Monash and RMIT Aerospace Engineering? (1 Viewer)

[kiko2]

Hello everyone,

First of all I posted this in another forum but seems no responses yet.

I am in bit of a confusion. sorry if this get bit too long.

I enrolled in to Monash B. Engineering 1st semester in this year.but took a intermission as I need time to think about my course.At the moment I don't know which path should I chose. Actually I always wanted to be an engineer. but there wasn't a specific field I wanted to do as it kept changing.

I keep seeing people who study degrees they don't like(engineering specializations) and eventually drop out or else do poorly in the course.So I really don't want that to happen to me hence I would like to study something that will interest me and keep me motivated and later on have a career which I will enjoy.

So after a lot of thinking this is what I feel that I would like to study.

Things that interest me are studying about space,electronics,astronomy, aircrafts and computers.

Things I don't like to learn are Programming,electrical stuff,chemistry and to go too deep in to maths (studying base on maths is fine using calculus and all that, but don't want to specialize maths) and I don't like to work in mechanical related jobs or rather working with large machines and cars and neither I like civil related jobs.

As I always wanted to be an engineer, according to my interests, the closest thing I can get in to is Aerospace Engineering.

So if I have to study Aero at Monash, I'll have to transfer to B.AeroEng from BE which is what I am in now.

so my questions are

1. is internal transferring hard?what do I have to do in order to have a successful transfer?can I transfer after 1 semester of BE which is end of this year?

2. According to what I said about my interests, can someone suggest me another degree/specialization?

3. which uni is better for Aerospace Engineering?

Honestly, my heart doesn't want me to leave Monash and study at RMIT. (distance doesn't matter as I am willing to move. currently living close to Monash) The reason is, I really like the Monash brand name.the recognition outside Australia and its one of the unis I always liked to get in to.More over the Monash campus life can't be compared to RMIT campus life. and I just don't like the idea of studying in the city as well.

BUT I am just considering my options.which is probably the only options I am considering as the hassle of going interstate isn't worth it as its not gonna do any good to me as most if not all those unis can be compared to Monash and RMIT in the context of engineering studies.

Back to the topic.So people say RMIT course is bit easier than Monash.is that really true? from what I gather Melb uni is too theoretical and RMIT is lot more in to practical side and Monash is in the middle. by the little experience I had, even I think Monash is somewhat balanced in that regard.

also people say RMIT has better industry connections and will most probably give me better chance of landing a job.is that really true? what about Monash?do they have same same industry connections as RMIT? or being a GO8 has anything to do with it?

4. Also as a specialization, is Aerospace engineering hard? how does it compare with Mech and Elec? anyone who has studied Aerospace in Monash can give me some insight about the difficulty? and even RMIT for that matter?

5. What about getting a job in Aerospace industry in Australia?is it really hard?are there any graduate jobs rather than jobs which requires experience? what do I need to have in order to get a one? also even if there aren't much job opportunities in Australia, isn't it worth to study what I enjoy?

6. Also I really want to get some work experience abroad as well as do an exchange abroad.I know for internships, RMIT has RIIERP. what about Monash?is it hard to get a one as appose to RMIT? what about exchanges, which one is easy to get in to a top uni, RMIT or Monash? when I look their exchange partners, they look more or less same.

7. Is it worth doing a double degree with Commerce or Business for the sake of increasing my employability? as I can see, commerce or business degree going to lose up the burden in the engineering degree. is that correct? but it will at least take me 5-5.5 years to graduate, which would mean I am going to be close to 28. So given my situation, do you think I am better off just completing a single Aerospace engineering degree soon?

or else, what do you think about studying the Aero eng course full time at uni and may be doing a part time commerce/business course(degree/diploma) online?will that help me when I graduate?

And basically, if I am going to leave Monash and go to RMIT I really need some strong points to back that decision.cause I don't want to go to RMIT and then regret my decision or take the hassle of transferring back to Monash.

Hopefully I will be able to solve this dilemma out from this thread.Any input is highly appreciated!

 

[Amundies]

Ok there are some things here that I just don't know about and can't answer, but I'll answer the ones that I can.

Firstly, it seems kinda weird to me that you are interested in "electronics" but not interested in "electrical stuff". Perhaps this is just due to my lack of knowledge of anything electrical related, but I always thought those two were quite similar. Also if you're interested in space, aircraft and computers, then you will definitely need to learn programming. It won't be languages like C++, but more engineer-y ones (MATLAB is the main one). It is crucial to anything aircraft/space related.

