I’m currently a high school junior looking into the best schools for working in the motorsports or automotive industries. I’ve narrowed down my list to about 7 schools I would really consider attending and want some advice on what to choose, look for, prioritize, etc.
I’m also pretty confident I will achieve semifinalist (or better) status in this year’s PSAT/NMSQT (based on my previous year’s score of 1280, and learning all the math I didn’t know since taking it). I also received a 5 on my AP world exam, and am taking AP chemistry, US gov., and US history this year. So, to the list and my thoughts:
Michigan State
So far my top option, and the only one I've visited thus far.
+ADS competition, OOS honors college scholarship, PA tuition grant, , national merit finalist awards (possible), and I would get the Red Cedar scholarship.
+Well known FSAE team, close to industry, name recognition.
+Honors college and the ability to have a flexible degree plan.
+Good engineering college.
-No real big negatives yet.
Virginia Tech
+Very strong mechanical engineering program with a plethora of electives.
+SAE teams.
-Off the walls expensive and almost no financial aid to speak of looking at it from OOS.
UW-Madison
+Tuition reciprocity.
+Good MechE program.
+SAE projects and teams.
-Is it close enough to industry?
UNCC
+Motorsports research facility.
+Motorsports degree track.
+Right in the middle of the motorsports industry.
-Average school at best outside of motorsports.
-Financial aid and cost unknown.
UT-Austin
+Good MechE program.
+SAE teams.
-OOS and expensive.
Cornell
+Very strong engineering programs.
+Strong SAE teams.
-Also very expensive OOS.
-I don't like the liberal atmosphere at many of the ivies.
-Isolated.
Cal Poly Pomona
+Very stong SAE teams.
+Good engineering programs.
-OOS and financial aid and cost unknown.
-California seems a little too far away for me.
-Far from industry?
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, advice, etc. are welcome. I know actually visiting any of these schools is the best way to get a feel for them, but I don’t have that luxury right now or in the near future.
Thanks for helping!
California publics (Cal States and UCs) will give you no aid as OOS. UCs are 60K a yr for OOS, but Cal States, such as Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly Slo run 35-40K for OOS (both have very good engineering depts).
Kettering is known as a place for car nerds. Former name: General Motors Institute of Technology.
Lehigh is also noted for connections to the automobile industry. The engineering building is Packard Hall (as in “Packard Motor Company”, not “Hewlett-Packard”). Lee Iacocca and Roger Penske are noted alums.
Getting off topic: not sure where you are getting statements like “Virginia Tech is off the wall expensive.” Just did a quick search (maybe off slightly) and here is list of “total cost” for OOS students at your schools:
Cornell 70k
UT Austin 52K
Michigan 51k
UW Madison 47k
Virginia Tech 42k
UNCCharlotte 35k
Cal Poly Pomona 35K
Am guessing you will not be getting much aid from any of these big state schools (may have instate or reciprocity at some). If money is a factor, I suggest you focus less on motorsports and more on good engineering programs that will give you merit/need aid.
You sound much like my son who is currently a junior at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He applied to many of the same schools (Michigan state, Kettering, VA tech—also Clemson, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Worcester Polytech). These are all great schools for mechanical engineering/electrical engineering which are the typical foundations for automotive engineering. There are many others great schools as well such as Cal Poly, Illinois, Michigan–and others. Automotive engineering is a graduate degree and Clemson,(CU-ICAR ), Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia Tech are some of the Powerhouses. Mine is planning on an automotive masters hopefully at Clemson ICAR. I suggest you pick a school that suits your learning environment preference either smaller undergraduate engineering or big engineering research schools. Find one where you can be involved in one or more active accredited hands on automotive clubs where you learn how to rebuild/design cars. One of the wonderful things about Rose-Hulman and Kettering is graduates compete well with graduates from big nationally recognized research universities for good jobs directly in the automotive industry even without graduate degrees. As always, it’s a matter of college fit and budget. Rose-Hulman and Kettering give merit aid above a cut and probably pretty good (over 20K/year) for National merit semifinalists with the potential for other scholarships. Still the price would be steep compared with your best in state engineering flagship.
I guess I would prefer to attend a larger school, like MSU, vs. a UNCC, Rose-Hulman or similar just for the reach of influence large research institutions have. Kettering does seem like a good option for me, but the Flint area isn’t very appealing at all.
As for automotive clubs, MSU, UW-Madison, and UNCC look the best. Clemson wasn’t on my list mainly because most of their automotive programs really only come into play at the graduate level.
One of the big selling points for me was really to go debt-free over 3-4 years, and MSU can (with a little luck) deliver on that. I see too that schools like Rose-Hulman do offer some good financial aid packages, but are a little behind in SAE clubs or similar electives.
Kettering is a compelling option (my great-grandfather went there and worked at GM for many years as a corporate executive), but being in Flint and still more expensive than UW-Madison or MSU puts it behind comparing objectively.