<p>Oh, and while there are few job openings for AeroE majors compared MechE majors, there are also few graduates, so it is still not hard to find a job with an AeroE degree.</p>
<p>Also AeroE majors learn a lot of things MechE majors never learn. Many people here will tell you MechE majors learn everything AeroE majors learn and more, but that is incorrect.</p>
<p>Visa Versa is also true, MechE majors learn a lot of things that AeroE majors never learn. However they both learn a lot of the same things.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering is much broader. You could work on both aero and mechE so you have more options.</p>
<p>A MechE major can't do everything an AeroE major can do though.</p>
<p>VTBoy,
I highly recommend you not react to any posts written by zerox aka xss* aka ssj*, as this only elicits more and more inane responses.</p>
<p>General engineering know everything ANY other engineer knows only BETTER.</p>
<p>
[quote]
General engineering know everything ANY other engineer knows only BETTER.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I am just going to ignore you and your other names.</p>
<p>SSJ or whats his name is, is damn pathetic! I mean his sentences are paradoxes themselves, really illogical and really cool! ;0) Oh yeah,,,and Im going to UM for aerospace engineer, if anyone out there is going to UM for Aero, pm me or something.</p>
<p>So back to my original question: What are my chances at a stable, well paid job if I do a dual in aerospace/mechanical engineering??? (Note that this is a dual major, NOT a double degree here at RPI, and all it does is takes care of free electives)</p>
<p>I think you have a good shot, if you have a good GPA. I know people with just AE degrees, and they found jobs right away. So if you have a high GPA then you should be fine.</p>
<p>About the job outlook for aerospace engineers...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iseek.org/sv/13000.jsp?id=120124%5B/url%5D">http://www.iseek.org/sv/13000.jsp?id=120124</a></p>
<p>"Nationally, the number of jobs for aerospace engineers is expected to decline through the year 2012.</p>
<p>Foreign competition and the slowdown in air travel will limit the number of new jobs for aerospace engineers related to the design and production of commercial aircraft. Despite the expected decline in employment, favorable opportunities are expected for aerospace engineers through 2012 because the number of degrees granted in aerospace engineering has declined greatly over the last decade due to the perceived lack of opportunities in this occupation.</p>
<p>The decline in degree production has reached the point that the number trained in aerospace engineering may not be adequate to replace the large numbers of aerospace engineers who are expected to leave the occupation, especially due to retirement, over the 2002-12 period. Some employment opportunities also will occur in industries not typically associated with aerospace, such as motor vehicle manufacturing."</p>
<p>Does this seem true to you guys?</p>
<p>hehe, well, according to theat quote from the nasa presentation, yep! i know ou (runningwater) have seen it...:)</p>
<p>pasted below from the other thread for reference:</p>
<p>
[quote]
During the 60's space race, numerous high school and college students went into engineering and science fields, intent on joining the ranks of NASA and working on sending an American to the moon. While the majority of those never worked for the government or even on the Apollo project, they went out and applied their eng. and sci. knowlege to other projects.</p>
<p>Since that time, there has only been a decrease in the number of science and engineering graduates in the US. The space-race era students are now in their 60's - old to be retiring when the current classes graduate. As a result, current engineers will move up to fill their ranks, and positions right for new college grads will open up.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay, the thing about it is, the people who are saying that you can get a job as an aerospace engineer with a mechanical engineering degree just as easily as you can with an aerospace engineering degree are right.</p>
<p>What I'm not sure you guys realize is that when you've gotten your degree and get a job, you have ONLY BEGUN to learn about engineering. Despite my being just shy of a masters degree in structural engineering from UIUC, there's no WAY I'm going out there and designing a skyscraper right off the bat! An undergraduate degree just gives you the <em>tools</em> you need in order to build on those and learn whatever profession you go into. Whatever you do, you're going to need to learn much, much more, once you're finally gainfully employed, in order to do your job well.</p>
<p>That said, yes, VTBoy, an aerospace engineering major will learn about some useful tools that a mechanical engineering major may not learn, but then, a mechanical engineering major is going to learn useful things that an aerospace engineering major might not have learned. Essentially, when they both start their jobs at NASA, they're on an even plateau.</p>
