<p>Full title: I am in a school with a concentrated aerospace engineering degree. Should I transfer to a school that has an full aerospace engineering major?</p>
<p>Outline of situation:
- Rutgers University (New Brunswick Campus).
- In-state student.
- Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace.
- Sophomore.
- 3.6 GPA as of Fall 2011.
- Have done research in engineering department regarding high speed flows and energy deposition.
- Want to work in propulsion systems for NASA or a defense/aerospace company.
- I am thinking of U. of Maryland (College Park) and U. of Illinois (Urbana Champaign) for transfer.</p>
<p>Here's the thing, Rutgers University is right next to big pharma companies like Johnson and Johnson and big bank firms... so we get a lot of recruiters from there. I barely (if ever) see any aerospace recruiters around here. I think I've seen one but that's it.</p>
<p>I applied to NASA, Boeing, etc. internships for this summer and am waiting to hear replies, so I can't absolutely depend on that.</p>
<p>So, my question: Is it worth transferring to a higher ranked school that has a lot of recruiters from the aerospace companies coming in? Or should I just stick to Rutgers University?</p>
<p>I live off-campus, cook my own food. I paid $900 for this semester for my tuition and I pay $400 a month for rent (shared) and I work enough to pay off the rent. I think going to a higher ranked school is worth the debt I will have by the time I come out since I will be able to pay it off easily and have a better chance of fulfilling my professional goals.</p>
<p>But, I am a student and don't have much experience as you guys and girls, so I really need your insights because this is a very big decision for me.</p>
<p>Well you don’t necessarily need to have the official degree or the higher rank necessarily, but the lack of aerospace companies recruiting Rutgers should be the real concern. Many large companies, including aerospace companies, like to target a small-to-medium sized list of schools they want to recruit from, and each year those schools provide most of the new hires for those companies. If they aren’t recruiting at your school, it likely isn’t on that list and you are right to consider transferring. I can’t tell you what to do, but if it were me, I would definitely at least look into transferring.</p>
<p>Cool seeing a fellow redditor here on CC.com, I saw your topic on r/engineering.</p>
<p>Both transferring to a college that is near to an aerospace company HQ and to a college that is well recruited will make a big difference in your chances of finding a job with a company you want to work for. It will also help when it comes time for you to find an aerospace internship. Colleges that are well recruited have a much better support system for helping soon to graduate students find a job. Usually engineering companies will hold spring and fall career fairs, company presentations and on campus interviews at these colleges. At my career fair I was able to speak individually to engineers from various companies in a friendly manner. These career weeks help students immensely to get there foot in the door.</p>
<p>I would look into UMCP, They are close to many military contractor HQs and are very well recruited by Lockheed martin and other similar companies.</p>
<p>You may want to add universities located near aerospace companies and organizations to the prospective university list. Try to find out from their career centers what aerospace companies and organizations recruit at each of the schools.</p>
<p>Just throwing this out there, but if you’re only paying $900 per semester on tuition, would it make sense to finish at Rutgers with a high GPA then enroll in a well known MS AE program? A non-research MS program should only take a year, you’d leave probably with less debt than if you transferred into a BS program for the last two year.</p>
<p>You could do this: finish your degree at Rutgers and apply to aerospace companies and MS programs. If a desired employer hires you, go there. Else, go to an MS program. After a year, apply for employment again.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re dead-set on transferring, you can get into GT’s AE program with that GPA. GT is #2 in the country for undergrad AE / #4 for graduate AE, and is highly recruited. UMCP and UIUC are both in the top 10, though.</p>
<p>The only caveat about GT is that they have a very different culture. You need to make sure you fit in there. I know people who love it there and people who hate it there. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of in between.</p>
<p>Also, GT’s ranking rides strongly on the reputation of the ASDL (Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory), which champions a pure systems engineering approach to aerospace engineering. If you aren’t into that sort of thing, then GT really has no advantage over the other top schools mentioned like UIUC or UMCP.</p>
<p>I would also check out Penn State, as it is much closer to the OP than the other three schools and should also be quite a bit cheaper than at least UIUC and GT.</p>