<p>I am applying for graduate school this fall '08 for mechanical engineering. I have been accepted to UCSB for their MS/PhD program with a central university fellowship (I chose the PhD route to get aid; I do not intend to stay past the MS). I have also been accepted to UCLA and USC, but I have absolutely no funding their besides taking out loans–not even TA-ship. My career goal is to work with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or Northrop Grumman in their jet fighters/missiles/etc. with design or R&D, so my concentration in mechanical engineering grad school will be thermodynamics and heat transfer. Once I start working, I will have them pay me to get my MBA, which I will use to get into management.</p>
<p>So I am torn. UCSB gives me a full ride, and they’re academically quite good. But I am not sure their thermal sciences is good; they seem more focused with fluid mechanics. USC and UCLA seem like schools that will better fit my academic interests. So my graduate school will be my final true college life experience. I will be proud to tell people I am a USC or UCLA alumni, but maybe not UCSB? However, I will be about $80k-90k in debt once I finish from these two schools. I am currently at University if Illinois at Urbana-Champaign btw. </p>
<p>I have no idea what to do. Any insight as to what I should focus more on–full ride and not-so-sure academics related to thermal and not so great prestige OR no ride and very good academics related to thermal and great prestige? Again, this is for my GRADUATE school.</p>
<p>I don't think that an MS will get you a much better starting position in aerospace than just a BS. You'll be an inexperienced recent grad in either case. Unless you really relish another year of campus life, you might as well enter the real world with a BS, and let your employer pay for further education.</p>
<p>leentiger:"thanks, but I do want to experience another 2 years of college life--in california, especially. I am still stuck between UCSB, USC and UCLA.."</p>
<p>In that case given the financial discussion go for UCSB and make sure that the work you do there for your MS is impressive. Hiring decisions are made by the individual team leads and department heads that you interview with and it's a toss-up whether which of those colleges you went to will have any influence. If the guy you want to work for happens to be a USC grad h/self, you probably have an in, etc. The discussion tends to be about the applicant more than the school, unless the school happens to be really noble, e.g. Cal Tech or Stanford. Just make it clear you did real work and didn't go to SB to party, in case the interviewer even knows it has a party-school rep.</p>
<p>[Why aerospace? The industry is enchanted by their bottom line, and downplays innovation in favor of process-adhering teamwork. Is that you?]</p>
<p>Choose UCSB. Be at the top of your class. Every school has some connections for their top graduates and once you gain a little job experience, where you graduated from will make no difference. There are a lot very wealthy, well connected people there who can help you. Keep in mind that employers usually see if you were a major scholarship recipient on your resume- you would list it as an award/honor. If you do some calculations and figure out what that 80,000 will really cost by the time you pay it back, you might want to avoid that kind of debt. BUT, if you will not be happy at UCSB, it isn't worth any amount of money to spend your last college years there.</p>
<p>"[Why aerospace? The industry is enchanted by their bottom line, and downplays innovation in favor of process-adhering teamwork. Is that you?]"
--The reason why I want to pursue the aerospace field actually stems from my passion for motorsports. I am a huge sports car/sport bike fan, and I entered mechanical engineering to get closer to IC engine work. My other love is and has always been to live in southern california, and seeing that getting into automotive engineering is not possible or likely in this region, I turned to other things that could interest me--speed and power from the sky. </p>
<p>I guess you guys brought up a good point about me focusing more on my academic progress vs focusing on what school brand will be featured on my resume. With a central university fellowship, I could definitely focus more on school, since I don't have to TA to get financial support. </p>
<p>And $80k IS indeed a huge debt that I would not want to get myself into, especially starting out with an engineering career.</p>