There are only 50 or so ABET accredited aerospace programs. Even if you were passed over for every single GT kid before you got a job, you’d still get a good job. The fact of the matter is though that a 3.6 Alabama applicant with club or research experience will be better off than a 3.1 GT applicant without the experience. All things EXACTLY equal on the application, a GT applicant MIGHT get the nod. Alabama is not a slouch school. Don’t go into deep debt for a name. It won’t pay. Good luck.
I have a kid who went to a state technical university and one who went to a highly selective university.
Both ended up graduating with almost the same GPA. Both engineering, different specialties.
But the kid who went to the state school had a better easier time getting internships and job interviews. He was more of a big fish in a small pond. And the tech u was better at recruitment and preparing kids for interviews and life, frankly.
Both now have great jobs. Different paths, basically the same result.
My very short two cents: 1) major in mechanical engineering. You can get aerospace jobs with a mechanical degree no problem. It’s much harder to get mechanical jobs with an aerospace degree. 2) where you get an undergrad engineering degree doesn’t mean jack, so go somewhere affordable.
I vote NOT a community college because you aren’t destitute and internships are much harder to get if you’re enrolled at a CC (for instance, my company won’t hire from CCs AT ALL, and the same goes for many major engineering/tech companies). Go to a cheap state school instead.
I also just want to point out that that $40/hr internship figure is likely for software, NOT aerospace engineering (nor mechanical). I did 3 mechE/aeroE internships at top companies and NONE paid anywhere near that, not even for PhD interns. The top aero/mech internships will give you $30 if you’re lucky.
Unfortunately our high school, being in rural South Dakota, pushes kids into Lake Area Tech (2 year) and SDSU (4 year). A few go to USD (4 year) as well. The top students in each class since I was a freshmen have gone to UMTC and Augustana… my school has never really had anyone go anywhere so our financial aid lessons are focused highly on FAFSA (duh) and the $1000ish merit scholarship everyone gets for having a 24 ACT (not many people actually). I wish I would have visited this forums for my college search as much as I used too… if you look at my post history it’s probably me from sophomore and freshmen year trying to ask a million questions… probably cringe-worthy actually. Oh well, in a year this issue won’t be ANYTHING (unless I attend GaTech with loans).
@clightfield24 - You (and your mother) really need to get over the notion that Georgia Tech is incredibly better than UAH. ANY ABET accredited engineering program can offer you a great education and job opportunities. The accreditation guarantees the quality of the program but the ultimate outcome is all about how YOU take advantage of the opportunities. Do you push yourself to take the most rigorous courses, get involved in professional societies, find a research position with a faculty member, seek out internships, etc?
The best thing you can do for your future is to graduate with an ABET accredited degree and the least amount of debt possible.
" You (and your mother) really need to get over the notion that Georgia Tech is incredibly better than UAH. ANY ABET accredited engineering program can offer you a great education and job opportunities."
Not to mention, honestly, in engineering, THE SAME job opportunities. My school isn’t even ranked in my field as far as I know. But I’m working at a tippy top company alongside kids from MIT and GT. Because my school is ABET accredited and I have the skills.
But, unlike kids and their families stretching themselves for MIT etc, I’m graduating with money in the bank because of my college choice. In my opinion, I’ve come out AHEAD by going to a lower ranked school.
GT isn’t going to do anything for you that another ABET accredited engineering degree and some ambition won’t also do for you. I swear it.
Part of the college decision process is understanding when it might be worth it to pay for prestige (in terms of the school) and when not to. This is a time NOT to pay for prestige, there’s little to no return other than emotional. And emotional decisions usually don’t pay the bills.
You’ve shown amazing maturity in grasping the situation and quickly moving on to a solution that works. I’m really impressed, not sure how many other students your age would pivot so quickly. It’s understandable that you’re mourning your dream. But please continue moving the the affordable direction - you’ll be OK in the end. Honest.
My DH has an advanced degree from the very school you wish you could go to. He’s done well in his career because he worked hard to get a good education and he applies himself to his work. He would have done that regardless of which school he had attended. He works side by side every day with UAH grads, many of whom have done the same and are equally successful. I promise you it’s all about what you do, not where you go.
Oh, and UAH actually does not technically have an aerospace engineering degree. They have a Mechanical Engineering degree that you can choose to add on an Aerospace focus (take extra aerospace classes). UAH knows that lots of kids go in saying “Aerospace” but come out with MechE degrees. It’s the best of both worlds.
My DS was accepted by UA and GT. He got a full ride to cover UA (scholarship stacking) and a small scholarship at GT. Even though we could’ve paid it with either GI Bill or savings, my smart boy chose not to. He is now thriving at UA and will graduate with zero debt in aerospace engineering. He said it’s crazy to pay that much for a degree. Was so thankful the decision came from him and not us. If your stats are high enough, follow the merit.
OP, whatever you lose in prestige by not going to GT, you will more than make up with “xxx scholarship recipient” on your resume. Yes, it can make the difference between getting an interview, and having your resume land in the trash can.
OP- you refer to the large debt you will have at the end of your college career. You also say your parents make a decent income of > $100K and will qualify for no need-based aid. Will your parents be paying the out of pocket costs for your education at this point, even with younger sibs to consider? Will any of the kids be in school at the same time, potentially triggering need-based aid at that time? You will have the large debt you mention if your plan is to repay your parents (it doesn’t sound like they need to take out loans to cover your school costs). So the question seems to be, value. What is a degree from one school vs the other worth to you, and is it worth the difference? I say, for you, no.