<p>The reason why people are recommending a mechanical engineering major over an aerospace engineering major is a valid one, and it's all about EMPLOYABILITY, rather than COURSE PREPARATION. Aerospace engineering is a much more specific degree. A mechanical engineering graduate may not have some of the tools that an aerospace engineer has, but he/she will be able to get a job in an aerospace design capacity just as easily as an aerospace engineering grad, since mechanical engineering is known by aerospace industry employers to be a perfectly acceptable avenue into the field.</p>
<p>However, if you decide during your senior year that you'd rather design cars and work for Chrysler instead, a mechanical engineering degree will leave your options more open than if you get an aerospace engineering degree.</p>
<p>It's something very important to consider. Even if you may be <em>absolutely positive</em> that you want to work for Lockheed-Martin some day, a mechanical engineering degree (and hey, take some electives in aerospace engineering, if you want) will give you more flexibility in the future.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>aibarr I know ME have more mobility, and people like SS2 where saying ME learn EVERYTHING an AE will learn an more. Infact people like SS2 said ME know more about Aerospace Engineering than an AE Major. That makes no sense at all.</p>
<p>If ME can move easily into AE positions, would it then be possible for AE to move into ME positions?</p>
<p>If ME can move easily into AE positions, would it then be possible for AE to move into ME positions?</p>
<p>They can but it would be more difficult, than for a ME to move into an AE position.</p>
<p>Eh, not nearly as easily. AE is more a subset of ME.</p>
<p>Think of it this way: an AE degree gives you a danged good metric socket set, a brake bleed kit, an engine code scanner, an air compressor, a gift certificate for a bunch of Campbell-Hausfield equipment, and some other high-quality mechanics' tools. You're missing some stuff, sure, but you've got a lot of the things you need in order to work on BMWs!</p>
<p>A ME degree, on the other hand, gives you a full set of screwdrivers, a socket set, a hammer, some vise grips, a nice DeWalt 14V drill/driver, some wrenches, a tape measure, a hand saw, and a few other things that you'd drool over at Sears.</p>
<p>An aerospace engineer would be able to help you pretty well with that funky pinging noise that you're getting from your 3-series's engine. A mechanical engineer might be able to do something with your BMW, if you brought it in with a problem, and they could definitely learn in time, and pick up some new tools to help you out, and it might take them a little longer to get to the point where they could help you, but they'd get there eventually. Not as quickly as the aerospace engineer, but they'd get there.</p>
<p>Turn it around, now. You've got your mechanical engineer and your aerospace engineer, and you need to build a dining room table. Well, the mechanical engineer's got you covered. They'll start in buying the lumber and would get straight to work. The aerospace engineer has a pretty good idea of how one would build a dining room table, but he/she surveys their delightful pneumatic tools that work so well with fixing BMWs and realizes that a lot of what he/she has is either overkill or is not nearly as applicable to the wider, more general gambit of tools that the ME has.</p>
<p>Sorry. They opened a new Home Depot here about a month ago, and I've spent waaaay too much time drooling in their aisles lately.</p>
<p>On the whole, though, an AE and an ME are in the same corner, so far as these tools they're given go. In contrast, I'd say that a physics or chemistry major has a spatula, a cheese grater, and a really nice Rubbermaid mixer. ;)</p>
<p>So in this case, if i really want to go into AE but keep my options open (change in outlook, change in preferences, etc), would it make sense to do undergrad in AE, then grad in ME? (or vice versa?).</p>
<p>What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing AE-->ME or ME-->AE (UGrad-->Grad)?</p>
<p>(And, to continue aibarr's analogy, biology majors have AE boyfriends, and that's about as far as their toolkits go ;))</p>
<p>Being said biology major with the AE boyfriend, I think aerospace can be a good thing iff (and I do mean iff, not if) you're super-psyched about airplanes (my boyfriend would be a miserable ME because he just doesn't love robots the way he loves airplanes), and you're going to a school with a pretty good aero/astro program. Otherwise I think you're better off in ME.</p>
<p>LOL. iff. Nerd. ;)</p>
<p>Anyhow, I agree with molliebatmit, and if you <em>don't</em> live/breathe/dream airplanes 100% of your time, and if your only reading material <em>isn't</em> the Jane's Guide, then you might want to consider the ME degree. I'd do the ME undergrad-->AE grad. It goes from broad to narrow focus, which is essentially what the undergrad-grad progression is supposed to look like, anyhow. That'd probably help you out most, and would make the most sense for someone in your position.</p>