My daughter is in 12th Grade. She is looking for Aerospace engineering. We live in Arkansas. SAT score is 1230 and ACT 25. GPA 4.0. What are the colleges she can get in closer to our location. I would like her to complete the degree with minimum debt and with good job opportunities.
Aerospace engineering is a specialty of mechanical engineering. I would investigate University of Arkansas and Arkansas State. They both have engineering.
Her grades are impressive, but if she is set on engineering, I would really want to get her some support to raise that test score a couple of points, especially on the math side. She may not need that for admissions, but it would improve her odds of success in engineering.
University of Alabama Huntsville?
Thanks for your replies! UoA has Mechanical with a specialty in Aerospace. How different it is from Aerospace as main degree. ? Also How about MST, Rolla, MO. This college is closer to us like 3.5 hours drive.
About half of the larger engineering programs offer ABET accredited aerospace engineering degrees. The closest are Miss. State, Alabama Huntsville, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, OK State, Missouri Tech, Wichita State, Kansas, Texas Arlington (Texas, Texas A&M likely reaches).
Most of the rest of the schools with engineering programs will have something like a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace Engineering. Nothing wrong with that - a majority of the people actually working in aerospace have “other” degrees - Mechanical E, Electrical E, Chemical E, Materials Science, Physics, Math, etc.
As Arkansas does not appear to have an in-state Aerospace Engineering program - check out the Academic Common Market which is a consortium of 16 mostly southern states will give you in state tuition rates for qualifying programs not offered in your home state. https://www.sreb.org/academic-common-market. Looks like Miss. State, Alabama, UAH, Auburn (limited), OK, OK State, Tennessee, West Virginia, and WV Inst of Tech participate for Aerospace.
Any feedback on Aerospace engineering in the college - Missouri Science and Technology(MST), Rolla, MO ?
I won’t be much help suggesting colleges, but here’s my two cents on the Aerospace vs Mechanical with an Aerospace concentration question -
I’m a dual Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering major. Over the summer, I interned at a helicopter company and some of my coworkers were “just” (meaning only, it’s still a very difficult course of study) Aerospace Majors. They all urged me not to get just an Aerospace degree - it’s much more specialized than Mechanical, and the Aerospace job market tends to go through large fluctuations, so unless you have a strong background interning in the mechanical field, it can be harder to find a job with just an Aerospace degree.
My advisor at college told me basically the same thing when I was trying to decide on majoring in just Mechanical, just Aerospace, or doing the dual major.
Finally, to reflect what’s already been mentioned, most people working in Aerospace aren’t Aerospace Engineering majors. You can study something more general and then specialize through your extracurricular and internships!
Check out Embry Riddle in either Florida or Arizona. Median ACT range is 23-28. It is a private school so it may not be your most cost friendly option. Another option could be Letourneau University in Longview, TX (ACT range of 22-28). I believe there is a bit of a religious bent at LeTourneau which may or may not be a disqualifier for some. They also don’t have a AE degree, but they do have some aerospace / aviation programs that would leave me to believe that she might be able to pursue some elective work in her interest area.
Missouri Science and Technology(Missouri S&T, Rolla), has a large, well respected engineering program. It offers a wide range of engineering majors, is well recruited, and for an OOS student, it can be very affordable. If I remember correctly, it’s not that difficult to be reclassified as an in-state student, after one year and then be charged the much lower in-state tuition rates.
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I think you have to be a resident for 12 months, and have earned $2,500 while living in Missouri.
https://registrar.mst.edu/media/administrative/registrar/documents/Petition%20form%206.15.18.pdf
UAH (University of Alabama at Huntsville) is another good choice. See this link for merit based scholarship info (looks like she would qualify for a 50% reduction in tuition, if she can get her SAT up to 1310+, it would be a 67% reduction):
https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships
Mississippi State University may also be an option. It has a decent sized engineering program (and offers Aerospace engineering), isn’t far from your state, and offers merit scholarships. Looks like she would qualify for $12,500 a year. (non-resident Tuition/Fees is about $23K a year).
https://www.admissions.msstate.edu/freshmen/money-matters/scholarships/academic-scholarships/
Thank you very much for all your replies
Consider schools (or a plan) that offer plenty of options for a major change. Does she know what eng dropout rates look like? What is her math sub score?
SAT - 1230 (Math - 640; Reading - 590)
My daughter score 25 again in ACT but If we take super score then it is 27. In the application do we have to mention is the score as 25 or 27.
I’m trying to remember, but I believe most schools don’t ask for the ACT/SAT score on the application. Instead you have to send them the test results, and then the school handles “super scoring” the test (if that school does super score).
I don’t know how close is close enough, but Kennesaw State University, just north of Atlanta, has an aerospace minor in their engineering program. ACT 25/75th percentiles are 21/26. KSU did not offer engineering until a few years ago when they merged with/swallowed up Southern Polytechnic University, which is now run as the KSU engineering campus.
My daughter had received an invite for priority application from Wichita State University. I am not sure how good college is this for Aerospace but anyways we went ahead and applied.
My daughter has been accepted into Wichita State University and Missouri Science and Technology (MST), Rolla, MO.
I don’t know if @albert69 is still checking College Confidential but you can try sending a PM. I believe she is/was studying Aerospace engineering at Wichita State. She had a really generous scholarship from them.
Did your daughter apply to U of Arkansas? Have you guys visited there? I highly recommend a visit with the engineering dept. We took our youngest last year with 2 friends and the engineering guide spent hours with us answering questions the kids had and showing us around. My older son is a ChemE there and I’m crossing my fingers youngest picks Arkansas. DS19 has been accepted to A&M and UT Dallas and should be in at UT Austin and AR is still my top pic for him…