Doctorate in Astronomy

If I wanted to get a PhD or similar degree in Astronomy, starting from scratch, how would I do this?

I need something that is as cheap as possible.

 

Here is a good source for DL programs in the Arts and Sciences: LINK

You will see that there are a couple of masters programs and one doctorate program.

 

I would like to develop a great deal of formalized knowledge in this field.

I have no desire to teach or work in a research lab since I already have a job.

 

First, you admit the fact that you sound like a bozo who hasn't done his research. (By the way, welcome to degreeinfo.com.)

"Ph.D. or similar degree?" First, you learn the difference between a Ph.D. and "similar degrees."

"Starting from scratch?" Does this mean that you have no formal learning in astronomy already? If it does, take three steps back - one does not go for a doctorate in any field without significant prior learning in that field.

And "as cheap as possible?" Don't you know, sport, that you get what you pay for? If you're merely looking for a piece of paper to masturbate over, buy a diploma mill credential. But don't expect to find a credible doctorate "as cheap as possible." Cost may be an important consideration, but it sounds like you've made it your primary consideration - and you won't get a decent doctorate on that basis.

That said, read this thread. John Wetsch is an old friend of degreeinfo.com who did his bachelor's/master's/doctorate at Excelsior, Antioch, and Nova Southeastern. He's not a full-time distance education professional, but you won't find anyone with better experience in the medium. (Well, except me. I did my three degrees at Edison, Vermont/Norwich, and Union, and we used to joke that John and I took similar paths at different institutions.) A few years ago, John decided to top everything off with an extra layer of icing - and he successfully completed a Master's in Astronomy from a leading Australian university.
______________________

P.S. You may not like my attitude, but tough - you sounded like you need a reality check. Good luck.

 

Re: Re: Doctorate in Astronomy

I understand John is now pursuing a professional doctorate at James Cook U.

See this site for diploma, master and doctorate astronomy programs
http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/mathphys/astronomy/index.shtml

 

University of South Africa www.unisa.ac.za

 

Wow. Michigan State offers a DL PhD in Physics? Who knew?

Not that I'd want one, but I find it amazing that one could do such a degree DL.

 

>>First, you admit the fact that you sound like a bozo who hasn't done his research. (By the way, welcome to degreeinfo.com.)


Well, I may be a bozo, but I am not uneducated.

I do appreciate your input though.

By similar degree, I was refering to the Doctorate of Astronomy vs the PhD vs stopping at a masters degree.

 

Welcome aboard, Stephen. I hauled up a few ancient threads on astronomy which I ran across looking for something else. There may be something in them of use to you.

 

Ahhhh! Nothing is as invigorating to the new poster as the icy blast of Steve's disdain. If you've been tempered by that and are still viewing the thread, there two and two-halves main graduate-level distance programs in astronomy or space science:

1. UNISA of South Africa, though this program may require a trip to Pretoria to defend your thesis. That is up to your committee and their word is final.

2. James Cook University of Townsville, Australia. Again, you might have to appear to defend. This one may well be your best bet; hope you have sufficient math, electromagnetics, thermodynamics, etc.

The two half-programs are so-called for the reasons noted:

3. Swinburne Astronomy Online of Australia. This is a terminal Master of Science in Astronomy. It is a somewhat lightweight, non-research degree upon which a Doctorate cannot be based.

4. University of North Dakota. They offer a Master of Science in space studies (i.e., commercial/international/military use of near space). They are proposing a Ph.D. program.

I did not discuss cost because that's just gauche. Good luck and let us know what you do.

 

I would like to respectfully disagree. Discussing costs is not gauche. It is the height of practicality. We all live in the real world and if money was no object then many of us would be attending B&M universities, happily ignorant of DL and degreeinfo.
I do not discuss specific costs because they change from program to program and they change through time and it's just too much work to keep up with the costs of all programs. Despite this, I think it's safe to say that from the programs that Mark listed, that the UNISA program will be, by far, the most affordable. Without checking I would guess that the program in North Dakota would next in the affordability line. Best of luck.
Jack
(by the way, I would heartedly agree that if you've gotten through your first barrage from Levicoff relatively unscathed then you've earned yourself membership in a rather large club)
*Note to Steve: please don't scare away the newbies.

