<p>I have been considering a career in aeronautical/astronautical engineering and have so far narrowed it down to two of my accepted colleges, Cornell and the Air Force Academy. At first i thought the academy would be a perfect fit, however upon more consideration i am starting to doubt if it will be a good choice for me(mainly the 5 years of required service). In the future i wish to work for Northrop Grumman or Boeing. I know the air force offers me a job after graduation(developmental engineer), however they cant guarantee what job im offered and even as a developemental engineer, i realize would never actually do much engineering in it as most Air Force Aircrafts are signed of to civilian corporations, (Developmental</a> Engr -- 62EXX: Best & Worst of Engineering). Right now, i am completely torn between both these decisions, will Cornell offer me the same quality of education in the field of aero/astro engineering or is the air force academy simply too good of a choice to pass on? Also, money is not an issue</p>
<p>I am biased my husband is a career Air Force Officer, although he did not attend the Academy. I would say go to the Academy, you will get experience and make contacts that will be of great benefit to you even if you chose to leave the AF after your commitment. The education is too notch too.</p>
<p>If you are in doubt, then go with Cornell. Another thing to consider is that service academy life is VERY different than a civilian college…are you okay with all of the additional obligations that you’ll have at USAFA? Are you okay with giving up free time because of those obligations? If you’re not sure about serving for 5 years after that too, then I think Cornell would be better suited for you.</p>
<p>The academies are for those whose career choice is officer in the armed forces.</p>
<p>If you are not sure about that, then they may be the wrong choice for you (although if you are considering that but are not sure, see if your other college choices have the appropriate ROTC units available).</p>
<p>CE527M, as far as these sacrifices go i think i will be able to do them so long as they pay off, however will they be worth it? Can i be just as competitive for my career field if i attend Cornell?</p>
<p>They will pay off IMO, but you need to evaluate what you’re definitely wanting to do afterwards…are you okay with serving 5 years in the Air Force? Developmental engineering is definitely an option after the Academy, but like you said, there’s no guarantee you will get that job, so are you okay with something else if you don’t get your first choice? I do think you can be just as competitive with Cornell. Are you wanting to serve in the Air Force regardless of whether it’s through the Academy or not?</p>
<p>Cornell and the Air Force Academy are two completely different, almost opposite, worlds.</p>
<p>Both have excellent academics, though.</p>
<p>So will it be safe to say that, as far as academics go, both institutions are pretty much equal? Also the benefits which comes with being an air force officer are great, but one has to remember that the air force is not there to give people a free education and all this nice stuff, it’s there to assert the political will of the US. They make it VERY attractive, however some people hate it and others love it, I’m not sure where i fall. What sucks about it is that while i have some say in what career path i have, they have the final decision. As far as Cornell goes, i figured if i don’t like it too much i can always transfers to other Ivys or MIT after two years(assuming i keep up with my grades!). At the moment, i’m just freaking out that i may not be able to get a good job after graduating from Cornell.</p>
<p>Erm…not sure about the “political will”, but I do know the USAFA exists to provide a college education and training for future Air Force officers.</p>
<p>Cornell is a top notch school, I’d doubt you’d have trouble finding a job.</p>
<p>I think Cornell is better suited for you, based on what you say.</p>
<p>"The academies are for those whose career choice is officer in the armed forces.</p>
<p>If you are not sure about that, then they may be the wrong choice for you (although if you are considering that but are not sure, see if your other college choices have the appropriate ROTC units available)."</p>
<p>Totally agree. I’m sitting across the couch from my USAFA grad husband, while I went to a “regular” college. We both majored in engineering, we both ended up in exactly the same place. I had a completely different college experience. I had freedom, choices, I could sleep in, I could skip class, and I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. But he got his education completely, 100% for free, plus a stipend. He had an amazing, demanding experience, with camaraderie that I never saw in college. I got the last three years of college for free, with a stipend, paid for by a ROTC scholarship. You might think money is not an issue, but if you are looking at 250K+ for Cornell, and FREE for USAFA, unless your parents have a massive net worth, it’s probably an issue of some sort.</p>
