<p>I am Japanese/Korean and a junior in high school. I was thinking about Aeropsace Engineering after my experiences with Science Olympiad. I always did the engineering events. I liked this idea because I always did well at making bridges and towers that held weights... and I love astronomy and always read about the Space Race. I decided that after school I would like to work for NASA. But then I became worried because I've read that the competition is intense. My SAT scores are not great.. (2010) but my GPA is 4.97. I do enjoy physics and Math is my forte. But does being a girl give me a disadvantage in this process? I've also read that MIT, Cornell, Purdue, Cal tech are great schools for aerospace. My dreams are aimed for them, but I don't know if my characteristic as a student qualify for them. Any tips?</p>
<p>Another thing:</p>
<p>Are there any extra high school classes I should take for this such as COM sci or etc?</p>
<p>Being a girl is a very significant advantage. There are many great schools for Aerospace, you did name most of the top tier though.</p>
<p>I think extracurriculars and demonstrated leadership are more important, seeing how everyone has high SATs and GPAs in top schools.</p>
<p>UTexas, UWashington, Texas A&M and several others are great aerospace enginering places.</p>
<p>Extra activities and leadership: i'm not worried about because I'm in drumline, scioly, the science olympaid president, and assistant coach at another school's scioly..</p>
<p>I've hear Texas and etc had good Aerospace programs, but I've read a thread that those who work at NASA came from prestigous schools like MIT and Cornell.. Is this true?</p>
<p>true... watch any movie with NASA in it, and it's top dogs will probobly come from MIT, CalTech or Cornell(ish).... but it is for sure that the other 400 people in that room are aggies and or longhorns... and a few huskies .... a few from arizona(they are great too) ..... yeah that's about it.</p>
<p>Also on another thread i read that when this kid went to a NASA science camp, that the WHOLE staff... yes the WHOLE staff... were aggies.</p>
<p>The schools you have listed are all good AE schools and there are others. If you have time, visit as many of your short list schools as you can. You will be there 4 years. Don't focus too much on named schools for BS. My D was told if it becomes a matter of $, go where you can afford for your BS and then go to the name schools for higher degree. Just one persons opinion.
Like you, 3 years ago my D wanted to study AE and work for NASA. She was told that NASA generally gets new employees from two sources, NASA contractors and the NASA co-op program. A co-op usually start their sophomore or junior year and alternate semesters working for NASA and going to school. It will take longer to graduate but it will help pay for college and you will get valuable work experience. All of the major NASA sites have co-op programs. Here is a NASA site that list the programs: <a href="http://education.nasa.gov/divisions/higher/programs/co_op_programs.html%5B/url%5D">http://education.nasa.gov/divisions/higher/programs/co_op_programs.html</a>
We learned the most from the Johnson site which features a biography of current and past co-op students, lists all the universities that they attend and contact info for current co-ops:
<a href="http://coop.jsc.nasa.gov/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://coop.jsc.nasa.gov/index.html</a>
My D made one of her search criteria for colleges their co-op program and the relationship they had with NASA. She is now a sophomore MAE (her school does not have an AE degree, it is part of ME) and a NASA coop at Marshall, completing her first work term last fall and will begin the second this summer. She loves it (except for all the government administrative stuff, but that comes with the job). Good Luck with your search and college career.</p>
<p>your gpa is WAY to low. come on only a 4.97 you have to bump that up.</p>
<p>im being totally sarcastic if you cant tell!</p>
<p>there is going to be competition in any field, so your best bet is to just choose what you want and go for it.</p>
<p>as mentioned in this thread, as a girl you will benefit from "affirmative-action" like treatment, especially in a gov't program like NASA. so you have a step up already.</p>
<p>u-grad school is not that important. if your goal is to be a top scientist or astronaut, you probably want to be aiming for a phd.</p>
<p>if you can graduate at or near the top of your class in a top-50-ish school and you demonstrate a consistent and clear interest in research (undergrad research, REU, NASA internships) you will have an excellent shot at a TOP phd program (MIT, Stanford, etc). </p>
<p>your best bet is probably to go to a mid-ranked u-grad where you know you can excel, aim for the top of your class, get to know professors, and do research...apply and go to phd of your dreams and then nasa</p>
<p>"true... watch any movie with NASA in it, and it's top dogs will probobly come from MIT, CalTech or Cornell(ish).... but it is for sure that the other 400 people in that room are aggies and or longhorns... and a few huskies .... a few from arizona(they are great too) ..... yeah that's about it."</p>
<p>meh, as a nasa employee on leave (and one with a job lined up) i'm don't think you are exactly correct here.</p>
<p>if we are talking about propulsion, fluids and thermo at jpl, you'll find the top dogs come from michigan, stanford, and hmc(disproportionately) just as much as mit and caltech (even though jpl is run by caltech)</p>
<p>hartwell long - 3533 chemical propulsion manager - stanford phd
ray baker- 3533 chemical propulsion designer/analyst - michigan, caltech phd
jimmy <em>something</em>- electric propulsion analyst - michigan, caltech
lee johnson- electric propulsion head - harvey mudd
gael squibb- former director of mission operations directorate -harvey mudd
<em>forgot name</em> -electric propulsion analyst - university of wisconsin (funny story: he has a big "W" flag above his desk in his office. jimmy and i decided to turn it upside-down to make a big "M" for both michigan and mudd. it took him a few hours to realize he was pranked... but man was he ****ed...)
