Confused High Schooler seeking guidance in Intrests,Education and Career

[thewhills]

Confused High Schooler seeking guidance in Intrests,Education and Career!

First of all I want that you for helping and a hopefully being understanding I don't plan to even declare are major until end of Freshmen year, but I would like to learn a bit more about my science/engineering possibilities.

First all I am very passionate about space exploration. Growing up I watch Carl Sagan's Cosmos,watching Space Shuttle launch in person and watching the unrealistic,but important Star Trek:TNG. Honestly I feel like this is one of my callings in life and I am firm believer that it the exploration and colonization of space is the most important thing humanity can do. I would like to study space and maybe work on some unmanned mission...maybe a manned mission one day. I would very happy to work at NASA.DoE or a contractor. What kind of careers/majors could this lead to?

This is separate question.
I love technology in general as well. I got to tell you,I am so lucky been born to see the popularization of the computer and the birth of the internet. I will admit that I am am total and utter geek. I always stay on top of the latest technology. Making this technology would be a wonderful job. I mean say Apple want a Iphone 4G. I would love to work on the design, finding out which hardware combination would give the best performance and price..etc. Maybe custom engineering some of the hardware.Working on some new idea to make it better by researching and addressing complaints. .What kind of job/major would this be?

 

[thewhills]

I should note I don't want to be "rich". Maybe a salary of around $70k starting.But I would like to maybe make $100k-$150k eventually. Basically enough to have a decent house,a nice car and some money left over to quench my technology love.

I like to travel internationally a lot too.Could that be integrated into one of these jobs?

I also have a few political and writing(science and politics) desires..

For what colleges or majors , Any suggestions?

 

[Ben Niehoff]

To work on designing unmanned missions to space, space exploration, etc., you should major in Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering. I can heartily recommend my undergrad school, Purdue, which has produced a few famous astronauts.

To work on the iPhone 4G (although, by the time you graduate, they'll probably be up to the iEverything), you should major in Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering (both of which are also strong programs at Purdue, to push my former school again). Although I should warn you, getting to work on something sexy like the iPhone would take a stroke of luck; everyone wants to do that.

Actually, echo that statement again for aerospace: The sexy jobs will go to engineers with extreme dedication, hard work, good performance in school, and ability to work with teams. Don't lose sight of your long-term goals, and cultivate all these skills.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I should note I don't want to be "rich". Maybe a salary of around $70k starting.But I would like to maybe make $100k-$150k eventually. Basically enough to have a decent house,a nice car and some money left over to quench my technology love.

I like to travel internationally a lot too.Could that be integrated into one of these jobs?

I also have a few political and writing(science and politics) desires..

For what colleges or majors , Any suggestions?

You will not, no-way, no-how, make a starting salary of $70K. I worked as an engineer at Intel for two years and made around $55K. Sorry to burst that bubble, but unrealistic expectations will set you up for disappointment. You will be very lucky to get $55K straight out of college. Don't believe your college advisors when they tell you you can get $60K or more.

If you stick with it, enjoy your work, and give it all your effort, then you will make something in the $100K range eventually. Probably when you're around 40 years old.

 

[thewhills]

$60k or so isn't that bad.

I have a question on aerospace engineering say you are working on Mars Science Laboratory,Do you make just the craft or all the systems such as sensors..etc? DOo You just design,see it off and move on or do you see it through, control it while exploring,analyze some data collected..etc?

I am looking into Purdue,Seem great and not that selective,but the location is dreadful...
Still very high on my list.

 

[WarPhalange]

The thing is, if you want to work on the craft, electrical engineering would be alright, too, since you need to design and install various electronics. So it depends on which part of the craft you want to work on.

 

[tmc]

On such a large project, you'd probably be part of a team which works on one of the sensors. It would be highly-specialized work

 

[Ben Niehoff]

What's dreadful about the location? West Lafayette is actually a pretty fun college town. Though it does get cold in winter.

 

[thewhills]

It is just out of the way.
I am from Rhode Island and never have been to Indiana.

