Aerospace Engineering: What does It Entail?

[Selendis]

I am interested to apply for a place in the Aerospace Engineering programme in NTU, primary due to my fascination of space/air travel.
I have a few questions regarding AE:
1) How different is it from Mechanical Engineering?
2) How does the REAL entrance grade profile (A level) look like? (as in, the indicative grade profile is rumoured to be an inadequate maesure) What do the top students' A Level results look like?
3) What is the prospect for an aerospace engineering gradute to switch to a non-aerospace engineering, or even non-engineering career, look like?
4) How is the graduate school entrance for the graduates from this course?
Thanks in advance!

If there is already such a thread, please move this one there and notify me. thx

 

[SpinFire]

1) For NTU, the first year modules are common among the Engineering schools (EEE, MAE, CEE, MSE). You'll take the basic stuff like Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computing. Aero Eng will include an additional Aerospace Discovery Course, and Discovery Lab (learn basic aerodynamics, fluid dynamics etc) in the 1st year. That's about the only difference from Mech in the 1st year.

From the 2nd year onwards, many of the modules will be different from Mech Eng. You'll learn things like Aerospace Materials, Aerodynamics, Aerospace Structures, which are specific to Aero Eng only.

2) For my batch, so far all my coursemates have at least 3 As in the A levels. For NTU, if you score As in 3 science subjects (Maths, Chem, Phy), you'll be exempted Physics and Maths I (basic integration and differentiation). It'll give you a huge advantage over those who are not exempted, as you can clear modules more quickly.

I can't answer 3 and 4, cause I'm not a graduate student.
Basically, I think the reason the entry grades are so high is because the cohort sizes have been very small (~100). The SG govt needs to control the number to prevent over-supply of Engineers.

 

[Selendis]

thanks by the way, is there really a lot of Indian and PRC students in MAE? (heard it from some random senior at NTU)

 

[SpinFire]

Your senior is right.

When you survey the cohort during lectures, you'll probably think it's 50% of the cohort are FT (mostly PRC), although the govt claims the intake is capped at 25%.

 

[kcxdes]

Your senior is right.

When you survey the cohort during lectures, you'll probably think it's 50% of the cohort are FT (mostly PRC), although the govt claims the intake is capped at 25%.

The 25% cap is for the entire uni and not for each course so its expected that certain courses will have more foreigners while some will have less.

 

[Selendis]

Your senior is right.

When you survey the cohort during lectures, you'll probably think it's 50% of the cohort are FT (mostly PRC), although the govt claims the intake is capped at 25%.

I see...so how about the guy: girl ratio in AE? I only saw guys at the booth during open house-that does mean something, dosn't it?

 

[kcxdes]

I see...so how about the guy: girl ratio in AE? I only saw guys at the booth during open house-that does mean something, dosn't it?

Its an engineering course. There is no engineering course that you will expect to see a large or even decent ratio of girls in them.

 

[SpinFire]

If you hope to get a girlfriend in Eng course, chances are really very slim. It's better to join a CCA to know more girls. Another way is to join Business school, or Arts/Social Science.

 

[vincentlyx]

honestly, avoid this course if you can...

if u are rich enough just go overseas and study..
Or if u dare to take the risk.. go to UniSim. The Aerospace course there is more comprehensive in terms of both the engineering and aviation management aspects. if i am not wrong the degree cert there comes wif certain level of accreditation for the Licensed A/c Engineer (LAE) license while NTU doesnt have.

Alot of good professors are leaving the school btw (either quit or sack). if you read one of the articles on newspaper last year about this Prof Michael Heng wanting to form this union to sue NTU, you will more or less know how NTU chooses their profs. In layman terms, if you are a super good teacher but you dun have sufficient research papers, you will be asked to leave. The Aerospace course itself has already ALOT of good professors leaving.

There are many more rumors about how the course is administrated.. but i think it shouldnt be spread here.

anyway, i am an Aero student in yr 3 now.. and SERIOUSLY regretting my choice. There is quite a few JC students (those super smart one somemore) quitting the course to go overseas or other local institutes/courses. And the feedback from them? Life is way better than what they had in the NTU Aero which is a stupid and useless course. Very strong words..

