Oh yeah, Astrophysics

So....I feel like I write that a lot. "So," but it doesn't matter. Here's the thing, I want to apply to CalTech for my PhD. Yes, I know, CalTech is one of the hardest schools to get into and PhD's are even harder, but it's my top choice for school so there you have it. There are two major reasons: first, their curriculum is class and research based, which I prefer over straight research based and second, they have a really amazing Geological and Planetary Sciences department.

As pretty much everyone knows, I want to work on Martian Colinization plans, so I need a background in Planetary Sciences in some capacity. I think my educational path to date is pretty weird, but comprehensive:

BA in Anthropology (study of human interaction)
Certificate in Wildlife/Forestry Conservation (study of human/environment interaction)
MSc in Organic Agriculture (study of humanity trying to fix their environmental interaction - food production)
MSc in Agroecology (study of how food production effects the environment)

*and the additional Certificate in Computer Science is always helpful.

If I pursue a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering with a focus on Microbial Ecology, Planetary Atmosphere, and Paleoclimatology, the combination should give me (I hope) a decent chance at working for SpaceX or NASA on livibility experiments or planning for off-Earth habitation. If I can excell at the Water Challenge Project, that would give me another practical experience project under my belt. *Shades of The Martian, anyone?*

But, Astrophysics? Where does that come in?

Well, in the Summer of 2016, I attended the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Teacher Research Academy for the level one Fusion and Astrophysics training. I will admit, I freaked out on the math because I stopped at Pre-Calc/Trig a long, long time ago. My decision was to switch to BioTech for the 2017 summer program which I never attended because I came to Wageningen instead.

It does not mean, however, that I am giving up on attempting to learn about physics and astronomy and the crazy combination that is Astrophysics and when Wageningen announced that I could take a series of online courses from The Austrailian National University and receive credit in Astrophysics, I jumped at the opportunity. I am currently taking the first course (Great Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe) and awaiting final approval from the Wageningen Study Board, but my hope is that I will be able to do well and add an Astrophysics course to my course listing before I graduate.

I was hoping that the Earth Systems Modeling course I took would also show my interest and potential, but I didn't do as well as I hoped in that course, which makes me a bit disheartened, but also, annoyed. Not with the teachers, mind you, but myself. I feel like I should have done better and am annoyed that I didn't manage to reflect the level of knowledge I attained from the class.

**Update: I redid my Earth Systems Modeling exam and ended up with a final grade of 7, which is a high "B" in the US system of grading, which I feel does reflect my knowledge skills.**

I also know I need to do much better on my Statistics re-take because Stats is used in everything and I can't afford to not understand ANOVA tables and F-values.

So, life goals:

Pass Stats Exam.
Pass Earth System Modeling Exam. *Update: B grade.*
Do well on Astrophysics.
Hit the Water Challenge out of the ball park! *Update: non-interactive project.*
Get into CalTech.

Oh yeah, graduate. LOL