<p>Hi there! I'm interested in aerospace engineering and have a few questions. I am applying to Georgia Tech, Purdue, UT Austin, and Texas A&M. I may take a flyer on Princeton too (highly highly unlikely). Does anyone have any experience in any of those programs? Even if you don't, what is studying aerospace engineering in college like, In terms of curriculum, projects, and free time? What do aerospace engineers do nowadays too, because I've read that the job has changed significantly since the 50's. Finally, what is the job outlook after I graduate from college? Would it be difficult to find employment, and if it gets hard, could I advertise myself too for mechanical engineering jobs? Would joining the Air Force after college help my job opportunities? I appreciate your responses, thanks!</p>
<p>Aerospace engineering is a subset of the mechanical engineering discipline. Your initial semesters at engineering school will essentially be the same whether or not you’re an ME, AE, ChE, MSE or EE major. Incidentally, what job hasn’t changed significantly since the 1950s?</p>
<p>Welcome. I don’t have experience with those particular programs, but I am an Aero Engineer. The curriculum is similar to that of a Mechanical Engineering program up until about your junior year when classes become more aero-focused (low and high speed aerodynamics, propulsion, aero structures/elasticity, wind tunnel, control systems, stability and control, orbital mechanics, etc.). You will likely be involved in several projects throughout your years as an undergrad (not including any research or clubs you get involved with). Some of the projects may be aero-centric, and some may be completely unrelated (i.e. our group built a trebuchet in my structures 1 class, and I performed an FEA on a mountain bike frame in structures 2). Your senior project will probably be aero-centric, and some schools require you to actually build what you design, or at least part of it. You will also be required to give about an hour long presentation on your project, and possibly defend your design in front of a panel of professors/industry reps (we had to do this).</p>
<p>Free time will depend on your credit load, but for a typical 12-16 credit hour schedule, you should plan on studying/doing homework anywhere from 2-6 hours a day. There were some days I studied for as little as 30 minutes, and some as long as 10-12 hours, although typically you’re looking at about 2-6 hours a day of study/homework time. There will be plenty of free-time though as your classes will often have time gaps between them where you can relax, or catch up on studying. It’s not like high school where you are stuck at school all day long.</p>
<p>As to what aerospace engineers do, this varies depending on the chosen discipline in the field. Some choose to be analysts (looking at what’s already designed/built), some like testing (setting up tests, performing tests, collecting data), some like research (digging into the theory to solve new problems), and some like designing (using established principles/methods to make new things). It is also true that aerospace engineering is not quite like it was back in the 40s’-60’s where an engineer would often be involved with a project from the ground up. Things were more hands-on back then, and build-test-build was a common engineering approach… These days, engineers typically work on one (maybe a few) area(s) of a project, and computers take care of much of the number crunching. Build-test-build has been largely replaced by computer simulations.</p>
<p>The job outlook is generally good and improving, but this will largely depend on how well you did in college. Those with good GPA’s (3.0+) and experience will have many more doors open to them. Aerospace engineers often qualify for other engineering positions as well, including mechanical engineering. </p>
<p>Joining the air force after college is a personal choice, obviously. I assume you mean joining after completing an ROTC program at your college? If so, that can help pay for your tuition costs, and you would join as a commissioned officer which is nice. I wouldn’t necessarily say it gives you a huge leg up on those who didn’t join the air force, but the cost savings can be worth it to some. Also keep in mind that if join the ROTC, there is, I believe an 8 year committment after college.</p>
<p>Back in the stone age (late 70s) I began college as an Aerospace Engineering major, but switched to Mech Eng due to the decline of the aero industry during that time. I always had an interest in airplanes and rockets as a child. I did a coop one summer at a turbine engine manufacturer where I had hands on experience on helicopter and tank (M1) engine component testing. I joined the Air Force after graduation (it what the bottom of the early 80s recession and jobs were scarce) and ended up working on missile systems for my entire time on active duty. BTW, I would highly recommend you looking into any of the military branches if you have an interest in cutting edge aerospace systems and programs. I had the time of my life in the Air Force with no regrets. After I left active duty, I worked for the US Government in a variety of jobs performing analysis of aerospace systems. So you can say that I backdoored into an aerospace career even though I had an Mech Eng degree. It’s more common than not that you can interchange Aero and ME degrees because the differences are only in a few courses.</p>
<p>I don’t have any experience with any of those programs from the undergraudate perspective, but three of the four were finalists when I was deciding on graduate school. What kind of information were you looking to find about them?</p>