When my older s was applying to college, GaTech was his safety school. Before Tech joined the CA, admission rates were like 57% or so. And we are instate. Financially it would have been much cheaper if he’d gone to Tech, but we let him make another choice to attend a much smaller school that cost us a lot more, but, and here is the difference, we were willing to cover the cost, even with a younger sib. No loans. No debt. Our choice, and his. For him, it was about fit. For you, it is about value.
Might DS have ended up with the same career trajectory if he’d chosen GaTech over the school he chose (partly because at the time he wanted to major in physics, and Techs was theoretical and he wanted practical). Who knows. He ended up changing to Mech E. Would have been fine at either school.
I tell you this story because the choices are different. If you will be planning to repay yoru parents for your education, do not start out life with mega hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to repay.
Good luck.
"Will any of the kids be in school at the same time, potentially triggering need-based aid at that time? "
This is a good point. One of my siblings, who is upper middle class but not wealthy, went from getting very little to a lot of need-based aid when they went from 1 kid in college to 3 when the twins went to college 2 years later.
The recommendation by @carachel2 (and a few others) to major in Mechanical Engineering is one of the best free advice you will ever receive. A ME degree is lot more broader/versatile than a aerospace engineering degree (IMHO) and applicable across pretty much most/all tech-related industries. A aerospace engineering degree is very restricted primarily to the aerospace industry, especially, when your experience is “pigeon-hole” to a very limited area of aerospace engineering; for example, propulsion systems. In undergraduate ME program, you can take a number of aerospace engineering elective courses if you so desire and your programs offer such electives.
BTW, engineering layoffs is not restricted to the defense/aerospace industry. Ask the Engineers who once worked for Kodak, Xerox, Motorola, AT&T Bell Laboratories, etc. Not to mention all those engineers who worked in manufacturing capacities and saw the jobs shifted offshore. I have a lot of engineering colleagues who have graduated from some of the top engineering schools who were laid off and had great difficulties finding suitable engineering jobs. This becomes more acute for “older” engineer (>40+ years old) who became “specialist” in a very narrow/defined area of engineering. A large number of those engineers are now working in fields unrelated to engineering or have started non-technical businesses.
Since you are set on attending GT, the other pathway you could explore, is to do your undergraduate degree at one of the “lower” ranked school, followed by a graduate degree at GT. I have two engineering colleagues who went that exact route. On a prestige scale, that approach gets you where you would like to be at a much lower cost. You can complete your graduate degree at GT from anywhere from 1 to 1.5 years and that graduate degree will carry more weight than your undergraduate school (for those few employers that value engineering school rank/prestige).
My son attends UAH, and is far OOS like you. We are an upper income/high EFC family. Son’s friends with similar stats/accomplishments/interests/income are at Univ of Washington, Co School of Mines, Cornell, etc. But son only applied to high merit aid schools. We know well enough that the name of the undergrad school makes little difference in ones career in the engineering field. Our family is full of successful engineers, and all are in the position to hire others.
After his first year at UAH, son received a great internship in Huntsville and worked along side other interns from several schools, including Georgia Tech. He did not go out searching for this opportunity. The company, through UAH career services, came directly to him.
For this summer, he just turned down an incredible offer that, with housing stipend, totaled nearly $30/hr. It is for a well-known global company in his field. He had several options of his work location, including silicon valley.
He applied to 2 or 3 BIG name companies that do not have a presence in Huntsville. He did not hear back from the others, but 1 out of 2 or 3 is pretty darn good! He does have a 4.0, so certainly that helps. This company also was very interested in him because of the work he did last summer at the Huntsville company.
He turned down the very generous offer because he was also offered a prestigious REU that aligns very well with his grad school plans.
UAH has not in any way held back my top-performing son. Instead, he has received exceptional guidance and personal attention from the movers and shakers in the engineering department. If you decide to attend UAH, there will be ample opportunities for you too. Keep your grades up and get to know your professors. Register your resume with Career Services.
And, like others have said, I also recommend mechanical engineering over aerospace. More opportunities.
DD is at UAH. She chose it over Purdue, Rose, and several other better known schools. Good call on her part. It is, for the moment, an actual bargain. It won’t always be, I think.
^^^ @ThreeKidsMom – i have a HS freshman who says he wants ME degree. That’s the first really good, interesting post about UA-H that actually might have us looking there at some point!. good info; thanks
As you notice from my user ID, we were planning on DS to go to Ga Tech. Unfortantley he was deferred and then wait listed. So yes there is still a small chance that he could get accepted but most likely will not accept it. We are also OOS. He has decided to go with his “Plan B”. This is majoring in Aerospace Engineering at Mississippi State. They have a fabulous program. My son has received many scholarships from them just based upon his ACT score. He also applied and was accepted into their Honors College. Due to his scholarships, it is about the same for him to attend Mississippi State as it would be to attend an in state school. The advice that we have received from a family member that is a GT grad and works at NASA and works closely with SpaceX. Major in Aerospace not Mechanical Engineering if you what to be involved in space craft design. Also, he recommended that our son NOT go into debt to attend GT. In the long run he stated a great certified Aerospace program is all you need. But make sure that it is a Aerospace Engineering degree. Also, my son will start Mississippi State almost as a Sophomore due to AP credits that they will accept and GT will not.
congrats on a great Plan B. Go Bulldogs.
can he double-major in Aerospace and Mech Engr?