 

[thewhills]

Anyone else?

 

[thewhills]

Anyone more help?
Thanks a lot everyone!

 

[thewhills]

I should detail my 2nd question more. I don;t know if this is possible at first,but here it goes. Would it be possible to say work for a company like MS,Sony,apple,hp..etc. and have them come to you and ask you how they can make the best product. You then build the project and present it.
R&D would be wonderful,I would like to do stuff like they do at MIT Media lab.


Is it true for engineering it doesn't really matter where you go to college as long as they are ABET certified?

 

[ks_physicist]

As far as "becoming an engineer", I think that is true. Licensing requirements are (often) linked to ABET accreditation, as are some job descriptions.

However, the college you go to also determines who you meet and what alumni organizations you belong to. Never underestimate the value of networking, and I don't mean 802.11.

 

[thewhills]

I understand that, You might not get a better education at Stanford,but their Almuni is off the charts

 

[thewhills]

If it comes down to $80k in debt at a decent university or $0 in debt at a no name.yet flagship state university, What should I go with?

 

[jtbell]

Define "decent." I would consider most "flagship state universities" to be "decent" in terms of undergraduate physics degrees. If you can tell us which "flagship state university" you're thinking of, maybe someone can chime in with specific evaluations.

 

[thewhills]

^^^
I live in Rhode Island.
University of Rhode Island is a joke IMO

I hate this state,but I don't know.

I plan to live in either Boston or Silicon Valley area...or where every I can get a job I want.
I really like Boston University,It could be a lot more money...I'll have to look into it.

 

[TMFKAN64]

Given a choice between UoRI and no debt and BU and $80K debt, I think I'd pick UoRI.

Not that BU isn't a very good school... but I'm not convinced that it's an extra $80K better.

 

[thewhills]

Here is what I am looking at as options right now.

Aerospace Engineering specialization in space engineering
Physics > Ph.D Astrophysics or Particle Phsyics
Astronomy > Ph.D Astronomy.
Electrical Engineering
Computer Science or Engineering

I am certainly not closing any doors.Maybe I will love chemistry or something.

 

[TwigLaser]

hah I love chemistry. Always will.

 

[Naty1]

You should always follow your heart...do what you really like and are interested in...you'll not likely excel otherwise..and you can always change schools and study areas and jobs and careers later...but do recognize that some areas like computer engineeering in the Us offer tens of thousands of jobs while jobs like aerospace may only offer a few thousand...

And you can always consider a local community college for a year or two or a semester..prove you can get the grades then fish and get a degree from a more prestigious college if that's what you want.

Also, beware NASA. from reports I have heard, and I have NO personal knowledge, NASA manned exploration and even major projects like a new generation heavy lift booster, as examples, are being deferred by the Obama administration...there is no real development underway to replace the space shuttle program that I believe has only two missions left...from then on the mighty USA will rent rocket launch space from the Russians and maybe Japanese...if that's true many skilled NASA peoplewill defect in frustration and lots of development momentum will be lost. On the other hand if that work is taken up by private sector companies, there may be ample opportunities with them.

 

[tenparsecs]

If I had it to do over again, and I didn't know what I wanted to do, I'd double major in physics and EE. As a lot of people will tell you, it can be hard to find work with an undergrad physics degree. But with an EE, the market is not bad at all. For me, the physics major would allow me to pursue something I'm passionate about and the EE major would compliment it with a solid sense of practicality.

The great thing about engineering is that graduate degrees aren't near the necessity that they are in the pure sciences. And if you pressed on for an MS in EE, there would be very little that wouldn't be open to you. Of course you could still go for a PhD in physics or astrophysics, but the point is you'd have enough options that you wouldn't feel it a necessity in order to be competitive in the market.

I'd only major in Aerospace if you know for certain aerospace is what you want to work in. But since your interests are so broad, I recommend physics and EE.

 

[spanky489]

$60k or so isn't that bad.

