Aerspace/Aeronautical engineering or Business-Finance
 

hello,

I am a a level student waiting for his results. I need to make a life turning decision whether to take aero engineering or a business degree.
The career prospects as well
Please help me list down the pros and cons of each sector..
Thank you very very very much

if u want to got to aviation industry,

u can do aerospace engineering in NTU or mechanical engineering in NTU or EEE in NTU.

if wan take biz, better do ur research properly and know wat u really wan... dont be fooled into thinking that biz grad will all get into the lucrative banking and finance sector earning big bucks.... truth is, onli a handful belong to that category... the rest is jus one among the thousands our uni are churning out each year.

Also, biz is not really a place where u develop specialized skills which makes u a unique human capital... quoting my prof from one of the local uni "(referring to biz students) why would anyone wan to spend 3 to 4 years learning nothing!?"

> why would anyone wan to spend 3 to 4 years learning nothing

because in the real world, those in banking and finance actually do nothing much and make lots of money!

so is it true that business degree making lotsa money is a myth?

The prof probably fails to realise that in the real business world what really matters are how you communicate with people, how you present your yourself, how you present your thoughts and ideas. The information and ideas usually comes from somebody else who doesn't have the flair to deliver it well. In the business school, you will learn more about how to fit into the business world.

in another word,nothing intellectual. give 2-3 years of working experience to any grad, u think the grad will not pick up on those skills on their own?

and here is something surprising:
we always look at the average income of fresh grad released by MOE, and the biz grads are always depicted as earning much more. but unfortunately, we all know how 'average' is susceptible to outliers. So the 3 local uni has conducted a joint study which is not widely known or published which measures the median.. and guess watz the median income of nus biz school?

MOE survey: mean = $3976
Joint study: median = $2945 (yes, 2945. no typo)

meaning, more than half of biz grad will earn less than 3k even tho their average income is one of the highest. This, i believe is one of the reasons which misled many young kids, fresh out of JC/poly, into thinkin biz grad will help them earn more when they grad.

Perspective from aero side
 

I graduated from NTU Aero Eng last year. Most of my friends got into ST Aero and SIAEC (if I rmb correctly around 5-6 guys each). Those with 1st class hons went into banking, or became researchers in DSO/DSTA. One or two went to Changi Airport Group, I think because he interned there last time. As for big MNCs: RR recruited less than 5 fresh grads I believe? And those grad positions are not aero-exclusive, meaning students from other programs, mainly mech engs, have the same chance as us. P&W even did not recruit any freshers. If your long term ambition is to become a specialised, 'hardcore' engineer then I'd suggest going overseas, and if possible take a Master's. Singapore is more a financial hub, not manufacturing/engineering.

As for prospects, we've seen it in the news... Aero industry is still largely affected by crises in the USA & Europe. Yes, low-cost carriers are expanding like crazy but the two biggest LCCs out there, Air Asia and Lion Air are not local-based. I don't know whether they are open to international recruits. Also, their openings are mostly for LAEs, technicians and flight attendants. Hardly a position for degree holders, no? :(

However, since you're just going to enter the industry in 2018, have faith! A lot of things can happen in 4 years, hopefully the economy has picked up by then :)

As for biz degree, I can't comment much but what I observe is this: engineering degree holders can always jump to biz world later, with or without MBA, but the opposite direction is very rare and unlikely, because engineering is a very specific field while biz is very general (each with its own pros and cons). But then again, if your passion is in biz in the first place, why study engineering and graduate 1 year later?

All the best for your studies! feel free to PM me if you want to ask more about aero stuff :) (yes, I know there are definitely other more senior aero people in this forum, but until they come and share their knowledge here, I am happy to offer what I know)

it is indeed misleading to use purely mean for decision making. Maybe that is why the MOE GES survey actually includes the mean, median, 25th and 75th percentile in the survey result. the 25th percentile is 3000 and median is 3200.

Using the result of 2 different survey is totally pointless, especially if the 2 survey doesn't even have the same sample size or group