Struggling to Bridge Academic Success & Practical Experience in Aero Eng. Help 1

[tuyurelwad]

Hey everyone,

I'm a 20-year-old aerospace engineering student, wrapping up my third year, and honestly, I'm feeling a bit stuck and underqualified. I've got an almost perfect GPA and genuinely feel like I've got a solid handle on my core courses. But outside of classes? That's where I hit a wall.

I've really tried to do all the "right" things (competitions, research, independent projects). The problem is, none of them really worked out. Some blew up due to frustrating group dynamics, others just completely overwhelmed me and led to burnout. I ended up pulling most of them off my resume because, frankly, they felt like failures and not something I wanted to highlight. Now my CV feels pretty empty, and it's stressing me out.

I also applied for a few internships this summer. Got two interviews, which I thought went really well, and then... crickets. Just ghosted. No rejection, just silence. That's really added to this feeling that every door is closing, and I'm just falling behind.

It feels like everyone else around me has these amazing, polished projects or impressive internship experiences, and here I am, with good grades but not much else to show for it. I've even been thinking of stepping back from everything to figure out what genuinely interests me and where I fit, but then I feel super guilty for not grinding harder like everyone else seems to be doing.

So, I'm just looking for some honest advice, or even just some reassurance.

1. Is it actually possible to find a job in aerospace with just strong grades and no big, standout projects?
2. How do I even begin to talk about these "failed" or incomplete projects on my resume or in interviews? What do I even say to make them sound like a learning experience instead of a flop?
3. Is this whole "feeling underqualified despite good grades" thing normal, or am I just way behind the curve? Hearing if anyone else has been here and landed on their feet would be awesome.
4. Beyond the typical internships, what else can I be doing to build some tangible experience without completely burning out?

Any thoughts or shared experiences would be incredibly helpful right now. Thanks a ton!

 

[Gr8blu]

Sounds like you know what the books / professors tell you - your GPA is "near perfect". It means you can problem-solve, to a certain extent. How well you can do in an extemporaneous situation remains to be seen.

You also tried to work in some "practical" background through competitions, projects, research, etc. - and then either bailed mid-project or did not see the results you were hoping for. My first question would be: "These are research projects. What did you expect to achieve - vs what did you actually achieve?"

Most people who seem to have it all together are really just a bit better at hiding their insecurities - or they don't know enough to realize when they're going off the rails. Happens to all of us - even those who have been in industry for decades. You can't know what you don't know ... until you confront it and figure things out. How to get past an obstacle is something everyone struggles with at some point, and most develop some sort of coping mechanism/problem-solving method to handle it. That, or we change direction altogether - which isn't necessarily a bad thing either, by the way.

I'm not sure where you are in the world but look at what's going on in industry and politics in your region - and then expand that view to your country, then a bit larger still. Those companies may be looking for the "perfect" candidate (whatever that means) - or they may be stuck with a "wait and see how the local situation plays out" because they (believe they) simply cannot afford to make a mistake. What I'm saying here is it's not necessarily just about you ... there are other factors at play. Be aware of them and figure out how to handle them.

Now - looking at your "experience" list: what did you learn from those? Maybe you need to work on soft skills like dealing with those who either don't know or don't care about outcomes. Maybe it is handling aggression/antagonism/ignorance from co-workers (and maybe customers)? Maybe it was a simple as "my entire theory on why this or that happened was wrong, and here's what I did instead". Or even "here's how I figured out I was on the wrong track."

Most companies are not looking for someone with all the answers - they want someone who is willing to put the effort in to learning things so that they CAN contribute to the company. If the candidate happens to contribute something worthwhile right out of the gate, great ... but then what do they do for the next task? More to the point - how well did you do when describing what you have to offer to the companies that interviewed you? Did you couch in THEIR terms - and were you realistic, since the position is internship not paid employment?

Have you thought about applying your technical expertise to other fields (not just aerospace internships)? Your problem-solving skills and math/sciences background are usually in demand in a lot of occupations, if you can figure out how to apply them to real-world issues. Maybe even approach something that helps you improve your softer skills, so that you fare better on next year's projects during the school term?