I have a question on aerospace engineering say you are working on Mars Science Laboratory,Do you make just the craft or all the systems such as sensors..etc? DOo You just design,see it off and move on or do you see it through, control it while exploring,analyze some data collected..etc?

I am looking into Purdue,Seem great and not that selective,but the location is dreadful...
Still very high on my list.

my friend sorry to burst your bubble but nowadays things are done collectively and people tend to specialize in only one area. For example, my faculties laboratory is working on a certain project, and they have 50 people working on the simulation of a car accident...

 

[twofish-quant]

You will not, no-way, no-how, make a starting salary of $70K. I worked as an engineer at Intel for two years and made around $55K. Sorry to burst that bubble, but unrealistic expectations will set you up for disappointment. You will be very lucky to get $55K straight out of college. Don't believe your college advisors when they tell you you can get $60K or more.

$70K is a reasonable starting salary for someone with a masters or Ph.D.,

If you stick with it, enjoy your work, and give it all your effort, then you will make something in the $100K range eventually. Probably when you're around 40 years old.

FYI. Starting salaries for physics Ph.D.'s on Wall Street are $150K and they go up from there.

 

[twofish-quant]

What kind of job/major would this be?

It takes thousands of people each with different skills to get "stuff done." That's good, because it means that you have a huge choice of things to do.

 

[twofish-quant]

If it comes down to $80k in debt at a decent university or $0 in debt at a no name.yet flagship state university, What should I go with?

For undergrad, I'd definitely go for the $0. Debt is bad since it restricts your choices.

Also, do not go to a university for the name. You might want to go to a university because of the culture, the quality of education, or the social networks, but you really should visit the campus to see if you fit in. Attend the lectures and most of all talk to the upperclassmen.

 

[twofish-quant]

^^^
I live in Rhode Island.
University of Rhode Island is a joke IMO
I hate this state,but I don't know.

That might be a good reason to find some affordable university elsewhere. Getting away from home is a really important factor in making college decisions.

One other reason is that you need to understand why you think badly of UoRI. If you've been to the campus and you hate the environment that's one thing. If it's just gossip, its another. One reason I didn't go to the local school was that all of the people that I really couldn't stand in high school were going there, and I wanted to get away from them. I was something of a computer geek (and still am), and I wanted to go somewhere "geek-friendly."

I plan to live in either Boston or Silicon Valley area...or where every I can get a job I want.

It's much too early to make these sorts of decisions.

 

[twofish-quant]

Also I know people in the computer industry that have gotten their jobs as technical writers and graphic artists or usability specialists. If you want to build a good web application, you really want good artists, industrial psychologists, and technical writers.

One of the things that you should do in college is to explore different possibilities. Also, its likely that the hot job of 2025 will be something that no one has invented yet.

Finally, if you really want to promote manned space flight, it might be a good idea to learn Chinese or Russian.

As an American citizen, I consider it my patriotic duty to get the Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party to announce that China plans to colonize Mars. As long as you have one country working on manned space flight then nothing is going to happen. If you get China or India or Russia to announce that they are going to Mars, then you have enough motivation to get rid of a lot of the bureaucratic non-sense that is killing the US space program. As long as there is no pressing goal, then these programs just become corporate welfare. Once you set up a "friendly competition" and ask people whether or not they really want to see a Chinese flag on the Moon before an American one, then (hopefully) you can get rid of the nonsense.

 

[twofish-quant]

One other thing. Read history. Learn about the cold war and the history of the space race. Learn to write, and learn to sell. You'll be spending a lot of your life trying to convince someone to do something.

The 1960's are still within living memory so talk to people and find out what it *felt* like to live in a certain time. For things that are not in living memory, you can do research and try to figure out some patterns. Looking at the 1600's, I don't think that we are just going to get to Mars unless there is some competition between different groups of people trying to get there first, and one of the goals for the 21st century is to figure out how to have friendly national competition without the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Personally, I've given up hope that the US is going to get back to the moon without an external kick in the rear end.