 

[gohweihan]

honestly, avoid this course if you can...

if u are rich enough just go overseas and study..
Or if u dare to take the risk.. go to UniSim. The Aerospace course there is more comprehensive in terms of both the engineering and aviation management aspects. if i am not wrong the degree cert there comes wif certain level of accreditation for the Licensed A/c Engineer (LAE) license while NTU doesnt have.

Alot of good professors are leaving the school btw (either quit or sack). if you read one of the articles on newspaper last year about this Prof Michael Heng wanting to form this union to sue NTU, you will more or less know how NTU chooses their profs. In layman terms, if you are a super good teacher but you dun have sufficient research papers, you will be asked to leave. The Aerospace course itself has already ALOT of good professors leaving.

There are many more rumors about how the course is administrated.. but i think it shouldnt be spread here.

anyway, i am an Aero student in yr 3 now.. and SERIOUSLY regretting my choice. There is quite a few JC students (those super smart one somemore) quitting the course to go overseas or other local institutes/courses. And the feedback from them? Life is way better than what they had in the NTU Aero which is a stupid and useless course. Very strong words..

But does anyone knows exactly how the course administration is done, with evidence and such?

 

[Selendis]

honestly, avoid this course if you can...

if u are rich enough just go overseas and study..
Or if u dare to take the risk.. go to UniSim. The Aerospace course there is more comprehensive in terms of both the engineering and aviation management aspects. if i am not wrong the degree cert there comes wif certain level of accreditation for the Licensed A/c Engineer (LAE) license while NTU doesnt have.

Alot of good professors are leaving the school btw (either quit or sack). if you read one of the articles on newspaper last year about this Prof Michael Heng wanting to form this union to sue NTU, you will more or less know how NTU chooses their profs. In layman terms, if you are a super good teacher but you dun have sufficient research papers, you will be asked to leave. The Aerospace course itself has already ALOT of good professors leaving.

There are many more rumors about how the course is administrated.. but i think it shouldnt be spread here.

anyway, i am an Aero student in yr 3 now.. and SERIOUSLY regretting my choice. There is quite a few JC students (those super smart one somemore) quitting the course to go overseas or other local institutes/courses. And the feedback from them? Life is way better than what they had in the NTU Aero which is a stupid and useless course. Very strong words..

So this "research paper number-> retain or fired" situation is commonplace in NTU (only)? How about its Business school? Or NUS for that matter?

 

[kcxdes]

So this "research paper number-> retain or fired" situation is commonplace in NTU (only)? How about its Business school? Or NUS for that matter?

Should be common to all. How you think unis get their rankings? Number of research papers published is 1 of the main scoring criteria so they will surely be concern about that as it affects their global ranking.

 

[vincentlyx]

the evidence? would news from the profs themselves be considered concrete? and also my personal 3 yrs experience in the course?

 

[vincentlyx]

i am unhappy of the course.. but i am not that unhappy of the sch.. ultimately the greatest fulfillment was what i learnt OUT of my course through the CCAs i had participated in.

so pls dun ask me to post the full stories i have came to understand here.. ha..

it would be good that you gather more opinions, perhaps from seniors who are already in the course, to get a more non-bias viewpoint...

for how NTU grades it professors... it is rather a high level thingy... something got to do with the Blue Ribbon Commission if i am not wrong (pls correct if i am wrong..). i dont think you can find any constitution to this online also. The closest info is the ST Article on Prof Michael Heng trying to sue the school.

honestly from yr1 till now, i have seen ALOT of the profs in my course leaving the school already. They are very good profs dedicated to teaching and coaching students, not those that just teach for the sake of teaching. The numbers are not including those that i have heard from other courses.

one consequence is lack of manpower. As of this AY09/10, alot of profs are doubling as lecturers and also tutors. Many lectures and tutorials have already been combined to help cut on manpower also. The Academic planning department might have other reasons for doing this, but from the student POV, lack of manpower is the most obvious guess.

 

[gohweihan]

the evidence? would news from the profs themselves be considered concrete? and also my personal 3 yrs experience in the course?

Yes, you mentioned the experience. Maybe evidence was too harsh to ask for, but at least stronger justification based on your observations about the situation.

It doesn't need to contain names. Just how the system works.

 

[Selendis]

So this "research paper number-> retain or fired" situation is commonplace in NTU (only)? How about its Business school? Or NUS for that matter?

