I know I want to work in aerospace but I’ve gotten mixed reviews in which I should major in what’s the benefits and downfalls of both?
You can’t go wrong with a mechE degree, period. You won’t be pigeonholed into any industry.
@elena3142, It depends on what you specifically want to do within aerospace. @boneh3ad and @HPuck35 are both great resources if you give a little more direction to help them.
I worked my entire career in the aerospace industry working on space hardware. My degree is in Civil Engineering with a specialty in structures. The aerospace world requires all kind of engineering disciplines and therefore hires all kinds of engineers; structural, thermal, design, materials, manufacturing, etc.
I went for both undergrad and graduate degrees in AeroE, and currently work in aerospace. There are a wide variety of engineers that make up the field. In fact virtually every engineering discipline is represented, including environmental and biomechanical engineers. Science and math majors are also quite common. It’s a very complex field, and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in aerospace work without an AeroE degree.
With that being said, the opportunities available to you will vary somewhat depending on the degree you have. Areas such as stability and control, flight test engineering, and aerospace systems engineering tend to favor people with aerospace engineering degrees. Programming jobs favor people with CS and CE degrees. Environmental impact assessment work favors people with EnvE degrees… and so on, and so forth. Keep in mind that there is also a lot of overlap between certain degrees, notably mechanical and aerospace. It is not at all uncommon to see aerospace engineers and mechanical engineers working on the same project, doing the same work.
From a job availability perspective, AE’s and ME’s have about the same employment rates (source BLS). It’s important to understand that while there are fewer jobs available for AEs specifically, there are also fewer AEs total, which is why the employment rates for both ME and AE are similar.
Is one more competitive than the other?
@elena3142, you need to contextualize “competitive.” More competitive to get into? Makes you more competitive to get a job? Getting a job is more competitive?
Well my mom is terrified of my going into aerospace because she thinks jobs will be rare and hard to find. But also is there an edge to having an aerospace degree over a mechanical? So few schools offer aerospace
First World Problems…a mother is terrified that her daughter will be an Aerospace Engineer. 
Seriously though, what do you want to do? What attracts you to aerospace?
This sounds silly but it all started with an obsession with Star Trek
Why is that silly? You are talking to a bunch of engineers here.
Idk I know engineering won’t be like the sci fi fandom but it sparked my interest for engineering and space travel. I would love to help make this fantasy turn into a reality even if it wasn’t in my lifetime.
And that’s totally fine and normal. That certainly doesn’t make you the oddball in your engineering program.
Haha really? good!
so what’s the benefits to majoring in aerospace? downfalls?
I’ll let @boneh3ad answer that because he is one. Interestingly though, my son’s interest was piqued in a fairly similar way as yours.
Well I am sort of one of them. Technically I have one degree in each of the fields in the thread title, one undergraduate and one graduate. That ought to give you at least a little bit of sense of how related they are. On the other hand, I don’t actually work “in aerospace” so my perspective on the matter is going to be different than someone like, say, @cosmicfish.
Still, for a lot of purposes, the degrees are almost interchangeable. The overlap between the two in terms of jobs is pretty large. There are a whole lot more mechanical engineering jobs outside of that overlap region than there are aerospace engineering jobs outside of that overlap region. That’s less worrying than it may sound since there are a lot fewer total aerospace engineers out there.
It’s true that mechanical engineering has a broader array of options out there than aerospace engineering, but if you know you want to go into the aerospace industry (and to a certain degree, stay there), then it isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference unless the jobs you want specifically prefer one over the other.
So what are the benefits of doing aerospace? It can give you an edge for the relatively small area of the industry that prefers aerospace engineers specifically. What are the drawbacks? An aerospace engineering degree is more limiting in the general marketplace than mechanical engineering, which could become important for a number of reasons, for example if you decided later that you didn’t want to stay in the aero industry either due to a layoff or just the desire for a change.
One option would be to major in Aerospace since you seem to be leaning in that direction, but be sure to take one or two ME courses as electives. I am guessing the AE degree itself already requires quite a few ME courses. I was in a different engineering major that had a lot of overlap with ME. My senior year I discovered I enjoyed a branch of ME so took some additional classes. I ended up transitioning to ME in my career. You can also consider getting an MS in ME if you decide you want to go in that direction.
My point is whatever you decide now does not set your course forever. You will have options. The boundaries are more fuzzy than you probably think.
I have a BS in ChemE, worked immediately and for 30(yikes!) years in Aerospace, and have an MS in ME (night at great school). I would advise you to look closely at each school you are considering website, see what the emphasis of the AE program is, see if there is a lot of dual majors in AE/ME or possibility of taking aerospace as technical electives.
ChemE background in fluid flow and heat transfer was great for AE, ME masters specialized close to what I do at work.
Aero programs are the best if they relate to a nearby employer or serious professor interest … ME is likely good at almost any ABET school, but the specialization possibilities probably vary a lot.
In terms of careers, aerospace is cyclical and is in a downturn now at least on the NASA side, space side, mechanical engineers can work anywhere, although once you specialize by working somewhere for 15-20 years … it may be difficult to return to generic ME status and also not particularly conducive to getting a high salary (but you may be able to pay that mortgage).
You do also realize that the first two years of most engineering but especially mechanical and aero will be the same, so you do have time to chose … but pick a school that has program or preferably programS that interest you (both mechanical and aero sound good to you).
Also if you heart is really set on aerospace, sometimes letting that heart guide you is the best, 40 years or more of working requires a lot of interest in what you do … interest will allow you to really dive in and work hard and learn constantly because you are really engaged in what you do. Lukewarm interest due to fear of possible job issues 10 years in … that would really be a shame.
No matter what field you go into, something has to pique your interest into that field. Engineering is about growing and evolving the use of technology. Who knows what the world will look like 40 years (about the length of one’s career) from now? 40 years ago who would have imagined me writing this on a computer at home??
Hardware I developed is in earth orbit on the space station, other parts are roving around Mars. Great feeling of personal accomplishment. You can do that too, and much more. You can then think back to when it all started by watching Star Trek on TV.