Should I go into Aerospace Engineering just because I'm a space enthusiast?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Here's a brief summary of my dilemma.</p>

<p>The two majors that interest me are Economics and Aerospace Engineering. For a long time, I wanted to double major in both (in 4 years of college; paying for an additional year of college isn't an option in my situation), but that seems impractical now.</p>

<p>Economics actually interests me as a pure subject. I've read the textbooks, loved them, etc. etc. etc. It's an interesting topic that I can go on and on about and could probably really get into in college.</p>

<p>Aerospace Engineering, in contrast, simply seemed like a viable second major to me as a result of my always loving those "Space Plane"/"Dive From Space" (to name some recent examples) articles in Popular Science. I consider myself a "space enthusiast" and love seeing how space entrepreneurship (Virgin Galactic and the like) will develop in the coming future. I love looking at photographs of space shuttles, ISS modules, etc. etc.</p>

<p>However, I've always had mixed feelings about high school physics classes. I enjoyed the mechanics portion (which alas was over in a few brief months), as I could visualize how it related to the real world, but the bits on electromagnetism, circuits, etc. seriously did not even come close to sparking my interests. It was plain out "boring" for me, to be honest.</p>

<p>I enjoy the more abstract math taught in math classes (it's like "playing a game/solving a puzzle"), but I've never especially cared for the applied math used in physics.</p>

<p>My problems with physics, on which Aerospace Engineering obviously depends, may be more of a problem with the teaching style used in my high school ("don't question, just plug the stuff into the formulas and you're done"). One doesn't get a sense of the flow of ideas (how the formulas were developed, etc.) at all, as one does in math [class] if one tries.</p>

<p>In theory, topics like aerodynamics (for takeoff, i suppose?), which are covered in college, appeal to me. However, I don't know if that appeal is strong enough and if it'll actually persist when I start courses in college (In economics, I've already taken college courses and read the textbooks, so I know the appeal).</p>

<p>Thus, I was wondering whether some of the people with Aerospace knowledge on this forum might suggest whether I'd do a better job of satisfying my interest in space by subscribing to some space magazines and following along the business side of it, rather than attempting to go in and understand the engineering involved? I was thinking that Economics might actually lead me to an understanding of space sooner than Aerospace Engineering would, as both government spending on space programs and Entrepreneurship is distinctly tied to the costs and benefits of space development. Perhaps someday I could even work in the business end of a space-related corporation? What's your opinion? Should I be a "Space Economist" rather than trying to become an aerospace* engineer?</p>

<p>*It's worth mentioning that the "aero" part of aerospace hasn't really interested me traditionally. Some of the military plane stuff is cool, but I can't say I've ever especially cared for commercial air flight. Is this yet another sign that I shouldn't go for aerospace engineering? Furthermore, closely related fields like Mechanical Engineering really don't get me excited at all nowadays, am I just better off staying away from Engineering if I want to do well? Is my interest in "Aerospace Engineering" only superficial and unrelated to the engineering component?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot, I'll be very thankful for the feedback.</p>

<p>P.S. Some colleges seem to actually offer a minor in Aerospace Engineering that can be taken by non-Engineering students (!). Do you think that such a thing would be interesting to me and not a waste of time, or do you find the concept ridiculous? Should it influence my college choice? Thanks!</p>

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<p>A minor might be good for you. I've found most introductory engineering classes to be heavy on the applied math.</p>

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<p>Major in something that interests you and provides job security. Other subjects that interest you but will be difficult to obtain a good job with a degree in the area should be put aside and investigated in your spare time.</p>

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<p>Comparing your high school course work to college level courses is frivalous at times. I remember spending most lectures deriving principles from advanced mathematical concepts so that they could be applied to real applications. There was no, "don't question, just plug into formulas" mentality. The fact of the matter is that most engineering principles are derived from such complicated mathematical models/principles that you won't have the time to learn both the theory behind the math and the application of it to real problems. I have even found this to be true at grad school, the math is at time just taken for granted and we will never fully understand it unless we want to switch fields or re-do work of mathematicians done 40 years ago. The theoretical math is certainly there if you dig.</p>

<p>The part that confuses me about your interests is that you say the theory of aerodynamics interests you then go onto say you don't like the "aero" part of aerospace engineering. These are entirely contradictory statements since aerodynamics as you are thinking of it doesn't exist in space. If you don't like the aero stuff then it might not be the field for you, 2 of the biggest challenges aerospace engineers will deal with is getting the payload into space and then bringing the ship home. Both of which deal with the earth's atmosphere and are heavily dependent on fluids, propulsion, thermal issues, structural issues, etc. that aren't really a problem when you are out of the atmosphere, well they are but in an entirely different context. </p>

<p>Subscribing to space magazines may quench your thirst on the subject but if you actually are interested in learning how this stuff works you will never get it from that.</p>

<p>My advice would be to start your program in aerospace just to get a feel for it and see if it is what you want and switch to econ if its not. If you start as econ switching to AE will be brutal and will most likely require additional years.</p>

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<p>Some background: I'm a senior A.E. student with an aeronautics concentration</p>

