Need help deciding between aeroE and mechE

nshah9617
Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:27:14 +0000

First–you are getting a B.A in MechE? Unless your school exclusively gives out B.As, you should be earning a B.S in an engineering program.

Second, bon3head is right, throw out any salary concerns. Salaries vary cyclically and you’ll never know what the market rate is until you graduate. Also, if you perform well in your major your salary will follow.

Now, I’m of the philosophy that a UG major should be broad and give you a core foundation. I prefer MechE/ChemE/CivilE/EE UG majors to more specialized ones such as BME/NuclearE/PetroE/ASE because I feel that once you know the basics, the specialized training can easily be completed with a Masters. Furthermore while the economy cycles, your generalized UG major will help ensure that you can get a job and in most cases compete for the same specialized jobs.

Personally, I would go with MechE. From a physics stand point the only difference between MechE and ASE is that you can’t ignore your density in the NS equations. A MechE UG major will ensure that you can still get a job when you graduate and if you take a few elective ASE courses or get a MS, you’ll be able to compete for the same ASE jobs.