My Academic Goals by Cira

My Academic Goals by Cira - August 2022 Scholarship Essay

When you look up at the sky, you see airplanes, jets, and helicopters. When you think about what lies beyond the sky, you’ll think about rocket ships and satellites. Ever since I was little, I was always fascinated by just what made things fly in the sky. To my disappointment, it wasn’t as simple as picking yourself up from the hem of your pants. So what exactly was it? This fascination stayed with me to my now college days. As a student going into the University of Central Florida, I plan on receiving my aerospace engineering degree. I will finally be able to feed the curiosity that I’ve had since I was a little girl.

To get an aerospace engineering degree, I will have to understand many subjects: aerodynamics, thermodynamics, flight systems, and aerospace structures. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Aerospace engineering covers a wide variety of topics and concepts that delves deep into the subject of traveling in the sky. I hope to understand these concepts and be able to apply them to the real world. There are two ways of learning any type of science, whether it be physics, chemistry, or engineering. You first know about the theoretical aspect. This means that your calculations would be based in the most ideal situation. Your calculations would align precisely with each other and there would be no form of error or remainders. An object would go from point A to point B will all the energy possible and none of it would go anywhere else. The other way of learning these sciences is through applying their concepts in real life. This means that the numbers will always be an approximation and are never precisely the same, even when done multiple times in the same environment. An object would go from point A to point B, but some of the energy is wasted into sound and heat and dissipated into the air. This practical application is how the world works. This does not mean that the theoretical knowledge is invalid, it just means that the theoretical calculations are for a perfect world, which we are not in.

When I learn about aerospace engineering, I hope to understand the theoretical aspect and be able to apply it to the real world. Whether it be aerodynamics, thermodynamics, or structural design, I want to be able to make the best of my knowledge of these concepts and build airplanes and jets that match no other.

This year, I will start my journey of getting my aerospace engineering degree. I will learn about these topics and learn how to apply them to the real world through laboratory experiments and applicable problems learned from the textbook. Although this seems like a big goal, there is no other way to go about it other than taking it step by step. Taking a few classes at a time and thoroughly understanding these topics is how I plan to gain my engineering degree and thus be able to become an aerospace engineer.