Good luck. You're not alone. Not by a long shot.

 

[Ron247]

Advice-Post what country you are in; this is a multi-national audience.

I'm a 20-year-old aerospace engineering student, wrapping up my third year,

If you are "wrapping up your third year", you probably are still lacking some tools in your arsenal that would have made the outside efforts more successful. Of those you felt were more successful at it, how far along were they?

Advice-If you like truly like aerospace, strongly consider staying with it unless you honestly believe it is an aptitude issue. I doubt it is an aptitude issue.
Advice-Understand that even with the complete 4-year degree, you will still be lacking many tools you need. College education is not all-inclusive of what you need. In fact, even with a Masters or PhD, you will still be lacking. College gives you the ability to learn more on your own when given the basic tools.

Some blew up due to frustrating group dynamics, others just completely overwhelmed me and led to burnout.

Working in groups is not as easy as some think it is. "Managing the group dynamics" is a necessary skill that college does not teach and rarely even mentions. I think that of all the different ways people communicate, become motivated, and respond, you have a bigger mess when you look at the different combinations of the 3. In short, probably less than 25% of who you are dealing with align with your methodology and vice versa but you have to learn to work with 100%.

Most all of us think we are "normal" and therefore "most people" think and act like us, that is VERY far from the truth.

Advice-Take a Myers-Briggs Personality test and compare your outcome to the possible 16 outcomes. Don't make the mistake of letting the outcome pigeon-hole you, Myers-Briggs is only a guide, not a God and results will change over the years as you mature. It is useful to illustrate what you are seeing in a group; different personalities with different traits. There are several free tests on the internet, take one with at least 30 questions. Take the test, then LEARN what Myers-Briggs is about. This is a learning/enlightening experience to help you better understand a group and possibly who you are interviewing with. I contend it is about 80% accurate but that is pretty good for a 30 question test.

I also applied for a few internships this summer. Got two interviews, which I thought went really well, and then... crickets. Just ghosted. No rejection, just silence. That's really added to this feeling that every door is closing, and I'm just falling behind.

Only 2 interviews is barely scratching the surface.

Advice-Really mull those interviews over, see what you could have done better, especially your communication style. As I have said numerous times, starting to answer a question with "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" is not a great starter. Even though you answered well, did your face say otherwise?

It means you can problem-solve, to a certain extent. How well you can do in an extemporaneous situation remains to be seen.

Your coming to this forum for help, shows you are actively trying to achieve some goal. This is a good sign. The problem solving we are talking about here is not like a homework problem to solve, it is taking a bad situation and trying to correct it i.e. "problem solving" in another sense.

 

[IRstuff]

Did you apply for any internships? They are often the gateway drug to your first job, particularly if it's in a field that you're interested in. Both of my sons leveraged their last summer internships into steady jobs in their majors.

 

[Ron247]

I've really tried to do all the "right" things (competitions, research, independent projects). The problem is, none of them really worked out. Some blew up due to frustrating group dynamics, others just completely overwhelmed me and led to burnout. I ended up pulling most of them off my resume because, frankly, they felt like failures and not something I wanted to highlight. Now my CV feels pretty empty, and it's stressing me out.

Not all research ends in a success in the sense you figured out how to make something work. Research that determines something will not work is just as valuable, but they then look to see if you covered all the bases in your research. Leaving some path out or using poor assumptions can lead to the conclusion it will not work just like the same 2 things can lead to a theoretical success.

 

[Ron247]

I also applied for a few internships this summer. Got two interviews, which I thought went really well, and then... crickets. Just ghosted. No rejection, just silence. That's really added to this feeling that every door is closing, and I'm just falling behind.

How much preparation did you do for these 2 internships? As IRstuff pointed out, these are great avenues to a job or valuable additional experience. I can only explain what I mean by "preparation" with a real life example from the days before the internet. With the internet, this is much easier.