<p>An A.E. minor won't get you anywhere. Seriously, it just isn't enough courses. All of the minors I've heard of won't get you near enough experience for any employer to take you into consideration for a job that would require an engineering major.</p>

<p>College is just 4 years of classes, but leads you in a career direction. You'll eventually have to pick one or the other (eng or econ), unless you find a job dealing with economics of the space industry. Even then, you'd want an economics degree...</p>

<p>For my school at least, the A.E. degree is split into an aeronautics or astronautics option. The first 2 years are the same for both, and the second two years you take more specific classes for aircraft or spacecraft/satellites.</p>

<p>I truthfully haven't liked most of my classes because I don't like the design emphasis my school places on engineering degrees. I want to do aircraft structural analysis, and I've taken all of two courses that apply directly to that.</p>

<p>I would start with figuring out what you want to do for your career, and then find what degree would best point you in that direction, as for at least your first job about all they have to hire you off of is your education.</p>

<p>The A.E. degree would lead you towards design, research, analysis, or teaching of engineering topics. If you want to be a space economist, I'd read job descriptions and find out what education they expect for such a job. I would guess that an engineering major (in addition to an economics major) would not help you much in that field, but rather knowledge on the hobbyist level would be relevant and helpful.</p>

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<p>"I would start with figuring out what you want to do for your career"</p>

<p>The problem is that none of the "daily work routine" descriptions I've read for any job really appeal to me. The Princeton Review's Career section blurb on Aerospace Engineers seemed depressing. I know two family friends who got degrees in Aerospace and ended up finding work elsewhere (one decided he wanted nothing to do with the field and the other couldn't find any work. idk whether the first was able to find work either.)</p>

<p>What do I actually want to do as a career? Personally, the only realistic job that's ever really appealed to me is teaching grade school, of all things, but I don't want to "settle down" into something like that without trying some more ambitious line of work first. I suppose being a college professor would be interesting and one of the best paths for a more abstract field like Economics, but is that really a valid career goal? Getting a professor position at a college is a rare honor and is often a result of doing great "field work" in your subject, is it not?</p>

<p>It's worth noting that I'm probably just immature and selfish on this subject, but I absolutely can not even begin to care about how much money I'll earn in whatever field I'll go to. Call it lack of foresight or whatever, but I really don't see any advantage to earning a lot of money (I'll probably be kicking myself for these words later on) except for unselfish advantages like providing for one's family, being able to give money back to the college you went to or to your community, etc. (I know, the word choice is ironic, as money is generally associated with selfishness, but I honestly don't see what I need a lot of it for as long as I'm single and things like public libraries exist (which brings up the question of paying taxes, which I find hard to visualize as a high school student)).</p>

<p>Hmm.. in any case, it just seems to me like I wouldn't fit in at an engineering college/department and would be seriously desperate there. I might be wrong though, but who knows?</p>

<p>EDIT:
I suppose it's worth attempting to clarify what I meant when I said "aerodynamics" seems interesting, but I don't like "Aero" engineering. In my original post, I stated "topics like aerodynamics (for takeoff, i suppose?)," and the importance of aerodynamics to takeoff and landing was what a later poster commented on. That's exactly it, I'm interested on the ideological level in the way that things are launched into space and then returned to earth without breaking into pieces or burning up. However, space is the key factor. It's the exotic place where things work differently than they do down here and which we've only begun to find practical uses for. My grandfather worked as a computer scientist in the Soviet equivalent of NASA, so he used to talk about these things when I was a kid. That's the thing: while I may enjoy hearing about it, thinking about it, and reading about it, I don't know if I'd be able to be happy doing the actual scientific and mathematical component of it and never really seeing the big picture.</p>

<p>Here was a blurb from the Princeton Review's site:
"Not being able to see the “big picture” frustrates some professionals. “What do I do? I don’t know,” wrote one engineer, who later claimed to be a victim of this moonshot myopia. Due to the complexity of the final product, an intricate and rigid organizational structure for production has to be maintained, severely curtailing any single engineer’s ability to understand his role as it relates to the final project. It is not unusual to be pulled off one project without explanation and thrown into the midst of another already in progress."
It seems like one may as well be working in any other engineering or mathematical field, as one never actually sees how his work relates to reality (?). If I just go into the field because I like the "idea" of going to space rather than the scientific and mathematical work involved, I may end up truly desperate and unsuccessful.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>I don't have any useful advice to add, but for what it's worth you're not the only one who really likes space stuff but isn't sure about going into the engineering side in depth. I myself am leaning more towards the math/pure science side, but still applying only to places with engineering programs. Some places have Engineering Science programs, maybe that would be a decent compromise? (Though probably not so useful vs. AeroE in terms of being an actual practicing engineer)</p>

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<p>Well, I actually clump what you called the "pure math/science side" and the "engineering side" together because they're relatively similar to one another when compared with the "business side," "political side" or "economic side" of space development. Furthermore, I decided a long time back that I have more of an interest in engineering than in pure science because I'd expect engineering to be easier to apply to a real-world problem and to take into account practical limitations (the availability of materials and other resources) that would be dealt with by the realm of economics (my second love) but not by pure science.</p>