<p>Does the Department of Defense go around hiring grads? (aerospace and mechanical engineering)</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t they?</p>
<p>I dunno…very secretive? xD My mind is weird hehe</p>
<p>So say I want to work in the Missile Defense Agency, in either Huntsville or Colorado Springs. Would it give me an edge if I go to a school around it for co-op/internships, or would it really not matter?</p>
<p>You’d have to look at the MDA’s co-op program. Or look at schools’ coop programs.</p>
<p>I took a look, it said most positions are available in Huntsville, a few in the other. The thing I’m debating right now; Huntsville seems to be a place FULL of Aerospace companies. The thing is, its University of Alabama Huntsville a respected university in aerospace engineering? It seems to be ranked quite low…easy to get in school…with my stats, I can get a full ride there.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say UAH is ranked high in Aerospace engineering… then again, I’m sure the program is alright. My girlfriend was looking at applying there for graduate school, and her advisor - a pretty well-respected guy in her department - said not to, that the program wasn’t great.</p>
<p>I’m of the opinion that the student makes the education, but in the interest of looking for good schools, I think you can do better than UAH, but for the location.</p>
<p>I live in Huntsville.</p>
<p>It is true that there is a nearly unlimited supply of defense jobs here. </p>
<p>It is also true that tons of people go from UAH to those jobs…while UAH may not be a “top tier school” I personally know a dozen guys making six figures here in Huntsville, coming off of a UAH education.</p>
<p>Huntsville cannot be beat for cost of living either.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. It’s a hard choice…the UAH education price should be quite cheap. I should have the tuition covered, maybe the room+board through additional scholarships. Now with its location…low cost of living…seems great! But then again, I wonder if I should attend a school like UMich or Georgia Tech. Pretty much everyone in the engineering world respects that degree…I don’t know about UAH. But if I’m able to stand out from my class, get internships at the companies in Huntsville, perhaps my work experience will be looked at more than my degree if I choose to move out of Huntsville to another location?</p>
<p>And what makes a program ranked so high in the rankings?</p>
<p>You could always go to GT or UMich and try to get those jobs in Huntsville yourself. It might be a better insurance plan if things don’t work out with your intended major or somehow wind up not getting a job there.</p>
<p>Possibly, I still dunno. And I’m also thinking, at UMich or GT, I’d probably be an average student or above average. At UAH, I should be somewhere close to the top. Would that affect any internships/co-ops that I try to go for?</p>
<p>I just spoke with a ME friend of mine from UAH…he graduated with a 3.7 and got several 50k+ offers right away… he is now pulling down 85k at age 27. </p>
<p>In Huntsville, the opportunites are vast for engineers.</p>
<p>What about bio-engineers?</p>
<p>I’m from Huntsville too. I am in school right now undergrad. I’m assuming you’re looking at an undergrad degree too. You have to ask yourself, would you rather go to school for free and enjoy the benefits it entails or would you rather go to a “better” school and maybe come out the pocket yourself. I chose UA over GT because I wanted to go to school for free. My mom would have helped pay for wherever I went but I’d rather not have the burden of loans on her and my shoulders. As someone mentioned you can go to Michigan or GT and still get a job in the DOD in Huntsville. UAH has the benefit of being right down the street from NASA, DOD, Boeing, Lockheed, etc. They have established connections with them. UAH is the first place they look to for new graduates. </p>
<p>If you want to go work anywhere in the world, then yes, go to Michigan or GT, but since you know you want to work in Huntsville (at least starting off) then I’d choose UAH assuming free ride vs no ride ride. I personally hope to work at NASA or somewhere on the Arsenal when I graduate next year. </p>
<p>2010hopeful - While not established as our aerospace/defense industry, Huntsville’s biotech industry is on the rise. The Hudson-Alpha Institute just open a couple years ago, and I think we have a cancer research center here. Our mayor along with city officials is looking to build our healthcare, biotech industry tremendously.</p>
<p>I think uaprophet has a good point. I think it would be worth your while applying to the better known schools in addition to UAH in case one of them gives you a much better offer than you expect. It could also be possible that for some reason UAH won’t give you a full ride, in which case you might be better off going elsewhere.</p>
<p>Heck, back when I was doing undergrad applications it cost me the least to go to the highest ranked school I got into.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m looking at an undergrad degree. Going to school for free sounds awesome. The economy is kinda bad right now, I dont think it will get that much better. </p>
<p>And what is Huntsville like? What can you do there? (terms of sports mainly) Do you think the education you get at UAH is good?</p>
<p>I will be applying a variety of schools, haven’t quite decided yet, I still have a year! But on my list for sure are UAH, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UMich, GT. Perhaps UMaryland and Purdue and UIUC.
It cost you at least what to go to your highest ranked school? For me…I think UC Berkeley is highest ranked on my list. Don’t think it will cost me too much (in state) but cost of living is kinda expensive there</p>
<p>If you want to work for a govt agency your best bet is to join some segmant of the military or take advantage of the numerous govt grant programs.</p>
<p>Um…I’m not too sure if I want to join the military. I wrestle and stuff, but the military workouts would probably kill me. I also don’t want to be deployed somewhere. I’ll check out the grant programs though.</p>
<p>I just mentioned it as a option, the Military provides lots of opportunities. I think one of the grant programs in the Information Assurance program. Though there are many more.</p>
<p>Joining the military doesn’t mean eating mud and getting yelled at. The military needs engineers too, and also hires civilian engineers.</p>
<p>The thing I am learning about engineering is that you can go anywhere and land a job with any company. Sure some top pious companies only recruit from the top schools but screw them. The oil companies start their engineers at 80K and they recruit all over the Southeast, not from MIT, CalTech, or whatever other top school you wanna name (not saying those graduates can’t walk in and get hired). Like I said, decide where you wanna work. It is still very early for you and if you’re like me, your views about life and work etc will change tremendously as you progress through college. </p>
<p>I believe your education will be great if you attend UAH. You can go to MIT and not learn a damn thing. The student has to put as much effort in as he or she wants to yield the maximum benefit. </p>
<p>Huntsville’s cost of living is dirt cheap, lol. Our airport is expensive to fly out of and recently received the honor of being the most expensive airport to fly in/out in the US, but that’s nothing to fret about. Housing is great. I live in Tuscaloosa and Huntsville is bigger and better than Tuscaloosa and has bigger and better housing for cheaper prices.
I’m not sure what you mean when you ask about sports. If you’re talking about watching sports then you won’t really enjoy Huntsville. UAH has no football team and isn’t huge on sports. I’m sure there are plenty of intramural sports you can join at UAH and intramural sports can get insanely competitive. Huntsville has a minor league baseball team but I think they will be soon leaving us 
We do however have Bridgestreet, which is a new outside shopping center and the Monaco Pictures. Google those, you will like what you see.</p>