Even if strong in science, students who are not strong, confident writers might consider deferring the course. In 15 years of reading term papers it has become obvious to me that one thing UVa does well is teaching students how to write. It is not a course on UFO's. See ASTR 347. It is not a course on interstellar travel.
Some engineering students seem to expect space ship design.
I will touch only briefly on interstellar travel.