Orbiter Obvious - 15/3/2006 9:56 PMAny good reccomendations for So Cal?
simonbp - 15/3/2006 11:17 PM(I should have mentioned this before, but) I'm actually now a physics major looking to major in applied physics in grad school with a focus probably in either advanced propulsion or guidance research...
I'll probably apply to the big names (MIT, Caltech, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins), but I was just curious what other options were out there...
DavidB - 15/3/2006 7:53 PMHere's an idea: pretend you are a grad right now and that you are seeking a job. Spend some time on the job boards (for example, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, hotjobs.com, etc.) and get an idea what is available in the aerospace field. I suspect you will find that aerospace employers want SPECIALIZATION in avionics, electronics, landing gears, materials, structures, heat shielding, gasdynamics, combustion, etc., rather than a generalist with a little bit of exposure to spacecraft design, aircraft design, aerodynamics, circuits, etc.. You won't see too many posting for Aerospace Engineers.
edkyle99 - 16/3/2006 11:50 AMPurdue would be a good choice. It has solid engineering, physics, and business schools, and has a long history of training people who worked in the space "business". Astronauts, for example. - Ed Kyle
Propforce - 16/3/2006 6:31 PMI ended up in a well known "party school", though as an engineering student; I did not get to party much at all.
Needless to say, if you can get into elite graduate schools such as MIT, CalTech, Standford, Princeton, Columbia, UC-Berkeley, Harvard, etc., you'll have a lot more options when you get out.