I saw someone go through about 20 resumes for a fresh out of college new hire for a company that is mostly associated with cold-formed steel framing. Cold-form design is generally not taught in most colleges and is a completely different code (AISI) than the steel design taught in college (AISC). Two went straight into the trash for misspelled words. Only 1 person stood out from a resume standpoint and the other 17 were varying degrees of GPA and experiences. Eventually, 4 were interviewed and again the same 1 person stood out and got the job. Highest GPA? No. Most work experience? No. A decent mix of both? Yes

What they did show was initiative, street smarts, and overall good academic achievement/work experience mix. Their resume was tailored to the job being sought, while the other 17 were carbon copies of the placement office "GoBy" for a resume. Insert name, insert GPA,etc. The Career Objective entry on the 17 all read-"Obtain a starting position in Civil Engineering" which is on the GoBy and also on a lot of other college placement office GoBys for the times. The 1 jewel had "Expand my knowledge of structures and the associated materials" for their career objective. Civil is a broad field and structures is 1 of 6 specialties. To the reader, 17 want any job in Civil, while one is interested in structures. In the interview, they knew how long XYZ company had been in business, some of their recent projects and a lot of other info that was not easy to get in the pre-internet days. They expressed the desire to learn cold-formed steel design (AISI) and was excitedly looking forward to learning it. The other 3, had no clue that cold-formed could not be designed using AISC. They also had intelligent questions to ask XYZ about as it related to their future with them. Successful hiring is a 2-way street.

 

[GregLocock]

From reddit i'd say you are probably only going to average 1 offer from 6 interviews, as a noob. Internships are harder to get than real jobs. Group dynamics don't stop when you get into the workplace, yes sometimes you end up doing 75% of the work in a 3 member team. If the project is important then that's just the way it is.

 

[MintJulep]

Although it's a cliché it's also true that you learn more from failure than from success.

Set aside your preconceptions and dispassionately review your "failed projects" to identify what you learned.

Also, if your school has a mental health clinic, you should go. You need to learn how to manage your anxiety and stress before it kills you.

 

[IRstuff]

I've really tried to do all the "right" things (competitions, research, independent projects). The problem is, none of them really worked out. Some blew up due to frustrating group dynamics, others just completely overwhelmed me and led to burnout. I ended up pulling most of them off my resume because, frankly, they felt like failures and not something I wanted to highlight. Now my CV feels pretty empty, and it's stressing me out.

Looks like a place for some self-reflection, while some group dynamics cannot be fixed, there are others that you could possibly have worked around.

Note that many interviewers don't necessarily want to hear about your successes, but rather, they want to hear about your difficulties and how you worked to solve them or overcome them. Life is not an easy do, so the sooner you stop feeling sorry for yourself and get back into the fray, the sooner you are on your path to the rest of your life.

 

[dgeesaman]

In my world, which is admittedly not aerospace, we hire mechanical engineers and very roughly sort them by their GPA either towards Sales or towards R&D. High GPAs tend to be individuals who focused on grades, know how to work alone and remain focused and had not much social activity vs. lower GPA students who tended to have had social activity (or other obligations) and in fact had also developed soft skills that worked well in technical sales.

I myself landed somewhere in the middle and that keeps me motivated because I don't want to deal with endless customer drama, but I am highly motivated to solve problems for people I've actually met and problems that I've seen first-hand. I don't get to visit most of my customers but I go whenever I can. One of our best sales guys started out doing semi-technical stuff but he just didn't manage detail well and he got more effective the closer his role was to the customers. Not by coincidence, he had a part-time job bartending all through school - and the skills he learned there are arguably serving him much better than that degree.

Occasionally I have encountered engineers involved in hiring who really do focus on GPA above all and one even opened a textbook and quizzed an applicant, ice cold. Perhaps there are some exceptionally focused roles where that is appropriate but that to me is generally a red flag that I don't want to work with someone who has so little appreciation for all of the other aspects of a job - communication skills, time management skills, motivation, focus, team dynamics, etc.

