<p>This may seem like a silly question, but I wonder if I should only apply to schools with my intended major of engineering, aerospace. It is not overly common, and I would have to skip applying to some schools that I would otherwise be interested in, and am not really sure if i want to do aerospace. I would like to do kind of a combo of defense and aerospace, but more leaning towards defense I guess. Some of the colleges that looked interesting offered limited majors, like Cornell and Harvey Mudd. BTW, if you have a general engineering degree, like a HMC one, what can you do with it? Also, do the engineers who get MBAs get masters before that?</p>
<p>I doubt I could get in to the top top schools like MIT Stanford and Cal tech. I am aiming for the schools right below those. These include: University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, UCLA (?), UIUC, and past that I am not sure. Berkely doesnt offer aerospace.</p>
<p>Anyone know any good aerospace schools besides the ones mentioned?</p>
<p>I got a 760 IIC and will retake for hopefully an 800 (still in precalc). I am aiming for at least a 750 and will likely get 780-800 on the math portion of the SAT. I plan to get a 2200-2300.</p>
<p>You do not have to specify which Major you want to pursue. Just apply to the schools of Engineering, if such an option is availlable (it isn't if you apply to Stanford or Princeton).</p>
<p>You seem to like to complicate things dontcha?! LOL Listen, most MBA candidates and students only have undergraduate degrees. So no, you do not need to have a master's degree in Engineering before getting and MBA.</p>
<p>And do not fret about not getting into MIT, Stanford or CalTech. Georgia Tech, Michigan and Purdue are #2-#4 respectively in Aerospace Engineering according to the last USNWR undergraduate ratings. Here are the top 10 or 12 programs. </p>
<ol>
<li>Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br></li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>University of MichiganAnn Arbor<br></li>
<li>Purdue Univ.West Lafayette (IN) </li>
<li>California Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>Stanford University (CA)<br></li>
<li>U. of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign </li>
<li>Princeton University (NJ)<br></li>
<li>University of TexasAustin </li>
<li>Univ. of MarylandCollege Park<br></li>
<li>University of Washington<br></li>
<li>Cornell University (NY)<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Harvey Mudd is a great Engineering school, but your opportunities to immerse yourself in a subfield (such as Aerospace Engineering) or to do research will be slightly hindered.</p>
<p>good question ... the approach I took many moons ago was to attend a school that had all the majors I was thinking about (engineering, math, architecture, and computer science) and yes this did create a relatively short list of schools to which I should apply (but a great list). I can't judge how strong the draw of aerospace engineering is for you but ensuring a school has that major still provides a terrifc set of engineering schools for you to apply to.</p>
<p>During your first couple years of engineering studies you will likely take courses from a variety of engineering disciplines and may well change your major after exposure to a new field ... for this reason, I'd also look for engineering schools that provide a broad range of majors in case you do decide to pick something other than aerospace as your engineering major. (bottom line advice ... keep as many options open as long as possible ... make aerospace and other engineering majors all be options)</p>
<p>Alexandre, I'm not sure i agree with your rankings, because I know for a fact that Cornell University does not offer aerospace engineering as an undergraduate major.</p>
<p>Vash is correct, Cornell does not offer it. I checked its site.
Thank you for the ratings. I guess its down to #2,3,4,7,9,10,11 on the list.
There are only 60 colleges with this major anyway. </p>
<p>Compared to say MIT, Stanford, and Caltech, how hard is it to get into the aformentioned schools? It's a little hard to get good stats on the class because instate and out of state (I live in CA) statistics differ. Does anyone know the average difference among these schools of instate and out of state accepted applicants.</p>
<p>Also, someone mentioned in another thread that UMD college park is great for prospective engineers interested in defense. Is there much of a difference in opportunity between UMD and the others listed? If so, would it be worth it to go to UMD instead of a school with a better program like GA tech?</p>
<p>To answer your question ashernm, it really depends on what school you are looking at. The state schools, such as Purdue and UIUC, are not nearly as hard as private schools and some UT schools. And, as for the reason behing Cornell not offering aerospace engineering, it is because they believe that a bachelors degree is not enough for the field, so they have it only as a graduate-level degree.</p>
<p>Vash, those aren't "my" rankings. I got them from the USNWR. They also rank Cal in the top 15, and I do not think Cal offers Aerospace Engineering to undergrads either. Thanks for the correction.</p>
<p>University of Maryland--College Park has a hell of an Aerospace Program. Nasa--Goddard is in College Park's backyard and many internship/job opportunities are given to their students..Also, College Park's facilities are amazing--their renowned windtunnel, new engineering building...the future for UMaryland Engineering looks very bright--considering that they just received a donation of $60million from two Alums specifically for Engineering. If you want to go cheaper, see many opportunites in the Aerospace field...you should strongly consider UMD. The aforementioned schools are also excellent..and I am sure that if you pick any of the schools listed and work hard, you should do well. Just give UMD a very strong consideration...because its prestige is growing, and its reputation for being a Top Engineering school has been developing.</p>
<p>Second, if you are unsure of what you want to do, choose a school that has a good overall engineering program. More than half of incoming engineers switch their field so dont worry about knowing what you want to do at this stage.</p>
<p>Third, Cornell does offer an aerospace engineering degree. It's called "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering." I don't know anything about that major but you can find their webpage and get whatever information you need.</p>
<p>If you pursue the links on the Cornell website given above, you will discover that the school does not offer an undergraduate program in aerospace engineering. However, undergraduates may supplement the basic mechnical engineering program with electives such as Intro to Aeronautics, Spacecraft Engineering, Aerospace Propulsion Systems, and similar classes. Cornell does have a graduate program in aerospace engineering.</p>
<p>shizz your first point may be true. But everyone agrees that the top 10 colleges on the list are just about that, the top 10-20, for that category. The exact placement may not be perfect, but everyone just about agrees with them.</p>
<p>Have you in mind any specific change to the ranking?</p>
<p>You'll see people on these boards quote USNWR specialty rankings as if they were scribed by God himself. If I recall correctly (I might be wrong), it's a simple survey sent to a few Deans and recruiters. That's hardly an adequate way of making a rankings list. You are right in that it's only good for naming the top 10-20 schools, not necessarily ranking them. I'm not in a position to rank the schools on a program I'm unfamiliar with, but if you are uncertain about which major to pursue then I maintain that you choose a good overall engineering school. That's what I did when choosing my college instead of opting for a school that was strong in one particular area but weak in the rest.</p>
<p>Here is the Ugrad handbook guide for Mech and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell. When majoring in MechE (and most other engineering majors at cornell), you usually have to concentrate in a specific subfield. For MAE, Aerospace Engineering is one of them.</p>
<p>I have no idea how this undergraduate concentration compares to Aerospace engineering at other schools. I recommend talking to professors in the departments at Cornell and other schools - they will have good answers to your questions. Usually you can email/phone the head/chair of the departments.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to pimp my school here, but what I'm trying to say is if you are seriously considering Cornell then make sure you research it properly to see if it meets your needs. Almost every school have websites like this with tons of information for prospective undergrads, so spend time snooping around and make an informed decision. Hope this helps and good luck.</p>
<p>shizz I keep your first point in mind when I look at colleges. For instance Michigan's programs are all top notch, in the top 10, and has other great departments like business that I would enroll in if I decided against engineering after freshman year or whatever. </p>
<p>thanks for the info about cornell. BTW, did you ever have a professor Bethe at Cornell? I read an obituary about him today.</p>