Astrophysics PhD with Chemical Engineering B.S.?

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skysaw
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31 Jan 2009, 6:51 pm

I have a question. How easy is it to get onto an Astrophysics PhD programme with a chemical engineering background? (I know chem. eng. involves some maths, but I've no idea how much.)

DNForrest, I'm just curious, and I'm not trying to put you off. In fact, I'd say "go for it". But maybe that's just because I often wish I'd gone and done a PhD myself.



DNForrest
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31 Jan 2009, 7:14 pm

For an average Chemical Engineer, possibly. The only issue I'd see is that a person with an Astrophysics B.S. has taken several more Astronomy courses (of course), but we have about the same amount of Physics and Math. I can probably offset this by my own interest that I've had in Astrophysics for years, mixed in with working at a Planetarium for three years.



Space
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02 Feb 2009, 11:19 pm

Shiggily wrote:
Space wrote:
Shiggily wrote:
Space wrote:
I would not go get your PHd. A PHD is useless without experience, unless you want to be a prof. If I were you, I would get a job in the oilfield in petroleum engineering.


in science and math you can guarantee that you are not worth much without a PhD. other fields like history, english, etc. the Doctorate is not as important.

Not true for engineering.


yes and no. I know engineers. the Masters/Doctorate matters.

If you want to do research. Otherwise, they look for field experience.



Oggleleus
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03 Feb 2009, 11:29 am

Shiggily wrote:
Space wrote:
I would not go get your PHd. A PHD is useless without experience, unless you want to be a prof. If I were you, I would get a job in the oilfield in petroleum engineering.


in science and math you can guarantee that you are not worth much without a PhD. other fields like history, english, etc. the Doctorate is not as important.


Damn, I must be overpaid then. With just a B.S. in Math and a knack for all-things computers, I've done pretty well. My first job was making $16,000 per year. I took it because of the interesting work and needed something on my resume. Now, 14 years later, employers look at my experience more than education to determine my value as a potential employee. I get calls once a week by headhunters, even in this economy. It's not always what your education is, it's what you do with it that counts. And, I've supported the NASA ED as a contractor.

Good Luck in whatever you do.



skysaw
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03 Feb 2009, 11:57 am

Oggleleus, what do you do?
It's not obvious from your post.



Oggleleus
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03 Feb 2009, 3:51 pm

skysaw wrote:
Oggleleus, what do you do?
It's not obvious from your post.


Technical Lead: Web Application Development, System Administration, Database Administration, Technical & Business Writing.

I've worked nearly every position in the software development life cycle.

Granted, a B.S. in Math will not get you that high paying job right out of college but it is a good solid education base to have. Heck, I had a psychology professor that wanted me to enter the Masters program in psychology.

My goal in college my senior year was to get out of school and start working. I found experience often times trumped education but having a good mix of the two is ideal. I figured, if I could get a job working for a company that had an employee education program then I could get paid to go back to school. That was my angle, but I have not gone back to college. I'm thinking about going back and currently weighing Business & Finance, Computer Science, Math or something else.

It took me about 1.5 years to get my first college-degree-related job after college. After college, I realized that I knew very little about very much. I'm not very creative but my background allows me to jump from an employee database application to verifying imaginary numbers used for a data feed.

Good Luck.



cassandra
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12 Feb 2009, 9:41 am

Why not go back to uni, do your Phd and go into research via the uni? Academic life is well paid and is better than the jobs in the "outside" world of academia.



kbergren21
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12 Feb 2009, 10:05 pm

Having a PE license with LEED certification will get you a much better positions than a PHD. Plus you get paid while doing it! Also separated military members/veterans get first dibs on government jobs... Regardless of qualifications. Honestly, its not all that great. You get put into management and you get to do nothing fun but argue with contractors. Say hello to endless piles of paperwork woohoo guess that why they get paid the big bucks.