you should consider KU (The University of Kansas). One of the best aerospace programs around!
I apologize if some of my posts today came off as too brusque; that was not my intention. I am rooting for you and in my concern that you end up at a school and in a field where you will be successful, my words/phrasing may have been too harsh.
I think @MarylandJOE gave some great advice and I urge you to take him up on his offer of additional info via PM.
Below are a few examples of additional major possibilities from colleges that you’ve already expressed an interest in (each major is linked to its respective page):
Embry-Riddle
- Aerospace & Occupational Safety
- Air Traffic Management
- Aviation Maintenance Science
- Human Factors Psychology
- Space Operations
Purdue
- Aeronautical Engineering Technology
- Aerospace Financial Analysis
- Airline Management and Operations
- Airport Management and Operations
- Atmospheric Science/Meterorlogy
- Aviation Management
- Design and Construction Integration
- Environmental Geosciences
- Industrial Design
- Industrial Engineering Technology
- Natural Resources and Environmental Science
- Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences
- Plant Genetics, Breeding, and Biotechnology
- Unmanned Aerial Systems
As a general rule, you don’t need to have a specific “type” of finance, or operations, or whatever kind of degree (i.e. space operations or aerospace financial analysis), and often a more general degree can be better at providing options in an economic downturn or a tougher job market. But I think all of these degrees have components that struck a chord for me when thinking about how you’ve described yourself and your interests and might give you examples of how studying these fields could lead to careers in your areas of interest.
You can launch a successful career from many schools and from many degrees. These examples are here to perhaps get the wheels turning about some of the possibilities you may not have known existed, but that could be attainable from a number of institutions.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Israel / Gaza war (political thread)
My daughter went to Florida Tech and is Chinese. I don’t think there is a large Asian population and is mainly Taiwanese (or US Asians). I asked my D if she interacted much with other Asians and she said she had a project she did with a woman from Taiwan but D said they didn’t socialize afterward because of the language difference. They struggled to get the classwork done and then just didn’t have the energy to continue the conversation over a meal or drinks. My D’s friends were mostly athletes (not just from her team but athletes in general), her sorority (which had many minority members, including Asians), and other civil engineers.
But my daughter never felt left out because of her race. Remember the percentage of Asians reported on the data are US Asians and don’t include international students. There may be a lot more Asian faces on campus than the stats show, especially in engineering.
I think you could get scholarship money from Embry- Riddle and Florida Tech. They are part of Florida’s ‘Space Coast’ and they call it the Space Coast for a reason - Cape Canaveral and all the space related businesses in the area. It is an exciting place to go to school if you are interested in aerospace, weather, telescopes, seeing rocket launches almost weekly, interning with NASA, Space-X, Northrup, or one of the many little companies that contribute to the space industry. UCF is not far away. Florida Atlantic and Florida Intl are not far away. All of these schools are going to be cheaper than most schools in the northeast.
All are going to require a great deal of math for engineers.
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Well I only find passion in subjects that I do well in, which probably explains why I have little interests,
so when I was younger I developed a passion for science and math, these days I don’t think terrible at the 2 subjects compared to the average person, but my skills still seem below average compared to most engineering / CS / medicine students. There are certainly things I could see myself being interested in like art and tennis but my parents don’t see the point of sending me off to an art school/college sports if I’m not specially good at art or tennis. As for general sciences, I am interested in astronomy (way less hands on) and marine sciences but that’s about it, I’m just worried that they will be low paying jobs.
Thanks for the suggestions but I’m still adamant about working for NASA as any sort of engineer since people skills are not my thing and that 100k+ salary looks good 
. I can’t tell exactly how I’ll make it out alive but I always make it out barely surviving, that’s how most of high school went for me as someone who planned on being a “successful student”, not all A’s but I’m glad I’m not failing all my classes.
I wonder if you have you heard of the student internships offered by NASA
Fyi for planning next summer or future. Some may be remote.
internhttps://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/internship-programs/
Why not go in undecided.