4. Aerospace is definitely one of the harder streams. Mech (which I do) haven't diverged from Aero subjects yet so I can't really be sure of how hard Aero gets in the future, but I do have a friend doing 3rd year Aero and he's finding it quite hard (and he's pretty smart as well). The 2nd year subjects are also no push-over. Streams like Chemical and Civil seem to be doing easier subjects than Aero currently (2nd year). From what I hear, electrical is the hardest stream so Aero is probably easier than Elec.

5. You're going to need to have top marks or very good networking skills to land a job in the aviation industry, let alone the space industry. If you want to get into the space industry, be prepared to get a 90+ WAM to try and get noticed by NASA. As a person who is (now it might be more correct to say "was) interested in entering the space industry, I looked into this to see if there were any opportunities for Australians. There are one or two that MIGHT help you get a job in the space industry, but nothing that's going to secure it or put you on a very good footing to enter the industry. I can't find the statistic on this anymore so feel free to look it up or completely disregard it, but it said that only 14% of Aero graduates end up working in the aviation industry. So yes, it is very hard and competitive to get a job in the aviation industry. Grad jobs won't require you to have any work experience, although if you have done internships at related areas then it puts you ahead of other graduates. And as to whether you think it's worth studying an Aero degree if there isn't much opportunities, that's up to you to decide. From what I read though, it seems like you're only interested in all things flying and so I would probably stick with Aero and work hard (because there are still opportunities).

7. Yes, doing a commerce degree will ease your burden per semester and this is a big advantage. However, if you're not interested in commerce then you're not going to work hard in it, and it will bring your marks down. If your marks are low, then having a second degree doesn't mean much. E.g. A WAM of 85 in engineering is much better than a WAM of 65 in commerce and engineering (if your main goal is to enter the aviation/space industries). A commerce degree also wouldn't be too beneficial for you if you're so interested in aerospace only.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Ok there are some things here that I just don't know about and can't answer, but I'll answer the ones that I can.

Firstly, it seems kinda weird to me that you are interested in "electronics" but not interested in "electrical stuff". Perhaps this is just due to my lack of knowledge of anything electrical related, but I always thought those two were quite similar. Also if you're interested in space, aircraft and computers, then you will definitely need to learn programming. It won't be languages like C++, but more engineer-y ones (MATLAB is the main one). It is crucial to anything aircraft/space related.

4. Aerospace is definitely one of the harder streams. Mech (which I do) haven't diverged from Aero subjects yet so I can't really be sure of how hard Aero gets in the future, but I do have a friend doing 3rd year Aero and he's finding it quite hard (and he's pretty smart as well). The 2nd year subjects are also no push-over. Streams like Chemical and Civil seem to be doing easier subjects than Aero currently (2nd year). From what I hear, electrical is the hardest stream so Aero is probably easier than Elec.

5. You're going to need to have top marks or very good networking skills to land a job in the aviation industry, let alone the space industry. If you want to get into the space industry, be prepared to get a 90+ WAM to try and get noticed by NASA. As a person who is (now it might be more correct to say "was) interested in entering the space industry, I looked into this to see if there were any opportunities for Australians. There are one or two that MIGHT help you get a job in the space industry, but nothing that's going to secure it or put you on a very good footing to enter the industry. I can't find the statistic on this anymore so feel free to look it up or completely disregard it, but it said that only 14% of Aero graduates end up working in the aviation industry. So yes, it is very hard and competitive to get a job in the aviation industry. Grad jobs won't require you to have any work experience, although if you have done internships at related areas then it puts you ahead of other graduates. And as to whether you think it's worth studying an Aero degree if there isn't much opportunities, that's up to you to decide. From what I read though, it seems like you're only interested in all things flying and so I would probably stick with Aero and work hard (because there are still opportunities).

7. Yes, doing a commerce degree will ease your burden per semester and this is a big advantage. However, if you're not interested in commerce then you're not going to work hard in it, and it will bring your marks down. If your marks are low, then having a second degree doesn't mean much. E.g. A WAM of 85 in engineering is much better than a WAM of 65 in commerce and engineering (if your main goal is to enter the aviation/space industries). A commerce degree also wouldn't be too beneficial for you if you're so interested in aerospace only.

Then you'll have to compete with all the MIT and Stanford grads

 

[kiko2]

Thank you Amundies for your reply Out of curiosity, what do you think about Mechanical Engineering? from what I gather, one can get in to the Aerospace Industry from a Mechanical Engineering degree.I can see youtube videos of people who have studied Mechanical Engineering and now working as a Aerospace Engineer. Anyway how does the difficulty level of Mechanical Engineering compares to Aero? from what I can see it is based on fluid mechanics which Aero doesn't teach. at least in Monash. how is your experience so far in mech eng? I can see that it is very versatile and it leads you to so many variety of jobs. So is it possible to get a job from mech eng degree which doesn't involve machinery and all that manufacturing things? what are the other types of jobs available for mech engs? I am considering this because like you also said, lot of people say Aerospace Engineering is one of the harder disciplines.

and btw I do like working with MATLAB , CAD and all that but what I mean was I really don't like learning languages like C++ and all those programming languages in depth.

