Aeronautics and astronautics or mechanical engineering?

Frankly not a lot in it between mechanical, aerospace, aerospace & astronautics. These are all suitable backgrounds for a technical graduate aero/fluids graduate engineering job.

Id consider getting some detailed cfd specialist skills (perhaps at MSc level if it is an aerodynamic role you want to pursue).

Ofc if you want to work in chassis, project management, manufacturing, strategy, propulsion- i would adapt your specialist knowledge accordingly

yea theres a few optional modules on cfd in aero so will take them for sure. And it seems most the key math modules are the same between the two.

Just out of curiosity is there any thing you recommend to do know in summer like learing some key concepts or maths via youtube to help ease the transition and to try and get a headstart as id love to get a first in my course so i can do southamtpons MSc in race car aerodyanmics .

Id note undergraduate CFD will be an introduction (as would undergrad thermodynamics to heat engine cycles...) as such if you want to work in a specific area of f1 (like aero) you will be best placed getting real experience & depth of exposure to more detailed application beyond what is covered in one university module

Before university just be very strong on maths, id try and make a plan before university building a cover letter & cv with the aim of getting an internship after first year (you’ll need to make lots of applications) but getting some relevant experience even in a supplier would help when it comes to making a strong application to f1 either for placement year or graduate level (and if not may open other doors).

yea ive spoke to you previosuly in a thread about this and my course has a placement year in the 3rd year. Are you suggesting i try and get a summer internship or something after my first year as i doubt i would have anytime as most my time will be spent on studys while at uni. Im also going to try and work or volunteer at some racing teams to try and get some experience just in what its like to work in a racing team as i reckon that would be valuable.

I would try & get some experience, even if it is minimum wage making cups of tea in a supplier or budget race team or somewhat relevant company. Frankly most companies don’t advertise summer internships for first year students so it will be hard but id recommend trying (and sending some requests out even if they aren’t advertising).

You will have to get used to balancing multiple things at once as placement year and graduate applications happen during the academic year as well, if you want to work in competitive companies/roles (such as f1) making time & learning to balance your schedule is crucial (and first year is by far the lightest workload so you should have time then).

oh alright that seems fine i thought you were suggesting try and have a placement year while in first year which i thought would be unodable but yea ive been able to balance time with sport and a job and alevels for the last 2 years well so should be ok.
i reckon ill join formula sudent as soon as i can but i dont know if they make you wait till seond year to do that as i know that s quite valuable experience.

Out of curiosity what did you find the step like from sixth form and university as my dad did electrical engineering and found uni to be easier then sixth form and ive heard some other people agree but ive also heard the polar opposite however my dad did study about 30 odd years ago but i doubt alot has changed.

Overall I didn’t find university too difficult but I found I thrived at uni, and always was a high performing student there, I know other students who had different experiences.

First year of university the step up wasn’t too bad, i also put a lot of this down to me doing further maths, second, third & masters years the step up’s grow but if you adapt it’s normally not an issue. I think a lot of how well people do & how they struggle is based on 2 things in engineering: 1) competent mathematics skills (without this an engineering degree will be a challenge 2) being able to adapt to the academic step ups each year (which I think is mostly a mixture of motivation & enjoyment, if you enjoy your degree it’s easy to focus, similarly if your extremely motivated you will just get on with it..

the engineering students who struggle are the unmotivated or don’t enjoy it as their isn’t an impetus to keep going (but this isn’t an issue for most), people who struggle maths wise will find engineering really gruelling just because these skills are needed in almost every module.