in the whole propulsion/thermo group at jpl (~70 people) there are no more than 2 mit graduates and 5 caltech graduates that work there full-time.</p>
<p>my point is that schools like michigan and wisconsin are definitely represented as well as small schools like hmc... and many top positions to to these graduates.</p>
<p>I'm the D of workingforblue and it really just depends on what you want to do and what you're comfortable with. I chose a smaller branch of the UA system in Huntsville, AL because I felt the job opportunities in Huntsville were good, they had a good engineering program, an excellent co-op program, are consistently ranked in the top 20 in the number of engineering degrees awarded to women, top 20 in research funding from NASA, have a Propulsions Research Center on campus which allows undergraduates to get hands on experience as well as graduate students, etc. I'm also a foreign language minor and it was important for me to find a school where I could continue that education. After spending my first two semesters studying Russian, I will be traveling to Mexico this summer to continue studying the Spanish I began in high school.</p>
<p>Had I gone to a larger school there is no way I would have been able to make the contacts I have as easily. My first week on campus I met the director of MSFC's co-op program and was able to stay in touch with her right up through the time I got my co-op. The co-op department here on campus did an excellent job of making sure I got what I wanted and they do that with each and every student here. Our school's co-op of the year recently won not only Alabama co-op of the year but National co-op of the year as well. I love being able to be just as involved on campus as I want to be. Since I co-op locally, I'm able to live locally year round. This means I can stay involved in my campus activities such as Student Government. </p>
<p>I love being a part of the co-op program and getting the hands on experience in addition to my classroom/theoretical education. Last December I got to attend the launch of STS-116. I work with a great bunch of people who treat me just like one of the team. Ask around and you'll get a variety of answers as to where they got their degrees. Of course there will be several Purdue/Michigan/MIT/GaTech/etc, but there are also a lot of people who went to UAH, Tennessee Tech, UT, Va Tech, UNA, Auburn, etc. The best advice I can give you is look at the school's co-op program. Not just the quality of the program though, ask how many students they have competing for those spots. At the larger schools it is going to be much more competitive to get a co-op than the smaller schools.</p>
<p>Sorry this ended up being so long....It was meant to be a quick break from studying for final exams.</p>
<p>Also take a look at Space Grant schools...</p>
<p>You really don't have to be at a MIT/GaTech/Stanford/Caltech school as an undergrad to break into NASA; you do need good grades and some research/work experience though. Apply for those co-ops and internships, network with profs, get involved in DBF, satellite projects, etc -- whatever you find interesting, really.</p>
<p>NETWORK</p>
<p>Now there is the key word. What karthikkito is saying is goes right along with what I was saying. I wasn't so much pushing one school or group of schools, just trying to say don't get so focused on breaking into the big schools that you end up somewhere where you won't be completely happy/comfortable for 4 or 5 years.</p>
<p>The only reason I put so much on co-op is b/c at the time I was looking to enter college, I had been told NASA was pretty much only hiring from their co-op pool or contractors.</p>