High School Tips to Prepare for Aerospace Engineering Major
Aerospace engineering is a booming discipline. This area of study requires a strong foundation for a thriving career. The aspirants should have a high school preparation of advanced mathematics and physics thus developing their competencies to the highest possible levels. The pre-requisites for pursuing aerospace engineering are:
Mathematics
Mathematics is the essence of all engineering and natural sciences. It is important for high school students to have a strong background in mathematics. Most aerospace engineering programs have a number of math prerequisites like calculus-pre and advanced, linear algebra, trigonometry, statistics and differential equations, which form the basis for upper-division courses.
Physics and Chemistry
Aerospace engineering involves studying the motion of air over the structure of the aircraft, as well as the cause of all of the aircraft’s internal systems. As a result, different aspects of physics are of major importance to aerospace engineering. High school students interested in a career in aerospace engineering should take introductory and advanced physics and elementary chemistry classes.
Communication skills– Writing and Oral
Engineers have to convey their design thoughts and conclusions, so writing and speech classes are imperative for successful aerospace engineers. Aerospace Engineering requires effective communication skills. They need to work with different departments and people that require strong communication abilities. The more effective you are at communicating your concepts and designs, the more success you'll have as an aerospace engineer.
Great deal on the extra-curricular activities
It can be one of the keys to get into the course and the University of your Choice. Holistic approach is considered i.e., not only grades or scores but also core activities and competitions. Get yourself involved in extra-curricular activities and strike a balance between studies and activities. Extracurricular activities
may also help foster your interests in aerospace engineering.
Critical skills
One should be creative, inquisitive, analytical, and detail oriented. The applicant should be adaptable to the environment, and should possess strategic thinking skills.
Develop computer literacy
Also, one must have working knowledge of computers i.e., computer literate. Engineering aspirants at High School can take classes like introduction to computer science or advanced placement computer science, if available, to develop their computer literacy and design skills.
Standardized tests are pre-requisite for all the colleges and universities to enter undergrad and graduate courses in the USA so start preparing for these tests from junior year of your high school. Standardized test scores of ACT or SAT are also vital for evaluating an applicant to Aerospace Engineering. IELTS/TOEFL is required for international students and all other aspirants whose native language is not English. The test scores are important in order to get into the best schools. This is a competitive major so have incredibly high average test scores.
SAT
The SAT measures verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities. There are two versions of the SAT test. The SAT is the Reasoning Test and the SAT Subject is designed to evaluate your mathematical and verbal skills. It consists mostly of multiple-choice questions.
ACT (American College Testing)
The ACT Assessment measures English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning abilities. It is a subject-based test.
TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language)
The TOEFL is a computer-based test. The test consists of mostly multiple-choice questions with an essay question that is mandatory to attempt.
With all these preparations if commenced from high school no doubt you can expect to land a fairly lucrative job with a big aircraft manufacturer, an airline, or with an space agency.
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