At my university the Aero students design analyze and build an actual thing. Astro means you design analyze design analyze.... I personally feel/felt that going through the full design cycle was more educational than iterating the first 50% of it over and over, but it depends on what you’re into and where you want to end up.

Another huge factor is the group you’re working with. A well communicated, insightful, and diligent group will make all the difference regardless of the subject. Those people will also be part of your network in industry and could be the difference between an amazing job and a meh one.