Why study astronomy at Ohio State?

Hear directly from our current students and recently graduated alumni about why they study astronomy at Ohio State.

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SALIM KARIMOV

You should study astronomy at OSU, because I believe the department prepares you for success. The classes you take, the people you meet, and the community you build here at OSU around astronomy is one of the best. I wholeheartedly enjoyed my three years and I think other people would enjoy studying astronomy here as well.

KAIA ATZBERGER

I keep choosing astronomy because it's like a puzzle you have to put together and we don't even have all the edge pieces. It's really exciting trying to put something together like that.

You should study here for the people. I have professors and research advisors who actively support my goals, and I've made friends that uplift and help me when I'm reminded just how hard this major can be sometimes. I think the community here is really great.

HARRISON BLAKE-GOSZYK

The culture of the astronomy department and the people in it are absolutely fantastic. Even now that I'm in this stage of my career where I get to go to other places to conferences, I constantly hear so much about how lucky I am to be at OSU astronomy.

There are tons of advisors that were super supportive and helped me get to where I am today. A lot of travel to conferences, also a lot of interaction with the professors as well. You could throw a dart in the astronomy department and hit a fantastic advisor.

BAILEE WOLFE

I decided to study astronomy because I felt like I could combine my interests in science and computing and problem solving. And also, it gave me opportunities to travel to really cool places.

From my first visit to OSU, I just knew that this would be a department that would support me regardless of where my undergrad career took me. I immediately felt connected with professors and students here, and that drew me here.

I think that you would be surprised by the opportunities that come with studying astronomy, but not only the field itself, but being at an institution like Ohio State. People were able to help me find internships and research programs to apply for that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. And I felt like the faculty were always very willing to help you get involved in research or in whatever area you were interested in, even if you started to move outside of astronomy, they wanted to help you. 

AUDREY ZINN

When I came to Ohio State, I wasn't actually studying astronomy. And then I went on a trip to Greenbank, West Virginia, with the astronomy society here. And I really liked everybody. They just seemed to really like what they were doing and they were all very passionate about it. And so it seemed like something that I would rather do.

I would definitely say that Ohio State prepared me for being in the space industry. Between the classes, between the amount of research opportunities, just the people that you meet, the connections that you have, they really go a long way. And everywhere I go that I tell people I went to Ohio State, they know somebody that also went to Ohio State and they instantly have a perception of me that is very positive.