Aerospace Engineer: The Opportunity to Eat Freeze Dried Food... Priceless

Introduction
Be prepared to work in a pressurized air cabin of death! Actually, be ready to create high powered vessels that defy gravity. You may end up working on improving the aerodynamics of a commercial airplane or engineering a new high speed missile, either way you will be assisting something that will end up in motion. There will be hours of lab work and engineering think tanks, but most work is done individually. In essence, you are a "rocket-builder" with a cooler hair and nicer computer.

Job Function
5, 4, 3, 2... it will take lots of time before you here the actual count down. Before sending anything into the sky, aerospace engineers have to make sure passengers don't end up in a ball of flame a la the space shuttle Challenger or Columbia. Lab analysis and testing is about 90% of the work, the other 10% is picking your nose and musing about Sir Issac Newton. Working in a very pressured environment can be frustrating, but it is satisfying knowing you assisted in developing a tool of annihilation. Advertisement
Lifestyle
There is no "resting on your laurels" here, if you can't see the big picture then you might as well get out. If you plan to get some sort of celebrity status by becoming an aerospace engineer, then for get it because your name or expertise don't count too much here. Examine, analyze, and execute, that's all there is to it. Also, most jobs are situated in Washington State, Texas, and California, so take your pick.

Additional Information
Aerospace Engineering programs are rigorous and hard hitting; the antithesis of living home with your mom. The competition is fierce; just keep the GPA on the up and up. If all else fails in the field, becoming a bad ass professor isn't half bad.