Aerospace Engineering College Decision

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, I'm in a difficult position as to where to choose to attend. All and any feedback is greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>I'm accepted for Aerospace engineering to these schools:</p>

<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
University of Miami</p>

2

<p>Which of these will provide the best co-op experience? I don’t know which have co-op type programs but I found co-op work very beneficial by getting to see how real aerospace engineers work and build connections for getting a job. Also, do you have an interest such as spaceflight, aircraft, propulsion, aerodynamics, guidance and control, etc.? Schools usually differentiate themselves by focus or interest area based on nearby industry. It’s best when you can align yourself to which school offers a focus area closest to your main interests.</p>

3

<p>What is the cost of each one? Can your family pay it?</p>

4

<p>I know SLO and RPI both have very good aerospace programs. I want to focus dominantly on aeronautics.</p>

<p>SLO would be 3k a year with 48k in loans total after 4 years
RPI 7k a year with about 68k in loans after 4 years</p>

<p>Haven’t looked up much about Miami.</p>

<p>If anyone knows in depth about these departments of these schools, I would greatly love that</p>

<p>Courseloads for rpi and slo:
[Program:</a> Aerospace Engineering Curriculum - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Acalog ACMS?](<a href=“Program: Aerospace Engineering Curriculum - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Acalog ACMS™”>Program: Aerospace Engineering Curriculum - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Acalog ACMS™)
<a href=“https://aero.calpoly.edu/media/uploads/files/2011_2013_Flowchart1.pdf[/url]”>https://aero.calpoly.edu/media/uploads/files/2011_2013_Flowchart1.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>The choice is very, very simple simple. Cal Poly SLO is the best choice here. I really like RPI and know nothing about Miami. However here is my argument:</p>

<p>Aviation Week & Space Technology, the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries, recently named Cal Poly first in the nation for industry workforce recruiting – see link:
[Cal</a> Poly First In Nation for Aerospace and Defense Worker Recruitment](<a href=“http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2010/August/Recruit.html]Cal”>http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2010/August/Recruit.html)</p>

<p>Cal Poly Engineering swept first-, second- and third-place awards in the undergraduate and graduate student design competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). See link: [Cal</a> Poly Engineering Sweeps AIAA Student Aircraft Design Competition](<a href=“http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2011/September/aircraft.html]Cal”>http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2011/September/aircraft.html)</p>

<p>Not only is Cal Poly the cheapest, it is also the best. Great campus, amazing program, you’ll be totally satisfied there for Aero. It is also in California which is really the heart of the industry. Only logical choice is Cal Poly for Aero – plus you’ll be within driving distance of all those Star Trek conventions…</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>So total cost to you would be $60,000 for CPSLO and $92,000 for RPI? You may want to at least check the Miami costs before deciding.</p>

<p>CPSLO is obviously advantageous compared to RPI on the finances, but $48,000 of debt is still way above the average of $25,000. A common recommendation is to avoid taking more total debt than the first year pay in your major (median pay of CPSLO AE graduates of 2010 was $65,000; see <a href=“https://www.careers.calpoly.edu/search.php[/url]”>https://www.careers.calpoly.edu/search.php&lt;/a&gt; ), so it is not completely unreasonable, but it is closer to the limit than desirable (some recommend a more conservative limit of half your likely first year pay, or the subsidized Stafford loan limit of $23,000).</p>

7

<p>Interesting press release regarding the Cal Poly and AIAA competition…I am not familar with what that particular contest was, but here are the results for the most-recent annual Design-Build-Fly competition:
<a href=“AIAA Design/Build/Fly | AIAA”>AIAA Design/Build/Fly | AIAA;

8

<p>Cal Poly SLO, Rice (Houston) and Florida Technical Institute (Melbourne, FL) are 3 of the top…Rice and FTI have close connections with NASA and Cal Poly is a ‘job factory’ for the aerospace industry…</p>

<p>Good luck and enjoy!</p>

9

<p>@rogracer – I like this post you made and even in this competition Cal Poly took 5th place, not bad at all. By the way, I have to acknowledge Technion, the Israeli team, who got a 98.5 on the report score. Wow! Technion truly is an amazing school with such a small national population to draw from. I know a couple of Technion grads and they are all extremely competent.</p>

10

<p>Thank you everybody for really giving me cold-hard information to help choose which college to attend. I think I am 85% sure I will attend SLO now. Thank you!!</p>