<p>Hey all, I need some help finding a nice list of schools to apply to. Here's a short list of what I'm looking for.</p>
<p>Intended Major: Aerospace engineering, if you haven't already guessed. Ideally, I'm aiming for a BS and then an MS ins aerospace, but I may consider getting a BS in mech instead and then an MS in aero. (If suggesting schools, please state whether or not the school has purely AE undergrad major or if it's part of ME, e.g. MAE or ME w/ Aerospace opt.) Location: Northeast or midwest. Definitely not west. Possibly some schools in the south. Surrounding area: Anywhere with stuff to do and places to go. Ideally a large city with an adjacent mountain and lake (:rolleyes:). No farms. Size: >3000. I don't want some small student body consisting of cloned conformities. Student Body: I don't want to be stuck in a dorm of all-day-every-day partiers. Nor do I want to dorm with compulsive gamers / antisocial introverts. In other words, a general population that is intelligent enough to be scholarly yet knows how to party. Laid-back would be an added bonus, but I can handle the relentless stress of engineering. Extras: Lots of state or federally funded wind tunnels, labs, and supercomputers would be pretty cool. Not necessary, though. Misc.: An even male:female ratio. 75:25 is ridiculous. An active greek life would be fine, but I find the prospect of attending the same parties by the same people despairing. I would, however, join a frat if I found it to my liking.</p>
<p>With that being said, what can you tell me about the following schools?</p>
<p>Boston University
Cornell
MIT
Northwestern
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University of Illinois - Urbana
UPenn
University of Virginia</p>
<p>Now obviously this isn't a finalized list, and I'm pretty sure I have more reaches in there than I'm entitled to, but that's why I'm here. Free gratitude if you can help me out.</p>
<p>Definitely apply to the public schools (University of Mich. Uni. of Virginia)
Great value prices and academics.
Not sure about the engineering aspect but these two schools are too much of values to pass up if you are considering them.</p>
<p>Based on your criteria of "no farms", etc., you can rule out Illinois. They have a research corn field right in the middle of campus if I remember right, and plenty of real ones on the outside of town.</p>
<p>But it does have one of the best engineering schools in the country.</p>
<p>Hm, alright then, I guess I'll go with UMich over UIUC. </p>
<p>How are schools in the New York area? I was looking at RPI but apparently there's a male to female ratio. I know they give good financial aid packages, but I still don't want to sacrifice my social life.</p>
<p>Except for the rather large question mark of the actual aerospace engineering program, I can tell you that Penn meets most of your requirements...</p>
<p>Location: Philadelphia, northeast, with easy access to NYC and DC Surrounding area: Philadelphia, the 5th largest city in the US, and second only to Boston in the northeast for # of college students Size: just under 10,000 undergrads Student Body[/v]: There is a special residential wing of one of Penn's dorms for supernerds called STwing (Science & Technology Wing). Other than that, you'll find relatively normal people
**Extras: I don't know about wind tunnels, but there are all sorts of labs and computers. Heck, we had the great granddaddy of "government-funded supercomputers": ENIAC! ;) Misc: the sex ratio is even, and roughly 30% join greek orgs.</p>
<p>Now the only question is, does Penn have an aerospace engineering program? ;)</p>
<p>@ Erin's Dad: From what I've heard, Purdue is located "in the middle of a cornfield." Which is bad. I know of it's great engineering program, but apparently the other program's aren't too good. I don't want to spend my entire college career just working.</p>
<p>@ ElizaB: Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.</p>
<p>@ ilovebagels: That is certainly an impediment.</p>
<p>@ tdx: No, lol. I don't think I'll be applying anywhere outside of the US. </p>
<p>Syracuse, SUNY Buffalo, and VTech - any comments on college life?</p>
<p>You should check out WPI, it has a decent sized greek scene, it is the middle of a city and it somewhat acclaimed in engineering (i am not sure about aerospace specifically).</p>
<p>@ ElizaB: So Syracuse is a definite possibility. Now if only I could get some financial aid.</p>
<p>@ Alexandra: Noted. The only thing I'm worried about is that I'll be applying OOS. Which may or may not hinder my acceptance.</p>
<p>@ dpt620: That's a problem. </p>
<p>Still need comments on SUNY Buffalo and Virginia Tech. Reviews of Boston University and Northwestern in terms of social life is also appreciated.</p>
<p>I know these are more reaches, but have you looked into Stanford, Princeton, UT, or Texas A&M? And for something slightly-less-reachy, how about Georgia Tech or Penn State?</p>
<p>From the looks of it, Penn State is more highly ranked than UPenn when it comes to what you're looking for - any particular reason for UPenn being on your list?</p>
<p>Truthfully, Stanford seems like the best fit for you if you eliminate the northeast/midwest preference (I am curious as to why you don't want a school on the west coast), but given your list I would say MIT, Northwestern, and U Mich best fit your criteria. I'm not certain how good UPenn's and BU's engineering programs are, UVA is in an odd place in VA and definitely not in a city, and Cornell is very isolated, very rural, but huge and very fun if that makes any difference to you.</p>
<p>About VA Tech - it's in a very rural area of Virginia (Blacksburg, if I'm not mistaken), but there's a TON of school spirit and everyone I know who does go there enjoys it. It's location, however, is something to be considered.</p>