Andamiriel

Hey, im going to apply to imperial college to do aero eng next year,and i really want to know what qualites an aero engineer needs to have, to succeed in this business ,and also what this industry is about/aims to do
Also what would qualities would make me a more attractiv e candidate for an aero eng course
thanks in advance

john_tullamarine

what qualites an aero engineer needs to have

Not much different to any other branch of engineering.

On the technical/scholastic side - interest and enthusiasm (otherwise you are likely doomed to fail), a good basic competence in mathematics (otherwise you almost certainly will fail) and the sciences as well as an interest in humanities (most courses, these days, require various humanities components).

On the personal side - a high level of personal integrity (otherwise you will have trouble with post graduate accreditation and registration).

what this industry is about/aims to do

Aero engineers appear in almost all walks of life so it is hard to package us in a nice neat little paddock. For those who practice as aero engineers, the range of work covers just about everything to do with aviation and you can let your imagination run wild - slide rule work, flying, top management -you name it and some of us are involved in it.

what would qualities would make me a more attractive candidate for an aero eng course

As for the initial comments - the well rounded secondary student usually does very well when reading engineering.

Sukhraj

Same school I went to, many years ago!

If you're looking to make your personal statement more attractive, demonstrate your interest in the field by mentioning new developments - commercial / military aircraft, F1, propulsion etc.

You need to be analytical and you must love mathematics - especially if you get into IC, and have the enthusiasm to see you through 4 difficult years. Aero Eng was seen as the most difficult course at Imperial, and for good reason.

As mentioned above, Aero engineering has many applications - from modelling blood flow in arteries to structural design so it's hard to tie it down.

What do you plan to do afterwards?

Genghis the Engineer

Good university - they were the big competition when I was a student at Southampton. Does have a reputation as a very mathematical course however - do be aware of that.

Excellent

Well, as a quick list:

-Good maths, not just solving maths problems but applying maths to problems.
- Excellent written English and the ability to change and adapt writing styles as required.
- Exceptional ability to match theory and practice to each other.
- Moderate to severe workaholism
- Very good teamworking and communication skills

Ah, now that's the wrong question. The right question is "what does an aeronautical engineer do". We're very multi-skilled people who you'll find all over the place. Personally I spend much of my life overseeing the evaluation of flying machines for safety and utility, or operating aeroplanes for research purposes (actually that's less and less true any more, I spend my life managing people who do this - which means that I get more money but they have a lot more fun). The field covers design (aeroplanes, racing cars, satellites, test equipment, even medical equipment...) of whole or partial systems, analysis (all of the above), providing skills into other fields (medicine to motor racing, IT to ship-design), and a fair bit of management (project, technical, safety or occasionally even personnel).


Time spent doing stuff around flying machines or engineering projects. Helping somebody build a kit-plane, stuff at the local aircraft museum, assisting with maintenance at the local flying club in return for scrounged flying... If it's team-based, all the better.

But most of all, a real and active interest in aerospace in some form. Anybody who has been a student on an Aero-Eng degree has learned that they need this to sustain the enthusiasm without which you'll give up and hide well before you've finished. This is a very touch chunk of education (mind you, most aerospace professional education is).


Best of luck, it's a fun (if hard) course and a fantastic (if demanding) career.

G

TURIN

Have a read of this..

Not Much of an Engineer

Especially the application of Maths to practicle problems at the back of the book.

It will give you a good idea of what some of the best in this field get up to.

Oh and Good Luck.