you!

Melody

My response:

Oh hello! :D

I'm an astrophysicist, so that means a bunch of straight up physics with different elective classes and sequences we take. It's half physics, half astronomy classes based very heavily on physics and some coding/math.

It's Caltech's only astronomy program; there is a Planetary Science major (we call them options) in the GPS (geological, planetary science) division, where astro is in the PMA (Phys, math, astronomy/physics) division. So Astronomy is actually astrophysics at caltech, which is really mostly physics, which involves lots of math! :D It's fricking amazing!

But you don't have to worry; there are so many astro courses. And so many more professors. we have a building, Cahill: http://morphopedia.com/projects/cahill-center-for-astronomy-and-astrophy which rocks everyone's socks off. The profs are great - about a third are pretty old and super, super smart (whereas the geo/gps profs are either a bit boring or ridiculously awesome - mostly the latter) and about half are young, new, and in love with their subject, whether its exosolar planets or black holes/agn (active galactic nuclei) or any of a list of extraordinary astrophysical phenomena that are way over my head.

This is the course requirements: 

http://catalog.caltech.edu/pdf/catalog_11_12_part3.pdf (search astrophysics option to get to the right page)

A list of courses at caltech:

http://catalog.caltech.edu/pdf/catalog_11_12_part5.pdf

Courses this term (we're on a trimester schedule): 

http://regis.caltech.edu/schedules/FA2011-12.html

So JPL is a 15min drive away, so there's not much interaction. There is, I think, if you're a postdoc or professor who does planetary science stuff. If you want to work there, I believe it's more of an engineering thing. (Mars Rover and all that). There's also a lot of computer work done at JPL. I'm sure Susan's told you about her lab/research, so it's viable for you to work for a Summer Research thing there (SURF). You will probably be expected to know some level of programming for JPL, however, so if you want to research there, make sure you know a bit.

I'm having the time of my life. Today I had three classes in the morning: Ay20, the intro astro sequence on the local neighborhood and galaxies, taught amazingly well (almost no lecture and mostly collaboratively working on problems that require ingenuity); Ma2a, a core class on Ordinary differential eqns, and ACM95a, a nice and famously hard intro to computations involving complex variables. I'm learning things, relevant and interesting things, that I had no idea even existed back in high school. That's what Caltech is to me.

Last year, as I had never taken anything related to astronomy or geology, I really wanted to - just cause it sounded awesome (ie I love the subjects haha). I took Ay20, a very heavily lecture-dependent, derivation-based exploration of the universe and the formation of structure. It was my favorite class I've ever had, and also the hardest - I spent at least 15hrs a week on classes, reading, and especially the 10+hr-long sets. It was hard, but totally worth it. I guess this should be qualified by the fact that I don't remember it all, now, as we moved a bit too fast for me, which is really unfortunate.

I also took two intro geology classes, one on the biosphere and the rock record of life/oxygen/geologic events, taught by my favorite professor :) (he was intelligent and engaging and hilarious and fun) and one a geo/astro intro to planetary sciences, which I didn't enjoy as much. We did simple mechanics, looked at the solar system and stuff.

So yeah, hope that was helpful. I love Caltech - the people, the professors and classes and the culture and Astro and geo - but it's not for everyone (like Susan). I guess you have to be okay with a slightly quirky culture, a tiny school with a large population of lone workers, and a lot of hard work. But we also complain too much (it's a lot of work, but it fits the school) so if you're "really interested" like you say, this is the place.  A lot of people are bitter - perhaps I'm still too young - a lot more than other schools, I think. But then, we skip out on crazy dramatics and stupid frats as well, so it's your pick.

Cool. You should definitely apply - if the opportunity presents itself, you can always say no upon reflection.

I guess as a final say, you should decide for yourself. You need to be sure - and I mean sure - that you love science/engineering/math, or else you will be disappointed  You can't just quit planetary science and do history, at least not that good of a program, so if you're not sure, go to Harvard or Princeton or  Berkeley or JHU or any number of other schools (and for state schools, any UC, and UW in seattle and madison that I've heard of) that are also amazing for astro - for undergrad science, I think it matters most how much you put into your classes, not the name of the school.

I come from a family that really didn't want me to do astro or geology, and tried to push me towards medicine and (when I refused) econ. I come from a tiny midwestern high school that only taught me a bit a physics and math and a lot of how to interact with kids to whom graduating hs was tricky and getting a PhD literally means nothing to them. As in, under 20 kids had heard of MIT. It is so much more nerdy here, and (although I loved, loved high school) coming here has expanded every horizon imaginable.

You'll probably love college wherever you go (at least I hope!). If you are passionate about astro/science, you can go anywhere for a wonderful education.

Yeah, that was very long ;) bye!

Monica

If you read that all, i) I'm impressed with your patience, cause no way would I have, and ii) any suggestions are good. Although it's probably way too much info already. If you haven't noticed, I'm long-winded.