is aerospace engineering worth it

savvabaklava

farts rift

(edited 6 months ago)

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by savvabaklava

picking my level options rn, wanna to do aerospace at uni...are there many aerospace opportunities in the UK? what grades would I need at GCSE to be able to do the degree???

I hate it when people ask whether XYZ is worth it. Worth it in what context? Happiness? Economically? Growth? It's such a vague notion and it doesn't present any question of any substance. What's your criteria? What are your values? Would you end up regretting it? There's like 1001 different factors to consider, and you have given me exactly zero information about your personal preferences. No one can answer this question. Yeesh.

In terms of career options, aerospace engineering is more or less confined to a handful of firms manufacturing aeroplanes. Typically, Rolls Royce is one of the big name employers. With some companies e.g. BAE, you're going to work on military contracts, so you would need to have a squeeky clean background in order to join certain firms. Whether this falls in line with your personal ethics is another matter.

Personally, I would do mechanical engineering as opposed to a specialised degree in aerospace. Aerospace is a subset of mechanical, so you are able to go into aerospace (plus other areas such as biomedical, automobile, machinery, robotics) with mechanical engineering. You would more or less cover the same material, but with more context. It doesn't mean that you can't go into other areas with a degree in aerospace, but it's not as widely accepted as if you have one in mechanical e.g. I have a friend who did an aerospace engineering degree and went into data science, but I think he will have issues getting into biomedical with his degree.

The key GCSEs for aerospace engineering degrees tend to be Maths and English Language for basic numeracy and literacy skills. Universities and employers tend not to care about other GCSEs. GCSE science (physics) would be of interest if it ever reaches that point. I am not entirely sure on the grade requirements, but you're looking around 6-7 for a number of these degrees (assuming you don't do a degree apprenticeship).

Key A Levels are Maths and Physics. Leave these 2 out and you're going to have a hard time getting into the industry. Further Maths is ideal, but not necessary.