Electrical engineering or Aerospace engineering?

[DominicNikon]

Hello, i'm currently looking at college majors and was wondering which one you would pick? electrical engineering or aerospace engineering? I believe pcb layout and motherboard vrms are electrical engineering and not computer engineering?

[atxcyclist]

Aerospace engineering is probably an amazing field, but you will always be able to find work in your discipline as an electrical engineer.

[mr moose]

There is likely to be a good amount of work over the next 4 decades in either field.  I think most of us would be guessing if we were to say which field has the most work, suffice to say either discipline will get you into the defense force if you fail to find work in the private sector.

[greenhorn]

Keep in mind that electrical engineering is a very wide field. I for example decided to specialize in automation and telecommunications, but there are many other options including embedded systems, microelectronics, high power electronics etc. At my university, there is also the possibility to get into a material science masters program or a biomedical engineering program with a bachelor degree in electrical engineering.

I probably would have struggled with the same choice at the beginning of my studies if any university near me had had aerospace engineering as an option.

[straight_stewie]

Aerospace engineering is a much wider field than common examples would indicate. Aerospace engineers are in no way limited to working with aerospace craft, and can probably find employment anywhere a new college graduate with a B.S Mechanical Engineering can find employment, and possibly find even better jobs than that.

Areas where aerospace engineers enjoy employment range from the obvious, to improving sports safety equipment, all the way to improving grain flow through combine harvesters, working on the hull shape for boats/ships, and even beyond. Ultimately, you learn much of the same fundamentals that a student taking the mechanical engineering course will learn, and it's really only in your last 2 years or so that you will start to take courses that are truly unique to aerospace: Orbital mechanics, aircraft/spacecraft propulsion...

 

I took aerospace engineering with a CS minor. The reverse is likely not possible as not many institutions offer minors in aerospace fields.

You probably can't go wrong with either.

[JZStudios]

20 hours ago, DominicNikon said:

Hello, i'm currently looking at college majors and was wondering which one you would pick? electrical engineering or aerospace engineering?

Electrical Engineer can easily go into Aerospace. My dad does Aerospace, but it's mostly just frame building and he needs an EE if he wants to do anything technical. It's also easier across the US to find work because more places can do EE without needing an entire economy set around it. Texas for example is burgeoning into aerospace but they have an insane lack of CNCs and machine shops, or other aerospace grade resources which makes it a pain in the ass to work in. Tucson and Phoenix on the other hand have massive aerospace industry to the point it's more expensive to buy materials that aren't aerospace grade.

 

Meanwhile Texas Instruments has large facilities in both locations.

[bimmerman]

To be quite honest, most ____ engineering programs have significant overlap in course requirements in the first two or so years. Third year is when the meat of the discipline specific program starts. In other words, you can switch pretty easily if at first you don't find a home. Also, getting out in 5 years is not uncommon, so don't stress about 'putting yourself behind'.

 

My suggestion-- pick one (or, none! if allowed by department), but try to take some general engineering electives to suss out which field (or another!) speaks to you more. You are hardly the only engineering student debating on a path forward.

 

Sincerely, mech E working on materials science in consumer/microelectronics reliability/failure analysis.