<p>Son is leaning strongly toward engineering, and leaning toward aeronautical/astronautical. Top considerations at this point are U. of Wisconsin--Madison, Penn State, U. of Texas--Austin, Texas A & M, U. of Washington and Virginia Tech. (Not in any order -- U. of Illinois might be another possibility.) He is a match for any of these schools. He wants to attend a school that has depth in a variety of disciplines, in the event that he should decide against engineering, but wants a really solid engineering program as that is his primary consideration. Also, some have encouraged an undergrad major in mech. eng. to allow for more options, but he is uncertain about following this approach. He liked Wisconsin very much, but is somewhat skeptical as it does not have a ranking (or full-blown program) in aero/astro. Any experiences or comments about these schools, depth of general and specific programs, ease of changing majors, etc.? We are pretty familiar with the US News rankings. It's always great to get personal feedback to enter into the equation. Thank you!</p>
<p>Is he in-state for any of these schools? Some other choices (due to proximity to NASA or NASA contractors) include U Florida, Georgia Tech, U Alabama at Huntsville and Rice. I include a more specialized school like Georgia Tech if only because people that decide not to do engineering don’t go major in Celtic literature, they go into business or the natural sciences, which the school is fairly strong in also.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d recommend Texas A&M. Of course as a current student there, I am biased. However, at Texas A&M your son will receive a great engineering degree that will open many doors for him (as it already has for me). Best of luck, and if you have any specific questions about Texas A&M feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Well as an alumnus of Illinois, I can tell you that my experience there was awesome. I got a great education, met some great people, had a great time, and just all around loved it. However, pretty much all of those are good choices. Wisconsin is a great school, and even though it may not have a true aero/astro program, you could just do what I did and get a degree in MechE and then do Aero in grad school somewhere or get a job at an aerospace comany (which I did). Actually, companies like Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed, and GE hire more MEs than AeroEs statistically.</p>
<p>Personally, if he isn’t 100% set on engineering, I would tell him to shy away from Georgia Tech. I loved my visit there, and strongly considered going there, but that was for grad school. I really don’t think I would have gotten a great undergrad experience there compared to Illinois, and I have about half a dozen friends that did their undergrad at GT that would echo that sentiment. On the other hand, it is a wonderful school, so if he is set on engineering, it is definitely a solid choice.</p>
<p>Texas A&M is actually where I am doing my graduate work in the Aero department, so I suppose I am also kind of partial to that school as well, though I have much less experience with it. It is definitely a different atmosphere than Wisconsin and Illinois though, so I would urge you to have him visit places before deciding.</p>
<p>Really all of those programs are solid programs. All of them are solid schools on top of that too, so you probably can’t go wrong with any of them. Just have your son visit his top few and decide that way. I would guess you are probably a Texas native given that you have both major Texas schools in the list, so I would say that, if your son wants to stay in state, those schools are worth a good, hard look since they will be cheaper. Even though Illinois might be ranked higher, it may not be worth the added money unless he loves the campus or wants to get away from home.</p>
<p>That is my two bits.</p>
<p>How is it crunch time? Its the beginning of August.</p>
<p>We are actually from the midwest (not Texas) and question how the feel of a Texas university might differ from some other locales. He is not in-state for any of the schools mentioned. Texas and Texas A& M seem to be highly regarded in the field and as my son is borderline National Merit Finalist, the Texas schools offer good merit aid for NMFs if he should qualify.</p>
<p>It is “crunch time” because some early application deadlines are in October and various applications, essays, etc. will need to be completed soon. Would like to possibly eliminate some schools. Also ideally want to narrow choices down to visit colleges before Oct.</p>
<p>Alright, well I can at least tell you that even though they are both in Texas, UT and TAMU are going to have VERY different feels to them. TAMU is much more conservative than UT, whereas UT is more like your average big school in the country, only with a lot larger football stadium. haha, kidding aside, you will have to visit them both to get a feel for them yourselves, but some people get put off by the conservative nature and traditions at TAMU and others get put off by the relative urban-ness and denseness of UT, so choosing between the two is really a choice of preference. Despite what some of the UT folks might have you think, they are really on nearly level ground in engineering.</p>
<p>I would recommend Virginia Tech</p>
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<p>If it makes any difference, I’ll be co-oping at Lockheed in Dallas this fall under a longhorn… and he claims more Aggies work at that Facility =) I’ve heard similar things about NASA-JSC as well.</p>
<p>No clue on how the management breakdown is though ;)</p>
<p>Any reason in particular you aren’t considering Michigan?</p>
<p>How about Purdue? It’s quite well-known for aeronautical engineering.</p>
<p>From what I understand, Michigan is one of the highest priced public universities by a good amount (probably along with Virginia). Is it really worth it?</p>
<p>Although, Purdue is definitely among the highly ranked schools in the field, my son is not interested in going there.</p>