 

[kiko2]

Then you'll have to compete with all the MIT and Stanford grads

 

[Silly Sausage]

Aero would probably be harder than Mech in terms of maths.

They definitely will teach some form of Fluid Mechanics in aero.

Of course Mech eng can work with things other than machinery, its a very broad field (aero would be a sub-field of mech).

Don't be off-put you have to remember to stand up to competition .

 

[kiko2]

Aero would probably be harder than Mech in terms of maths.

They definitely will teach some form of Fluid Mechanics in aero.

Of course Mech eng can work with things other than machinery, its a very broad field (aero would be a sub-field of mech).

Don't be off-put you have to remember to stand up to competition .

Ok Thanks for your opinions

 

[Amundies]

Thank you Amundies for your reply Out of curiosity, what do you think about Mechanical Engineering? from what I gather, one can get in to the Aerospace Industry from a Mechanical Engineering degree.I can see youtube videos of people who have studied Mechanical Engineering and now working as a Aerospace Engineer. Anyway how does the difficulty level of Mechanical Engineering compares to Aero? from what I can see it is based on fluid mechanics which Aero doesn't teach. at least in Monash. how is your experience so far in mech eng? I can see that it is very versatile and it leads you to so many variety of jobs. So is it possible to get a job from mech eng degree which doesn't involve machinery and all that manufacturing things? what are the other types of jobs available for mech engs? I am considering this because like you also said, lot of people say Aerospace Engineering is one of the harder disciplines.

and btw I do like working with MATLAB , CAD and all that but what I mean was I really don't like learning languages like C++ and all those programming languages in depth.

I, like you, wanted to work in the aviation or space industry and so had plans to do a degree in aeronautical engineering. However I worked in Qantas for a week and got to see what aero engineers in Australia really do, and I did not like it. But I still liked aircraft in general, so I chose the next best field that had broader job prospects but would still allow me to enter the aviation industry if an opportunity popped up.

Regarding the difficulty of mech compared to aero, see point 4 in my first post. The Aero kids will definitely learn fluid mechanics. In fact I'm sure they'll go more in depth than us. Here are two fluids subjects in Monash: http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2015handbooks/units/MEC2404.html and http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2015handbooks/units/MEC3451.html.

So far I'm finding mech pretty interesting, although that being said I'm still doing the same subjects as aero and haven't done any proper mech subjects yet. Yes, it's possible to get a job with a mech degree which doesn't involve machinery (as I said, I'm still interested in the aviation industry although I'm not doing an aero degree), but I'm not sure what some examples of other jobs are. With some digging on seek and other job sites, I'm sure you can figure that out though. If you're thinking of not doing aero just because people say it's harder, I would say just do aero. The thing with engineering is even though other streams might be easier, they're still hard and you're probably better off doing the degree you're interested in (if we're just talking about difficulty).

As long as you're fine with MATLAB and CAD software, you'll be fine. You'll probably never need to touch C++ or any of those proper programming languages.

 

[kiko2]

I, like you, wanted to work in the aviation or space industry and so had plans to do a degree in aeronautical engineering. However I worked in Qantas for a week and got to see what aero engineers in Australia really do, and I did not like it. But I still liked aircraft in general, so I chose the next best field that had broader job prospects but would still allow me to enter the aviation industry if an opportunity popped up.

Regarding the difficulty of mech compared to aero, see point 4 in my first post. The Aero kids will definitely learn fluid mechanics. In fact I'm sure they'll go more in depth than us. Here are two fluids subjects in Monash: http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2015handbooks/units/MEC2404.html and http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2015handbooks/units/MEC3451.html.

So far I'm finding mech pretty interesting, although that being said I'm still doing the same subjects as aero and haven't done any proper mech subjects yet. Yes, it's possible to get a job with a mech degree which doesn't involve machinery (as I said, I'm still interested in the aviation industry although I'm not doing an aero degree), but I'm not sure what some examples of other jobs are. With some digging on seek and other job sites, I'm sure you can figure that out though. If you're thinking of not doing aero just because people say it's harder, I would say just do aero. The thing with engineering is even though other streams might be easier, they're still hard and you're probably better off doing the degree you're interested in (if we're just talking about difficulty).

As long as you're fine with MATLAB and CAD software, you'll be fine. You'll probably never need to touch C++ or any of those proper programming languages.

