Expert: Philip Stahl - 1/2/2011

Question
I have just finished my Bachelor's Engineering in Electronics and Instrumentation from Dubai but I have always been interested in Astronomy even throughout my college life. Currently I have joined a Software Company for work experience for a couple of years but I plan to eventually go into R&D in Physics/Astronomy as a career after studying it from a US University. Do you think taking up Astronomy is a feasible option after working for 2 years and will the break for working effect a university's decision to grant me a Masters Program? And concerning Letters of Recommendation etc will those from my office heads be acceptable?
Thanks

Answer
Hello,

Well, writing as one who's actually done that, all I will say is that it's rather difficult to do but not impossible. (In my case, I took two years off to work for an oil company - as a geologist's assistant). I needed the change to alter my perspective on the world, which I felt was too "monkish" and insular. I was advancing but one-dimensionally, and working helped me change that. (Btw, it's never easy to re-enter the controlled 'student' environment after one has been out working!)

When I then entered the astronomy program (at University of South Florida) I was faced with basically trying to cram three years of Bachelors' requirements, courses into two years - and at times it was tasking to say the least. (It didn't help that one of my profs in the Introductory Astronomy (1 year course) believed that he had to impart the content via his old research papers!)

After graduating, despite excellent letters of recommendation from several profs, there were no jobs to be had...period. This was 1971, and a recession year. So, I opted to join the Peace Corps, then after my service, remained in Barbados to teach physics and math.  About ten years later the Barbados government paid for my postgraduate research in solar physics.

My point is that you take this up (doing astronomy after working 2 years) as a calculated risk, since there is no certainty whatever of landing a job in the aftermath. (In addition, on seeing several reports in the AAS Newsletters, it appears barely 5 of 10 recent grads are actually able to work in the field, and even fewer in academia).

Re: the Masters, be advised here that NO department I know of will grant you that degree unless you first have a specific physics or astronomy degree that fulfills *their requirements in that area* for their Masters (it tends to vary school to school).

In my case, despite having the Bachelors' degree in astronomy, I had to take a qualifying exam at the University of the West Indies to be entered for the Masters.

Hopefully this information is useful, but feel free to ask any other questions if you wish!