Aerospace Engr. PhD after undergraduate

<p>I am currently an undergraduate and plan on pursuing PhD in Aerospace engr (currently BS Aero). Eventually I want to work for a research lab or a research facility like JPL, Ames, NASA Goddard or maybe develop my own lab at a university like CalTech or MIT or the same in astronautics(dynamics, propulsion or anything but materials).</p>

<p>I am in a fix because I started school in Spring rather than Fall but I caught up with the rest of the class and am on track with graduation with them (A semester earlier than expected). But I also added a Physics Minor which now adds an equivalent of a semester of course work. This puts me on track with graduation in Fall 2015 rather than Spring 2015 (technically i just take 4 years). But I was looking at Caltech or MIT or princeton for a Doctoral and they only accept Fall admissions meaning If i graduate on time I will have about 8 months to do nothing.</p>

<p>Now I have a couple of options to do if I want to get a PhD and save my self the year i could waste
1. Drop the minor, i am doing it because I want to. I love physics and want to stay in touch because I plan to work with new propulsion technology rather than conventional. This saves me a semester
2. Graduate in 4 years and wait 8 months before starting school again or apply to smaller schools that accept spring admissions too (GaTech, Texas A&M). But this puts me in a fix because most faculty at caltech and MIT, JPL seem to be from MIT and the likes. On the other side this option gives me an extra summer for research as an undergraduate</p>

<p>Anyone have any suggestions about the above two options? Or new ones? Which option is more feasible and better for me? I am an international student</p>

<p>Also I don't wanna be old as **** when I start to earn, that would suck for my family since I have to support them. For specifics I am already working on research at my school and plan to continue doing it throughout and my gpa is above a 3.5</p>

<p>Okay well, I don’t know about engineering, but I’m pretty sure you need to get a masters degree first. That’s a lot of years of Gschool in a row, and I would not recommend taking all the way up to PhD so soon, unless you can afford it now. </p>

<p>I would take some time off and get some job experience for a few years (after getting a masters). Your employer may even pay for you yo get a PhD.</p>

<p>Sent from my PC36100 using CC</p>

<p>If I were you and you really wanted the minor, try to stretch out all your classes including your major. So instead of finishing everything in fall of '15 you finish in the spring of '16. All the while you can continue to do research.</p>

<p>What are you talking about with #2. “But this puts me in a fix because most faculty at caltech and MIT, JPL seem to be from MIT and the likes.”
?..</p>

<p>You have the wrong mentality here. </p>

<p>Why can’t you work during the 8 months?
You don’t need a physics minor. </p>

<p>JPL is part of Caltech and belongs to NASA. You’re be more exposed to that lab if you went to Caltech. In terms of competitiveness, those schools you listed are at the top of the top. Every part of your application has to be stellar. </p>

<p>The labs you listed are ‘national’ labs. Are you planning on becoming a US citizen? If not, you won’t be able to work in those labs. If you’re planning on working in the US in the AE industry and don’t want to limit yourself to a lot of job opportunities, you should become a citizen. I know some labs, even for PhD applicants, require citizenship due to government funding, particularly NASA></p>

<p>

You don’t need a Masters degree to enroll in a PhD program!</p>

<p>If you love physics, get the minor.</p>

<p>8 months sounds like a long time when you’re in school, but really, in the grand scheme, it’s nothing. Apply the next cycle, show your passion and specialty, that’s more important than anything. Maybe it’ll give you more time to reach out to the faculty and create the relationships to actually admit you with a 3.5 gpa.</p>

<p>yeah that is what I was thinking about, just wasn’t sure that was the best idea. Doing extra time, I just wasn’t sure it would be worth it.</p>

<p>Same reason, I can’t work because I am an international and obviously most companies need you to be citizen to work on space systems. And yeah I hope I can get citizenship, working at these labs is a really long time dream. Plus they do the actual research, most companies just work on projects that are commercially profitable. I want to be able to contribute and not just make money. </p>

<p>I was just confused as to if extending my undergrad would be a good idea, since PhD would take a long time and I did not want to be OLD when i am looking at a job, I have loans to pay from my undergrad too.If I can repay them , I am not worried about money after that, but want to pay them as soon as possible</p>

<p>You can work in the middle of your program if you apply for CPT (Curricular Practical Training) and after your degree if you take OPT (Optional Practical Training). With a GPA of 3.5 or so, you need to have a very strong research resume to be considered by some of your target universities. take the extra 8 months (if you can afford it) to get more research experience and hopefully a publication or two as well as strong reference letters.</p>

<p>As post #2 states, it is often appreciated in engineering programs if you have some work experience, but this is not required. As post #5 states, you do not need a Masters to enter a Ph.D. program in Engineering, that is just old-time thinking and most of the top universities don’t expect that. A Masters degree is really only an option if you don’t get into the Ph.D. program you want and you need more to be able to compete. however, if you do go for a Masters degree, be prepared to pay for it. Full support is usually reserved for Ph.D. students.</p>

<p>post #4 states that you have to be a U.S. citizen to work in a National Laboratory. That is absolutely NOT true. Many of my Ph.D. students who were not U.S. citizens took postdoctoral and staff positions at Argonne National Laboratory and I know that the same holds for other National Labs, including Los Alamos. Of course there are some places within these Labs that are off limits to non-citizens but generally not the entire lab.</p>

<p>The bottom line is in your finances and how competitive you are for the programs you are targeting. You can find about the latter from your faculty mentors at your university. If you need to graduate sooner to minimize your debt, then drop the physics minor. Hedge your bets in getting into the programs you want by including applications to some lower ranked programs which have the kind of research you are interested in. Your Ph.D. advisor is probably more important than the school from which you get your degree. If you find an outstanding advisor at a lesser-known school, you can do quite well after graduation.</p>