It is me again

Thanks all
With a 3.86 and a first author ApJ paper you have nothing to worry about. Hahaha. A physics background is fine. You should do relatively well this year, although COVID will prevent you from doing as well as you should, as with everyone. Usually those excellent stats give you a decent chance at the top 10, you can check profile threads to get an idea. So if I were you I’d go for mainly astro programs.gaugeinvariance wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:55 amThank you so much for the valuable information. In particular, paragraph 3 really catches my eye!
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It is true that, like HEP, astronomy is a very popular field, and applicants generally want to take astronomy courses and do an astronomy qualifying exam rather than taking physics courses and quals completely unrelated to your research. Thus, your odds are slightly better to get into physics PhD programs. However, that might have different meaning person to person. Astronomy admissions seem to place more weight on research experience and less weight on GRE scores, so if you have done significant amounts of research or have a lower GPA/GRE you are better off applying for astronomy. I would apply to both, and advise against applying to just one or the other.
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Here is the issue, despite the GRE scores that are not required this year, I am having a reasonable GPA (3.86/4.00) and in terms of research experience, I have got a paper (first author) submitted to ApJ. But the problem is I am coming from a physics background, for which I didn't take much Astronomy course, and on the other hand, some department of astronomy really place the deadline so early (For example, December 1), for which I may not have got enough time to submit all the required information. These factors really hinder me from applying directly to astronomy PhD, provided that transfer from physics to astronomy is always possible! But what you talked about - applying both, is really new to me, how do I suppose to explain to the school why do I apply both?![]()
Very good points!geekusprimus wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:43 pmSomething that's being left out here: what are you interested in? Do you want to do physics, or do you want to do astronomy?
Although coursework at the undergraduate level is quite similar, coursework at the graduate level is quite different. A typical physics department requires courses in quantum mechanics, E&M, classical mechanics, and math methods, plus some electives. Fundamental coursework in astronomy will be things like observational techniques, stellar evolution, galaxy formation, and methods of radiative transfer, plus some electives. You'll touch on the fundamentals of a physics department, but those topics won't be covered with nearly the same breadth. It's not difficult to get courses in either department approved if there's a need for it, but your primary coursework will be very different. Classes like general relativity and cosmology will frequently be cross-listed and/or offered in both programs, but something like quantum field theory will be only in a physics department while exoplanets would be pretty much only in an astro department.