Aerospace Engineering

  • Volunteer in the community

    This will most likely be volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club or the Youth and Shelter services. To get into Stanford, you need to give back to your community and do extra things, and volunteering at one of these places would give me that extra requirements.
  • Join extracurricular clubs

    These clubs include FFA, Choir, FCA, and NHS. I have already joined FFA, choir, and FCA, but I have yet to be in National Honor Society. Joining extracurriculars will help me to stand out from the crowd in the application selection at Stanford.
  • Get high ACT and SAT scores, along with a 4.0 GPA

    All colleges require either the ACT or SAT, however Stanford likes to look at both. You need at least a 31 on the ACT, and a 2200 on the SAT to be looked at seriously.
  • Apply to Stanford and get accepted

    This is no small task, however it will be made easier by volunteering, joining extracurriculars, and getting high test scores and GPA.
  • Go to Stanford for Aerospace Engineering

    Stanford has a great aerospace engineering program, so I would be at one of the best in the nation. I would study astronautics specifically, or the engineering of spacecraft.
  • Take classes in the aerospace engineering program

    These classes include Thermodynamics, Vector Calculus, Mechanics, Chemical Principles, and Dynamic Systems. Along with this, there is lots of other math, engineering, science, and even computer science classes that need to be taken.
  • Become a summer intern with SpaceX

    This would be at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. I would be a general intern, watching and participating in many types of aerospace engineering. To get this internship, I would have to apply and be selected for it from a wide pool of applicants.
  • Graduate college with a 3.0 or better GPA

    This is not an easy thing to do, however with hard work and dedication it can be achieved. This would be an average GPA of 3.0 or better over all 4 years, not just my senior year.
  • Apply to be in the UCLA aerospace engineering Masters Program

    I would be applying for the UCLA Masters Program at UCLA instead of Stanford because I would also be getting a job at SpaceX in Hawthorne, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. This way I would be able to get my Masters while having a job with SpaceX at the same time.
  • Move to Los Angeles, California

    Moving to Los Angeles would allow me to be close to everything that is going on, such as getting my Masters and my job with SpaceX. Both Stanford and UCLA are in California, however it takes 5 and a half hours to drive between them.
  • Get part time job with SpaceX working as an engineering aid

    At this time I will be starting my Master's, while still working with SpaceX and making a living. My Master's will most likely take 2 years while going at a steady rate through my classes.
  • Meet a great lady at UCLA and start dating her

    She is also getting her Master's at UCLA. We only date for around 3 weeks though, then we break up because I was so busy all the time.
  • Finish Master's and get Master's Degree in aerospace engineering

    Finishing my Master's Degree will give me more opportunities for higher ranking jobs with SpaceX, and I will also be making a lot more money.
  • Get promoted to Mission Operations Engineer

    This will allow me to work directly with rockets and other types of spacecraft. Along with this, I will be making a lot more money than I was at my part time position. Here, I will also be using all of the skills and knowledge I acquired during college.
  • Start to move up in the company

    After I have been doing operation engineering for around three years, I will start to move up in the company. I will get promoted to a Mission Operations Training Engineer. I will be doing more managing of people than before, and I will be directing missions and launches.
  • Meet a beautiful woman and start dating her

    This woman who I met also works at SpaceX as an engineer, so we have a lot in common. We date for a long time, four years.
  • After doing this for 5 years, I decide to take my knowledge to space

    I am getting tired of just managing the launch, I want to be the one in the rocketship. I decide to take my knowledge to the final frontier and become an astronaut.
  • Apply to be in the NASA astronaut training program

    This is very hard to get into, but I believe with my SpaceX background and degrees from Stanford and UCLA, I will be a prime candidate for the program. These things will set me apart from the crowd. My girlfriend also decides to apply, because she too has aspirations of becoming an astronaut.
  • Get accepted and begin training

    My girlfriend and I both got accepted into the program. Because the NASA headquarters are located in Washington DC, I will have to move there from Los Angeles. The training is very intense and difficult, however I can get through it because of my superior physical level. The training takes around two years, and after that two years I will be ready to go into space.
  • After intense training, pass the course and become an astronaut

    By this time my girlfriend and I will have passed the training, and we are ready to go to space. The mission we will be going on is the first manned mission to Mars. The trip will take 6 months to get there, and 6 months to get back.
  • Go to space and begin the 6 month journey to Mars

    It is now time for me to actually go to space, and our launch date is November 6th, and 1 pm. It will be a fairly boring trip there and back, however it will be worth it once we get there. I will not see my family for over a year. Most of the time on the spaceship will be spent in hibernation, so the trip will feel like it only took a few days.
  • Get married in space

    Now that we are on a steady trek towards Mars, me and my fiancé become the first couple to get married in space.
  • Become the first man on Mars

    We finally arrived at Mars after 6 months in the spaceship. I am going to be the first one to walk out of the ship, so I will be the first human to ever set foot on Mars. As I first set foot on Mars I say "Thats another small step for man, another giant leap for mankind."