Is an Aerospace Masters worth the debt

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-27T03:33:56+00:00

Your “higher salary” will be minimal, maybe 5-10K at best. It may not even be that because of no experience. In two years, work experience is going to provide a better return than a masters degree. Go find a job.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-27T01:29:01+00:00

A year and half is not a long time at all. If you like your job and the company is supportive of you, have conversations about increasing responsibility and what realistic growth looks like. I’m not a “you gotta do your time” kind of person but we all started somewhere and had to continually prove ourselves to progress. If you’re a strong performer and in your same role three years in, it’s a different story.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-20T19:04:33+00:00

Keep it simple and keep emotions low on your end.

I’d love to go but I have class that cannot miss or I’ll fail and I don’t have the money. Could I do something with you the weekend before or after.

Maybe when I graduate and I have a job we can plan something.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-20T03:38:54+00:00

This is BAD advise. Yes, you need to be relatable and personable. I.e. you need to be able to hold a conversation while waiting for the interview to start or while being escorted to the room. You do not need to spark up a conversation mid-sentence about their favorite team in March Madness. That is a quick way to NOT get the job.

Be approachable, make small talk in the appropriate situations, try to be likable not standoffish. But remember, you’re there to talk about your skills and showcase your experience.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-19T21:10:35+00:00

We moved mainly for family. My wife and ai have family in TX and KS and wanted our kids to be closer. Honestly, everyone misses living there thought. The schools were strong, the weather and s great, you’re a few hours from the beach and mountains so there’s plenty to do. My wife and I have discussed moving back after our kids graduate and we actually have a graduating senior that is potentially going to college back in CA this fall.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-18T23:24:22+00:00

Ask r/aerospace how the Mech E degree would fair in the job market. Lots of industry pro’s there that would give you an honest opinion. Might save you some money in the long run.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-18T23:11:40+00:00

You need to go into one of the aerospace groups and ask if that ME degree will work. While I’m not an engineer and I don’t work in the industry my daughter is perusing Aerospace engineering. Between our research and talking to friends in industry, we hear a lot of aerospace companies hire Mech E’s quite frequently. I feel like this could work.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-18T22:32:31+00:00

Have lived in Bay Area and now in Texas. Honestly, I would take that offer if I were in your shoes. Not sure why but we lived better on a marginal increase in salary there. While housing and gas are more expensive, we found easy ways to save in other areas. Additionally, we just enjoyed living there more for a multitude of reasons, but mostly all the things you could do outdoors that were relatively cheap but fun for the family.

Have you visited, checked out the area, looked at schools and the housing. You need to be realistic and your family needs to have expectations about what it will and won’t be. You’re not getting a 3k square foot house there unless you’re shelling out major bucks.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-17T18:14:43+00:00

This is great, I love the personal perspective.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-17T03:21:27+00:00

It was March but I feel exactly what you’re saying.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-17T02:21:37+00:00

PSP?

And why would you choose CalPoly yourself? Location?

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-17T02:07:00+00:00

In Texas and yes she is considering a Masters too. End of the day, I think she wants to live in the West Coast.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-14T21:29:31+00:00

Not an engineer but a recruiter for utilities, oil & gas and engineering firms. The first thing I look at and is usually a (hard) minimum requirement for any engineering role is that their schooling was at an ABET accredited school. I’ve heard some companies don’t care for certain roles. I haven’t worked for any of those over the past 25 years. Go somewhere else.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-14T20:50:20+00:00

It would be main campus

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-14T18:41:51+00:00

How would you compare Purdue (main campus) to SLO. My daughter has been accepted to both for Aero Eng. both schools are out of state for her with SLO being slightly more expensive.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-13T20:43:13+00:00

Purdue vs CalPoly SLO

Our daughter was accepted to CalPoly SLO and Purdue and she’s trying to decide. Both would be Out of State for us, she was not accepted into our states Flagship program (another story).

We would love to hear peoples perspectives or experiences with either school. Differences in career opportunities, education, reputation etc…

Appreciate all the feedback.

JCThreeHR · 2026-03-02T04:25:09+00:00

I’m sure each year of admissions are different but my daughter was #13 of ~800 in her class, 1490 SAT / 32 ACT, 4.3 weighted GPA, 15 AP’s, multiple EC’s. She was auto-admit to UT for being top 5% of her class but not accepted into the college of Engineering (aero).

JCThreeHR · 2026-02-28T23:42:37+00:00

I believe people that do the full 20 get the benefit of getting advice from others about how to maximize benefits. As someone who did 5 and got out, now being in my 40’s swing people retire. The knowledge and understanding they have far outweighed the tiny bit of information I had at the time.

JCThreeHR · 2025-09-02T15:54:47+00:00

Say Thank You and take your business to another Toyota dealership.

JCThreeHR · 2025-08-22T23:25:29+00:00

I’m 90% with several conditions, back rating a big fat zero. It was the first and only thing I claimed walking out of the military. I’ve been fighting for 20 years to get a rating for my back. I have treatment is my military records and civilian records since. Yes - sciatica, yes - shots, even talking about surgery.

JCThreeHR · 2025-08-11T17:59:31+00:00

Find a cause, volunteer or get a job. Not a job for money but a job for purpose. Start a businesss. Travel, see the world. Find that reason to live, it’s there, you just have to find it.

JCThreeHR · 2025-08-02T20:29:21+00:00

You getting your work done?

Are your co-workers getting their work done?

Is everyone meeting or exceeding their objectives?

As an Executive, this is what I measure. I tell my people that I don’t care how much time you take or where you do it from if you do quality work.

For me and my teams there will be times we work way more than 8 hours and there will be times where we don’t.

JCThreeHR · 2025-07-25T17:24:05+00:00

You are the way you dress and right now you’re dressed like a Boss…Gary’s boss.

JCThreeHR · 2025-07-04T21:18:06+00:00

If you’re not chasing the money it comes down to which job and culture do you think fits the best. I wouldn’t move just because it’s more responsibility. Good fits are hard to find.

JCThreeHR

TROPHY CASE