 

Thank you, Jack, and cost is a significant consideration, but I think more in the workaday world of the career Bachelor or the managerial Masters than in the domain of the Doctorate.

People seeking a first Bachelor or MBA often do so for reasons of economics. They (may) have a job and wish to improve their lot with a credential. The goal they're seeking focuses primarily on the pay-out and it would make sense to keep costs in mind.

At the level of the Doctorate, however, the opportunity cost alone of the time spent chugging through the topic negotiation, research and hundred(s) of pages of dissertation will utterly dwarf whatever financial outlay you've made for the degree. Given the glut of Doctorates and compromised wages especially in astronomy even embarking upon such a endeavor is the height of impracticality. You are, as I hear others describe, essentially married to your program for three, five, or seven years. The process transforms you, academically, from a directed learner to a independent contributor to the collected body of human knowledge. Yes, there's a fee bill; you pay it.

There is always a question of the resources one brings to the table when pursuing any project. Along with Steve, I submit in the case of the Doctorate the concern over cost, considering the scale of innate ability and eventual effort that are essential for success, is not primary (perhaps not even tertiary). It raises concern over the poster's preparedness for such rigor to broach the subject in the very first post.

It would be a bit like asking a date's income and credit rating during the first date.

 

I would agree that the concept of opportunity cost is critical to anyones plans regarding graduate (especially Doctoral) education.
Jack

 

>Ahhhh! Nothing is as invigorating to the new poster as the icy >blast of Steve's disdain. If you've been tempered by that and >are still viewing the thread, there two and two-halves main >graduate-level distance programs in astronomy or space science:
>
>1. UNISA of South Africa, though this program may require a trip >to Pretoria to defend your thesis. That is up to your committee >and their word is final.
>
>2. James Cook University of Townsville, Australia. Again, you >might have to appear to defend. This one may well be your best >bet; hope you have sufficient math, electromagnetics, >thermodynamics, etc.

Thank you for your information.

I am well aware of how impractical this project is, which is what makes it appealing. I found a useful website: www.phds.org with this link: http://www.donbarry.org/~don/jobmarket.html

Even though I have a BA in math, it looks like I have a significant amount of pre-reqs to do before attempting to enroll in either one of these programs.

Does anyone have any experience with either James Cook or UNISA in astronomy? What are the merits of either program?

Thank you very much.

 

I'm not permanently removing it from consideration; there are several far more difficult hurdles one must first negotiate before arranging finanacing. Cost can still be a show-stopper but it's not the first and most insurmountable.

I believe we're essentially in agreement. Steve sometimes brings out the flippant in me; I probably should have said I wouldn't discuss cost because that would be premature.

 

Stephen,

I wish you the very best of luck. If I had less sputter and more spunk I would be right behind you. I may still engage the Swinburne program.

If you anticipate entering one of the Doctoral programs, yes, you had better get a good background in undergrad-level physics. You might still be required to take a 400-level or two anyway upon acceptance. A good resource while learning physics is the Physics Forums .

Another suggestion is to start reading the current research, even if but cursorily. A great place for you is the e-Print archive. Here you'll find the latest and (most often) complete astrophysics articles submitted to refereed journals. Set aside an hour daily to read this and get into that habit now.

One reason this is such an opportune time for you to make a contribution to astronomy has to do with the different skill sets now in demand. There is currently happening what has been called a data avalanche in astronomy. Large, multi-national scopes with sensors and automated processing equipment are dumping gigabytes, terabytes and soon petabytes of raw data - daily - into online databases. This data is on thousands of objects in wavelengths from radio to gamma ray. Much of it goes essentially unexamined. There is a dearth of individuals (=opportunity) who have a formal background in astronomy yet can configure or utilize the data mining or other skills to correlate disparate datasets and make God knows how many discoveries.

You can make good use of your mathematics degree and you might want to knock back a few computer science classes along with the physics.

Before you're targeted for a second round of ear-boxing, I suggest you un-ask that question, do a Google search for astronomers' CV's with UNISA or James Cook listed therein, write them for their experiences and report back. Levicoff is actually making a good point of doing the research yourself if you're seriously considering a PhD or professional Doctorate program.

Good luck,
Mark