<p>Remember, you could also get a BS in ME, then later do grad work for an higher level aerospace degree if you are still interested. It'd make you more desirable as an aero grad, but you'd still have the ME to fall back on if nothing works out in aero</p>
<p>I am a freshman facing the same situation. </p>
<p>Which major did you choose in the end? And how does it goes? Thanks</p>
<p>My D is a class of '22 student. In a conversation with an Aerospace Purdue grad,'85, he warned the demand is terrible now and for the long term. He then stated MIT, Purdue, Ohio State were the three schools that aerospace candidates would most often be selected from because the alumni of these schools dominate the industry and the decision makers for the small pool of jobs available. A wet towel was thrown on the idea that pursuit of the dual AE/ME at UF , University of Florida, was a productive track.</p>
<p>The only hopeful comment was that aerospace positions are available if you emigrate to India or China. Aerospace investment is fierce in both countries. The investment in the U.S. domestic aerospace industry is collapsing.</p>
<p>I have been spending a lot of time on this, and any direction or red flag warnings on other engineering degrees will be appreciated.</p>
<p>A senior engineer I was talking with at orbital sciences seems to also think it’s going to be slow going for the next few years. He mentioned that we seem to be at the end of a cycle (15 years I think) for satellite launches and that there weren’t enough science missions scheduled to holdover until commercial/defense launches pick up again.</p>
<p>That said he did say that there are still opportunities for those who are talented, motivated, persistent and are flexible.on location.</p>
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<p>This is bad advice, then. Does this person foresee that air travel will cease? Do they think humans will stop trying to explore space? Neither of those things will happen, so aerospace engineers will not have terrible job prospects indefinitely. True, government-funded aerospace projects are hurting right now (defense- and space-related projects, mostly), but commercial aviation is going strong, and the recent budget deal and end of the sequester was a real positive step for the rest of the aerospace industry and there are already signs of improvement.</p>
<p>Second, the idea that only engineers from MIT, Purdue and Ohio State have any shot at being hired is just goofy. That clearly represents a biased opinion for whoever this source of yours is, and even if true, only represents his company. True, in an industry that is at the bottom of a trough in its growth cycle, students form name-brand engineering schools are going to have an advantage in getting hired than those from the “middling” schools, but there are a lot more name-brand schools than just Purdue, Ohio State and MIT. Illinois? Florida? Caltech? Texas? Texas A&M? Georgia Tech? Stanford? Michigan? There are plenty of others, too.</p>
<p>Whoever this engineer is is silly. It is true that Florida has seen a bigger hit than most to aerospace jobs, however. As it turns out, when the statewide industry is based around NASA and manned spaceflight and NASA and its Congressional oversight collectively have their heads up their butts in terms of planning a shuttle replacement, that is bad for states that previously depended on those programs. Geographic flexibility goes a long way.</p>
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<p>From where I sit, this seems roughly accurate. A bad economy often hits scientific research first, so there is understandably a lull right now in science launches. Like I mentioned before, however, the new budget deal and the end of the sequester are a huge deal here, and funding is already starting to pick back up. For example, the Air Force is now beginning to fund many more projects that had no hope at all as recently as 3 months ago.</p>
<p>The aerospace industry, which a large chunk of it dependent on government funding, is more cyclical than most. That means that unless you are of the camp that things that the US is irreparably broken and will never recover, then you have to realize that that particular portion of aerospace will rebound, and that is in addition to the boom that our commercial aviation sector is still experiencing. Turns out that if you are an airframer and make a new plane that promises much better efficiency and creature comfort without significant cost increases, that is good for business. Who knew?</p>
