Going through ASU for Bachelor of Science - Advice helpful

[redliox]

If all goes well, I begin an online program through ASU in the Fall of '24, despite living in Illinois now (cost of living issues why).  Something close to 60 classes I need but the goal will be a Bachelor of Science Majoring in Astronomy, possibly Minor in Biological Sciences.  Math on the Calculus level will probably be my biggest bane, although thanks to past classes most things English or Humanities-related won't be my problem.  I already talked to their advisors and have my first 2 semesters reasonably plotted out...

Hopefully this will be wrapped up in 3 years or less, but I'm eager on suggestions.  ASU isn't quite CalTech/JPL, but I picked it knowing ALOT of the instruments bound for Jupiter and Mars originate in that University.  I'm unsure how likely an internship would yield working under a professor on, say Europa Clipper, but that'd be an example of a dream gig.

Thankfully the ASU advisors pointed out some useful tools (that I wish I had over 20 years ago), but further suggestions appreciated, especially on finding internships and routes to starting an actual science career.

[laszlo]

Nearly 50 years ago,, in my senior year, I found out that my university was building a satellite in the astrophysics department. I went over and volunteered to work on it. They were very understanding and kind to a young student and offered me the opportunity to work unpaid in the lab that was building instruments for a balloon-borne x-ray telescope. So I did that and started out building ground test equipment and eventually graduated to flight equipment. All the time I was learning more about the practical aspects of real-world engineering than any of my classes could teach me. The assignments were not predigested, there was no one right answer, the real world intervened with catastrophes and opportunities and there was no partial credit.

Somewhere along the way my volunteer position was turned into a paid one and when I graduated they offered me a job with a real salary - working on the satellite.

So your goal of an internship getting you onto a dream gig is absolutely possible. Go for it.

[Orbiter]

Apply to NASA OSTEM and Pathway internships & join a club in a leadership position. I went OSTEM, did lots of club, now I work at KSC

https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/internship-programs/

[deltaV]

In some universities the online and in-person programs are taught by different departments each with their own faculty. I have no idea if this is the case for ASU but I suggest checking. So be careful not to choose ASU because its in-person faculty do cool things if those aren't the faculty who will be teaching you.