You don’t need to know what you want to do at 17 and you don’t necessarily work in areas where you get a degree.
Take time to explore. There will even be subjects that you don’t know about that you learn about.
Majoring in something doesn’t mean you are doing it for life.
I can’t find it but I read a stat once - something like 70% of engineering grads aren’t in engineering jobs. One of my son’s internships was like that. They wanted an engineer for how they think.
You are 17. It’s way too early for you to plan your life and I don’t want to keep saying it but for now, your academics don’t shout engineer.
What do you plan to do to shore the physics and math knowledge up because this is just the beginning.
But step back. Go in and explore. I think you are running too far too fast.
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Do u still believe that the c’s get degrees mindset will work for engineering college? That’s how I’ve spent 3 years of HS with failing tests that I know I will fail and studying really hard on tests that I can ace in time and get a C+ to B+ average in difficult classes by the end of the year. I know I’m pretty much barred off from T20 schools and T50 is very unlikely but as long as I’m making it out with a 100k + salary (since I’m living single) and a job I enjoy I’m fine.
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I think you are completely - sorry - clueless.
Top 20/Top 50 - mean little in engineering outside of a few top schools - and depending on what you’re rating- many top engineering schools aren’t top schools.
I’ll say it again (some hate that I repeat myself as they say others read prior threads but you are not getting it) - my kid at Bama lived and interned with Ga Tech kids. One schools is high ranked. One isn’t. He was invited back. They weren’t. And let’s be honest - Ga Tech is creme de la creme. btw - these creme de la creme grads, on average, don’t make six figures and their school name alone doesn’t assure success as I just showed you.
My kid now works at an aero company as a manufacturing engineer. He has kids in his cohort from Michigan, Purdue (which he was admitted to with merit but chose Bama), Case Western, NC State, Ohio State, Washington, Wisconsin I think and more. Yet they also have kids - same salary - Utah, Akron, Alabama, Auburn.
The likelihood of you making $100K (today) is slim in aero. My son will hopefully make $90K but I think that’s good. But if you’re in San Francisco, that’s different. He was offered $85K around Boston at a top defense contractor.
Your bigger issue is - the reality is - you’re not going to get through engineering. Let’s be honest. If you struggle in pre calc and calc and you’re not going to take classes ten levels up.
Now I hope you re-start, re-learn and somehow get it - and do make it through. But that’s your issue. Same with physics.
I don’t think your HS ways will work in college - no.
I think you have the finish line planned - but no path to get there- that’s what you need to work on.
There’s a reason engineering/CS are the biggest level of non completion. That your parents are software engineers means little for you.
Find a path you love- I’m not sure you have.
Go sit in on a class at a local school.
Go talk to people.
But stop defining your life at 17 - it’s not realistic. I’m in jobs that I didn’t even know existed 10 years ago - and i’m 33 years out of college.
Good luck.
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Don’t try to navigate your life on a single dollar amount. You might be disappointed. Try to find something you want to do and the riches will come.
I’ve got a high stats kid who has been accepted to UAH and is keeping it on the list because kid was so impressed with the opportunities for internships. There are literally places to intern within walking distance of campus. Kid isn’t interested in aero, but if so I’d have this school high on the list. From what we could tell on our visit, the school has good ties to local industry. While my kid doesn’t like city environments, UAH is kind of in a sweet spot, not in the city but it’s easy access for those who are interested. Our tour guide talked about going to Atlanta to see some professional sports and plays.
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Cs may get you your degree but it may be difficult to find a job. Many companies use a 3.0 GPA threshold to do their initial interview screens.
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It’s true that Cs in college classes will earn degrees. But, what will earn a C in a high school class is often not what will earn a C in a college class. I have a kid who has always done well in math and science - kid is homeschooled and self-taught calculus and earned a 5 on the Calc BC exam last year, for instance.
