- #1
yllihp
- 11
- 0
I will complete my bachelors in physics next year, and plan to do a masters in either aerospace or mechanical engineering afterwards.
But how do I go about selecting which schools to apply to?
I’ve read advice such as applying to schools whose professors do research in a specific area that I would want to write my thesis on.
But this advice seems flawed to me. My problems with this advice are:
- What if the professor I wanted to work for leaves, or turns out be an unhelpful tutor, or some other unforeseen circumstance occurs?
- I have never studied aerospace mechanical engineering before. So how I am supposed to know what specific area I would want to write my thesis on? How am I supposed to be choose between for example, computational fluid dynamics and aerospace design? I could guess which specific field I’d be interested in, but I might change my mind later.
- I’m planning to do just a masters rather than a phd, so I think research won’t be as important anyway. Also, writing a thesis seems to be optional for masters students in most schools I’ve looked at.
So should I even bother trying to figure out which specific field I’d be most interested in, and trying to base my choice of schools on this?
Apart from factors like location, cost, etc., what other criteria should I use to choose which schools to apply to?
But how do I go about selecting which schools to apply to?
I’ve read advice such as applying to schools whose professors do research in a specific area that I would want to write my thesis on.
But this advice seems flawed to me. My problems with this advice are:
- What if the professor I wanted to work for leaves, or turns out be an unhelpful tutor, or some other unforeseen circumstance occurs?
- I have never studied aerospace mechanical engineering before. So how I am supposed to know what specific area I would want to write my thesis on? How am I supposed to be choose between for example, computational fluid dynamics and aerospace design? I could guess which specific field I’d be interested in, but I might change my mind later.
- I’m planning to do just a masters rather than a phd, so I think research won’t be as important anyway. Also, writing a thesis seems to be optional for masters students in most schools I’ve looked at.
So should I even bother trying to figure out which specific field I’d be most interested in, and trying to base my choice of schools on this?
Apart from factors like location, cost, etc., what other criteria should I use to choose which schools to apply to?