Hi all, I’m a sophomore engineering student at Rutgers and pretty soon I’ll have to begin planning my schedule for the spring semester, which is when classes start to differ among the different engineering disciplines. I’m in a bit of a conundrum, as I have been for a while, going back and forth between Aerospace Engineering and Structural (Civil) Engineering. The way I see the two are as such:
For Aero, I love the idea of working with military applications and perhaps something with space travel (the moon base is really exciting). I feel like I’d have the chance to leave a great legacy behind in being a small part of pushing mankind forward. However, I’m currently in Intro to Aerospace Engineering and am starting to realize I don’t like fluid mechanics much (we do dumbed down fluids and thermo). Obviously I realize no one probably likes fluids, but since it’s probably the basis for much of what I’d be dong, I feel like I should at least find it somewhat interesting.
As for Structural, the notion of designing frames of great structures also excites me. I also like that I’d be instrumental in ensuring that they’re safe for other people. Being able to be involved in some great bridge or damn is highly intriguing to me, and also makes the work seem meaningful. I have little exposure in structural work, as I do in aerospace, but while taking statics doing truss problems was probably my favorite type of work I’ve done so far at school (far preferable to the work for my intro to aero class).
When looking ahead at what classes I take, I go back and forth on which seem more appealing/interesting to me. Basically, while I love the legacy appeal aero offers to me (slightly over structural, probably), I’m starting to get the feeling I don’t like the work it involves as much as I like the idea of working in the field.
I realize that this is highly subjective and a personal decision, but if anyone has any input it’d be greatly appreciated.
The good news is that there are other important focus areas within aerospace (and mechanical) engineering other than fluids, though you’ll certainly have to take several courses on the topic (at least two, maybe three, as an aerospace student). Fun additional fact: you can marry these two interests and get into aerospace structures.
Would aerospace structures be a specialization in aero or majoring in structural? I’ve heard conflicting info: some have said a master’s in structural basically allows you to work on any structures (including aero structures). Others have told me if you’re doing aerospace structures, do aerospace. Funny enough, the Aero program here ony has one dedicated class to aerospace structures specifically
I thought about majoring in aerospace long ago, also, but decided to go with structural since it’s a more general field. It’s worked out well - I met my husband in grad school and we started our own firm 18 years ago. We run it out of our house and it’s a great lifestyle. We work on a wide variety of projects so it never gets dull. But sometimes I think it would have been cool to work for NASA!
Good luck to you - engineering is a wonderful career.
Probably a little of column A and a little of column B. It really depends on the school. A lot of aerospace programs do have significant courses available as electives and/or at the graduate level on structures as they pertain to aerospace vehicles. After all, someone has to design the internal structural elements in wings and fuselages and such so that they don’t break apart but remain very lightweight.
That said, I’ve also heard of people with degrees in civil getting into that field. The underlying science is the same, but appreciating all of the varied forces involved as they pertain to aerospace applications would likely be a little easier with an aerospace background than a civil background. At the same time, there is probably a little bit more opportunity for depth (at least at the undergraduate level) within civil engineering.
@boneh3ad That makes sense. It’s also interesting that from looking at several job listings from companies like Boeing, for example, positions for Structural Engineers don’t ask for a specific engineering degree unless they’re entry level and even still sometimes do not.
@MaineLonghorn That’s awesome! Are there any cool projects you’ve worked on you’d like to share?
That’s because, at least in most engineering positions, skills matter more than the degree. There are often multiple paths to get to the same end goal.
I have a degree in civil E with a specialization in structural and dynamic analysis. I went to work doing aerospace structures right out of college and retired as such. I worked on the space shuttle and the space station and found them to be fun and challenging projects. The aerospace world needs engineers of all disciplines. BTW, I have never taken a fluids class.
