The Highly Educated KSP Player - legends in our own minds? (Updated OP 16 January 2018)

[MDZhB]

Started playing KSP in middle school, now I'm 2 years into college. Majoring in computer engineering.

[nsgallup]

Currently part way through a conservation enforcement degree in western Canada

[adsii1970]

41 minutes ago, nsgallup said:

Currently part way through a conservation enforcement degree in western Canada

I'll be updating on Tuesday, care to share what school?

 

[nsgallup]

Lethbridge College

[cubinator]

@adsii1970 I'm still listed under 'aspiring dreamers' but would probably be better placed in 'Currently attending university'. I'm studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Minnesota (following Robert Gilruth's footsteps!), in my second year now. Still with the goal of being some kind of rocket scientist and an astronaut.

[qzgy]

On 6/22/2019 at 6:28 AM, qzgy said:

Conditions should be met. Hopefully they are. Wont know for a couple weeks....

Update on this - Definitely attending university now. Working on a BSc in Nanobiology at TU Delft and Erasmus University. Still would like to become a pilot at some point.

[Spaceception]

I can throw my own hat into the ring! I'm currently attending a community college in Connecticut to get an A.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology, since at the time I assumed that it would be a good way to transfer into a 4 year school for Mechanical Engineering (spoiler, it isn't), but I'm going to work with it anyway.

I kind of wish I had gone into Engineering Science instead in light of that, but I only have 2 semesters left after this spring, so I want to finish. Given I can work as a technician afterwards though, I can work an engineering related job to get experience while I work on my Bachelors, plus my current degree will get me exposed to some of the basic concepts I'll encounter in univeristy. So I'm trying to see the positive in it.

Next year, I'm planning to attend a state university for my ME Bachelor, and get myself qualified to apply to their 5 year Bachelors-to-Masters in ME with a concentration in Aerospace.

[adsii1970]

Wow, I haven't updated this page in forever. I didn't think there was any interest in it any longer.

 

[cubinator]

29 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Wow, I haven't updated this page in forever. I didn't think there was any interest in it any longer.

 

Think you'll get to it by the time I finish my degree?  Or you could wait two months and only have to update it once.

[Piatzin]

On 8/26/2015 at 10:26 PM, adsii1970 said:

Earthlinger: wants to study aerospace engineering or nuclear physics and aspires to become a writer.

Whoa, I had forgotten about this thread!

I have to say, past-me was way off. I'm currently doing my undergraduate in molecular biology, in the university of Oslo. Recently went to a matchmaking session for summer projects with research groups and got a fancy reflector band out of it, and a pen, and maybe also a project (they won't tell us until April).

I still love writing though. That hasn't changed

Also apparently I'm going on exchange to Barcelona next semester, so that's exciting. What isn't exciting is Barcelona's rental market. It might get gnarly.

[GuessingEveryDay]

Graduating in May, I will be taking a 2-year mission before going to Embry-Riddle Daytona for Aerospace Engineering!

[Spaceception]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:26 AM, Spaceception said:

but I'm going to work with it anyway.

Annnnnd, less than 2 months after that, I decided against it. I talked it over with others to get their perspective, and decided to flip majors to engineering science last spring. Luckily, a handful of classes do overlap with engineering technology, like calculus and English 1. I also recently decided to transfer, and last month, I was accepted into a state school for Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace concentration). Right now, I'm in Calc 3, Physics 2, and a couple others at my community college, and it's going well so far.

Other parts of my thoughts and plans haven't changed. I was still exposed to some interesting stuff in engineering technology, and I do plan to get a Master's (not necessarily the accelerated track, I'll have to talk it over with my advisor next month).

I am wondering about opinions about taking extra courses not required for your undergraduate or graduate though. I went through the course catalog, and there are some electives that aren't a part of the normal curriculum, like mechanical vibrations, and combustion. I was also looking at a few classes in a non-degree program at a more expensive nearby college which offers aerospace courses my college doesn't offer like gas dynamics and orbital mechanics. Maybe I can go for a double major in Mechanical and Aerospace?

Edited February 16 by Spaceception

[KSRe-dev]

I did a year of music composition at a conservatorium. We were repeatedly pressured to use atonal techniques which broke my creative drive and interest. But at least I learnt how to appreciate all different kinds of music there.

Years later I ended up in a homeless shelter where they had a collection of cheap keyboards. I decided to transcribe an organ piece for piano and learn to play it, to cure boredom. The first few bars are the only thing I ever play.

In the end, that excerpt was great for my mod cinematic. I think the circle is now complete.

 

[MythicalHeFF]

I didn't exactly have life smack me between the eyes, but rather I had my own indecision and stubborness smack me between the eyes. Through middle school and high school, I'd always thought that I wanted to be an engineer of some sort; naturally, as a KSP player, I always leaned more towards the mechanical/aeronautical side of engineering. That was, until, during my junior year of high school in 2019, I took a higher-level engineering class (I had taken an introductory course the previous year and throroughly enjoyed it), and got completely whacked by the workload. This was hugely shocking to me, as I'd always done pretty well in school up until that point, always receiving A's and B's, minus a couple of C's in algebra classes. There were a few projects that I did in that class that, it seemed, no matter how much time I spent working on them, I could never finish the whole thing before the deadline, which really wasn't helped by me only having one partner instead of the two I was supposed to have.  Coupled with a few other things that were going on at that point in my life, the stress from that class gave me a pretty nasty case of depression. I don't know if I just got unlucky, but the experience really turned me away from the STEM direction for the next year or so, and I dropped the class in early December, the day before a scheduled exam on thermodynamics that I hadn't even started studying for, because I had been too busy trying to finish the latest project. Literally the day after I dropped that engineering class, my symptoms of depression practically vanished, and I went on to have one of the happiest times in my life until COVID hit.

About a year later, though, when I was applying to colleges, I decided I'd give STEM another go, and secured a schlolarship at Seton Hall University for a 5-year program (3 years at Seton Hall as a physics major, and another 2 years of engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology). I'll just cut to the chase, though, pretty much the same exact thing happened, which, honestly I didn't really know what else I expected. My first semester there, I pulled something like a 2.1 GPA, and I decided to take different classes to sort of find out what I actually wanted to study. Except, there was a catch: I had no idea, and I wasted another year just taking generic business and core curriculum classes, although doing so did increase my GPA, with me getting a 2.7 and a 3.8 in my second and third semesters. Wanting to just get out of there, I then transferred to the University of New Hampshire, where I spent a single semester, more or less still running around like a chicken with its head cut off. 

And, since then, I've just been living at home working part-time (full time for a few months too). During that time, though, I got a YouTube channel going, and I finally figured out what I want to do... a career in aviation. More specifically, aviation maintenance, as, while I have a little bit of experience flying planes, I'm not sure I can actually get a medical certificate to become a  commercial pilot... and with how slow things are in the FAA, I may not know for over a year. So, in the meantime, I've decided to try and get my Airframe and Powerplant license to become an aircraft mechanic, as a viable alternative.

I'm currently one month away from starting a training program to get my Airframe and Powerplant license, so, while I'm not technically in a trade school yet, I might as well fall under the category of being enrolled in one.  I'm always a little disheartened when I see people say that they're studying or they want to study aerospace engineering because of KSP just because of how I failed to get there myself, but good on them!

Edited March 8 by MythicalHeFF

[Spikemaster]

I am currently in high school.

I would like to do something in Physics

[Barzon]

Will be starting a degree in Astronautics & Space Engineering this September

Edited July 7 by Barzon