Just to clarify, this is the employer list for Purdue co-ops, not post graduation employment.
Here’s the link to the top 25 Aero employers at Purdue: Purdue CCO
You can sort by college and major.
Northrup Grumman is the biggest employer for AA grads, followed by Lockheed Martin, followed by NAVAIR.
Others employers on the list:
Belcan, Boeing, Collins, Ball, Raytheon, Space X, etc…
momofboiler, I stand corrected. As with all things Purdue, you are the fount of knowledge.
I stand by my original statement that the OP’s student is best served following the major that reflects their passion, because that is what will fuel fulfillment in both an engineering program and also career.
That said, this webpage breaks down various engineering majors and how they can be applied to aerospace industry careers.
Was that in one huge lecture hall? That would be surprising, I know few people at Cornell as it was a popular college to attend in my upstate NY high school, and they didn’t have class sizes that large iirc, maybe a couple hundred in intro classes. Admittedly quite a few of them were non-stem, I went to a smaller college than Cornell and our intro classes did have lectures with 500 or so students, but there were recitations.
Psych 101 in Bailey Hall. All 1000 of us in the concert hall! Super great class with Dr. Maas.
My friend’s son just graduated with an AE degree from Buffalo. He’s working in a non-AE job (something to do with making molds to make lenses?). So yes, they can get jobs outside the industry. My nephew (graduated in 2018 with BS, 2019 with an MS) in Mechanical E from CU Boulder works for Northrup on a space project, so it goes both ways. He really wasn’t interested in aerospace but that’s where the job was and he took it.
I’d say the benefit a school like ERAU or Florida Tech has (maybe over UF or VTech or another big school) is all the industry that is right there on the Space Coast. There are a lot of internships at SpaceX or Northrup or the other big boys in space, but there are a ton of little companies all up and down the coast that may only work on an itty bitty part of a mission, or design a switch or a camera or a bolt. The internship may only be for 2 months or very part time during the school year, so they hire students from those schools who don’t have to relocate or can still be in school while doing the work. Many of the big internships those at Florida Tech take are no where near the school (student gone for the summer or 6 to 8 months), but there are a lot of little jobs in the industry available close to the schools. Many of the senior projects are done with the sponsorship of the companies they are working for on co-ops or as interns.
Also, the faculty at ERAU and Florida Tech are very connected to the industry, so are recommending students all the time. Sometimes it is just being in the right place at the right time.
And who doesn’t want to go to college at the beach? With rocket launches going off weekly right in your backyard?
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Reopened for the OP.
Hi everybody,
I just wanted to give you an update of my son’s applications.
Despite my arguments that maybe mechanical engineering would be better than aerospace, he wanted to apply to aerospace because all these schools have mechanical as well, while not all schools with mechanical have aerospace.
Here is the list and the results as of today :
Reach Schools
Georgia Institute of Technology - deferred
University of Michigan - deferred
University of Illinois - Urbana- Champaign - accepted
University of Texas - Austin - waiting for results
University of Notre Dame - rejected
University of Virginia - waiting for results
Match Schools
Purdue University - rejected
University of Maryland - accepted
Ohio State University - accepted
University of Florida - waiting for results
Virginia Tech - waiting for results
Safe Schools
NC State University - accepted
University of Colorado Boulder - accepted
Rutgers University - accepted
NJIT - accepted
Stevens - waiting for results
His first school is University of Florida.
His second was Purdue and the rejection was a big, big disappointment.
With all the other schools, I think we were on point.
UIUC - big surprise - didn’t expect to get in. Didn’t visit the school.
What are your opinions about UIUC, Maryland and Ohio ?
It’s great he knew he wanted aero.
I’m sure all three are great in different ways. Can he visit ?
We will visit all three of them during Spring break
Hopefully if all are cost effective you’ll know after visiting !!
make sure to eat on campus and check the surrounds.
Good luck.
My suspicion is that this will end well 
Fingers crossed for Florida!
UIUC is a great school for engineering. I don’t remember where you live but you should visit. Is is financially viable? I collaborate with engineering professors there and the students that I know that have gone through their Engineering school (none in Aero unfortunately) have been very successful.
I don’t know enough to comment on the other two schools.
Sorry about Purdue! Chin-up. You win some, you lose some.
UIUC is considered one of the very best schools in engineering, and is also a Space Grant University. Since your kid is interested in aerospace engineering, it’s worth looking at the Space Grant program.
UMD and OSU are both really good schools as well, and have very strong engineering programs
This is about budget and fit, in that order. Your student has already been accepted into multiple programs where their career options will be just as strong as they would have been had they been accepted to MIT, IF they take advantage of their opportunities and get good grades. From here, it’s all icing. Good luck!
Thank you all for your words.
I still need help to understand the prices …
All acceptance he received says nothing about scholarship, financial aid, prices. I went to some of the schools’ websites for the net price calculator and none of them consider any scholarships / financial aid. Honestly, yesterday I had a panic attack - please excuse my ignorance. All prices I saw are double and more than double than my FAFSA Score - is that normal ?
All my calculations included some kind of financial help and by now I received nothing
Are we going to receive like an offer with detailed costs, scholarship, financial aid ?
I am so confused …
What is your home state ?
I would not expect merit at Illinois, Maryland or Florida. My son’s Maryland aid came with the acceptance but it was only $5k. That was 4 years ago though.
I could see Ohio State offering merit and CU Boulder $6250 a year.
What is your home state and budget ? What is your GPA and test score ?
Colleges do not necessarily use the same calculation for their EFC as the FAFSA calculation for the FAFSA EFC/SAI.
In addition, public universities typically offer less or no financial aid to out-of-state students compared to in-state students.