<p>Cornell and USAFA will be a completely different experience. First, I don’t think that Cornell has astronautical engineering, they have Aerospace Engineering. You will work your butt off intensely at Cornell. At the USAFA, you will work incredibly hard, but in a different way. The truth is, there are so many demands at the USAFA, athletic, officer training, that you won’t really have time to delve into your major as much as at Cornell. You can’t study till your hearts content, there is too much to do, then you do eventually have to sleep. But Cornell is intense in a completely different way.</p>
<p>You don’t go to the USAFA to get a degree that will get you a job on the outside, as the main priority. At least you don’t dare talk about it while you’re there. We went for my husbands 20 year reunion and unexpectedly he was requested to speak in front of a large room full of cadets. Uh…surprise…so he talked about life after the AF, and said that if anyone wanted to talk about becoming an airline pilot, he’d be happy to talk to them afterwards. It was like he’d mentioned an untouchable subject, the gasps and the nervous giggles…and all the cadets who wanted to talk to him afterwards. Really funny. But my point is, you go to the USAFA to become an officer, and they darn well put you where they want to, no guarantees. I personally loved my time in the AF, till I got married, had a baby, and all of a sudden getting deployed to a war zone didn’t seem like much fun any more.</p>
<p>I advise you visit both schools and ask a lot of questions. With the USAFA you will probably come back with strong feelings one way or another. You really must visit.</p>
<p>If military service is not your top reason for joining the Air Force Academy, then the Academy should be at the bottom of your list.</p>
<p>Terrific advice from ucbalumnus and busdriver11.</p>
<p>if you finish top 5% of your class at USAFA , you pick your career. Just remember they’re downsizing and , for example, there may not be any openings for fighter jet jocks, or what you may be interested. they do kinda own your butt for a while, and I believe it’s six years , not five.</p>
<p>My sonwanted USAFA since he was in grade school: his Dad USAF C5 Galaxy, my Dad was a USN aviator - flight records to Antarctica and what my Dad did, landing an engineless plane in SFBay in the 60’s after flying from Hawaii makes that Scully guy pale. Thus, everything my son did up to 11th grade was toward that goal: left highshool I.B. after 10th for fulltime dual credit home school at the university of Nevada to be able to take Mandarin instead of Spanish - U.S. military academies give preference to second language Mandarin, Swahili,Russian, Farsi, Arabic. My sonthought he died and went to heaven seeing all he could choose from in a college catalogue versus public high school. He loved his programming versus the idiot computer class the county demanded for word,files, email, etc and his Philosophy course and an auto class that brought his AP Physics C alive: one of three top facilities west of Mississippi. This experience propelled him to an invite from T.A.S.P. - well mostly thehigh PSAT: I’d madehim take it as an 8th grader and prep for 9th. This parleyed to admission to Stanford U EPGY OHS. suddenly a whole nother educational world opened up to him, far beyond his original ideas of USAFA or UNR. He was doing Stanford level writing and math in high school. then he and I looked more closely at the education at USAFA. </p>
<p>It’s not West Point: lots of notches below, and likewise Navy. And lots of upset grads who don’t get flight slots. Engineering, avaition, go Navy or West Point if you’re doing military. do what we did: research. After you see the credentials of USAFA profs, admin compared to Navy and W.P. you’ll understand why it’s great school for B+ students - maybe more picky nowadays…The academies forsake a few GPA points and rigor to get the supermen: jocks with smarts. The top 10% finishers at any academy are a parents’ dream come true for a spouse for their offspring. They are not graded on GPA. These graduates from our military academies get an OPA: their academics, their physical/sports prowess in intramurals or other, and their military acumen (marching around/orienteering, etc). My son’s an Eagle Scout and could have been one at 13, but we had him hold off to 16. Everything he did up to 11th was to go USAFA or West Point. After Stanford high he started discovering more about his talents and what’s out there for him and he thought, ‘why fly the planes, when i can be the guy to tell them where and when to fly…’ At the moment he’s headed for frosh UCBerkeley, but not too late for West Point: already he’s able to secure Congressional nominations and Presidential due to active duty Dad. Oh, and at Boys state he was voted #1 Lobbyist. all stuff no one values more than the military academies.</p>
