P and J,
Remember my advice is coming from one corner of the industry and there are numerous other specialisations you can become involved with. But in answer to your question what goes on in a design office? Well it is a bit if a generic term I suppose and almost impossible for me to summarise, and my experience is mainly mechanical, think of it the place that produces all the documentation that is required to produce (ie;instructions for manufacture dwings and cad files), verify (ie; performance test reports, structural verifiaction in the form of stress analysis reports, reliability prediction reports etc) and approve a design(ie; safety reports, compliance with oringinal specs etc). I suppose in aerospace I could categorise design offices into two types, those that are onsite tagged onto a manufacturing site, by far the more interesting to work, as you can easily access the equipment you are designing/analysing, where everything and anything goes on. The second are the stand alone design/analysis contract "houses" that take on sub contract design and analysis work and often isited away from the place of manufacture. It is always difficult getting the first position, but if companies are not currently taking on graduates we certainly need to be. Aero industry can be very boom and bust, but we are currently on a boom period and it should be good for five years or so. Good luck, P and J have you applied for the GKN Aerospace graduate scheme?