Hello… I am wondering which high-tier schools have excellent Chem E and Aerospace E programs. I applied to a bunch of public in state and out of state schools like Purdue, U Michigan, U Minnesota(accepted), U Florida, UA Tuscaloosa(accepted), UA Huntsville(accepted), Florida State, Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, and a bunch of Florida schools. Looking for high-tier schools like Ivies, Northwestern, Duke, Hopkins, Stanford, Caltech, etc. I am applying for Chem E, but Aerospace E is my second choice major. Northwestern, Hopkins, and Cornell were the three I’m planning on applying to, and they don’t have Aerospace E. So please give suggestions for high-tier schools that have good programs in both.
Colorado has a highly rated aerospace program, but I think you are going to do better staying in Florida since many programs have close connections to NASA and the industries that support NASA. UF, FSU, UCF are the best public options, but Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech are about 30 miles from Canaveral.
The Ivies aren’t always the best choice for engineering. You might get more bang for your buck at other schools in aerospace.
Are you looking for a top aerospace engineering program or a prestigious name? Your post suggests the latter.
Virginia Tech
Penn State
U of Illinois at UC
Are also great engineering schools u should definately look at.
Ivies are usually not that great for engineering, so dont let prestige weigh you down.
There are better options out there, prestige isnt always the answer 
I’d take this one step further. For undergrad, are ANY of the Ivy League schools EVER the best choice? Multiple publics on your list are as good or better than the best engineering Ivy, Cornell.
As for schools with both AE and Chem E, Aero will be your rate limiting factor. There are 66 ABET accredited AE programs and 167 Chem E. Run a search on both majors at abet.org and cross reference the two.
Last, but absolutely not least, I’ll add to @TomSrOfBoston and @PeteWells and ask, what’s important to you in your college experience? Some of the most prestigious names have reputations for terrible undergraduate experiences. Vetting schools is just as much about the non-academic things that are important to you. Choosing on name only is a great recipe for misery.
FYI for aerospace, at the undergraduate level, CC poster @rogracer, an industry insider, recommended a mechanical engineering major rather than an aerospace engineering major.
See, e.g:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/12851062#Comment_12851062
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/11116006#Comment_11116006
Here’s some info on schools and recruiting for aerospace:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/6620001#Comment_6620001
If you are undecided between chemical and aerospace (or mechanical) engineering, check to see whether it is difficult to change between the two majors.
So it looks like you have an nice variety of schools on the list. Is there any reason you want to add more? (At DS’ high school, you had to have your applications submitted to the guidance counselor before Thanksgiving if you wanted them for-sure processed before January.)
re: chemical engineering, maybe this helps:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1788862-best-chemical-engineering-school-options-p1.html
@twoinanddone Thanks! Yeah, CO Boulder is crazy expensive so theres no chance. I agree with you about Florida for aerospace E, however, only UF has a pretty high ranked chem E program also. I’ve applied to UF, FSU and FIT, and am in the middle of completing apps for the other 3 FL schools you mentioned. UA Huntsville is also pretty nice because of proximity to the NASA/military rocket facility there, seems like an affordable OOS option for me. I got full tuition there, and will be trying to supplement that with special scholarships and, of course, need based financial aid.
@TomSrOfBoston I was misinterpreted, but I see what you mean. What I’m looking for are AFFORDABLE TOP aerospace/chem E program. The reason I asked to leave suggestions for “high-tier” schools is because they give insane need based financial aid. I’ll have applied to 6 FL instate schools by the end of the month, and I’ll get in all, except for maybe UF, which is the only FL school I’d want to attend. UF is kinda difficult to get into, I think. I applied in state for financial reasons. I applied OOS to public universities like U Mich, U Wisconsin,U Minnesota, Purdue, GA Tech, because they TOP programs. I’m trying to supplement need based aid for my OOS schools with special scholarships, but of course these are very competitive. So I have some schools that have excellent financial aid and some that have excellent programs, but not both. High-tier schools like Northwestern, Hopkins, Duke, Ivies have both, and that is the reason I was asking. So with that being said, do you have any schools in mind?
@PeteWells Thanks for your input! Yeah, those schools are great and I was previously considering Penn State and UIUC. UIUC’s COA is crazy expensive, I’ve heard that it gives no financial aid too OOS, so I decided not to apply. As for Penn State, I instead applied to Ohio State instead because it has a comparable program and because I like the location better. I’ve heard a lot of great things about VA Tech, so I’ll look into the financial aid tomorrow to see if its worth applying.
@colorado_mom the reasons I want to add more are that 1) I’m worried, I won’t get into UF, even though I am certainly qualified. 2) I don’t want to stay in FL if I don’t have to. 3) the public OOS I applied to are excellent schools, but are quite expensive. And for my school I need to submit any essays due in Jan/late Dec by Dec 13 to my guidance counselor. Trying to get some last minute advices before I waste my time applying to Ivies and more schools.
