<p>Well I mean seriously I’m lost whats the point of getting an ME/AE degree? Do I get more job offers and is it eaiser than doubling?</p>
<p>From SUNY Buffalo and these other places.</p>
<p>Buffalo offers that “dual degree” because their department is a combination of the two fields. The program is not pure aerospace or pure mechanical, but a combination of the two. The consequence? Look at where the program is ranked in the Aerospace or Mechanical specialties (hint: #64 of 95 for ME and literally last - #39 of 39 - for AE) . Buffalo covers the same material as the other ABET programs, but has to compress some material to account for the dual role of the department (e.g. most schools teach one class in high speed aerodynamics and one class in low speed aerodynamics - at UB it’s just one class).</p>
<p>At the end of the day, people on this website make too big of a deal about “double majoring”, as if it makes you a “better” engineering. In fact, it probably makes you a worse engineer. You’ll spend more time in your undergraduate with an unfocused course of study. Recruiters will be less interested in you if they want a pure ME or pure AE (which 99% of recruiters want) because it appears that you are uncertain in your career goals.</p>
<p>Your best bet: just don’t worry about it. Pick a school with a good engineering program, start off as undecided engineering for the first year, intern with an ME or AE company in the summer, then declare a major in your second year. That’s the best way to do it.</p>
<p>And if you get an ME degree and decide later that you should have earned an AE degree - it takes a year to earn an MS in AE (yes, they let engineers get master’s degrees in other types of engineering).</p>
<p>If you want a blunt response to this, at the undergraduate level the core courses are essentially the same. <em>Prepares for the waves of criticism from those who have earned B.S. in AE</em> While I agree whole heartedly that undergraduate aeronautical engineering departments offer various electives that are clearly aerospace related and are clearly not offered at any mechanical engineering school (I can cite helicopter dynamics at U of Maryland), I dare say every core class for each major is offered in either department (actually I’d broaden this to most electives as well). Fluid’s, thermo, aerodynamics, compressible fluids, vibrations, these are all courses that are fundamental in both departments. The aerodynamics I include in their since most traditional mechanical engineering department refer to this as a fluids 2 course. All compressor and turbine theory has its fundamentals in aerodynamics. The real truth is these departments share more similarities than electrical/computer engineering until you his the graduate level, and most schools don’t allow a double major between electrical/computer engineering because they feel it is too similar.</p>
<p>If you are a gung ho aerospace guy, as I am, I’d recommend getting the double. To be true, it shouldnt take much extra coursework unless your school is trying to trump it up and the way the aerospace community is going currently, that mech e degree will definitely give you a leg up.</p>
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<p>If the school doesn’t offer a combined major (most don’t) you usually need somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 extra credits. This is because at most schools, one class cannot count towards two degrees. And there is very little advantage to having the two majors.</p>
<p>You’re better off with a major in ME and minor in AE (as mentioned by others) which will require very little additional course work beyond the traditional ME degree. Then, if you’re really “gung ho”, you can get an MSAE (which many companies will pay for and you can do entirely online from many top schools, including Georgia Tech). Or, forget the BSME entirely and just do a BSAE.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with double majoring… it just doesn’t make much sense to double major in two curricula that are so similar.</p>
<p>If you are going to double major make sure you sweet talk your adviser about letting you double-dip classes to count, if you hit road blocks there you might need to go straight to the dean.</p>
<p>One problem I have seen with double majoring (especially with engineering) is that departments can be adamant about you taking “their” version of the class. For example, I took Probability with the Math majors but had to take it again as an Engineer. Needless to say, make sure you plan ahead and look out for special classes that could count for both requirements.</p>
<p>Yeah, the policies vary, but as a general rule of thumb classes at the 3000 level or higher shouldn’t overlap too much between the two majors anyway. If they do, you might be better off with a minor or some other such program.</p>
<p>G.P. how long would it take to do a major in AE and a minor in ME?</p>
<p>I mainly want to focus on AE but ME is there as a back up because I hear you get more vjobs in ME anyways and if I can’t succeed in a AE I can drop back on that ME degree.</p>
<p>Ah GP, can you tell me where you those rankings for the engineering specialties?</p>
<p>I know usnews has them but it looks like u have to pay to get anything below the top ten.</p>
<p>I pay for them. You might want to look around and see what comes up.</p>
<p>If the curricula are similar, you might as well minor in one of them because if you double count the courses, you probably will end up meeting the requirements of both majors. All I had to do was take an extra 5 CS courses to cover all the requirements for a CS degree…if I wanted a CS degree ONLY. I took an extra 3 instead of the 5.</p>
<p>For Math and CS, dual (not double) majoring is beneficial if one intends on going the scientific software or computational route.</p>