<p>I think my son’s gone soft this past two years: only teaching skiing and coaching youth soccer - not doing his big work-outs. Last fall he did the frosh Army ROTC at UNR and whined. and that was nothing compared to what he’d do USAFA. I wish he’d do a year at CAL and then go to West Point. They have the pipeline to what he wants to be and do,but it’s not my life, and he’s set on civilian DC for now.</p>
<p>You never see kids at the military academies drinking themselves to death, and their graduates 20 years later are still fit - very few obese military academy grads 10, 20, 30,40, or 50 years later. It’s a way of life, love of country, love of oneself and one’s team. it’s the boy scout motto come to life: physically fit, morally straight, mentally alert. Wow, the more I type the sadder i am my son’ going to CAL instead of West Point. oh well. By the way, you might do better for what you want at Harvey Mudd SoCal, if you’re thinking transfer - better school for what you want than Cornell. employers line up 5 deep for their grads.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider USAFA to be a school for B+ students, it’s just as good as any of the other academies…I know quite a few people who were rejected with a near perfect GPA and test scores, athletics, and EC’s to boot…it’s extremely competitive.</p>
<p>I’m a bleeding-heart-liberal-military-phobe, and even I think it’s just plain wrong to go to the service academies if you want the education mainly for civilian life. The service academies are for those who want to serve. If you don’t have the desire to serve the military, then don’t steal a spot from someone the academy was designed for. If, after your five or six year obligation is over, you realize that it was a mistake and you don’t want a career in the military, then you leave. But don’t go in just because it’s free. [/rant]</p>
<p>“It’s not West Point: lots of notches below, and likewise Navy. And lots of upset grads who don’t get flight slots. Engineering, avaition, go Navy or West Point if you’re doing military. do what we did: research. After you see the credentials of USAFA profs, admin compared to Navy and W.P. you’ll understand why it’s great school for B+ students - maybe more picky nowadays.”</p>
<p>Not exactly sure where you’re getting your information, cornelia, but you are incorrect. Both West Point and USAFA are extremely selective. West Point accepts about 9% of applicants, USAFA about 10%. Naval Academy even tougher, 7%. Accepted students at USAFA have higher grades and SAT’s than West Point acceptees. That’s just a fact, you can look up the statistics. Not many B+ students in either academy.</p>
<p>The main difference why one student picks Army over Air Force, or vice versa, should they be lucky enough to choose, is that the mission is very different. The Air Force is all about support of aircraft. Pilots are at the top of the heap, and you get a huge boost in promotions when it comes to the upper ranks if you are a “rated aviator.” The Army supports ground missions. Should you go into the Army, it is extremely likely you will find yourself deployed to the Middle East. Nothing wrong with that, but people need to know what to expect.</p>
<p>“The top 10% finishers at any academy are a parents’ dream come true for a spouse for their offspring.”</p>
<p>I’m not sure why that would be. I’m sure that 11% or even 99% might be a parents dream come true. Fact is, after graduation, nobody is getting promoted nor is talking about what ranking they graduated in after college. I have worked with many people from all of the service academies over the last thirty years, and nobody would even consider mentioning what percentage they graduated for a second. That would be bragging and they would gain no respect at all for bringing it up. As a generalization, officers in the military are very dedicated and try to excel for the purpose of doing the best job they can, but they don’t boast about it.</p>
<p>Engineering or aviation, you go USAFA or Navy. The Army has almost no fixed wing airplanes, you surely don’t go into the Army for aviation unless you’re dying to fly a helicopter. And especially since the OP is looking into aeronautical or astronautical engineering, he’s not going to go into the Army for that.</p>