Oh Thanks a lot this really helped I've just had a look at the variety of jobs I can get in with a Mech Eng degree. The thing is that I am not really keen on working most of them.So for ME, even if I study a Mech Eng degree, I will not have as much as job options as other Mech eng grads would have. So in that regard, I think doing Aero wouldn't be a bad idea ; at least I am studying something I enjoy.

btw it seems those units you have given are for Mech eng students. if you look at this, those fluid mechanics subjects are not core subjects. http://monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/courses/4639.html

only one of them are there.and even thats also a first year elective.

one things to note is that, Aero students will have to study both Advanced Engineering Mathematics A and B where as Mech eng students will only have to study Advanced Engineering Mathematics A. That B part is something even Electrical students study.

But anyways that doesn't look too bad.In the end you can't expect to have each and every subject that you like no.

One more thing I need to know is, how do you find the commerce part of your degree?what sort of stuff you have to do in it? I like that it ease up my burden in Engineering part as well as it gives me other job opportunities. I don't dislike studying commerce, but I am worrying about that it delays my graduation. but unlike engineering subjects, most of these commerce subjects are offered in summer school.So I may have the chance to finish a semester earlier. Anyway any input you can give about the course structure here? (you just need to select Aero specialization)

http://www.study.monash/courses/find-a-course/2016/engineering-and-commerce-e3005?domestic=true#course-structure-3

I just realized that apparently one need not to study Adv. Maths B part if they study this double degree.something to think about.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Maybe if you study Mech.Eng and pick Aero electives?

 

[kiko2]

Maybe if you study Mech.Eng and pick Aero electives?

Well yeah I had a look at that sort of thing. but the issue is, its not really allowed in Monash course structure.if you look at Monash Mech.eng course, the electives we can chose are pretty much Mech.eng specific ones.

 

[Amundies]

If you read the syllabus for your Aerodynamics 1 and 2, they are pretty much the equivalent of fluid mechanics. And if you're going to do a mech eng degree but have no intention of going into anything mech related, you're better off doing an aero degree. Also, in my experience at least, the actual maths subjects tends to be easier than the engineering subjects. Advanced Engineering Maths B will be slightly challenging, but it's not one of the hardest imo as long as you can keep up.

As for commerce, the only reason I picked comm was because I got a high enough ATAR and I decided I wanted to try something out. That ended up being comm, and it's been great. Atm I'm leaning more towards the comm side of things in fact, but considering I only start my major next semester that may change soon. The fact that you get an extra year in uni can be a plus, as it gives you an extra year to get more involved with societies, get another couple of internships, etc. compared to people who do just the 4 year engineering degree. As for job opportunities, if you're really only interested in entering the aviation industry then a commerce degree won't really help with that (unless you're interested in joining the aviation industry from the business side instead of the engineering side, which I dont think you want to do). But, if you think you'll enjoy commerce then it's definitely worth doing.

 

[kiko2]

If you read the syllabus for your Aerodynamics 1 and 2, they are pretty much the equivalent of fluid mechanics. And if you're going to do a mech eng degree but have no intention of going into anything mech related, you're better off doing an aero degree. Also, in my experience at least, the actual maths subjects tends to be easier than the engineering subjects. Advanced Engineering Maths B will be slightly challenging, but it's not one of the hardest imo as long as you can keep up.

As for commerce, the only reason I picked comm was because I got a high enough ATAR and I decided I wanted to try something out. That ended up being comm, and it's been great. Atm I'm leaning more towards the comm side of things in fact, but considering I only start my major next semester that may change soon. The fact that you get an extra year in uni can be a plus, as it gives you an extra year to get more involved with societies, get another couple of internships, etc. compared to people who do just the 4 year engineering degree. As for job opportunities, if you're really only interested in entering the aviation industry then a commerce degree won't really help with that (unless you're interested in joining the aviation industry from the business side instead of the engineering side, which I dont think you want to do). But, if you think you'll enjoy commerce then it's definitely worth doing.

Thank you for clarifying that Aerodynamics part. Yeah that is why I am worried about studying Mech.eng. I don't feel like studying something that I don't see as having a career from just for the sake of to be an engineer.

Actually though I didn't say earlier, I do like working in business side. Its not like I am only interested in entering the aviation industry, its just that its the closest engineering degree I can study according to my interests. I have interests in others fields too but like I said I don't think I can commit to study a degree in those fields. given that eventually I want to get in to a managerial role and and given that the aviation industry is small in Australia and I would like to get in to the engineering industry with business side, I think studying BAeroEng/BCom would be viable option.

So Thanks a lot for helping me with this dilemma. It really helped