<p>I am trying to debate whether I want to take Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University of Mechanical Engineering at University of Iowa. I am leaning far towards University of Iowa because it is supposed to be a better school.</p>
<p>I am obsessed with aviation though, but i'm worried that Aerospace Engineering will have nothing to do with my passion for aviation. Help?</p>
<p>My understanding is that Aerospace Engineering is a subset of Mechanical Engineering. Much of the course work is the same and, at some universities AE is a master’s program only. Of course there are several strong AE bachelor’s programs.</p>
<p>By the way Iowa State University is one of the best ME schools in the nation. Much stronger reputation than U of Iowa in engineering.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to go to Iowa State and major in MechE and take Aero classes for all your free electives. If you decide you want to go on to grad school for Aero (pretty much required for an aero career IMO), you’ll be all set. If you don’t continue on, the MechE degree will be more employable.</p>
<p>I still think I want to go to u of Iowa. Iowa state has a higher acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Iowa State is a better engineering school which is what you should be considering over the other stats that may indicate Iowa as a better school overall.</p>
<p>Just keep in mind that Iowa State has the better reputation for engineering. Oh, and don’t forget that they also have one of largest career fairs in the country. D has a great internship this summer. It is one thing to get in and quite another to get out.</p>
<p>I am a mechanical engineering major and I have co-oped (interned essentially) at an aerospace company (Hamilton Sundstrand) for two semesters so far. I would say the vast majority of the people I worked with either had a mechanical or electrical degree. I haven’t ran into a whole lot of people that graduated with aerospace degrees nor are there many engineering co-ops that are pursuing aero (there are some but there are far more mechanicals).</p>
<p>I’m not saying that an aero degree isn’t useful in some cases but you certainly can work in the aerospace industry without being an aerospace major. Mechanical engineering is a very broad field which could get you a job anywhere from the aerospace industry to the chemical industry to the medical industry. </p>
<p>So I guess my point to you is just that you can pursue an aerospace career as a MechE. As the same time, obviously MechE classes are going to be more general as far as their application to industry goes whereas Aero classes are much more focused on aerospace obviously.</p>
<p>I have no knowledge of either schools you are considering but I thought I’d offer my two cents on the issue I just mentioned.</p>
<p>great info, fatsheep! What school do you go to?</p>
<p>also, university of iowa is two hours closer to home than iowa state is. I just wasnt really feeling it when i went there, nothing really impressed me. I plan on being in the Air Force anyways so I am not TOO concerned about the civilian job aspect right now. </p>
<p>94% of engineers from u of iowa had a job or went to graduate school within 90 days of graduation according to their website. That is plenty good for me. Im going to visit in the spring and I will then make my decision.</p>
<p>If you are interested in aviation, aeronautics or astronautics, major in aerospace engineering. Most people here will inform you that ME is the more broad degree, and is thus a “safer” investment of your money and that you should major in it. While this may be true, there are plenty of opportunities with an aerospace engineering degree, and also some that are not available to an ME. If you work hard enough, the doors will open for you as an aerospace engineering major, just as they have for me. So don’t let people scare you away from the degree because ME is more “broad”.</p>
<p>Neither degree is necessarily more difficult than the other, just most commonly different applications of the same material. There are a few exceptions to this however (ME’s won’t take classes in Rocket/Jet Propulsion for example). </p>
<p>As far as Iowa vs. Iowa State goes, Iowa State is the better school for ME’s as well as AeroE’s (as previously mentioned).</p>
<p>I would point out that while Iowa State is definitely the better engineering school, if your heart is telling you that you will be happier as a Hawkeye, then do your studies in Iowa City rather than Ames. It isn’t like U. of Iowa is a terrible school or anything, so you won’t be losing that much by going there if you will be happier there. Iowa State definitely has the better programs though, especially in mechanical and aerospace.</p>
<p>I can personally tell you that mechanical engineers very commonly work in aerospace and/or go to grad school for aerospace. I am one of them. There are plenty of jobs you can get with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, but it is true that it is more limited in scope than getting a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I would say if you are sure you want to work in aerospace, there is no huge reason why you couldn’t major in Aerospace Engineering. If you have any serious doubts, Mechanical Engineering is the safer but still very useful route.</p>
<p>In industry, you will generally see more mechanical engineers at a given company, but this is partially due to the fact that there are more mechanical engineers to go around. You will often find the aerospace engineers filling the more specialized jobs like aerodynamic design, while you would find mechanical engineers more commonly in structural roles. Of course this is a generalization, but it is also very generally the trend.</p>