<p>@fractalmstr Thanks a lot! That answers pretty much all my questions. Since the type of engineering has changed, which of those disciplines would you consider the most hands on? </p>
<p>@boneh3ad Nothing too specific. Just wanted to know if anyone had been in the programs and if they enjoyed it or what they thought of the program.</p>
<p>Yeah I can’t really tell you any specifics about their undergraduate programs firsthand. I did my undergrad elsewhere. All of those schools are well-respected, though, and I know plenty of great engineers from each of them. I do have some secondhand knowledge of A&M’s program, but I couldn’t really tell you whether or not I enjoyed it because, again, my experience is from the graduate school perspective.</p>
<p>If you thinking of the Air Force, why not join ROTC so your tuition can be paid. The AF is downsizing from what I’ve been told. If you google you’ll see the military is reducing manpower.</p>
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<p>Test engineering would be the most hands-on. If this is the sort of work you are interested in, look into flight test engineering. Very fun work, and also very demanding at times. The creme of the crop flight test engineering jobs, IMO, can be found at Edwards Air Force base (near me). They hire lots of aerospace engineers out of school (depending on defense budgets), with a good variety of interesting programs to get involved with.</p>
<p>Research is, as you might imagine, the least hands-on area to work in. Product design is what most people think of as ‘engineering’ - using software programs, crunching numbers, sizing, calculating loads, etc to build something. I would say this area is a mix of hands-on and theory, depending on the project. Same goes for analysts too, as some evaluate established designs using engineering theory, and others may get involved with pre- and/or post-test analysis of data collected.</p>
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<p>You’ve never been involved in research, have you?</p>
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This depends on what you do while in the AF. If you do not actually do any engineering while in the Air Force, your engineering skills are likely to deteriorate. This assumes that you actually want to be an engineer.</p>
<p>Both the Air Force and the Navy want most of their officers to have engineering degrees, so that they will understand the technology they are dealing with. However, very few officers actually do any engineering. If you want to do engineering as a civilian, then going into the military would be a detour and of very little help other than getting some basic job experience.</p>
<p>If you want to have control over your assignment in the military, the best way is to NOT join ROTC. If you graduate through the ROTC program, the Air Force will send you wherever they want to – with only a little consideration for what you want. If you approach the AF during your final semester at college (not in ROTC), then you have more leverage on getting the kind of AF job you want, because you can always turn down their offer. Once you are committed to ROTC, you lose leverage. They have you, and you have a minimum 3 year year obligation. Then you have to take whatever they give you.</p>
<p>In summary, I recommend that you make sure that you know what you want. In general, I recommend against going into the military as a stepping stone to something else. It is too demanding for that. Go into the military because you like it, and think it would be a great career, not because it might help your civilian career.</p>
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<p>I figured you would have something to say about that comment, lol. :)</p>
<p>Boneh3ad, I’m just sharing my experiences. If you disagree, feel free to explain… I’m not technically a researcher in my day to day work, but I have had experience in research for my undergrad and grad degrees. There wasn’t a whole lot of hands-on involvement in what I was doing, but YMMV obviously.</p>
<p>I mean, as a researcher I’ve pretty much helped build a wind tunnel facility by hand, designed built a new instrumented wind tunnel model, designed and built a new cylindrical probe traversing mechanism for said tunnel plus all of the associated instrumentation and electronics, flown copilot in a series of flight tests and more. That’s all in addition to all of the math and modeling and theory and whatnot that goes along with research. I’d say it’s pretty hands on if you get involved with experimental research, sometimes a little but to the extreme.</p>
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Do you realize the AF is a military right? ROTC or non ROTC, they will send you whatever they want. The leverage might happen, maybe for the first job. But I doubt that you have any leverage.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad Ya I would plan on doing it after college. Try and join as an officer. I believe they pay part of your college debt. I’m not sure about the military. Joining is something I’ve always wanted to do, but probably not as a full career. And if my engineering skills will deteriorate while I’m in the AF than it is probably something I won’t do. But, if I can gain some valuable experience, than it is something I would definitely be interested in.</p>
<p>What do you mean by not a full career, as reservist?
The AF does not do any engineering, usually technical skills are helped by contractors or FFRDC. You will most likely become project manager if you didn’t pass fly school. That’s what I was told my a guy who was accepted to a fly school.</p>