My son got offers from CalPoly SLO and Sanjose state university for Aerospace engg. Confused on which one is better:-( Given that it’s aerospace I assume enough funding will be important for lab/experiments. No clue as I am from CS background! Which one will give better internship opportunities given that he is not a US citizen? Any insights? Thanks in advance!
As a non-US citizen and with the current political climate, he should expect to have zero to very few internship opportunities in the Aerospace industry since much they work done is done as defense contractors. This industry heavily relies on their employees having a security clearance which he will not be able to obtain without US citizenship or a green card.
So either school will not be better in this situation.
SLO prides itself on the “learning by doing” philosophy is that key to many Engineering jobs. It is a small town and transportation access will be limited. They do have a small airport but I would check about flights.
SJSU has the advantage of being located in a large city with many opportunities and companies. Larger airport and easier transportation accesss.
My advice is that he switch from Aerospace to Mechancial engineering instead which would give him possibly more job opportunities, although he should not count on staying in the US permanently after college graduation.
Of those two for either Aero or ME, I’d choose Cal Poly every time, as long as he doesn’t have to be near a big airport. They have over 80 labs in the college of engineering alone. Students get very robust theoretical and practical experience prior to graduating. CubeSat, the basis for lots of cool stuff happening right now, was invented there, and the standard is still maintained there, primarily by students.
I do agree with the switch to ME to open opportunities as a non-citizen. He could still have an aerospace applicability by taking all the fluids classes. My son did his ME MS on an aero project. He can’t simply change majors though at CP. There’s a process and it isn’t guaranteed.
Getting employed in the US as a student or long term will be an uphill battle. @HPuck35 and @boneh3ad would have a better idea on ITAR (and any other) compliance issues. Congratulations to your son!
The country of citizenship matters, too. There are some groups where it won’t matter as much. Citizens of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are in the easiest groups for making the move to the US defense sector. Most NATO countries (but not all) would be in the next group.
There are commercial aerospace jobs as well, but they are harder to come by at the moment. Boeing is reeling, which is a sizable drain on that side of the market.
Thank you guys. He is from India. Looks like going to be a rollercoaster ride:-)
He could look for internships in India. I’d think it an uphill climb as an Indian in the aerospace industry in the US. As a ME willing to work in a different industry, I would think the H1b Visa route would be more successful. Wish him luck.
Big aerospace companies typically won’t hire non-US engineers. A US engineer is either a citizen or a green card holder. The aerospace companies that I am familiar with will NOT sponser a foriegn person to get a green card. I believe that one could have only a student visa and still be able to work as an intern. However, as aerospace companies use internships as essentially long job interviews, they will restrict those internships to US citizens and current green card holders.
The security clearance issue is not that big a deal as there are typically plenty of jobs in aerospace that don’t need a clearance. The more pressing issue is the ITAR restrictions. But if you have the green card then you meet the “US person” requirement for ITAR.
So, it all comes down to what is your son’s status in the US?
And I’d pick CalPolySLO over SJSU by a wide margin.
If he wants to change to ME, consider the change of major process at each school:
https://eadvise.calpoly.edu/Changing-Majors/Within-the-College-of-Engineering
https://engineering.sjsu.edu/student-success/engineering-student-success-center/change-major
Thanks guys
Echoing other posters, Cal Poly SLO is the better choice. But, most aerospace jobs are defense related so a DoD security clearance is necessary eventually. US citizenship is required. Mechanical would let him work in other companies and maybe a defense one if he ever becomes a citizen.