Good evening smart people,
I am a Veteran, father of three, about to leave the Marine Corps after my second tour of duty. I am seeking out a good Aeronautical/Mechanical Engineering school where my family can live comfortably and my children can attend safe and good schools. I know I can put in the leg work over the internet and discover some reasonable choices but I feel some people with personal touches with their universities could give me a better point of view than a simple Google search. Thanks in advance for all of your assistance.
Within reasonable commuting range of colleges with ME or AE (see http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx ), there are likely mixes of areas of varying school quality and crime rates. However, better public schools and lower crime tend to be associated with higher housing (purchased or rented) costs relative to the local area.
Others may be able to help you better if you describe:
- Geographic region preference, if any.
- Whether you have taken any college course work already (i.e. will be a frosh or transfer applicant).
- If you have taken college course work already, whether you are transfer-ready (most schools prefer junior-level transfers who have complete frosh/soph level courses for their majors).
- What your high school academic credentials are (if frosh) or your college academic credentials are (if transfer).
- What kind of financial constraints due to supporting a family you are operating under (presumably, you will be getting GI Bill and are eligible for Yellow Ribbon?).
Thank you for you expedient response. Fortunately, for me, the Post 911 GI Bill supplies a Basic Allowance for Housing based on the Schools zip code. There is no geographical preference, the wife and myself are both from Las Vegas and have no desire to return. Although unfortunately, any college work that I was able to complete between training ops and deployments are not transferable into an Engineering degree. If I wanted to Major in underwater basket weaving I’d be two classes short of a Masters already. I was not a terrible math student in high school but that was almost a decade ago and the only other math class I’ve taken since then was a basic Algebra class at a local community college, finished with an A.
You may want to assess your math skills using these placement tests:
http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/index.html
https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam
If you are ready for calculus, then you may be able to complete a bachelor’s degree in ME or AE in 8 semesters. However, if you are not, it will likely take you more semesters – check your GI Bill benefits and Yellow Ribbon schools’ conditions about the number of semesters you can use them for. Any extra semesters that your veterans’ benefits will not pay for need to be self-paid or paid with regular financial aid, if you would be eligible for such at the school.
If you are not ready for calculus, you may want to consider taking the preparatory math courses at low cost community colleges first, not using your GI Bill benefits until you reach the point where your benefits can cover the rest of your education to your bachelor’s degree, since you want the benefits available for the most expensive semesters at the four year school, even if it means paying for the cheaper community college semesters yourself.
Regardless, because of your existing college credit, most four year schools will treat you as a transfer, so your most likely path is:
- Take preparatory math courses, if necessary (same may apply to other subjects like English composition). Breadth requirements and other course work that does not require math can also be taken at this time.
- When ready for calculus, take the frosh/soph courses for ME or AE over four semesters, making your transfer-ready for ME or AE.
- Transfer to a four year school, take the junior/senior courses for ME or AE over four semesters to complete your bachelor's degree.
Some criteria to consider when selecting among states to go to for you to go to college:
- State universities of varying levels of transfer selectivity with ME and AE majors.
- Community colleges with good coverage of the frosh/soph course work for the ME and AE majors.
- Well coordinated transfer articulation for community college course work to the state universities. In some cases, there may be transfer guarantee programs if you meet a high enough GPA at the community college.
- Cost relative to GI Bill benefits, Yellow Ribbon programs, and regular financial aid if you need more semesters than your veteran's benefits cover.
- Whether veterans are automatically considered in-state for tuition purposes. This is currently not universal, but a recent law creates incentives for the remaining states to do that.
- Employer proximity and recruiting for ME and AE jobs.
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has a reputation as a “military friendly campus.” Rapid City is a generally safe (and reasonable cost) community. The engineering education at Mines is excellent. Boeing, NASA and others attend Mines Career Fairs to recruit students.
Wright State University in Dayton OH.
Definitely check out [Embry-Riddle Prescott](http://prescott.erau.edu/)
Prescott is a great place to live, with beautiful scenery, plenty of outdoor amenities nearby, and excellent weather year-round. It sounds like a perfect fit for you and your family.
Most university towns have good schools, I wouldn’t worry about that so much. I would be more concerned about the cost of living - especially the cost of housing. Do check out what each place has to offer for student family housing. That is almost always located very close to/on campus, and it can be less expensive than housing elsewhere in the community. However there may be maximum family size limits due to the number of bedrooms in the apartment units.
Will your spouse be looking for a job in the new location, or do you need a place that will be affordable with a stay-at-home parent? That is a big consideration too.
Thank you for serving our country.
Alabama is in Tuscaloosa and has the Yellow Ribbon program, unlimited for all of OOS tuition.
Northport is the tiny and safe city that is right next to Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is a safe city, but the schools are known to be better in Northport…plus properties are much cheaper in Northport.
It is VERY cheap to live in alabama, particularly in Northport.
Alabama has a very well-respected AeroE and MechE…all E disciplines are ABET accredited
Alabama has invested an enormous amount of money in its brand new state of the art mega-sized Science and Engineering Complex.
The South LOVES vets…come check it out.