New to ERAU...in quite a dilemma....

DeltaASA16

Well-Known Member
Ok, before half of you start bashing ERAU, let me say, I know I am here for at least a year, so I want to make it count! (Use the facilities)

Ok, now that thats over, i can get to the real dirt that I have come upon. When I first signed up for ERAU, I signed myself to the Aerospace Engineering major. However, now that I am here, I am having second thoughts. I origionally took Engineering next to Aeronautical Science because of the possibility of landing a ROTC scholarship. Well, as we all know life is full of suprises, and some that arent so muc h suprises, i didn't get the scholarship.

Well, heres the deal. I am in a real dilemma as which path to take. Aerospace Engineering or Aeronautical Science. I want to make my education count, but I also want it to be fun. And let me say this, I did not come to ERAU for a career in Engineering. I came to Fly planes. And now, I don't know what to do. Should I go ahead and go for the AE and minor in flight so I have a back up plan? Or should I "Follow my dream" as my mother likes to say and Major in Aeronautical Science and minor in something to act as a backup...


PLease, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks
DeltaASA16
 
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Or should I "Follow my dream" as my mother likes to say and Major in Aeronautical Science and minor in something to act as a backup...


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LOL! That sounds exactly like my mother. If you seriously will not be happy studying AE for four years (I know I wouldn't), then I wouldn't waste the time, or more importantly, the money.
 
If I were in your shoes, I would go AE and get my ratings in my spare time. Riddle has been voted one of the best schools in the nation for AE, but their flight program sometimes leaves something to be desired (depending on who you ask). Just my $.02 (coming from anther Riddle rat, btw)...good luck with whatever you do!
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Well, heres the deal. I am in a real dilemma as which path to take. Aerospace Engineering or Aeronautical Science. I want to make my education count, but I also want it to be fun. And let me say this, I did not come to ERAU for a career in Engineering. I came to Fly planes. And now, I don't know what to do. Should I go ahead and go for the AE and minor in flight so I have a back up plan? Or should I "Follow my dream" as my mother likes to say and Major in Aeronautical Science and minor in something to act as a backup...

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Well, let me tell you, engineering is hard work.

I had a similar plan when I came to ERAU. I was an electrical engineering major, and I had planned to fly on the side. Freshman year, things weren't that hard, no problem. Things changed after that and the engineering classes and studies were a full-time job. If you decide to go the AE route, it will pretty much be all that you eat, drink, breathe, and do for the next 4.5 years...

You have REALLY love engineering to want to do it. It will get very hard, and if your heart is not in it, you probably won't succeed. I started with over 50 people in my freshman EE class; 7 graduated.

Have you considered computer science? I know a lot of people who have done that as their backup plan. It's not as time consuming as engineering, so majoring and flying simultaneously is a little more do-able.

I don't know if your minor would do a whole lot for you. After all, people get hired for their major, not their minor. Perhaps a comp sci minor would help, but when looking at hiring programmers, I'd hire a guy with a CS major over a guy with a CS minor.

Good luck with your decision.
 
I would not consider AE a very good plan A or "backup". It is very specialized and tied in with the aerospace industry just about as badly as being a pilot, in terms of boom/bust job cycles, plus there are not than many geographical locations to work, even more so now with all the industry consolidation.

Does ERAU have an ME program? If you are considering hard science plus flying on the side, or as a backup to flying, it will give you much better options in terms of total jobs available and locations to work. Plus, if you really want to do aerospace-related engineering, an ME will be good enough for all but a few jobs.
 
I did the ASE program at UT where I was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with all the other engineering students in the same classes for the first two and a half years, then a another year of the "aerospace" version of the same stuff they were doing over in the ME building. From my perspective, the two degrees are very similar, except they never got to play with the wind tunnels or ballisitc photography and I never got to tear down a car engine.

Its the company that you join afterwards that matters. If its aerospace-related, you're gonna be the first to go in poor times (unless its Boeing or Lockheed, where the old guys nearing retirement will be canned without a package and be replaced with lower-paid new hires).

If I could go back and do it again, I'd still get a BSASE, but not have stars in my eyes the whole time about being hired by BigAerospace and designing the next great airplane. In reality, a BS will earn you privlidege of managing wire passages and attachments for bulkheads B242-61 through B244-76 (but, somebody's got to do it and cooler stuff will come down the pike).

I was too poor and too busy to make a run at flight training while in school, but if you have the means, don't pass it up. You'll still only be able to manage about once a week in a good month though (otherwise you're doing something wrong
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I started with over 50 people in my freshman EE class; 7 graduated

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Yeah buddy ... my class went from 62 down to 8.
 
I'm not considering anything. I'm a few classes away from my B.S. in ProAero.
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I guess I underestimated the difficulty of AE...sorry. Disregard my previous post...
 
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Ok, before half of you start bashing ERAU, let me say, I know I am here for at least a year, so I want to make it count! (Use the facilities)

Ok, now that thats over, i can get to the real dirt that I have come upon. When I first signed up for ERAU, I signed myself to the Aerospace Engineering major. However, now that I am here, I am having second thoughts. I origionally took Engineering next to Aeronautical Science because of the possibility of landing a ROTC scholarship. Well, as we all know life is full of suprises, and some that arent so muc h suprises, i didn't get the scholarship.

Well, heres the deal. I am in a real dilemma as which path to take. Aerospace Engineering or Aeronautical Science. I want to make my education count, but I also want it to be fun. And let me say this, I did not come to ERAU for a career in Engineering. I came to Fly planes. And now, I don't know what to do. Should I go ahead and go for the AE and minor in flight so I have a back up plan? Or should I "Follow my dream" as my mother likes to say and Major in Aeronautical Science and minor in something to act as a backup...


PLease, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks
DeltaASA16

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You know, I haven't seen the rest of the replies, but my first thought was "Electrical Engineering" because with that, you'll be bulletproof economy-wise.

If aviation sucks, pursue EE. If EE sucks, do CE, if CE sucks, hell, build toasters.

And ERAU's EE program kicks ass.
 
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