I asked this question mainly to confirm my suspicion. Actually, I remember hearing from a professor that the number of research paper published (regardless of quality) is the sole measurement of the level of success of local universities and research institutions.

 

[vincentlyx]

ok..lets see... my experience...

Firstly, how the course/admin sees poly students.Poly students have no direct entry to 2nd yr unlike their counterparts in Mech/Elec Engg. This to me is pretty obscure as what we are learning in yr 1 is totally the same as our Mech/Elec friends, with only one subject extra (Discovery Course). One of my friends who was in the pioneer batch told me that this policy is implemented because the admin wants to see how the poly students will fare in yr 1 in preparation for the Aero subjects there after. A bit of bull****..

Secondly, the content of the course. If you want to be a LAE at end day, this course doesnt give u the accreditation (yet). This translates to taking the full CAAS LAE course in future without any exemptions. Imagine that those aero courses in Polys and UniSim are giving this exemptions, but NTU (world class, Nobel lauretes chose here) cant even give you an accreditation. sounds dumb?

This course is supposed to be MRO focus but all the aspects of learning doesnt point to it. Most modules are theory-based. Those modules that are more hands-on are just conducted on a touch-go basis. There are also zero modules on aviation management as compared to UniSim or other oversea unis offering aero (like Purdue). There used to be ONE... but it was removed last semester. Rumour is that the school suddenly realised that the person teaching it was not qualified...

How skill-less this course is, dawned upon me recently only. My friend in (New South Wales Aussie Aero Engg could use Solidworks to draw out a plane on his own by Yr 2. Me? i could only draw a toothbrush, with step-by-step guidance from my notes. To put it in another viewpoint is that the knowledge is learnt for the sake of learning only, Not much opportunities given for more practical usage. Alot of things are just rushed through with the student not knowing "why do i have to learn this? how can i apply it?"

ok... fingers tired alreadi... haha... let me tell u another day ba.. mayb just comment on what i just typed first la...

 

[Selendis]

ok..lets see... my experience...

Firstly, how the course/admin sees poly students.Poly students have no direct entry to 2nd yr unlike their counterparts in Mech/Elec Engg. This to me is pretty obscure as what we are learning in yr 1 is totally the same as our Mech/Elec friends, with only one subject extra (Discovery Course). One of my friends who was in the pioneer batch told me that this policy is implemented because the admin wants to see how the poly students will fare in yr 1 in preparation for the Aero subjects there after. A bit of bull****..

Secondly, the content of the course. If you want to be a LAE at end day, this course doesnt give u the accreditation (yet). This translates to taking the full CAAS LAE course in future without any exemptions. Imagine that those aero courses in Polys and UniSim are giving this exemptions, but NTU (world class, Nobel lauretes chose here) cant even give you an accreditation. sounds dumb?

This course is supposed to be MRO focus but all the aspects of learning doesnt point to it. Most modules are theory-based. Those modules that are more hands-on are just conducted on a touch-go basis. There are also zero modules on aviation management as compared to UniSim or other oversea unis offering aero (like Purdue). There used to be ONE... but it was removed last semester. Rumour is that the school suddenly realised that the person teaching it was not qualified...

How skill-less this course is, dawned upon me recently only. My friend in (New South Wales Aussie Aero Engg could use Solidworks to draw out a plane on his own by Yr 2. Me? i could only draw a toothbrush, with step-by-step guidance from my notes. To put it in another viewpoint is that the knowledge is learnt for the sake of learning only, Not much opportunities given for more practical usage. Alot of things are just rushed through with the student not knowing "why do i have to learn this? how can i apply it?"

ok... fingers tired alreadi... haha... let me tell u another day ba.. mayb just comment on what i just typed first la...

I thought NTU was very practical-based. I mean, look at it's Computer Engineering course, rumours are that it is far better than that offered in NUS becauase of its hands-on modules. Shouldn't AE get some synergy from other Eng courses?

 

[vincentlyx]

i tink it doesnt apply to ALL courses ba...

 

[kcxdes]

I asked this question mainly to confirm my suspicion. Actually, I remember hearing from a professor that the number of research paper published (regardless of quality) is the sole measurement of the level of success of local universities and research institutions.

Its not the sole measurement but its 1 of the main criteria. Go look at the all the global uni rankings and see the stuff they rank. Actually there is almost nothing relevent to undergraduate education, employability etc in the ranking.