There are a few unicorns who have both very high social skills and GPAs and more than a few duds who have neither so it's definitely not a rule. The takeaway I've rambled toward is to have that conversation and determine what your personality type is: whether you prefer to work with people or numbers, or if you enjoy aligning and motivating people vs just getting things alone. Tweak your resume accordingly and focus on finding roles that align with that. You'll have much better chance of success if you can communicate some understanding of yourself and show why it aligns with the roles you're pursuing.

 

[1503-44]

Look at Musk's 9 rockets. "All of them were successful."
You just need to change the (verbal) spin.

 

[IRstuff]

Look at Musk's 9 rockets. "All of them were successful."
You just need to change the (verbal) spin.

Yeah, we planned to have the rocket blow up

 

[1503-44]

Like drilling dry oil wells. In the quarterly report appears, "We are successfully delineating the reservoir. "

 

[lunch-in-08]

Hey everyone,

I'm a 20-year-old aerospace engineering student, wrapping up my third year, and honestly, I'm feeling a bit stuck and underqualified. I've got an almost perfect GPA and genuinely feel like I've got a solid handle on my core courses. But outside of classes? That's where I hit a wall.

I've really tried to do all the "right" things (competitions, research, independent projects). The problem is, none of them really worked out. Some blew up due to frustrating group dynamics, others just completely overwhelmed me and led to burnout. I ended up pulling most of them off my resume because, frankly, they felt like failures and not something I wanted to highlight. Now my CV feels pretty empty, and it's stressing me out.

I also applied for a few internships this summer. Got two interviews, which I thought went really well, and then... crickets. Just ghosted. No rejection, just silence. That's really added to this feeling that every door is closing, and I'm just falling behind.

It feels like everyone else around me has these amazing, polished projects or impressive internship experiences, and here I am, with good grades but not much else to show for it. I've even been thinking of stepping back from everything to figure out what genuinely interests me and where I fit, but then I feel super guilty for not grinding harder like everyone else seems to be doing.

So, I'm just looking for some honest advice, or even just some reassurance.

1. Is it actually possible to find a job in aerospace with just strong grades and no big, standout projects?
2. How do I even begin to talk about these "failed" or incomplete projects on my resume or in interviews? What do I even say to make them sound like a learning experience instead of a flop?
3. Is this whole "feeling underqualified despite good grades" thing normal, or am I just way behind the curve? Hearing if anyone else has been here and landed on their feet would be awesome.
4. Beyond the typical internships, what else can I be doing to build some tangible experience without completely burning out?

Any thoughts or shared experiences would be incredibly helpful right now. Thanks a ton!

My experience was similar - I will say that the real learning begins after graduation, I believe the feeling is normal. (That feeling will go away). There is no playbook for any of this. Unless you have a unique specialized set of skills that you get hired to do, you will ultimately continue learning throughout your career. To build your confidence, I would close the gap between where your skills are to where you would like those skills in 3-5years time. This can be done by learning alongside other engineers with more experience, read tech guides, attend trainings (often provided by employers), learn from the workers that are using tools, often they know a lot of knowledge not found in textbooks. Seems like employers like people with knowledge but are you good/easy to work with is just as important.

I found that my failed projects where often topics I could share during interviews when I was asked about working with teams or have helped me be a better team member. Understanding conflict resolution and different work styles can help make working with teams more enjoyable. No matter what role you take on, you will encounter personalities that you just have to find a way to work with.

Despite feeling underqualified, I landed a role as a project engineer, the learning curve was step, however I've had a lot of support through my coworkers and other engineers I've worked with. Seems like many are willing and happy to teach their industry knowledge - Just ask and be teachable.

When I was in school, it felt like forever before I would ever graduate and get a job. It's been five years now working in substations, water and waste-water systems. So far it's been a good experience. I don't need to be a subject matter expert however I know where to find what I need to do using resources, people, etc. Eventually repetition becomes experience and you learn to rely less and less on others.

If you still need reassurance of your own capabilities, get your engineering licenses after graduation or during your senior year, earn more certifications, always helps when others recognize your efforts and credentials. Just remember, Titles are just titles...you are more than capable. Wishing you the best in your career!