<p>Thank you to those who have responded. We appreciate your insights and opinions!</p>
<p>Michigan and Illinois have almost identical pricing schemes, so if you think UMich is too expensive, chances are that UIUC is too pricey as well.</p>
<p>This might help you a bit. rankings from USNWR from 1988.</p>
<p>Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology
1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
2 Georgia Institute of Technology *
3 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
4 Stanford University (CA)
5 California Institute of Technology
6 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
6 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
8 Princeton University (NJ)
9 University of Texas–Austin *
10 Cornell University (NY)
10 Univ. of Maryland–College Park *
12 Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
13 Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
14 Virginia Tech *
15 University of Washington *
16 Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
16 Univ. of Southern California
16 University of Colorado–Boulder *</p>
<p>Bon3head–</p>
<p>Looked up base tuition costs for engineering at Illinois and Michigan for 2009/2010. Illinois is about 28K for OOS (a little more than 2X in-state), while Michigan was about 35K (a little less than 3X in-state), although UIUC is actually a fraction higher than Michigan for in-state.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that you meant 2008 USNWR. The 2009 list was also posted on CC. It’s good to have a comparison.</p>
<p>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
3 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
4 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN
5 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
6 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
7 Stanford University Stanford, CA
8 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX
9 University of Maryland–College Park College Park, MD
10 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
11 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
Princeton University Princeton, NJ
Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX
14 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA
15 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
16 University of Colorado–Boulder Boulder, CO
17 University of California–Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA
19 University of Washington Seattle, WA</p>
<p>While an aero/astro program will allow you a few more courses specific to the field, an ME degree (as you’ve had mentioned to you and as stated in an earlier post) is probably a more common way into the field. You’re not really at a disadvantage to those with an aero degree, and if you do change career fields, there’s more flexibility. In essence, it comes down to taking somewhat different technical electives. At UW-Madison, for instance, I took Gas Turbines and Jet Propulsion, plus Design & Analysis of Rotating Machinery as an ME. If Wisconsin has what he wants from a school outside of the aeronautical engineering degree, I’d suggest he pursue an ME there instead.</p>
<p>If he’s set on the aero path, all the schools you’ve mentioned would work well for him. They all have good overall engineering programs, and I wouldn’t get caught up in the rankings for undergrad - he’d get a great education at all those on the list plus MANY more. In fact, if cost is an issue, one of the biggest OOS bargains out there is Minnesota. Good engineering, variety of other disciplines, vibrant city.</p>
<p>Once you weigh how you value the specific engineering degrees offered, the overall university experience, and costs, it’ll become clearer which schools might be a fit. If your son is flexible with his wants, lots of schools might be a fit, but the schools on the list you provided are pretty different. He better be comfortable with the place he’ll be spending 4 years of his life, regardless of the major. Good luck!</p>
<p>Universityquest–</p>
<p>UMich has a higher base cost, but I believe Illinois has some exorbitantly high fees that bring it almost back into line with UMich that are almost exclusively applied to engineers. I could be wrong and it could have changed since last I looked, though, so take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Thanks bon3head,</p>
<p>That’s a good point to compare the total tuition/fees. I double-checked UIUC tuition and found that, as you said, there was a big disparity between base tuition for many majors and engineering majors (4K+). But as far as I could see, my original figures did compare engineering tuition between UIUC and Michigan (28K to 35K). This is not taking into account room/board, books, etc.</p>
<p>Knowitsome,</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments and insights. Yes, I knew that Minnesota seemed to be a good OOS bargain and that it is ranked pretty highly as a good all-around public university, but didn’t realize until digging deeper that it is also right up there in a similar league engineering-wise. It seems as though it isn’t often named as such though. Perhaps because it is on the fringe of that tier? Comments about engineering caliber (and specifically ME or AE) at Minnesota, anyone?</p>
<p>Anything else to share about your experiences at Wisconsin? It is the highest ranked public overall on the list and seems to be broad and deep in many areas. The science and engineering depts. both appear very strong there and yet I think that there are many other majors that stand out as well. As you say, it will ultimately be a matter of fit, and although cost is not the issue, it seems prudent to consider when there are quite a few universities that are pretty much in the same pool. That’s why this forum is great!</p>
<p>Like I said, it might have changed. I haven’t really looked in 3 years. Just make sure you look at FEES too, because there is an “engineering lab fee” or something like that that is several thousand dollars.</p>