Tag: Engineering

Education, Engineering

Top U.S. Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering Programs

Kate Gunderson

I wanted to compile a short list of the top aerospace engineering programs in the United States. I’ve listed the top 5 here with their respective tuitions. Remember that this is not a comprehensive list and there are many great schools not listed here. Click the “full article” links on each category to see more options. Additionally, professionals working in the aerospace field can hold degrees in many other specializations like mechanical, chemical, electrical and software engineering, business, etc. Don’t let the dollar signs scare you as there are a multitude of scholarships, grants and other opportunities to help at least partially pay for school.

Further, as graduate school application season approaches, I’ve added the top aerospace graduate programs. I added a separate list for top online Master’s programs as many choose to pursue graduate programs while working a part or full-time job, and let’s not forget the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought this year.

I also suggest checking out my other grad school related blog posts: 1) Is Grad School “Worth It”? and 2) Graduate School Application Tips.

  • M.S. AE Graduation, May 2018
    M.S. AE Graduation, May 2018
  • B.S. ME Graduation, May 2015
    B.S. ME Graduation, May 2015
  • M.S. AE Graduation, May 2018
    M.S. AE Graduation, May 2018

Undergraduate Programs [full article]

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
    • $53,818/year (private)
    • enrollment: 4,530
  2. Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
    • $33,794/year (out-of-state), $12,682/year (in-state)
    • enrollment: 15,964
  3. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)
    • $56,862/year (private)
  4. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)
    • $52,266/year (out-of-state), $15,948/year (in-state)
    • enrollment: 31,266
  5. Purdue University-West Lafayette (West Lafayette, IN)
    • $28,794/year (out-of-state), $9,992/year (in-state)
    • enrollment: 33,646

Graduate Programs [full article]

Cost of enrollment for full-time graduate programs is highly dependent on whether you are an in-state or out-of-state student and whether or not you obtain funding through a grant, scholarship, graduate research assistantship (GRA), graduate teaching assistantship (GTA), or other similar funding source. If you are interested in external funding for your graduate degree, apply early!

  1. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)
  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
  3. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
  4. Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
  5. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)

Online Master’s Programs [full article]

If you choose to pursue your advanced degree while working, check with your employer and see if they’ll fully or at least partially reimburse you for courses or degrees related to your job. This is a great added benefit many companies offer.

  1. University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
    • $1,000/credit (out-of-state)
  2. Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
    • $1,348/credit (out-of-state)
  3. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
    • $2,075/credit (private)
  4. North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
    • $1,295/credit (out-of-state)
  5. University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (Urbana, IL)
    • $670/credit (out-of-state)
Photo Credit: Kyle Sudu Photography

Wishing you fair winds and following seas wherever your journey takes you.

Kate

Engineering

What’s NASA’s Astronaut Application Like?

Kate Gunderson

That’s one small step towards my childhood dream. In 2016 a record-setting 18,300+ people applied to be an astronaut. NASA chose 12. How do you like those .066% odds? This year, even with the additional requirement of a Master’s degree, NASA still received over 12,000 applications. One of them was mine. I think this may just be the most competitive job in the universe! Since the application changed a little bit this year, I thought I’d share with you what the application looked like.


Photo Credit: Kyle Sudu Photography

Part 1: Build Resume in USAJOBS

This is probably one of the most time consuming parts of the application and can be quite frustrating. Although USAJOBS has an option to import your resume, for certain postings it requires you to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder. This is one of those positions. You will be required to manually enter each of your professional experiences individually and select whether you’d like to allow them to reach out to your supervisor. I would suggest that you only say yes if you are sure they’ll remember you and/or you’ve let them know you put them down. I felt like this process made it a bit difficult to set yourself apart from the crowd, but then again, I’m sure there are others who felt that way as well.

Part 2: Upload Required Transcripts

It’s a good idea to keep electronic copies of your college transcripts on hand because you never know when you’ll need them (ex. job applications, professional certifications like the P.E., etc). In addition to your USAJOBS resume, you will also have to upload and submit transcripts for all degrees you want credit for. If you do not upload these transcripts or other required documents as listed in the job posting, you will likely be disqualified right off the bat. You are not required to upload official transcripts but keep in mind that if selected, you will be required to provide official transcripts.

Part 3: Qualifying Questions

Just when you think you’ve completed the application and say to yourself “Wow, that was surprisingly simple” you submit and are routed to the agency specific section. Don’t worry, this isn’t difficult either. You’ll be asked questions that help further determine if you meet the basic requirements of the job listing and whether you understand the risks of the job, etc.

Part 4: Assessment

The assessment is something new this year. Within about 30 minutes of submitting the application, you will receive a link to the assessment which needs to be completed within 48 hours of the application closing. The assessment contains three parts and it is recommended to take the entire thing in one sitting but you can save it and come back if you’d like. The assessment is management by OPM (Office of Personnel Management), the federal agency responsible for managing the government’s civilian workforce.

Assessment #1: Work Experience Assessment. This one is not timed and about 25 multiple choice questions. The questions ask things like “When asked, your supervisor would explain your work style as” and then gives you a number of choices.