@eyemgh @TomSrOfBoston @PeteWells @twoinanddone So it seems that the general consensus is that Ivies aren’t worth my time since there are other schools I’ve applied to that are better. I agree with you all about the prestige itself not mattering. But in a way, prestige does matter, because prestigious schools are the ones that get large endowments, lots of donations, and have money to blow on people like me. So given that I’m chasing for financial aid, given the schools I’ve applied to, and given your suggestions to not apply Ivy, would you recommend other high tier non-Ivy schools like Northwestern and Hopkins, or would you recommend to just focus on scholarship/honors programs applications to the schools I’ve already applied to? Sorry for the long replies, but thanks for your time.
If you have a very low EFC AND you get in, the highly selective route at schools known to meet high amounts of financial need is a reasonable play. The problem is, if you’re worried about getting into Florida, they’ll all be long shots.
A reasonable alternative is to look at schools that are a tier down, but still very good, that are generous with both merit and need based aid. They do this to attract students with high stats to help boost their rankings. Case Western, RPI and WPI are all very good schools, have both of the majors you’re looking for and tend to be generous.
Good luck!
@eyemgh I’m eligible of Pell and SEOG so yeah my EFC is low. Ill post my stats in next post. The reason I am worried about getting to UF is this: basically everyone from my school applies. Two very qualifies kids, one who goes to Duke for Neuroscience got rejected, so did a kid that goes to Wash U, as well as a bunch of average kids that didn’t have much going for them. However, several average students got accepted but, the two really exceptionally qualified kids I know, did not. I believe I am definitely qualified, but it seems like they do a lottery system for kids at my school or something, seems pretty unpredictable
ACT: 34 composite (33 ENGL, 34 MATH, 33 READ, 35 SCI)
SAT Subj Tests: Chemistry(760), Math 2 (720), Biology E (710)
GPA (4.3 scale where 4.3=A+; 4.0=A; 3.7=A-; 3.3=B+; Honors courses receive +.5 weight; AP courses receive +1.0 weight): 4.62 weighted & 3.94 unweighted
AP Scores: 5’s (Chemistry), 4’s (Calculus AB and Macroeconomics), 3’s (Biology, Physics 1, and US History)
All classes I’ll have taken upon graduation are either honors or AP, if a class doesn’t say “AP,” it’s an honors class:
-five English (English I - IV and Speech),
-six maths (Advanced Geometry, Advanced Precalc, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science A),
-seven sciences (Advanced Bio, AP Bio, Advanced Chemistry, AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, Anatomy & Physiology),
-five social sciences (Ancient World History, Modern World History, AP US History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology),
-three languages (Advanced French II - IV).
10 or so extracurriculars, not gonna go into detail, but I explained on my resume. Most are stem.There are two Ill mention. Chemistry olympiad, in which I did well in state competition and participated in the national competition. And Science Olympiad because I have a leadership position and its my favorite extracurricular.
Honors/ awardS: National Honors society , national english honor society, science national honor society, Johns Hopkins Book award (book awards are pretty irrelevant), and some awards for winning competitions in clubs/extracurriculars
ACT: 34 composite (33 ENGL, 34 MATH, 33 READ, 35 SCI)
SAT Subj Tests: Chemistry(760), Math 2 (720), Biology E (710)
GPA (4.3 scale where 4.3=A+; 4.0=A; 3.7=A-; 3.3=B; Honors courses receive +.5 weight; AP courses receive +1.0 weight): 4.62 weighted & 3.94 unweighted
AP Scores: 5’s (Chemistry), 4’s (Calculus AB and Macroeconomics), 3’s (Biology, Physics 1, and US History)
All classes I’ll have taken upon graduation are either honors or AP, if a class doesn’t say “AP,” it’s an honors class:
-five English (English I - IV and Speech),
-six maths (Advanced Geometry, Advanced Precalc, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science A),
-seven sciences (Advanced Bio, AP Bio, Advanced Chemistry, AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, Anatomy & Physiology),
-five social sciences (Ancient World History, Modern World History, AP US History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology),
-three languages (Advanced French II - IV).
10 or so extracurriculars. most are stem. ones ill mention are chemistry olympiad in which i did well in states and participated in national. and then science olympiad bc i have leadership position and its my fave club.
honors/awards
NHS
Science NHS
N English HS
John Hopkins book award
You’d stand a very good chance at getting significant aid at the schools I mentioned. Some, RPI for certain, use demonstrated interest in making their decision. You’ll need to look into how to do that if you can’t visit in person. We weren’t eligible for need based aid at the time, but my similar stats son was offered $100k in merit at Case, $80k at WPI and $60k at RPI. He did not visit Case until after. He visited WPI officially, but RPI was unofficial, on a weekend. He was a Rensselaer Medalist, so the $60k was automatic. Had he visited, I’m sure he would have gotten more. Also, they list each other as peer schools, along with CMU and a few others I can’t recall. They will allow you to use an award at a peer school in negotiating a higher FA award. He didn’t attend any of them, so he didn’t have to try that tactic. Good luck!
@eyemgh interesting. Thanks for the information, I’ll look into those 3 schools. What do you know about CMU FA? Someone on here told me that the school isn’t known to give out much aid.