<p>I am having a few jitters here. I am a junior currently (4 more semesters left after this one) and need to apply for the thesis (undergraduate) program at my university in a week. I have been working on high speed CFD (fundamental studies, more science than engg.) for a year now and am looking to continue on the same for the next academic year to produce my thesis. However I am having pre-decision jitters (for lack of a better word). I love what we are doing and I can work in the same research field for years. However taking some dynamics classes, they seem interesting too. I have been to a few seminars and the work is amazing (motion planning, trajectory management, landing systems, autonomous systems etc. ) I am just not sure if I am yet ready to choose a field of specialization. If I do the thesis in CFD, would that restrict my interests once I apply to grad school (Im looking at biggies, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Michigan...)? Would it matter if I had concentrated on fluids for long and applied to autonomous systems for grad school? I am considering a research term in dynamics next summer, after the thesis. Long term, i would want to be part of a space exploration team, do they use CFD people for that? or is it mostly dynamics/control?</p>
<p>Also, having been a total nerd for fundamental studies who wasn't worried about big money, as long as i had enough to get by, i would have been happy. But something changed and I need to be worried about possible job opportunities in the future now. So I want to work on a field that has good and high paying job outlook too. Is CFD one of them? Also in grad school (PhD), how good of an idea is it to intern in the summer (just for the money)? I know right now most of the work is done during summer, mainly because i'm busy with a ton of classes through the semester. Is it the same for grad school? If someone has interned, what is the pay like for graduate interns?</p>
<p>These are a lot of questions, but anxiety seems to be taking the best of me for now. Any responses are appreciated!</p>