Physics/Astrophysics Major to Aero/Astro Eng. Grad School

[phys_astro]

Hello everyone!

As the title says, I'm a physics, astrophysics, and applied math undergrad (3.8 gpa) who's looking to switch career paths to aerospace engineering, specifically on the space side of things. My career goals are to work in industry at a place like SpaceX or NASA. I have three years of astrophysics research under my belt and I have presented at five conferences and I have co-authored four papers. I'm worried about the feasibility of my going to a top graduate school in aerospace engineering since I have no coursework or research in that field. Has anyone here made that career switch before? Any information or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[astrosnail]

I was in the exact situation as you.

i graduated with a physics and astrophysics double major with ~3.8 GPA and I applied to only aero/astro grad schools. I was accepted to Stanford, GeorgiaTech, and UCLA.

The question you need to be asking yourself is what specifically do you want to do with your advanced degree in aerospace engineering. Do you want to do an "engineering" type job where you design, build, and optimize? Or you want to an "applied physics" type job where you use your physics background to solve engineering problems? 

I chose the second option and got interested in electric propulsion. EP involves both plasma physics and aerospace engineering knowledge; interdisciplinary skill is required to fully understand plasma thrusters. I'm pretty happy with my research choice so far (just became a Ph.D. candidate). **If you want to do hard-core engineering, you can simply get a masters at a top graduate school and apply for a job.

It is true you will be "behind" other graduate students with more experience in the field in terms of engineering background. However, this can be picked up easily. You just need to put in the time and effort to catch up, which you can do in the lab.

After finding a research field you're interested in, you need to find a good adviser. Look up every professor that works in that field and contact them. Your adviser will be even more important than the field you choose.

Have faith knowing it's not as big a change as you would think =)

[Aerolove]

Can anyone here review my SOP for Fall 2016, Aero PhD ? 

 

Thank 

Matty