<p>The idea that only graduates from three universities are in demand in a specific discipline is ludicrous. I’d take it with a grain of salt since the person spouting this information is a graduate of one of the three, bias? Graduate high in your class from a reputable program with hands on, project based work, solid internships, and you’re going to do well. If your kid is class of '22 sit back and relax. Really. It’s very early and much can change. They have eight years to figure this out! To put it in perspective that’s two presidential administrations, which can drastically shift defense spending one way or the other. It’s very hard to predict what things will look like in eight years. What’s not going to happen is suddenly MIT, Perdue, and OSU are going to dominate…leaving graduates from programs like GT, Michigan, UT Austin, UIUC, Stanford, UMDCP, largely unrecruited. Not going to happen.</p>
<p>Edit to add: because I’m terribly slow I crossed posts with boneh3ad. Obviously we agree on key points.</p>
<p>I would also like to discuss some realistic differences between ME and AE because I get bothered that people tend to toss around that AE is more specific than ME. I am a student at UIUC and I am going to be contrasting the two based on the requirements for the great programs in AE and ME here.</p>
<p>A summary of what is taught in the programs here, not including senior design, specific lab courses or electives:</p>
<p>@ Mechanical Engineering:
[ME</a> Course Sequence | mechanical.illinois.edu](<a href=“http://mechanical.illinois.edu/undergraduate/mechanical-engineering/me-course-sequence]ME”>http://mechanical.illinois.edu/undergraduate/mechanical-engineering/me-course-sequence)</p>
<ul>
<li>Basic programming</li>
<li>Thermodynamics</li>
<li>Materials and solid mechanics</li>
<li>Some compressible and incompressible flow</li>
<li>Heat transfer</li>
<li>Circuit Analysis, including analysis of various semi-conductor components</li>
<li>Signal Processing</li>
<li>Manufacturing</li>
<li>Some controls somewhere I think…</li>
<li>Explicit course on using CAD</li>
<li>Statics and Dynamics</li>
<li>Statistics</li>
<li>Manufacturing</li>
</ul>
<p>@ Aerospace Engineering:
[Curriculum</a> | aerospace.illinois.edu](<a href=“http://aerospace.illinois.edu/undergraduate-programs/current-students/curriculum]Curriculum”>http://aerospace.illinois.edu/undergraduate-programs/current-students/curriculum)</p>
<ul>
<li>A bit of programming</li>
<li>Aircraft Flight Mechanics</li>
<li>Orbital Mechanics</li>
<li>Lots of Materials and solid mechanics</li>
<li>Statics and a bit of dynamics</li>
<li>Control Theory</li>
<li>Circuit Analysis, including analysis of various semi-conductor components</li>
<li>Thermodynamics</li>
<li>Incompressible and Compressible flow</li>
<li>Propulsion</li>
<li>Statistics</li>
<li>Numerical Methods</li>
<li>Algorithms, Optimal Control Theory, Path Planning, Obstacle Avoidance</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, I don’t see, based on this, how AE is more focused… Both disciplines share a lot of things but also differ greatly in unrelated areas. I question if the reason people make this incorrect comparison is due to not really understanding what each discipline spans in a typical curriculum. There is the chance the curriculum here at UIUC is unique, but I highly doubt it. I also know from my own experience that most of the companies that hire at UIUC who want ME consider AE basically the same, so it is never a big deal when it comes to getting jobs for AE.</p>
<p>So basically, I don’t think anyways should really worry too much when deciding between AE and ME… Just do the one that interests you most. AE students don’t have to just work in the aerospace industry, if worst came to worst. I personally received many job offers this last semester by big software companies, on top of aerospace ones, to go into software focused work. They didn’t overlook me just because I am AE, they liked that I had meaningful experience in areas they cared about. That’s what getting a job really comes down to, since recruiters are looking for certain skill-sets.</p>
<p>I saw a video on YouTube from Iowa State University that said that aerospace engineers not only get hired by aerospace companies like Boeing and Lockheed. They also work for car companies, and other types of companies, by improving car aerodynamics and things like that. I doubt, assuming it’s true, that this happens on a large scale.</p>
<p>Is this accurate?</p>
<p>You need to start a new thread to replace this ancient one.</p>