Kid is currently a senior and is taking dual enrollment Calc 3 and Physics with Calculus. Kid is taking them through the state’s ecampus system, which involves a lot of self-teaching. But, the point is, the classes are hard. Kid is doing well, but working hard to learn the material because it is not simple stuff.
When we were in college, the expectation was that, on average, most students would earn lower grades in college than in high school. It doesn’t have to work like this - the book Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley is a good read for teens that is written by somebody who failed math and science in high school but later learned how to study and went on to earn a STEM PhD. But, it wasn’t done by continuing the same study and work habits that the author had in high school.
Some colleges do an better job of helping struggling students than others. At UAH, we heard about a number of different study programs. On the tour we were shown a building where study groups meet. There is a program that pays a student to sit in on a class that they took the year before and passed, and then the student leads study sessions that correspond with the class. The idea is that the help groups aren’t generic - they are tied to the specific class, led by somebody who was there to know what the students saw written on the board and might be confused about. You might see if you can find out what type of support other schools have so that you’ll have the help that you need to learn the math and physics.
The thing about classes like this in college is that, unlike high school sometimes, the material gets used in later classes. You can’t just ‘sort of know it’, because you’ll have to apply it the next semester in a different class. Particularly in STEM, knowing what you are doing can have life or death implications. I have vivid memories of many students in my ‘biology for nurses’ class at a CC arguing that they don’t need to understand math and dilutions, and then watching the nurse at the allergist dilute my shot medicine and realizing that, had it been done incorrectly, I could have developed anaphylaxis. The same will be true of engineers that build things - their bridges, rockets, and planes need to do what they are supposed to do.
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As someone else previously posted, if you think that you want to pursue aerospace engineering, review the ABET-accredited colleges and apply to those where your stats will assure admission and be within your budget. You have that option and several have been named, but the college might not be in your preferred geographic area.
Also, think about majors beyond AE that may be of interest and make sure that colleges that you are applying to have those majors. Learn about the process and ease of switching majors (e.g. can you do it if you have minimum college GPA or are the majors impacted?). Many students change majors and there is nothing wrong in doing so, just make sure you have that option. No matter what major you pursue, go in with a flexible mindset and be prepared to work hard knowing that college will be more challenging than high school.
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Here’s an idea. Skip college. Take a CS coding class intensive. They have them for like $10,000 and they all sort of guarantee you a job. Find a job to make $100, 000.
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You mentioned marine sciences as another area of interest. As a CT resident, you’d be able to get reciprocity rates at both the Maine and Massachusetts Maritime Academies, which have a variety of interesting majors and strong employment prospects, and which should be accessible with your stats. Could be worth considering. The programs provide a lot of structure and individual attention, and they include summer training cruises that provide great practical experience and impart marketable skills.
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No, I think you will be miserable if you are struggling all the way through college.
You also said you wanted scholarship money, and know going in that you may need to keep a certain gpa to keep the scholarship. My daughter needed a 3.2 to keep her state scholarship, and I think it was a 3.0 to keep her (about 1/2 tuition) merit scholarship. It was never an issue, but she did know some kids who lost their scholarships even though they could remain in school.
I think you have to be committed to getting no lower than a B in all classes. That way if you do happen to get on C, your gpa can survive.
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Just a thought - unless he’s in a hurry to get out after undergrad, check out applications for Graduate Research Assistant positions. My Auburn aero undergrad son got a graduate mechanical engineering research assistant position at Auburn that waives all tuition and paid him enough to cover a 1 bed apartment on Glen (5 min walk to Shelby Engineering Complex) and all his living expenses (I think it was around $24k/year)…he was off my dime so I didn’t track it. You work a 40 hour work week in the lab and take graduate classes, but you kind of take those, during your work hours - so you work a little late this day, go in a little early this day, etc. Best deal in the world - had offers way before before graduation and very good money - you will be over $100 in today’s money in the southeast so assuming by the time he graduates it will be more. That masters in engineering bumps you up in value more than you think should matter (or at least it did for me).
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