<p>I’m only a high schooled but I thought I should post here because after all parents have more experience at life.</p>
<p>So is chasing a somewhat unrealistic dream practical? </p>
<p>I have three options career wise. Become a doctor and please my parents but hate the job. Become a consultant and like the job. It’s stable too. Become an aerospace engineer, have a chance of not even getting a job in the industry. That would really disappoint my parents. Additionally my dream is to start a space company, like Spaxe x or planetary resources, which is very very difficult in today’s environment. People say a private space boom, like the Internet boom of the late 90’s is coming, but what if that never happens? What if I wind up an aerospace engineer working for an oil company (a job that I know is necessary but one that I would hate)?</p>
<p>Did you guys chase your dreams in life or did you decide to be more realistic?</p>
<p>Don’t do something you don’t enjoy. Not sure what you mean by consultant…there are consultants in virtually every field and every industry. Why do you think you won’t get a job if you major in aerospace engineering?</p>
<p>Oh by consultant I mean business consultant working for say deloitte or mckinsey if I get super lucky. They help strategize for f 500 companies. I’m thinking of going to ut Austin and I know quite a few aerospace engineers there who didn’t get jobs or started working for oil companies.</p>
<p>Not to get political, but what happens in 2 months will determine the outlook for Aerospace. If the USA continues to borrow like there is no tomorrow, then Aerospace will be an easy item to eliminate when the USA become the next Greece.</p>
<p>Don’t be a doctor if you hate the job. You won’t make as much money at it.</p>
<p>Consulting is not a gimme job.</p>
<p>If the country turns around its fiscal situation, then go for aerospace. Put in your 20 years learning the craft. Then you will be ready to ride the wave and start your own biz.</p>
<p>My opinion is that if you are actually good enough to get a job with McKinsey, you are also good enough to find employment as an aerospace engineer, if you go that route.</p>
<p>You’re too young to stop chasing your dreams. I believe you shouldn’t do that until you are in the retirement home, and then, for some, it’s still the perfect time to start.</p>
<p>Here is how I always made my choices, and how I taught my kids to make their choices:</p>
<p>“Which of these alternatives makes my world bigger and which one makes it smaller?”</p>
<p>For me, I always chose what would make my world bigger.</p>
<p>It’s worked well for me. I’ve had almost all of my dream jobs at one time or another. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>You seem to have stars in your eyes about consulting jobs… you probably actually have no idea what they do all day long (or you might not be so excited). I say go for the aerospace path, maybe take some business classes along the way so you are well positioned to move into management. Would also help you if you want to eventually consult in the aerospace field or start your own company.</p>
<p>Aerospace engineering grads end up in one of several buckets - military and defense aviation (not very safe in my view), commercial aviation (after all the mergers and such, very few jobs left), government space (see defense aviation), and commercial space (lots of ideas and people chasing too few dollars, plus competition from overseas government backed consortiums and the like)</p>
<p>I, too, was keen on studying aerospace engineering in the late 70’s but then I had the epiphany that said that basically the Cold War would end soon, and defense cuts will take care of the aviation industry. That pretty much occurred a decade later. Thankfully I did not go into it… One of my wife’s relatives, a real ‘rocket scientist’, was laid off after 20 years experience in interplanetary spacecraft design and gave it up and is now working in the renewable energy sector. </p>
<p>To quote a friend who worked on the Space Station… “no fun watching your job debated on C-SPAN daily”…</p>
<p>Chase your dream, and realize that your dream will change. The great thing about a liberal arts education is that the core skills you learn - writing, analysis, critical thinking and a rational, scientifically-based problem solving approach - are applicable to a wide array of jobs in a huge array of fields.</p>
<p>My undergraduate degree is in journalism, and I spent several years in the media business, working as an editor, sportswriter and public relations consultant. Then I got first an internship and then a job as a ranger-interpreter with a federal land conservation agency - it’s a job that is ultimately about effective communication, just as my old media jobs were. The same skills I honed covering Idaho basketball can be put to use in serving visitors to our public lands.</p>
<p>Sorry, can’t let this ridiculous nonsense go unchallenged.</p>
<p>
Please explain how either party has any plan to eliminate the deficit. Massive tax cuts for the rich while increasing defense spending does not constitute a plan.</p>
<p>Also please explain why you think the USA is remotely like Greece, given that our debt-to-GDP ratio is nowhere near Greece’s, and investors around the world are continuing to buy up US Government bonds as fast as they can, even while interest rates are at all-time record lows. Other countries are practically paying us to take their money.</p>
<p>Hint: Investors know damn well there isn’t a chance in hell of the U.S. defaulting on its debt.</p>
<p>I certainly would not pursue a career in which you are not interested. If your parents argue ask them if they want to, want you to, or would want their grandchildren to go to a doctor who hated being a doctor?</p>
<p>I think you can pursue the other two possibilities at the same time. Top consulting fields hire the smartest folks they can find and are not to concerned about their undergraduate degree … some of the firms are school snob much more than snob about majors. So majoring in AE is as good training for consulting as anything else … no need to being thinking about only one path at this time.</p>
<p>i think ‘chasing your dream’ all comes down to what you value most. there is always a way to make a living doing what you like, just not guaranteed that you will be rich doing it</p>
<p>polarscribe and OperaDad, Wonder whether it still follows the rule if you two “duel it out” via PM? ;)</p>
<p>One aspect about this kind of topics I really dislike is that both sides firmly believe their side is correct but the view points of these two sides are contradictory to each other and it is impossible both view points are correct. Another annoying thing is that it is all about boasting (or even borderline lying?) about how good the future outcome will be if his policy is adopted, but since nobody can tell what the future will be, there is no way to validate the claim of either side. It is almost as if each individual needs to decide what kind or how big the lie he is willing to listen to. So it is wise to keep this kind of discussions out of this forum.</p>
<p>One of my friends told me, not in the context of politics, that it is much easier to criticize than to come up with a workable (not even the best) solution. </p>
<p>One of DS’s high school friends appears to major in AE (at a very prestigious school) only when he is in graduate school. He was in a flagship state university for his UG. This is a single data point only, but it appears that many very good engineering students (especially those who will go to graduate school) attend flagship state university first, unlike those who are eager to head to the Wall Street or the like in order to rake in $$ while still young.</p>
<p>Note: He did not dispute that the outlook for aerospace is bleak given the budget issues. His dispute is that under the republicans, it would not be any better.</p>