<p>My son has applied to, and has been accepted at several good engineering schools, but most lump astronautics into their aerospace engineering, and I understand that they are closely related, which is why. But, given that he's got a passion for space, are there any that stand out in that respect? BTW, he's been admitted to the following so far:</p>
<p>Illinois-Aerospace Engineering Michigan-1st Year Engineering - Interest: Aerospace Engineering Purdue-1st Year Engineering - Interest: AAE Wisconsin-1st Year Engineering - Interest: Engineering Mechanics with the Astronautics option</p>
<p>MIT
Georgia Tech
Michigan
CalTech
Maryland
Stanford
Texas
Virginia Tech
US Naval Academy
US Air Force Academy
Embry Riddle - Daytona Beach & Prescott Campuses</p>
<p>perre, the Naval academy doesn’t really do a ton with space seeing as how the Navy doesn’t really do much in space and Embry-Riddle is primarily aeronautics, not astronautics.</p>
<p>Balthezar, those are all great schools, but if Wisconsin doesn’t have a true aerospace program, I would say to narrow it down to the other three. Honestly, they all do a lot of work in space and in the atmosphere, so you really can’t go wrong with them. The other thing to look at would be the Texas schools, UT-Austin or TAMU, since they have a ridiculous number of connections with NASA and both have great aerospace engineering programs.</p>
<p>Honestly, if your son goes to any of the top aerospace schools he will have plenty of opportunity for both aeronautics and astronautics.</p>
Not true. ERAU’s degree is aerospace engineering, but each student chooses either the aero or astro track junior year. My son (current junior) will graduate with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and is following the astronautics concentration (along with a minor in math and a minor in cs). His classes this year included experimental space systems, space mechanics and space systems engineering. He says that the degree program is pretty much evenly split between students who choose aero and those who choose astro.</p>
<p>I never said Embry-Riddle doesn’t have astronautics at all, only that it isn’t the main focus. It is called Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for a reason. Of course it has both since it is an aerospace engineerig school, but it’s bread and butter is on the aeronautical side. Since the OP wanted a program that was astro focused, I figured ERAU wasn’t a perfect fit, despite it’s excellent reputation.</p>
<p>^^Its bread and butter^^ is its Aeronautical Science degree program which is flight training leading to a commercial pilot’s license. For instance in the spring of 2008, 26% of the degrees awarded at the Prescott campus were in engineering and 40+% were in aeronautical science. But in its engineering degree program, there is a definite focus on astronautics, which is what the OP asked about. Perhaps I am a little rah-rah because my own son is having a terrific experience at ERAU; I honestly have no knowledge of other engineering programs in comparison.</p>
<p>And I do admit to a slight irritation when folks confuse aeronautical science with aeronautical engineering. ;)</p>
<p>USC has an Astronautical Engineering major, and while it is closely related to aerospace, the upper level technical classes are quite different. And if you’re looking for hands-on experience, the USC Rocket Lab is quite exciting, they drove up to a missile range last month and worked with the army missile command on the launch of their biggest rocket yet.</p>