<p>I am a new user here, and am looking for a little help with choosing the right college.
I want to major in aerospace engineering, and and ultimately work for a company like lockheed martin.
I am currently looking at UT Austin, Texas A&M, CU Boulder, Embry-Riddle(prescott), or maybe ASU or UA.
I know there are some better schools, but my GPA isnt good enough to get into any ivy leauge/high-end schools.
Distance from home(arizona or colorado) is also a factor</p>
<p>Which of these schools should i go to? any other schools I should consider?</p>
<p>You can’t really go wrong with any of those schools you listed. You probably should do some research on your own about the programs at each school and then narrow it down to maybe 3 or so and then go visit those 3 if you can.</p>
<p>Well there are a lot of “well known” schools for Aerospace Engineering, but Purdue and Ga Tech are not close to where he is, which he said is a factor.</p>
<p>my ranking for the current list with reasoning:
Embry-Riddle (apparently excellent AE school well within the distance factor i am looking for. Slightly worried about cost/ tiny size)
University of Colorado Boulder (Good engineering school within distance factor. MUCH cheaper due to instate tuition and GI bill. Have visited already and like campus. A bit too liberal for most people though.)
University of Texas (highly rated engineering school in the area. A bit further away than the rest. Ridiculous acceptance rate (only 44%). only 5% out of state students.)
Texas A&M (essential the same as UT, but slightly lower ranked.)
University of Arizona (close, but ranks much lower on educational quality)
Arizona State University (Close, but ranks of the low end for AE. Has a reputation as a party school)</p>
<p>and some other information you may want to know:
acceptable distance is within one day’s drive from either Colorado Springs (south central Colorado) or Douglas, Arizona, (far south east corner). A 14 hour drive is perfectly acceptable.</p>
<p>my ACT is 31
Sat is 1390 (22something with writing)
GPA is 3.4 (better than i thought originally)
Class rank is 67%</p>
<p>hope that can clear up a few things and maybe give some background information for you guys.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t base it on rankings at all. Especially UT vs. TAMU. You will get lots of people arguing about which is better, and most are extremely biased. They are both nearly identical departments with different specialties, so it is best to look at what their specialties are, though that doesn’t matter as much for undergrad.</p>
<p>For instance, I go to TAMU as a grad student in aero, and I do some major hypersonics research, which UT doesn’t even come close to being able to do.</p>
<p>Don’t overlook schools that have aero as a minor in the ME dept. Its basically the same core classes with a handful of specialized classes thrown in at the end.</p>
<p>that’s another thing i’ve been wondering about. what are the differences in an AE degree and a ME degree with an AE minor? More importantly, which do employers prefer? </p>
<p>Realistically would i have to get a Major in AE to work in that field, or will companies hire with a bachleor’s in mechanical? </p>
<p>ive actually visited NMSU and it seems like an ok school, but i wasn’t sure about the lack of a Aerospace degree.</p>
<p>All aerospace companies hire both mech. and aero majors. I’m not sure which employers would prefer. It probably depends on the specific job they are hiring for. For example, if the job is designing jet engines, they might prefer a mechanical degree. But if the position requires an understanding of aerodynamics or something, they might prefer the aero degree. I think a Mech. degree with aero minor would probably open up the most opportunities in both aerospace and mechanical jobs.</p>
<p>I was a Mech. E undergrad and did my intern work at Rolls-Royce designing jet engines and am doing my grad work in Aero. ME will definitely open up aero doors for you, and only a very small subset of Aero jobs would not be looking for MEs as well, especially if you tailor your ME electives to the traditional aero areas like fluids or something.</p>
<p>The question would be, what type of job in the aerospace industry are you looking for?</p>
<p>So i went to an out of state college fair yesterday, and it turns out that NMSU does actually have an aerospace engineering program. That fact plus location, extremely low cost, and guaranteed acceptance puts them on the list. </p>
<p>i have now dropped the Arizona universities as NMSU is better in location, which what was they had going for them. All other schools on the list are better than them anyway.</p>
<p>also, if you had the option of going to either Boulder or one of the Texas schools for aerospace, which would you pick? Is there any real difference? </p>
<p>also, talked to Purdue- due to high costs, long distance from home and the fact that ERAU and CU have a comparable program I have confirmed them not being on the list. </p>
<p>Updated list is as follows:
1.)ERAU
2.)CU
3.)TAMU/UT
4.)NMSU</p>
<p>I would never put CU over TAMU/UT, especially if you want to work for Lockheed. ERAU is more of a specialized pilot’s type school, so ranking them ahead of TAMU/UT for the purpose of working at Lockheed isn’t correct either. </p>
<p>Ultimately TAMU/UT are your best bets to work at Lockheed as many of their employees come from these two schools, but the others would be fine as well. Just make sure you attend a school that’s on Lockheed’s target school list (which I believe was posted here some time ago). I know TAMU offers some great financial aid, and will let you pay in-state tuition if you receive a scholarship from them over a certain low amount.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hypersonic or high speed? I used to work for the A&M’s Low Speed Wind Tunnel out at the airport before I left for my co-op with Lockheed.</p>
<p>Hypersonic. I work out at the airport. The building attached to the Nicks tunnel that houses the National Aerothermochemistry Lab is also home to a big NASA funded Hypersonic Transition Research center. We are currently waiting for mud to dry so we can install the newest wind tunnel, which is a Mach 6 Quiet tunnel. It is some REALLY cool stuff.</p>
<p>I suppose if you worked at the airport campus then you know Dr. Saric, who is my advisor. What a small world, haha.</p>
why not? what is the difference?
