<p>I know I want to be an engineer, and I plan to major in aerospace engineering. Is aerospace engineering too limiting or should I change to a mechanical engineering major? What do you think?</p>
<p>Depends on what you do in college. You can acquire skills typical aeros don’t have and have not only a leg up on jobs typically for aerospace engineers, but also be able to apply for non aero jobs. I recommend getting very good with programming. Not only will this help you for your classes, but it helps get jobs.</p>
<p>You could go ME and have more employers that look for that ME title after you graduate, but you could go aero and still have a lot of opportunities. You have to keep in mind aeros don’t just work in the aviation industry, you can go many other routes if you acquire the skills. Depends on you man!</p>
<p>Also, note that ME and AE students share a decent amount of courses, but they do diverge. AE may do more fluids than a typical ME, while an ME may do more thermodynamics and solid mechanics than an AE. Coursework will be a little different, so look into that if you want to have interesting coursework. In my mind, if you do well in any engineering, you will be fine. So if you think you can do well, then go with the one that is most interesting.</p>
<p>By the way, I am an aerospace student, so PM me if you have questions.</p>
<p>When I was hiring new grads, I would always ask for a college transcript. I was interested in the applicants grades of course. But I was also looking at what courses they took and how they applied to the job I had. The applicants major didn’t matter to me. So, if you take a program of classes that interest you, I would assume that is the field in which you want to work.</p>
<p>It depends a lot on the jobs you are looking for. Aerospace engineers don’t work exclusively in the aerospace industry, but the vast majority of them do. Because of that, I usually suggest that if you are having reasonable doubt about going into aerospace then just do mechanical engineering and use your electives to take some of the additional aerospace-specific courses and you will be be good to go. Otherwise, if you know you want to work in aerospace, just do aerospace engineering. Ultimately, though, many jobs will look at more than just the title on your degree, including the classes you took in their consideration as HPuck35 said. For that reason, there is a fairly large overlap between ME and AE.</p>
<p>FWIW, I was on the fence when I was deciding what to study so I studied ME as an undergraduate and lo and behold, here I am working on a PhD in aerospace. I know lots of people who have done similar things to me, and slightly fewer who have gone the other direction.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s limiting. Both of my degrees are in aerospace (astro) and I’m a working aero engineer. There is a lot of crossover between mechanical and aerospace, so it is seldom a problem.</p>
<p>I was graduating from high school in the early 70’s when they were laying off aerospace workers in droves. Aerospace was my first love as far as engineering fields went. I decided that going into aerospace was a ticket to the END of the unemployment line and I really didn’t want to do that. I ended up going into civil engineering, specifically structural analysis.</p>
<p>When I graduated, they were laying off civil engineers, so my plan totally backfired. I interviewed with several aerospace companies and one offered me a job. I worked there for over 30 years and recently retired.</p>
<p>Interesting to note all the different majors that you find in an aerospace company. You need all kinds of specialties.</p>
<p>On another note; my son went into mechanical engineering and then specialized in mechatronics (robotics to me). He is currently working as a software engineer.</p>
<p>Once you learn the basics of engineering, you can morph your career into almost whatever you want early in your career. As you gain working expereince in a specific field, you develope a “label” as to the kind of engineer you are. You are also paid for that experience, making it hard to change fields in your mid and late career (although not impossible)</p>
<p>If you are unsure about what field of engineering, then mechanical is certainly the most broad and may provide the most initial opportunities.</p>
<p>A friend of ours got a bachelor’s in aviation engineering. He wanted to be a pilot but there were no jobs when he graduated. He went back & got a 2nd bachelor’s in EE. He’s now working for Boeing.</p>
<p>You might check out job offerings and availability in your field before you commit, particularly 4-year projections so you’d have some guestimates of what the market might be when you graduate.</p>
<p>@boneh3ad</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken you do work in the admissions department at U of I so I have a question for you, somewhat related to the topic of this thread. </p>
<p>At U of I, do most aerospace engineers end up moving to other states to find work? As it is in my belief,Chicago and the rest of Illinois for that matter do not offer much means of employment for Aerospace engineers.</p>
<p>I do not work for admissions at UIUC. I know that there is a poster in that school’s forums, drusba, who works in admissions there. I did my undergraduate work there but that’s it.</p>
<p>I can still answer your question though. Yes, most move away. Chicago in particular is largely devoid of aerospace-related stuff. There is some Hamilton-Sundstrand stuff up in Rockford but that isn’t a tone of people. Other than that, the nearest major aerospace work is in Indianapolis (Rolls-Royce) and, of course, St. Louis (Boeing and all the companies supporting it). A bit farther would be Cincinnati (GE Aviation).</p>
<p>If an ME applies for Aero jobs that’s cool, works out pretty well. What about if an AE major applies for general ME type jobs…does it work “in reverse”. Am considering undergrad in Aero, don’t want to be limited in the job market. Also, thoughts on getting a Masters vs. PhD for Aerospace?</p>
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<p>Aero and Mechanical are, in many cases, interchangable degrees. Within the aerospace industry, your job search will unlikely be affected having either degree. Outside of aerospace, you may find an aero degree slightly more limiting. For example, if you want to work for Rain Bird making sprinkler systems, you may have a harder time selling yourself with an Aero background. However, many engineering positions these days, if not the majority, have broad engineering requirements… that means that many will only require an “engineering” degree, or in some cases “engineering or science” degree. Some positions even state multiple engineering disciplines (i.e. “Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical engineering”).</p>
<p>As for Masters vs PhD, I think Masters is the way to go for the highest number of job prospects. The PhD market is a bit saturated at the moment, and may be for years to come. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go into a PhD program, especially if you feel strongly about doing strictly research and/or teaching… just be aware of the relatively weak market for PhD’s right now.</p>
<p>What weak market for PhDs? Out of the dozens of recent PhD graduates in aerospace engineering that I know, none have had a hard time finding a job.</p>
<p>Good to know, Boneh3ad. I also have a couple of PhD friends but they are unfortunatly stuck in the postdoc rut, and have been for about 4 years now. Granted, they are nuclear engineers, not Aero.</p>
<p>Regardless, the engineering and science fields, as a whole, are not brimming with job opportunities for PhD’s at the moment. </p>
<p>[Too</a> Many Ph.D.s And Not Enough Jobs](<a href=“Are There Too Many Ph.D.s And Not Enough Jobs? : NPR”>Are There Too Many Ph.D.s And Not Enough Jobs? : NPR)</p>
<p>I’ve always viewed the aerospace degree as a way of saying to employers that you’re primarily interested in working on aircraft and/or spacecraft. That said, most non-engineering folks I talk with respect the degree as an indication of ability to handle complicated problems (as with most engineering degrees). I would imagine that as you move away from entry level jobs, the type of jobs you have will pigeonhole you more than the degree will. For example if your first couple of jobs out of college are working in industry x working on widget x, then it will be harder to get into industry y working on widget y than if you had started there initially.</p>
<p>Whether or not PhD jobs are hard to find depends on what you are looking for. Tenure-track jobs are and always will be scarce. Industry has plenty if you know where to look (meaning you or your advisor have connections enough to know who hires in your field). Otherwise, some people actually want a post-doc, believe it or not. I know Sandia pays even up to six figures for some post-docs, so it’s not like that’s a bad fate. Most people stuck long-term in post-docs are the ones waiting on that tenure-track job.</p>