Best choice for aeronautical engineering in South..

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>My daughter is just beginning to look at schools and would like to major in aeronautical engineering. We live in Alabama and she would like to stay somewhat close. </p>

<p>We know Georgia Tech would probably be first choice, but we haven't visited there yet and financially it may be out of reach and I'm not sure she'll qualify for scholarships there (GPA 4.0, ACT score 28 in her sophmore yr, I would expect some increase but who knows how much).</p>

<p>Could you tell me which would be the best choice out of these 3?</p>

<p>University of Alabama
University of Alabama Huntsville
Auburn University</p>

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<p>I can’t honestly say that, in my experience, any of those three is significantly better than the other. I would tend to go with Auburn or UAH over Bama, but I am not 100% sure that there is any appreciable difference.</p>

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<p>Mississippi State is a place that you should look into, it is a good school for aero engineering</p>

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<p>Isn’t Huntsville known as an aerospace hotspot? I’m thinking it might be a bit easier to make some industry contacts there.</p>

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<p>As someone from the south but not from Alabama, from my experience Auburn is well known for its engineering, while UA and UAH are not very well known. This is likely true for other places in the south as well, which is where your daughter would likely be working, it seems. However this is from the perspective of a student, not an employer, so take it with a grain of salt.</p>

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<p>The city is an industry hotspot, and the school allegedly has a few good connections there, but besides that, it isn’t really known as a powerhouse engineering school. You are relying on the school’s connections, not its reputation in that case.</p>

<p>With any of those schools, recruiting will be largely regional, so as long as you want to live/work in the South after school, it shouldn’t be an issue. Auburn perhaps would be less regional than the other two.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone, any better choices within 7 hrs of the Gulf Coast of Alabama (we will look at Miss State too)?</p>

<p>Would one get a much better job by going to Georgia Tech than a state school? GT just scares me after reading some reviews of kids who hate it there.</p>

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<p>GT offers te advantage of stronger recruiting nationwide. The other schools in the area don’t have nearly as strong o a brand name outside of the region, so while SpaceX, for example, would recruit GT for jobs in Hawthorne, CA, they wouldn’t likely go to Bama or those others</p>

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<p>The best schools in the southeast for aerospace engineering are GaTech followed by Florida.</p>

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<p>I would not toss out GT based on a few reviews. Where were you getting these reviews from? Most of the time in these cases, only the people that are truly dissatisfied will speak out. Do you know anyone that is going to GT? That would be a good place to start.</p>

<p>I have no idea about any of the schools you listed in your first post so I will not comment on those.</p>

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<p>Hi Aggie, the review that concerned me most was from cc. A mom posted that her son/daughter spent the night and 4 kids walked up to them on the campus bus and whispered, “Don’t come here.” She also noted that most kids looked unhappy and there was little socialization going on.</p>

<p>My daughter thrives under pressure. She really needs to be challenged and does best in her most difficult courses. Georgia Tech with its reputation for difficulty might be what she needs.</p>

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<p>I’d check out the GT forums on this site. There is a lot of debate going on about whether the school is as horrible as its reputation, and most students (including myself) are arguing that the school is great and doesn’t deserve its reputation of being a “hellhole”.</p>

<p>In essence, I’d say if your daughter is smart and has good time management skills, she can have a great time at GT.</p>

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<p>GT is brutal, from everything I read. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, I think it makes you a better candidate to get hired.</p>

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<p>I have to say, go with GT. I got my BSME from there last December, and while it is a hard school, it’s a great school. The first year is going to be the hardest; that’s when the school will attempt to ‘weed’ out students who are not cut out for the program. If you can make it through the first year, and can stay focused the rest of the time, there should be no problem. I also didn’t start college until I was 23, so I was a little more mature than most students. I think a lot of teens come in expecting it to be like high school. As long as you go in the with attitude that it’s going to take some effort, a few sleepless nights, and a bad grade every now-and-then, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>

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<p>I’m surprised to not hear anything from the Texas A&M people about their school. I live in New Orleans, and that is known as an excellent engineering school down here.</p>

<p>As for national reputation, you may want to look at Clemson. It is said that if you have a tiger paw on a piece of paper, you can get a job anywhere.</p>

<p>As for Georgia Tech, this is just anecdotal, but if your daughter chooses to go there, she will be in the minority. I hear men outnumber women there three to one. Good place to get an MRS, in my opinion. Really, I’m joking about this, but coming from a city that does not have coed high schools, many people do not choose GT because of the male/female ratio.</p>

<p>Agree that Auburn does have the engineering reputation, but I was surprised to find that Bama has an excellent engineering school with many new facilities. And they do have a lot of connections with the Huntsville area for internships, etc. </p>

<p>Another hidden gem of an engineering school is UAB, Birmingham, but I do not believe it has aeronautical. In fact, I think Bama’s major is called Aerospace and Mechanics.</p>

<p>Missississippi State does have an excellent engineering reputation in the South, and Stennis Space Center and Keesler Air Force Base, plus Lockheed’s Michoud Facilities in New Orleans, also offer many “space” connections.</p>

<p>My son will actually be attending Bama in the fall as a mechanical engineering major, but he does have a strong interest in aerospace and recently announced that he may look into that as an alternative if he doesn’t like mechanical. His roommate, from Texas, will be majoring in aerospace engineering. </p>

<p>I would recommend applying to Mississippi State, Bama and Auburn, as well as Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is very difficult to get into, and it would be good to have those as safeties. And it’s possible she would get good scholarships from the three of them and would be able to choose based on fit, rather than price, as they may be similar once the scholarships come in. But if she’s interested, I would definitely encourage her to apply to Georgia Tech. There are many more scholarships available for women and minorities in engineering, so it might wind up being just as affordable for you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>FYI, Clemson does NOT have aeronautical engineering</p>

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<p>Thanks, pierre. Still an awesome school and lots of great majors to choose from.</p>

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<p>According to US News and World Report’s listing of Best Undergraduate Aerospace Engineering Schools that offer a Phd., after Georgia Tech (2), Virginia Tech (10) is the most highly ranked. Auburn comes in at 64th for its overall engineering program, but it is not even listed in the listing of the top 18 Aerospace Engineering programs in the US. It is the most highly ranked of your original choices.</p>

<p>Now USNWR is just one ranking service. I’m just laying out their rankings as one relative measure of the strength of the various programs. It’s not the bible, however.</p>

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<p>Lockheed’s key-schools in the southeast are GaTech and U Florida. If you consider Virginia to be in the southeast, you need to add in VaTech and UVa.</p>

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<p>What about Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida?</p>