<p>The major at Cornell is "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering".</p>
<p>No, the department is "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering." If you look closely at the website, or visit the campus to ask questions, it's clear that the Bachelor's degree is only offered for Mechanical Engineering as a major; one can only have a minor in Aerospace Engineering.</p>
<p>Admiral is right- you get a mechanical engineering degree at Cornell. Nevertheless, you get plenty of opportunities to take aerospace classes as a MechE, and in the end, that's what matters. First of all, as a MechE, you will have to choose a concentration; aerospace engineering is one of the possible concentrations you can choose within the MechE major. A concentration consists of a minimum of at least 2 courses. Additionally, you can minor in aerospace engineering as mentioned before. The minor consists of 6 courses, and is a pretty rigorous minor... So in the end, you will end up taking at least 8 aerospace courses, which is a pretty good amount of experience I'd say. The fact of the matter is that aerospace is too narrow a field of engineering for Cornell to make an aerospace major.</p>
<p>If you have a decent GPA, you can stay at Cornell and finish your master's degree in aerospace in one year (or even less, depending on how many graduate courses you take as an undergrad). A MechE bachelors degree w/ plenty of aerospace experience and a master's degree in aerospace engineering within 5 years or less is a pretty good combination.</p>
<p>cornell is only on the list that high because of its ivy status. a minor in aero should not warrant the 10 spot. no matter how good it is.</p>
<p>^^ The Cornell program will produce perhaps a more versatile engineer, whereas others will produce alumni stronger in the field of Aerospace (both have their advantages and disadvantages).</p>
<p>The one major aerospace thing I observed at Cornell is that they will have a sattelite launched soon...</p>
<p>Some people really overlook various schools. For example, U Maryland--College Park is tied with Cornell for Aerospace, yet has many facilities that are superior for an Aerospace program (e.g. their Neutral Buoyancy tank). Both have wind tunnels, but the one @ Maryland appears to be far larger.</p>
<p>One must go into the details to really determine what program will be "better". That goes for any school. All of them produce good engineers, some have different perks, you can't really go wrong--I mean, the administrator of NASA got one of his many degrees at UMaryland (Oh no, not an Ivy!), you just have to go to the one that you fit the best and will offer you the most opportunities (e.g. extracurriculars like the SAE car) to take advantage of--it is these, not just the name of the school, that should govern a "good" program.</p>
<p>I've always wondered what the methodology for individual department rankings is. Is it just peer assessment?</p>
<p>For the school in general, there are a few more things than peer assessment.</p>
<p>For the individual departments, it is peer assessment only I think.</p>