Expert: Paul Soderman - 1/21/2011

Question
QUESTION: hello sir,
I am Iris i am currently pursuing my B.tech in mechanical engineering,i am in 2nd year now,I want to write the GRE xam and i want to work in some fighter plane or passenger plane production company,which course is correct for it.Aeronautics???
or aerospace??
and please tell me what except writing the exam i have to do to get admission for M.S..

ANSWER: Iris
I don't know about India, but in the U.S. aeronautics and aerospace are almost the same thing.  Technically, aerospace studies include aeronautics and a few subjects such as orbital mechanics or rocket launch physics whereas aeronautics deals only with flight in air.  In reality, the difference in terms is more cosmetic than anything - most schools and companies use the term aerospace even if they don't deal with space flight.  If you want to design aircraft, aeronautics studies would be very appropriate as would aerospace studies.  As for entrance into graduate school, check the school website for information or contact the department chairman for specific instructions.  Each school might be a little different.
Paul

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sir,I would like to know what are the different courses related to mechanical in which i can do M.S.
like aerospace i know,what about automobiles???then thermodynamics??
then there might be many other also...

Answer
Iris - In the U.S. engineering schools are comprised of several standard departments such as Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering... plus some that may be unique to each school such as Ceramics Engineering or Material Science.  Go to  http://www.engr.washington.edu/ and follow the links to Departments to see an example of the choices at the U. of Washington, which is pretty typical of engineering schools in the U.S.  Within the departments you can search on courses offered (undergraduate or graduate) and find things like thermodynamics.  I am not sure about specific courses for automobiles, but some schools (U. of Michigan ?) might offer courses in automotive design. Usually, the courses are designed around a science discipline (thermodynamics, material science, mechanical design, fluid mechanics, finite elements...) rather than an application such as automobiles.  The college websites should list all courses required or optional to get a degree.
Paul