General astronomy

It is not going to be easy for you to become an astronomer. You will need to be clever, persevering and lucky. There are not many jobs available and there will be lots of competition for them. Our recommendation is that at every stage in your path to becoming an astronomer you keep your options open so that you always have skills suitable for other jobs, in case you fail in your aim to be an astronomer.

The better qualified you can become then the more likely you are to be able to find a job in Astronomy. Without several good GCSE grades you will almost certainly not become an astronomer. A levels will help a little bit but good grades will get you into a good university. A good Physics or Maths degree will put you into a position where you could get an astronomy job but to do research work you will almost certainly need to do a doctorate. This means that you will be a student up to the age of about 24, at least. It also means that you will need to do a lot of hard work. At the same time I am sure you will find you have a lot of fun and satisfaction.

GCSE subjects

You should aim to do well in as many GCSE subjects as possible but the ones which will be most important are Mathematics, Physics and any other science. Subjects like Modern Languages, Computer Science and Geography can be useful. Make sure that you get good grades in English as you will always need to be able to write well.

A-levels

You should aim to get the best grades possible in three A-level subjects so that you can get into a good university. The most important subjects to study are Mathematics and Physics. You should do one other science subject.

If you are not able to do A-levels then you might be able to train for a job which will let you work alongside astronomers in a field such as electronics or computing. You will, however, find that your chances of doing this will be very small.

University courses

The UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) handbook and/or your school will give you details of which universities offer which courses. Not many Universities offer first degrees in Astronomy. Some have Astronomy courses as part of the Physics or Mathematics degree but many do not include any astronomy. Our recommendation is that you get to the best University that your A level results, and your school's preferences, allow.

The best degree subjects will be either Mathematics or Physics or a combination of these with Astronomy or Astrophysics. Do not be too worried at this stage to include Astronomy, the most important thing is to get a good basic education in mathematics or physics. The specialisation into Astronomy can always come later.

You will almost certainly need to do other subjects as well as your main subject, especially in your first years. Concentrate on getting as good a degree as possible.

If you want to go on to do research you will need to study for a doctorate. To be able to do this then you should aim at a first-class degree, or at least an upper-second. Without one of these you will find it almost impossible to get either a research studentship or a grant.

Computing

All modern science needs good computing skills. The ability to type fairly fast is very useful as is the ability to write good English. At University, and even at school, you will have opportunities to use computers. Take these and get used to using and writing programmes and understand the mathematical principles behind the programmes. Playing computer games is not a very useful accomplishment!

Your interest in Astronomy

You would not be reading this note if you were not already interested in Astronomy. While a knowledge of the sky and how to locate objects, like M31 or Neptune, with a small telescope will probably not help you with your serious astronomical career it will provide you with a fascinating hobby (one which some professional astronomers maintain during their careers).

Read all you can about astronomy. Articles on modern developments can be found in the serious press and in magazines such as New Scientist. Knowledge and understanding of what is happening in astronomy will always be useful when it comes to interviews.

Conclusion

You will need a lot of good fortune and hard work to become an astronomer. Most of this will be up to you but we can offer you the best of luck and say that it is worth it!