Lockheed is just an example. I would be willing to work for many different companies. Right now i’m more interested in getting a good education than going somewhere that gets me a job.</p>
<p>I will say that CU has a lot cooler location than at least TAMU, though Boulder vs. Austin is a bit of a closer competition. CU is a great school, and if you want it on your list then definitely keep it there. It is your choice after all, and you need to go somewhere that you feel comfortable. UT/TAMU do have more connections to industry, probably due to their more powerful brand name, but I doubt the education you would get would be a lot different, especially in undergrad.</p>
<p>I really suggest visiting your finalist schools and choosing based on that. Maybe apply to all 5 of those places and then visit the ones you get into.</p>
<p>CU is higher on the list because i like the campus (already visited), its close, and it has in-state tuition. Texas schools do not have any of those benefits. </p>
<p>I plan to apply to three or maybe 4 schools. ERAU is on the list as the ideal spot and NMSU is my safety net. I will apply to either one of the other three or CU and one Texas School</p>
<p>You have a small, narrowly focused engineering school like ERAU, which is a great school, but the complete focus on Aero would be turn off for me personally. I like to at least have a little variety in the people I meet.</p>
<p>You have NMSU, which is a safety net, cheap, and has a decent program.</p>
<p>Then you have CU, which has a great program and a lot of diversity.</p>
<p>You seem to have your bases covered.</p>
<p>I would still suggest you look into maybe applying to one of the Texas schools in addition to that if it truly interests you. CU is a great school, but you can’t beat the industry connections of TAMU/UT, especially given the fact that Boeing, Lockheed, NASA, and a host of other aerospace entities all have major operations in Texas and recruit heavily from those schools.</p>
<p>Here is lockheed’s list of schools they recruit from. Someone posted it on a previous thread of mine</p>
<p>most heavily recruited</p>
<p>Iowa State
Texas A & M
University of Arizona
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Texas - Austin
Howard
Carnegie Mellon
Ohio State
Purdue
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)
University of Michigan
Cornell
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Penn State
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Pennsylvania
Georgia Tech
University of Florida
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Virginia
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech)
Stanford
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Los Angeles
University of Southern California
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo</p>
<p>Here is the Target School list:</p>
<p>Colorado State
Southern Methodist University
University of Texas - El Paso
Kansas State University
Oklahoma State University
University of New Mexico
Texas Tech
Colorado School of Mines
Texas Christian University
Hampton
Morehouse
Tuskegee
North Carolina State University
Mississippi State
Alabama A and M
Florida State
University of Arkansas
Spelman
Florida International University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida)
University of Central Florida
George Mason University
James Madison University
Michigan State University
Notre Dame
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri - Rolla
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Florida Atlantic University
Old Dominion University
Rutgers - New Brunswick
Clarkson
Drexel
Lehigh
Rochester Institute of Technology
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Buffalo
Syracuse
Villanova
University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Arizona State
Brigham Young University
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
San Jose State University
University of Washington
University of California - Davis
University of California - San Diego
University of Hawaii
Santa Clara University</p>