<p>Hi, I am currently a freshman in college studying chemistry and physics. My school does not offer engineering but I really would like to study aerospace eng. in graduate school.</p>
<p>I have an excellent academic record. I am on a full scholarship through and Honors program so I do not want to transfer before I get my bachelor's degree. Should I go for a second bachelor's at an engineering school after I get my bachelor's or take classes at a school like Embry-Riddle to meet pre-req's?</p>
<p>Where are you located, and are you interested in a public or private college? What type of college are you currently attending? </p>
<p>Here are the top 20 ranked schools in Aerospace Engineering (offering PhD), from 2005 US News.</p>
<p>Ranked in 2005* </p>
<ol>
<li><p>California Institute of Technology 4.8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.8
Stanford University (CA) 4.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Georgia Institute of Technology 4.3</p></li>
<li><p>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 4.2 </p></li>
<li><p>Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) 4.1 </p></li>
<li><p>Princeton University (NJ) 3.9 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) 3.7
University of Maryland–College Park (Clark) 3.7
University of Texas–Austin 3.7 </p></li>
<li><p>Cornell University (NY) 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Pennsylvania State University–University Park 3.4
University of California–Los Angeles (Samueli) 3.4
University of Colorado–Boulder 3.4
Virginia Tech 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Southern California (Andrew and Erna Viterbi) 3.3
University of Washington 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Minnesota–Twin Cities 3.2 </p></li>
<li><p>Arizona State University (Fulton) 3.0
Iowa State University 3.0
Ohio State University 3.0
University of California–Davis 3.0
University of California–San Diego (Jacobs) 3.0
University of Florida 3.0 </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Keep in mind that it's not so much where you go, but how well you do at the school that is important. Also, if you want to work an Internship in Aerospace Engineering, you should consider a school that near a large Aerospace Plant. UCLA, CalTech, USC and UW are all near several large Boeing plants. I am not familiar with midwest or east coast Aerospace plant locations, however.</p>
<p>Many LAC's offer a 3/2 program, where you go 3 years as a Physics major at your college, then 2 years at a school like CalTech, and then when you finish, you receive a bachelors degree from both.</p>
<p>I know several of my fellow PhD students in Mechanical Engineering at MIT (back in the 1980s) who had undergraduate degrees in physics from liberal arts schools, and not all of these schools were among the top liberal arts schools. For example, two that come to mind are Bethel College and Hope College. However, I would bet these students had very high undergrad GPAs. I know that one of these students took some undergrad ME courses at MIT before commencing the graduate work. I also know of other students who had physics degrees from top LACs such as Amherst and Swarthmore. The key is obviously to obtain excellent grades. GRE scores may also be important. You may be able to obtain some industrial experience by working during the summers.</p>
<p>Thanks, I am located in east Tennessee currently attending East Tennessee State University (which does not offer any engineering). The Univ. of TN offers engineering, but their curriculum is much different so a second bachelor's from there would not be practical. </p>
<pre><code> I have no preference for private vs. public, but I do not like the "downtown" feel of VERY large colleges.
Also, physics is my minor, not a double major, but I plan on taking upper level Physics classes anyway.
Thank you all very much.
</code></pre>