Aeronautical engineering

partyonwayne

Hey guys, anyone here studying/recent grad of aero eng? Thinking of doing it in Sep but having doubts about it mainly due to my dad who's an electronic engineer telling me that I'm limiting myself by studying such a niche area where job prospects aren't great... any thoughts? I expect to emigrate anyway but will I be less desirable as an employee having not done a broader eng degree if I decide I don't want to work in aerospace? I'm changing courses so really want to get it right this time Any advice greatly appreciated or even better if someone in the know could PM me, have a few questions! Thanks

Delta Kilo

PM sent

joey12

Isn't there an engineering choice degree now, where you have a common first year? I think this includes electrical engineering and aero eng. Could give ya better time to asses your situation.

Not really familiar with the aero course but I assume its like all the other engineering courses out there.

dibkins

Another aerosexual in the making. Stick to the ground like Newton intended!

ned14

I'm about to finish Mechanical Eng. The differences between a Mech and an Aero graduate are very small. Any jobs advertised for Aero's will also accept applications from Mechanical engineers but not necessarily the other way around. The job prospects for both are good, but as a mechanical engineer, you have far more options open to you.

joey12

That's true, most mechanical engineers will end up working for bio companies here in Ireland because it a big industry here.

I would say stick with your gut, if u think you will like the course do it my friend.

CatFromHue

I graduated a few years ago from Aero Eng and have never worked in the Aerospace industry.

Have you looked at the Aero website?

http://www2.ul.ie/web/WWW/Faculties/Science_&_Engineering/Departments/Mechanical_&_Aeronautical_Engineering/Courses/LM077

The head of the course tracked, or tried to track down anyway, all of the graduates of the course and created the graduate profiles and employment statistics on the site.

So that'll tell you where everyone has gone, or 90% of them anyway.

Chimaera

Most of the differences between mechanical and aeronautical engineering are to do with application rather than the engineering science content. Last time I checked (admittedly some time ago) the first two years of both courses were the same with changes occurring from third year on.

Go with whatever one you're happiest with and think you can apply yourself best to.

A word of warning too: there's a lot of mathematical content in engineering. If you're not a good B or A student in higher level LC maths, you'll have a lot of work to do in college. It's perfectly possible to do well, but expect to have to work hard to get there.

partyonwayne

CatFromHue wrote: »

I graduated a few years ago from Aero Eng and have never worked in the Aerospace industry.

Have you looked at the Aero website?

Ya I've gone through most of the bios alright but was just wondering what the more recent graduates were up to cause a lot of those graduated 5-10 years ago and I'm guessing they had more oppurtunities than grads these days, maybe I'm wrong? Site's a great help though there's a lot of info there!

Do you mind me asking if you chose not to work in aerospace? Did you just decide it wasn't for you and looked into other areas? Are you happy you did the course?

partyonwayne

Chimaera wrote: »

A word of warning too: there's a lot of mathematical content in engineering. If you're not a good B or A student in higher level LC maths, you'll have a lot of work to do in college. It's perfectly possible to do well, but expect to have to work hard to get there.

This was one of my main worries alright cause I've been out of college for a couple of years and haven't done any proper maths since school, got an A in higher maths and B in applied maths in the leaving though so hoping it'll come back to me since I loved the subjects, gonna go over the lc maths during the summer to refresh the memory, only thing is I never studied physics so would it be helpful to get my hands on an lc physics book or would it make much of a difference? Just want to narrow the gap between me and the younguns as much as possible beforehand :P

Chimaera

If you did that well in maths and applied maths for LC you're flying it. Going back over the LC maths during the summer is no harm to freshen up your knowledge though. There's also a Maths Learning Centre on campus if you're in any difficulty along the way.

NeirBot

The Maths Learning Centre is a great help, but I would think that with your LC results you shouldn't need any extra help, but nice to know it is there if needed.

I wouldn't be worried about the lack of physics as you have done Applied Maths, applied maths is probably more useful to you than the physics.

As I'm sure you have seen, you can change between any of the 4 mech/aero/bio/CAED at the end of first year. And if you have a decent QCA(have good results) after 2nd year you would more than likely be allowed switch courses then too, they are all still quite similar still at that stage, so which course to choose right now isn't that big of an issue...

Bungusbeefcake

Hey all, I am a current Aero Eng student. The course is great, quite difficult at the moment as I'm in 3rd year. If you've done higher maths you should be fine, I actually never did higher maths in secondary school, only pass maths at leaving cert so I've had a lot of work in first year but since then its ok, so you'll be fine!
As regards jobs, you should be grand for jobs, I know airbus are taking on literally thousands of new aero grads over the next 5 years, and with co-op you can get a flavour of what's out there. I know of aero grads getting offers from car manufacturers and then from there getting offers of formula 1, but it all depends how lucky you are!
But I would definitely recommend the course!! If you need any more info, just give me a shout!