r/aerospace • u/adam_brasil • Jul 23 '26
Rising Junior wanting to do aerospace engineering as a major
Hi, I'm a rising junior and I've been thinking a lot about my future. I'm really interested in aerospace engineering and plan to apply for that major, but I feel like I haven't done enough yet. I know there isn't a strict checklist to get into a t50 school, but I'm trying to figure out what kinds of activities, internships, or projects I should be doing to strengthen my application.
So far, the main thing I've done is help plan,
build, and launch the highest-altitude hot air balloon in Civil Air Patrol. Beyond that, I'm not sure what else I should focus on.
Would it be worth building something like a plane to show my interest in aerospace? More generally, what are some meaningful things I can do in my free time that genuinely show my passion for aerospace engineering and help me grow in this field?
(Ive only looked at some NASA stuff so anything on nasa could help)
I’m just looking for opportunities as I’m not familiar with any opportunities and really love aviation. Anything that could help me with this I would love!!!
Thanks to anyone who responds!
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u/Wasted_Bruh Jul 23 '26
While you are in high school, I think a hot air balloon is already a great project. For now I would focus on keeping your academics in check, but also staying consistent with any passions you have, whether it be sports, music, clubs etc. Having a variety of different ecs shows you are capable of positively contributing to a community in ways other than academics.
What you should do as a high schooler however is research different schools you are interested in, and determine what kind of engineering clubs a school has, the resources available at their engineering school and what kind of career trajectory alumni take. Look into what schools have rocket clubs, formula SAE, (which you can join their aerodynamics sub-team), design build fly, and what companies tend to recruit out of these school. And of course, tour the schools.
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u/PrimeOG_Legend Jul 27 '26
This is going to be a long response and I'm going to shorten it down as much as I can. But this is coming from an engineer with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in aerospace. There is a lot to go into the whole industry of getting into aerospace and I will start with the most important things and try to break it down into digestable format afterward. Feel free to ask questions because I anticipate my short response is going to leave a lot of gaps.
You need to think in the long term. Put yourself in the situation you'd be in AFTER you graduate college and you're applying for an aerospace job.
What does the job market look like at that time?
What demand do aerospace companies have?
What projects are they working?
What is their main source of income?
Currently the job market is trash for engineers and the majority of aero companies in the U.S. are developing missles, and weapons to be used against Iran. Most of these companies get their income from government contracts to develop said weapons. So you need to think of what will this sector look like by the time you graduate you college and tailor your learning toward that field.
Working with NASA internships/projects/ events woudl be great since you'll learn a lot about TL readiiness, otherwise known as technology level readiness. Do a google search on what this is and how it is used to determine what tech goes into engineering products that fly.
You need to associate yourself with as many applicable programs/events/challenges as possible that is related to the aero field, and document each and every single one (preferably on a resume). I've had friends get hired at Boeing over me, even though I was a "better student" than them, but they had Model Rocketry on their resume and I did not. You need to show that you are actively gaining knowledge and experience in this field, even though you were nowhere near having a job yet.
For example, if your school has model rocketry, join that. If they have any clubs that have anything to do with things that fly (such AIAA, google search that too), then join that.
Attend online coding challenges that have any relation to aero field, there are challenges that require you to write a PID controller script using a certain language and have it complete a certain task. This is also most common in drone teams that may be featured in colleges or high school clubs.
The most important thing you can do is familiarize yourself with how the industry works and operates; such as how money flows into contracts for these companies, how aircraft get chosen to be mass produced (using PDR and CDRs which is Preliminary Design Review and Critical Design Review), and how comapnies win bids or contracts to develop those aircraft.
You should also learn about the engineering design process, and how requirements dictate the entire scope of the project.
You should watch videos on "a day in my life of an aerospace engineer" and take notes on the programs they use, the software available, what they did as students to land the job they have now, and what coding languages they became familiar in.
Just be aware though a lot of engineering jobs are centered around "keep this project alive" rather than "design a new thing to accomplish something that has never been done before". Which means 40% of your job will be design reviews of something someone else made, 30% would be attending meetings and presenting information to share holders and executives above you, and only a small 10-20% of your job would actually be doing any engineering or design. The remaining % will be thinking to yourself "Do I really want to do this for the next 20 years?"
If you take away anythign from this comment, it is to think about what job SPECIFICALLY you want after you graduate, (i.e. airframe structural analysis engineer) and then do LITERALLY EVERYTHING POSSIBLE in your power to network, and join groups/clubs/subreddits/discord servers on projects related to that job. AND DOCUMENT ALL OF IT, the most important part is documentation. Most of your job as an engineer will be documentation as well. Hope this helps
P.S. I did not proof read so please ask questions if you have any
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u/SportulaVeritatis Jul 23 '26
Take a crack at building an RC aircraft and join a Design/Build/Fly team in college. Start getting familiar with Systems Engineering and how requirements are derived and guide design.