So I am currently a junior in high school in pennsylvania. I want to be an aerospace engineer. My GPA is around 4.3 weighted during fresh and soph year. By senior year, I will have taken around 8 APs. I know that people say that you should de mechanical engineering, but that seems kind of counterintuituve, especially if you go to a school with AE. So far, I have looked into GT, UW, UMich, and UT. I want to go to a school that is not totally nerdy. Size doesn’t matter, I just want the best education and what school will look good in applying for graduate schools. Do you have any suggestions for schools, thanks.
People don’t necessarily say you should do Mech E over Aero but the industry hires as many Mech Es as Aeros. Don’t drop a college just because they don’t have aero.
How much can your family afford? You are obviously out of state for at least three of those schools. Can your family pay $50K/year? What about your SAT/ACT scores? What’s your UW GPA?
Look into RPI.
Embry Riddle Daytona Florida
Cost not a worry. haven’t taken standardized tests, but placed in the 99 percentile for math in practice ACT and 94th percentile in psat. I would give writing scores, but I wasn’t trying.
And so are you saying if I like Vanderbilt more than UDub, I should choose Vanderbilt even though they don’t have AE (for instance)?
I have looked into RPI and all the students seem to hate it and it seems boring. But yeah I will
-Boston University
-Case Western Reserve University
-Florida Institute of Technology
-Texas A&M University
-University of Alabama (With a 3.5 & 32, you’d receive full tuition)
-University of Southern California
Yes, if you like Vandy more then going there and majoring in Mech would be fine. You can see from the course catalog http://www.vanderbilt.edu/catalogs/undergrad/engineering.pdf that there are a good number of engineering courses focused on Aero. You could have an Aero emphasis.
cool, but that would still be a Mech degree?
Mech with an aero emphasis.
^Is this common at Mech schools?
CU Boulder has one of the best aerospace programs in the country. At least in the top 10, if not top 5.
Check out UIUC, UMD, and UAH. All are great for Aero.
Yes, it is common for schools with Mech. It won’t apply to all schools but many.
Yes it’s quite common. Aerospace firms such as UTC, Boeing, GE Aviation etc. hire loads of Mechanical Engineers.
How come no one suggested Harvey Mudd?
What’s wrong with Pitt and Penn State for undergrad?
Honestly, I don’t get paying a huge premium for an undergraduate engineering degree unless your parents have money to burn.
Harvey Mudd is a fantastic school, but it’s very expensive, and they only offer a general engineering degree, which sounds like the opposite of what you’re looking for.
The way your topic has worked out, you have mostly been given a sampling of schools thus far more so than anything approaching a comprehensive list, so by all means consider HMC for its general engineering program. Consider as well the previously unmentioned MIT, Purdue and Caltech for their more specific aeronautical engineering programs. Rose-Hulman I believe offers an aeronautical emphasis. Clarkson appears to as well and would be likely to offer you a merit scholarship. The University of Rochester’s engineering program operates within a traditional university setting. Embry-Riddle in Prescott has a similar curriculum to that of the Florida location, giving you still another option. Union offers engineering in a LAC environment and the opportunity for a 5-year BS/MS. The schools in your original post are good, as is Penn State.
If you have trouble considering a Mech degree for the Aero industry I have no idea why a General Engineering degree would be considered (unless you are solely going for the prestige factor).
@billybobby54 “I want to go to a school that is not totally nerdy.” HM is pretty nerdy. But, you do have access to Pomona and the other Claremont schools.
Neediness aside, Harvey Mudd would be an excellent choice. (Very tough to get into, though.)