I have three questions: Does CPP have a good enough mechanical engineering program to earn a career in aerospace?; What could my senior project be like as a mechanical engineering major there (will it be a rigorous experience or will it be underwhelming compared to other engineering schools)?; Does a mechanical engineering major need a computer that is good with CAD in college?
Thanks for the help.
@hdawgg, If you apply yourself and do well in school, you will be able to get a job in aerospace with a ME degree from CPP. According to the CPP Career Center, Northrop Grumman hired more than 80 CPP grads last year. Many of them were MEs. As for your senior project, that’s largely in your hands and driven by your ambition. Students from the biggest name schools are capable of doing underwhelming senior projects and students from Podunk U have done really cool things. Lastly, no, you do not need a CAD capable computer as an ME. You’ll have access to labs and will also likely be able to remote in. Good luck.
Do you think it is possible to get a position in research and development at a company like SpaceX or NASA?
@eyemgh Do you think it is possible to get a position in research and development at a company like SpaceX or NASA?
@hdawgg, anything is possible. 
In all seriousness though, to get a job at any of those, I would think so, if you do well and show personal initiative. To find out for sure you’d have to call CPP Career Services. They don’t post placement information on their web page.
It also depends on what level of R&D you’re talking about. You’d have to do some digging, but quite a few of the career people at JPL, NASA, Space X, the National Labs, etc. have advanced degrees. Think of your undergraduate degree like a black belt in karate. Many assume that is the pinnacle, but it is just the beginning stage of mastery. There are 10 degrees of black belt.
What alternatives do you have besides CPP?
eyemgh is 100% right about the R&D positions at the more prestigious companies and/or national labs. A BS will generally not cut it, especially for permanent, actual research/engineering jobs at these places.
You have to realize that the vast majority of engineering students all want to work for NASA/SpaceX/Tesla, etc, and they all want to design rocket engines, electric cars, and various other big ticket items. The reality is that there simply aren’t enough jobs like those for everyone, BUT, you can still get one of those jobs if you put in a little more effort on your part to get an advanced degree.
To answer your main question though, CPP is a fine school, and they have a fine engineering department. The only limiting factor is you!
@eyemgh i got really good financial aid at Occidental and they have a 3-2 program where you spend three years at Occidental and get a degree in Physics with a 3.5 GPA and then you can transfer to to Columbia’s Engineering school automatically, or you can apply to Caltech with at least a 3.5 and a strong letter of recommendation. Caltech (and Occidental) is a dream school of mine and they have top tier students and a much bigger endowment that would be great to work with. The only thing is I’m not sure if I can get a 3.5+ GPA in Physics at Occidental (I heard it is unnecessarily hard). How hard do you think it is to achieve this goal?
Caltech (and Cal Poly Pomona) are close to JPL and SpaceX for internships, but Caltech would provide me with such a great experience and a better education. I would do a lot to get into Caltech, so I’m interested in your opinion on the chances of meeting the 3-2 requirements. I murdered my high school physics class in freshman year, but I have to admit it was a very easy class, and I do like Physics, but I know college level Physics is a different beast. Another risk is that if I go to the 3-2 program and get a 3.5, but don’t get into Caltech I will have to go to Columbia’s Engineering school, far away from anything NASA or SpaceX.
What is your advice on what I should do?
For many, many reasons there’s not much love for the 3+2 around here. Use the search function and you’ll see why. As for Caltech, I’m not a fan. Their graduate school is great. Their undergraduate program is known as a grind that many are not particularly happy with. I would not want to be the kid who dropped into the Caltech culture two years later than my cohort. Just my opinion. I’d go to Pomona and make the best of it.
@fractalmstr @eyemgh So thoughts are to go to Pomona and get a grad degree at a really good school? I’ve heard that most (or at least a lot) of engineers go straight to PhDs what are your thoughts on this?
What are your guys’ thoughts on community college?
Will Cal Poly Pomona’s small endowment hinder my education? What could I do at Pomona to make me stand out?
By the way thanks for helping me out with this.
I’m a big fan of community college for many degrees, but not engineering. The rigor in CC can make the adjustment challenging because you transfer right when you hit the meat of the curriculum (read that as…the hard stuff that’s very important). It’s important that your foundation be solid. If you simply can’t afford a four year program, then you do the best you can. You will be at a disadvantage though compared to the rest of your cohort that was at the target institution the whole time.
CPP’s small endowment will not hurt you.
Don’t worry about grad school yet. Lots can change. You may be able to get a job you want with just an undergraduate degree. You might get burned out. For now, just concentrate on being stellar as an UG.
How to stand out? Be well organized and disciplined in your studies with the goal of mastery of the material. It will make you a better engineer and good grades usually follow deep knowledge. Then, whether you want a job or to go to grad school, you’ll have the GPA and knowledge to do well at either. If, once you start getting a feeling for what it’s all about you think you might want to go for an advanced degree, get a position in a campus ridge arch lab.
You don’t have to sort it all out today, or in a month, or even a year. Your path will unfold for you as you go. Good luck!
@eyemgh After doing some research I saw that Cal Poly Pomona actually has an FSAE team as well as a full on rocket club. Do you think doing well in these clubs and my senior project as well as getting good internships would make me competitive?
I think you’ll be fine. Plus, as is typical for students and parents at this stage, I think you’re worrying too much about the name of the school. It is really far more about what you do than where you go. If you do well at CPP and get involved with a club and/or research and/or a campus job to show you “play well with others,” you’ll have as many or more opportunities than the un-involved C student from any elite school.
@eyemgh thanks I really appreciate your advice I’m going to go to CPP and just work my ass off.
You really steered me in the right direction sir.
I’m sure you will do well. Enjoy!
@eyemgh One more question, and this is what really keeps me hesitant about going. Does Cal Poly Pomona not go into depth with theoretical engineering concepts in order to do more hands on work?
Not that I can tell. Just like at Cal Poly SLO, Pomona MEs take the same calculus series that the Math majors take, not a softer engineering version like you might find in other programs. They also take linear algebra which is math above and beyond what is required by ABET. From my son’s experience at SLO none of the engineering classes have been soft or light in theory, but I don’t have anything concrete to compare to.
If the culture at Pomona is anything like SLO, you won’t find as much emphasis on getting ready for graduate school as you would at other schools. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t if you wanted to, you’d just have to do more leg work on your own. By that I mean there won’t be someone hovering over you telling you to study for GRE or when the dates are. There will be less opportunities for research on campus, but also likely less people looking for them. Again, if anything like SLO, MEs do get into good graduate programs like Stanford and UCB. It’s just a path fewer are looking for.
@hdawgg Just an actual fact of the 3-2 engineering program. The program is indeed attractive, but some of my high school friends, who also went to occidental because of the program, decided to stay in occidental for their senior year even though they made a 3.5 GPA. Indeed, if you check the data presented in the occidental college website, only a few (less than 5) transfer to CalTech and Columbia.
Besides, you can go to top tier graduate school (such as Princeton, CalTech, USC…) without any problems if you graduate from Cal Poly Pomona. “School Name” doesn’t make any difference in graduate school application, your grade and the letter of recommendation do.
@ChemEGradFromCPP thanks that’s what I plan on doing. Do you have any advice on how to go about doing that?
And how is the undergraduate research for mechanical/aerospace engineers at CPP?
Check your second post.