Assessment #2: OPM Essay Test. You will be given 25 minutes to write an essay which the system says will be graded by computer. The prompt I was given related to writing about the pros and cons to a particular subject. Astronauts are often the face of NASA and human spaceflight so I presume this is supposed to assess whether you are able to communicate effectively.

Assessment #3: Work Styles Assessment. This one felt like it went on and on…and on. It is non-timed and forces you to select one of two given options related to what describes you better in a work situation. Sometimes this is incredibly difficult as I often felt like neither choice applied to me and they both sounded like negative attributes to have! The ones I remember most were related to how you react to being stressed at work or how you feel when others at work are stressed out.

A helpful note is that once you have submitted your application, you are able to re-enter the system and make changes up until the application closes. Start your application early because it will likely take you longer to complete than you expect.

The selection process takes the agency approximately one year to complete and NASA plans to announce its next astronaut class sometime during early Summer 2021. I’ve heard a good sign that you may have made it into the running for the final interview round is if you hear that your references have been contacted.

For astronaut selection criteria and tips, click here to read my previous blog post. This post outlines the minimum requirements for NASA astronaut selection.

Godspeed friends,

Kate

Education

Graduate School Application Tips

Kate Gunderson

Around this time 4 years ago (I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long!) I was researching and applying to graduate school programs. Although grad school was the best investment I’ve ever made in myself (more info on that in past blog post “Is Grad School ‘Worth It’?”) and would do it all over again if given the chance, there are several aspects of the process I wish I had known going in. I often get questions not unlike the ones I wish I had answers to back then so I’ve compiled a few tips here. Feel free to drop a comment if there’s something you’d like to know that I haven’t included!

Set yourself apart as an applicant. I’m not sure how it works at every school, but I know that many graduate programs compile a committee of faculty and staff that help select incoming graduate students. While applying to schools, I looked online at which professors were conducting research in the areas I was interested in and sent my resume along with a short intro about me to each one asking to hear more about the research they were currently working on. It is never (NEVER!) a bad idea to reach out and attempt to make a personal connection with someone. I’ve come to learn this is not something many people do but it can go a long way in setting yourself apart from the crowd. This is how I got my foot in the door at NASA and it is the reason I found a professor to tell the admissions committee at Georgia Tech that he wanted me as one of his students. The committee doesn’t have to follow through with the recommendation of the professor, but it can greatly improve your chances of acceptance to the school which I believe is the number one reason I was accepted to my “reach” school.

Apply to more than one school. Do not, do not apply to one school, close your eyes, cross your fingers and hope you get in. There are so many factors beyond your control that could cause this plan to go awry. For instance, I applied to a school, chatted with a professor on the phone and was told that as long as the admissions committee approved my application I would become his student. A week later I was rejected with no explanation as to what had happened. I will never know if it was my GRE score, another student had a parent who had donated a bunch of money and been promised a spot, or a multitude of other things beyond my control. What I do know is that if I had placed all my bets on that one application I would have been very sorry. Don’t make that mistake.

Apply to the school you think you’ll never get into. When I called Georgia Tech during the application process, I was told that the average incoming PhD student had a 3.9 GPA and very high GRE scores. My GPA and GRE scores were not poor by any means but they were definitely not exceptional. I remember thinking I didn’t have much of a chance of being accepted to the #2 Aerospace Engineering school in the country, but I told myself that if I didn’t apply I already knew the answer; my odds were better if I applied. I was accepted. Apply to that “reach” school!

If you need funding, apply early. Many programs have an earlier deadline for students requesting funding and a later admissions deadline for those who have their own funding or aren’t requesting any from the school. This means that if you’re looking for a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) or Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) you should apply and reach out to faculty early. There are only so many of these paid opportunities available and you don’t want to miss out on a free degree because you were too late!

Treat advisor selection seriously. I would argue that your choice of advisor may be the single most important decision you make once you’ve selected a school or been admitted to a graduate program. The working relationship the two of you share and your ability to communicate can potentially make or break your experience and what you get out of it. Think about your personal and professional goals for your time in graduate school. Do you wish to publish a paper? Is it a goal of yours to present at a conference? Do you dream of working for a specific company or scoring a postdoc at a certain university when you finish up? Make this clear up front, and see if this person supports your goals too. Next, consider your communication style and ask your potential advisor about his or hers. The last thing you want is to be stuck with someone who won’t or can’t communicate with you. This can make completing research and accomplishing the goals I mentioned before difficult and more stressful than necessary (hint: grad school is already stressful enough).

Get that money, honey. Think about how you will pay for school and the implications of that. Are you working for a company that will reimburse you? What kind of commitment will that require during school and once you get out? Are you paying out of pocket? Do you have plans for how you will pay your student loans when you’re done with your program? Will your advisor or the school provide you with a teaching or research assistantship to cover tuition? This is a major step of applying to school that shouldn’t be overlooked. A lot of us (me included) come out of undergrad with a mountain of debt. The last thing you want to do is take on even more without a plan for how to pay it back. I was forward, upfront and persistent about my need for funding anytime I spoke to my advisor. Although this can somewhat limit your flexibility on exactly what you research, I can attest that if possible, it is a huge relief if you can secure a tuition waiver and monthly stipend for the duration of your program.

Godspeed,

Kate