Aerospace Engineering

Has anyone who has done the course/is doing got any information about the course.
How hard is it?
Is it enjoyable?
What do you wish you'd known before starting the course?

Any response will be appreciated.

Reply 1

University of Glasgow

Official Rep

Original post by Glib

Hi there!

There is so much to read up on Aerospace as a whole. Typically, it deals with the study, design and application of all things aircraft and spacecraft. Of course, this is overly simplified, you can work in software, finance, transport, electronics, and so on. All engineering courses are broad to a certain extent, it depends what you want to specialize in.

All engineering courses are known for being time-consuming and pretty difficult. It's all relative, though. If you are organized and spread out your workload, it's perfectly manageable. Having a strong knowledge of maths will help hugely.

Is it enjoyable? I love it. Of course, there are certain classes which I'm not a fan of, but that happens for all degree programs. Look into the job prospects, read into course structures and contents to get a feel of the classes. I was always fascinated with certain topics relevant to Aero which helped.

Let me know if you have any further questions. :smile:

Scott
Undergraduate Rep
School of Engineering

Reply 2

Glib

Original post by Glasgow Uni

Scott
Undergraduate Rep
School of Engineering

Did you know a lot about aircraft and related things before you started your degree?

Reply 3

bigboateng_

Original post by Glib

Its really really hard, but exams are easy so everyone gets firsts. Is it enjoyable? Sometimes, in first year you do a bunch of stuff so you will probably find some of it not interesting, for me it was computer modelling (CAD) and materials science. I didnt turn up to the lecturers and only revised day before (but still got a first? lol). There isnt much you need to know before, you dont have to know aerospace specific things, you just need to be good at maths and have the right mind set. You need to have a basic idea about a bit of everything, so like basic electronics, computer programming, CAD, and be good at maths. Overall the course is fun!

Reply 4

Student403

Original post by bigboateng_

how would you say it's been diff to the mech e course at southampton? cause I thought a lot of the classes were the same

Reply 5

bigboateng_

Original post by Student403

how would you say it's been diff to the mech e course at southampton? cause I thought a lot of the classes were the same

5/6 modules is same at mech at Soton. However aerospace have their own lectures, as in we dont mix with mech people, same for tutorials. So that means even though we study same thing, the applications of the content will be applied to aerospace when the lecturer is explaining something in the lecture. So it always feels like you're studying aerospace engineering as opposed to some random module. But in second year, mech and aero only have about half modules in common. (like maths, material science and programming).

Reply 6

Student403

Original post by bigboateng_

ah gotcha - thanks :smile:

Reply 7

University of Glasgow

Official Rep

Original post by Glib

Did you know a lot about aircraft and related things before you started your degree?

Hey,

I didn't have much knowledge at all, but I was very interested in it. I had a good background in maths and physics, though, which certainly helped.

Original post by bigboateng_

Its really really hard, but exams are easy so everyone gets firsts.

I think this must be very university dependent! Getting a 2:1 has been far more common than firsts from my experience and for friends at other universities.

Scott
Undergraduate Rep
School of Engineering

Reply 8

Helloworld_95

The answers to these questions are going to vary heavily dependent on the uni, I've seen syllabuses that vary from pure mechanical degrees to electromechanical to a general degree, then with the more general degrees you have the ones which are just standard engineering degree intensity all the way up to trying to shove a degree and a half worth of content into your 480 credits. They usually also only have a peppering of Aerospace rather than being majoritively aero, this will probably be to your benefit.

Mine was the the more general engineering type degree but with the option of specialities so I specialised in Systems engineering (sort of like electrical engineering), however due to accreditation requirements I come out with a degree accredited as a mechanical engineering degree because they shove ~80% of the normal mech eng degree into 60 credits each year, then on top of that we do ~90% of the Systems degree in ~40 credits each year. They shove it in by playing catch up for the previous year while you're still doing more general sets of modules. So it gets pretty intense, the first year is 35-50 hour weeks including assignments so they're fairly constant although it's also plausible to halve that by know which lectures are important to attend. In second year it varied from 15 hour weeks all the way up to 80 around exam time, I cannot think of a single person who clocked in less than 60 hours during any week in the last 5 weeks of that year. The course is also designed so that first year is more of an aptitude test and then second year is a better test of your ability which means you end up with people failing in second year nearly as often as people fail in first. That said most people are on mid-high 2:1s and then there are a handful of firsts, again by design.

I'd say it's very enjoyable, you get to do a lot of practical stuff in not just aero but other disciplines too which means you don't get bored as easily. This also means you get to meet loads of people as you're constantly in lectures with people not in aerospace, but equally because of the intensity there's a very strong comradery between aerospace engineers. The content is also quite interesting more often than lot and there's a decent proportion of excellent lecturers that will inspire you.

I wish I'd known to get more involved in the practical aspects such as formula student, IMechE competitions, circuit building and programming. I also wish I'd known more and been more willing to participate in things that the university in general offers.

I knew about orbital mechanics from playing KSP and watching Scott Manley's videos, and a little bit about drone design, but not really anything else aerospace related.

Reply 9

Glib

Can anyone give me some advantages and disadvantages of studying aerospace engineering?
I'm choosing between 2 engineering degrees and making a list for and against studying either of them and want more input, especially with people who have experience.
Thanks : )

Reply 10

Helloworld_95

Original post by Glib

Sure

Advantages:
-Can be a very general degree which makes it possible to go into a variety of fields, not just aerospace. This is especially good while you have access to the academic world and if you want to go into research or have the ability to do a separate masters.
-Aerospace is a huge chunk of the UK GDP so there will always be jobs.
-You get to call yourself a rocket scientist every now and again.

Disadvantages:
-Can be a very specific degree and not in a good way, essentially mechanical engineering but with aero related modules that even for aerospace jobs may not benefit you compared to a pure mech degree.
-For the more general degrees where you are forced to do other disciplines you're perhaps a bit more likely to have modules you dislike.
-Some companies will flat out reject you for having an aerospace degree when they're looking for say mechanical or electrical engineers, it's annoying but something you have to get used to. They're sometimes a bit more open to it if you can show you have a strong background in those areas but not always.
-It's a little to a lot more intensive than other engineering disciplines.