However, the similarities mask how competitive getting into each major is at each school. While Purdue auto-admits FYE students to engineering majors at 3.2 college GPA, and the competitive admission for those below that GPA is not that competitive, Texas A&M requires a 3.75 college GPA for automatic admission, and the competition level is much higher for some majors if below that GPA.
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Weâve seen both - in person and virtual.
There are so many solid and frankly more affordable safety schools for your son that even if he swings and misses at Purdue or A&M - heâs not going to miss at Alabama, Arizona, or UAH - the last two especially strong in AE - and momâs wallet is going to be so much heavier from the extra money sitting there vs. going to the other schools.
In other words, if youâre choice is to go to schools with both majors, you still will have ample and awesome acceptances - and you mentioned affordability / loans b4 - get the word loan out of your dictionary. Thereâs no need to strangle a 21 year old.
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Htas - I totally resonate.
At least my son knows for sure he wants engineering, and he knows for sure he needs to choose between AE and ME. Honestly, at this moment, he still knows he wants AE. I am waiting from him to come back from Florida to discuss the possibility of ME due to reasonable arguments discussed on this thread .
In your case - choosing from Engineering, Humanities and Liberal Arts - looks to me all over the spectrum. What was the final path your kid picked ?
P.S. How do you quote a previous message ? 
There is no hurry to decide :-). You have 1-2 years from this point depending on what school the kid is at â between Engg, Humanities etc.
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Yeap - I hear you. It is interesting, with all this pressure of being accepted, almost forgot the price component
We will discuss Alabama and Arizona - although MY (as a mom) only hesitation is that they are so far way from Jersey. If I include Arizona, maybe I should also include Californiaâs schools and forget about the âtoo farâ complain.
Also âtoo farâ may be my opinion - nothing may be âtoo farâ for him
Rutgers is a solid safety, especially if ME is ok. And very price friendly.
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I am at a NASA facility and we are hiring ME, AE, EE, CS, and BME all. The degree isnât as important as the applicant and what they have shown interest in. Iâm an EE and doing the same job MEs and AEs are doing. We are hiring like crazy right now for the right applicants.
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Florida is far from NJ - a flight. So are the others - Bama equal distance.
California is not âcheapâ and I was just suggesting âcheapâ alternatives so why CA has fantastic schools, they donât optimize your budget position.
My other concern - for all the college confidential chats is - weâve lived in fantasy land jobs wise the last few years - and everyone is of the belief this is how it will always be.
What happens - when thereâs a recession and kids are coming out and canât get jobs. Already the facebooks, Teslas of the world and others are drastically cutting back hiring and other companies are laying off.
There are no guarantees from any school.
Admittedly, Iâm risk averse and price cautious - although my kids chose their schools on their own and for my daughter, we took all her acceptances and let her choose any up to $50K a year. They just both chose inexpensive.
But I do think people have to get past this idea of - a college making it happen for their kid. Just my opinion.
Again, not telling you not to apply to the schools you are talking about - all fantastic. Just saying - itâs easy to say iâll pay $50K a year but when the time comes to write that check or saddle your kids with loans - itâs nice to have an alternative to consider too that is much more friendly to the bank account.
Thatâs all.
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I see it this same way. Itâs nice to have some freedom to explore, but that largely depends on how competitive it actually is to get into the major of choice. I think Purdue hitâs the balance pretty well. A&M and Wisconsin both seem more competitive.
The counterpoint is a school like Cal Poly where students are admitted by major, competitively only against those who applied to the same. You start in major, in earnest, but it can be hard to switch.
This goes to the mission of state funded schools. Their top priority is to educate students who are from families that have paid into their tax coffers.
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And speaking of state schools- some on your initial list would have a high percentage of kids from their own state ( Texas A & M, Florida, for instance). Others on your list will have more out of state kids in the mix (like Purdue, Michigan, UVA, Virginia Tech). That may or may not matter to your son. Please consider sorting out your budget, any location constraints, etc. and discuss with him before he sends out any applications.
Purdueâs approach has other problems, though. Since they have such a low secondary barrier to entry and no cap on department size, they have some departments that have become unmanageably large for the number of faculty they have. Aeronautics & Astronautics is a good example. That can negatively impact the educational experience.
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I see this, however not all state schools have the same policy ⊠I mean, I didnât verify this information but rumor is Rutgers accepts more OOS because of funding. So a NJ resident faces strong competition everywhere.
Iâve read Purdue also gives priority to IN residents.
59% of Purdue students are instate.
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The pressure of âperfect gradesâ will still be there in just about any legit âtop rankedâ engineering program. Engineering school is hard work.
Also, I canât find the post where you noted concern about selectivity at Texas A&M. FYI, more than half of out of state applicants to TAMU engineering were admitted in 2021 incoming class, in lage part because they know most of those will be full-pay (which is not cheap for OOS), so therefore lower yield than on in-state applicants. Yes, all Top 10% students in Texas are auto-admit, but the Engineering and Business schools do NOT guarantee placement so they reject a lot of those auto-admits. (The students get offered an alternate school/major instead).
With all that in play I am confident about his admission chances with his stellar stats if he has a thoughtful common application. (TAMU will participate in common app for the first time this coming admissions cycle).
That is part of why I recommended earlier that you to look into his PSAT score and research how that might play out for him in the Fall. If he gets National merit designation, TAMU would = bargain-basement price on a top AE program. (The graduate program in AE is ranked #8 in US News).
Ditto running his actual classes through an Arizona GPA calculator to see if he would be computed by AZ as a 4.0. While Arizona Engineering overall does not get as much fanfare as some of these other programs, their ties to NASA run deep and it is reflected in the stature/reputation specifically of their AE program. Plus the honors college (that your son would definitely qualify for) has the most awesome new dorm community.
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These two points can, and usually are mutually exclusive at all engineering programs, regardless of rank. Most engineering students find it very challenging, work very hard, and donât make perfect grades.
My son did very well, graduating with a 3.75 at a program with a 2.7 median GPA. A student in his class though graduated with a 4.0. The last it happened in the college of engineering was a decade prior.
TAMU has a culture that I would want to make sure works for him. Since it sounds like he wants the âtraditional â college experience, I wouldnât go to a place like Embry Riddle. There are just so many other places that can give both the education and experience he is looking for in a college
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What do you mean by this ? What culture do they have ?
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There is always some confusion between college degree fields and professional career fields. Aerospace jobs encompass structural, thermal, materials, design, manufacturing and many more specialty engineers. It doesnât matter so much what the title at the top of your transcript says as much as it does the courses you take.
I had a 40 year + career working on such things as the Space Shuttle and the Space Station. Most engineers I worked with didnât have aerospace degrees, but a few did. Get a degree taking things you like and are good at. The career path will figure itself out.
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