Excellent analogy. It’s true too. We all have unique needs and interests. What works for one student may not work for another (regardless of general consensus)
Asking people here to pick the best school on your list, OP, is silly. None of the schools you mentioned will set you off on the wrong foot. Some certainly have stronger ME departments than others, but this is merely a relative measure. Stealing from eyemgh’s analogy, it’s like asking someone what’s the best luxury car? – Mercedes, Lexus, Audi, or BMW. They all have comparable features, and they all have similar levels of quality. A Lexus may be more reliable, a BMW may drive better, an Audi may do better in the snow, but at the end of the day they are all pretty darn good cars that are worthy of the “luxury” title.
Anyway, the moral of the story here is that you should choose a school that ultimately provides the best fit for you. Just my 2 cents, as an engineer, who has seen the diversity of alma maters in the work place.
@PickOne1 thank you for your concerns some people here I have mentioned some schools here that will be adding to my list like Penn State
I would like to point to everyone that Penn State is not that cheap of instate school it costs just about $ 17,000 in just tuition for instate residents
Yes I understand that it was attempt at humor
that was reason I choose to major in mechanical engineering give more breathing room I like to work in field aviation but robotics also interests me also
I am actually am interested in job with a defense contractor a company and if NASA does not work out I will still like to work for the government or for defense contractors
I have already started the process of my research of that the next step will be to talk to a recruiter in person in more detail
I would rather stay at my CC and get my associates then transfer and I would have better chance of getting to the schools I have listed
Make sure to have a safety you like too. A lot of those schools are very competitive for admission. Cal Poly for instance projected 14% for ME both first time freshmen and transfers. They targeted 180 first time freshmen and only 30 transfers.
Both Drexel and Lafayette will be over $60k per year total cost of attendance. Lafayette is reported to meet 99% of financial need on average where Drexel is only 62%. Your award may vary substantially from their averages, but know that awards include guaranteed student loans and work study. Unfortunately, as you know, even in state pen publics are expensive!
There’s good advice here from the usual suspects, including Eyemgh and Boneh3ad.
Also, it seems to me that many good ME programs can lead to a career with NASA or the military. For example, students from the relatively unheralded but excellent engineering departments at U of Akron and Case Western Reserve University get jobs at the nearby NASA John Glenn Flight Center in Ohio. CWRU might provide adequate financial aid to you, given your circumstances. However, U of Akron is a public university. Therefore, the likelihood of great financial aid for an out-of-state applicant probably isn’t high, but by all means investigate their scholarships if you’re interested.
Like others said, your list of target schools is fine. Another STEM university to consider if finances are critical is South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Total COA for an out-of-stater at Mines is about $22,000. Recent graduates of Mines are employed at NASA. Mines is also rated very “Military Friendly,” by veterans groups, for its support services to students with military backgrounds or currently in ROTC programs. Incidentally, Mines has received research grants from the military on more than one occasion. Finally, Rapid City is a laid back place and there is an LGBT student organization on campus.
I would like update everybody that Penn State - Main Campus doesn’t seem to accept transfers for mechanical engineering only campuses Berks, Behrend, Harrisburg
Any ABET accredited mechanical engineering program is fine … and Penn State - Main would be very challenging for a junior year admit from a community college, no insult to you intended. Junior year is packed with difficult classes and students who have been at Main for 2 years have more experience there, probably more difficult classes with more competitive peers, more study groups and other resources …
If you really excel at a branch campus, you can go get your masters at main campus …
Curious, do the diplomas note which campus you attended ?
The jump from JuCo/CC is tough for most. The rigor is harder at most four year institutions. At the end of the day, Calculus is Calculus and Physics is Physics, for the most part (some schools go deeper than others). The difference is pace and testing. There’s variation among schools, but classes at the 4 year level typically move faster than at CC. The testing is typically harder too. That can mean tougher problems or simply more bulk, more questions per given time interval. This also varies from institution to institution and even between different professors teaching the same class at the same school. The thing is, the students who you’ll be joining have already adapted to these things. You will have to do it at a time in your curriculum where you’ll be taking almost exclusively tech classes, so there won’t be any fluff to lighten the load. You’ll do fine, but I’d suggest you bone up on any of your course work that will be re-utilized going forward. The engineers here can tell you what academic knowledge from the first two years will be important going forward (I specifically remember @boneh3ad advising my son to review Taylor and maybe Maclaurin series). I’d know that stuff really well. Good luck!
Yeah, practical engineering is done with approximations, and the approximate formulae are often derived using Taylor series. It’s also the basis for many numerical methods. That’s why I suggest making sure you understand them, because I know when I first learned them I was wondering how in the world something so seemingly esoteric could be useful, and it turned out it was monumentally useful.