I am interested in going to ASU Barrett’s biomed, chemical, or maybe aerospace engineering program. I would be instate with a fair amount of scholarship money. What is job placement and the courses like at ASU for engineering? Would you say it’s worth spending an extra 30,000 dollars a year to go to Texas A&M instead? Like I said, job placement is very important to me. Thanks
@Chelsea75 We live in Arizona. My oldest son is a freshman aerospace engineering major at Texas A&M. He is also the TAMU Honors Program. He was also accepted to ASU/Barrett in aerospace engineering. I would not recommend spending an extra $30,000 a year to go to TAMU. We would not have done so if he did not have TAMU scholarships that made TAMU cost about the same as ASU/Barrett.
TAMU is a better engineering school, but ASU is pretty darn good. There are more engineering jobs in Texas and likely more companies recruit at TAMU, so that’s an advantage. Also, there are more Aggie engineers out there so the Aggie network would be a plus. But, if you work hard and get good grades at ASU, you should have no problem finding a good job or going to grad school. I have a friend whose son just graduated from NAU in mechanical engineering. He is working for Boeing.
I think that Barrett offers a better Honors experience than does TAMU Honors. You can live at Barrett for four years if you want, but Honors housing (very nice) is typically only available at TAMU for freshman. The Barrett facilities (cafeteria, gym, lounge, classrooms, etc.) are superior. Also, ASU/Mill Ave. > TAMU/Northgate for off-campus activities and shopping.
TAMU also offers petroleum engineering (top-rated). This has been the top-paying engineering major for some time, but with the oil-price crash, I would not count on this being the case when you graduate.
Have you looked into TAMU scholarships? If you are a national merit finalist you will qualify for in-state tuition and $10,000 per year. If you can qualify for at least a $1,000 TAMU competitive scholarship, you will also qualify for in-state tuition. One way to get $1,000 scholarship is to join the Corps of Cadets.
I would be happy to answer any other questions that you may have.
@Beaudreau I qualify for in-state at A&M due to a scholarship. However, the necessary GPA is a 3.5 yo maintain said scholarship and that seems very difficult, especially for an engineering student. I might also get the Nelsom scholarship from A&M for petroleum which would drop the GPa requirement for in-state to 3.0, but that’s all contingent on me getting in to the PetE program. I hear it is the most competitive and require basically straight A’s to get in to. I like A&M and have these options but I’m afraid of a) The stress of trying to keep the scholarship and b) a lack of flexibility if I want to switch majors. I know ASU will be cheaper either way but just want to know if job placement makes it worth going to A&M Seems like it doesn’t make as much of a difference as I thought.
@Chelsea When we worked out the net costs, A&M was actually cheaper (not counting round-trip air fare 2-3 times per year.
I don’t want to minimize the workload. It’s very tough, as it is at most top engineering schools. There are a lot of very smart kids who work very hard. My son was pretty stressed about the 3.5 GPA requirement, but did manage a 4.0 his first semester (as did a freshman woman from Arizona whose parents are in my Aggie Parent group). He also took his AP Calculus credits, so he was taking Vector Calculus, when many of his classmates were taking intro Calculus.
Many kids do not take their AP Physics, Chemistry, or Math credits, so that they can ease into their freshman years. Some even enroll in Blinn Community College for Physics, instead of the notoriously tough freshman Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism Classes.
For jobs, another factor to consider is the Aggie network for job placement, no matter what your major is. The Aggies really look out for each other. And there are far more engineering jobs in Texas than in Arizona, so internships, co-oping, and ultimate job placement are easier to get. The fall and spring job fairs are huge.
Recently ASU reduced the undergraduate Engineering program credit requirement from 143 credits to just 120, leading to a higher persistance rate. Some at ASU (in other colleges) think this has lowered to ‘quality’ of the program, faculty appear not to happy, but graduation rates are tredning up.
This might be something to weigh when comparing program since engineering is a particularly tough grind through 4-5 years!