INSTITUTES & UNIVERSITIES OF EXCELLENCE

College Search & Selection
1

<p>=</p>

<p>QUESTION:</p>

<p>IF I WANT TO DO AERO-ASTRO/AEROSPACE ENGINEERING AND AM INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING SUB-FIELDS:
- DESIGN OF AEROSPACE VEHICLES
- DESIGN OF AIRCRAFT
- AIRCRAFT PROPULSION SYSTEMS
- SPACE FLIGHT PROPULSION SYSTEMS
- CONTROL, GUIDANCE & NAVIGATION OF AEROSPACE VEHICLES
- PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURING OF FLIGHT VEHICLE SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS</p>

<p>WHICH INTSTITUTE WILL BE THE BETTER : CALTECH OR MIT?</p>

<p>WHICH ARE THE OTHER INSTITUTES/UNIVERSITIES OF EXCELLENCE THAT OFFERS THE ABOVE COURSES AND HAS EXCELLENT INFRASTRUCTURE AND STUDENT SUPPORT?</p>

<p>Please give details.</p>

<p>Yours truly
SHABIN
Aug 09, 2oo5.</p>

<p>=</p>

2

<p>.
Please, someone reply!</p>

<p>.</p>

3

<p>you really can't go wrong. i would consider non-academic factors to make the choice.</p>

<p>as i'm sure you know, jpl is closely affiliated with caltech. if you're sure you want to work there, it may give you an added reason to go to caltech--still, mit sends plenty of people to jpl both for summers and jobs.</p>

4

<p>.
~dcircle : "jpl is closely affiliated with caltech. if you're sure you want to work there, it may give you an added reason to go to caltech--still"</p>

<p>Dear dcircle, I had given serious considerations to the proximity of JPL and CalTech and had hence raised this fact in two other threads maintained by students and officials from ClaTech and MIT.
The CalTech students said that the JPL entry is strictly forbidden to international students.
You can get the details of our discussion here:
- <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26083&page=15&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26083&page=15&pp=20&lt;/a>
- <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26083&page=16&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26083&page=16&pp=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think that the case may be same at MIT also with restrictions for International Students to the Lincoln Lab, Charles Stark Draper Lab, etc. But I hope that Media Lab will be open to International Students, but my fields of interest does not lie at the Media Lab.</p>

<p>Thanks for your suggestions.</p>

<p>=========
SHABIN</p>

<h1>Aug 12, 2oo5.</h1>

<p>.</p>

5

<p>I am stating the obvious but you need a longer list than Cal Tech & MIT.</p>

<p>Do a search for "engineering schools" and you will get more ideas.</p>

6

<p>I second SBmom. Internationals naturally have it harder than American citizens.</p>

7

<p>Georgia Tech, one of our family friends is actually a professor for aerospace engineering there, good professors, and if you have him, even better.</p>

8

<p>.
~SBmom : "you need a longer list than Cal Tech & MIT. Do a search for `engineering schools' and you will get more ideas."
~celebrian25 : "I second SBmom. Internationals naturally have it harder than American citizens."</p>

<p>Thank you SBmom, celebrian25 and Cre8tive1.</p>

<p>I know that and that's why I had this question from the start :
" WHICH ARE THE OTHER INSTITUTES/UNIVERSITIES OF EXCELLENCE THAT OFFERS THE ABOVE COURSES AND HAS EXCELLENT INFRASTRUCTURE AND STUDENT SUPPORT? "</p>

<p>~Cre8tive1 : "Georgia Tech, one of our family friends is actually a professor for aerospace engineering there, good professors, and if you have him, even better."</p>

<p>Will you please be able to post further details here? It will be highly appreciated.</p>

<p>=========
SHABIN</p>

<h1>Aug 12, 2oo5.</h1>

<p>.</p>

9

<p>Shabin, just so you know, there are more aero/astro labs at MIT than Draper, Lincoln Labs, and the Media Lab.</p>

<p>Although international students might have a problem getting involved in Draper and Lincoln Labs due to their defense research, you shouldn't have a problem getting an undergraduate research position in faculty laboratories. A list of faculty laboratories can be found here: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/faculty_lab.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/faculty_lab.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My boyfriend works in the Aerospace Controls Laboratory (as well as at Draper), and he really likes the department and the professors.</p>

10

<p>No one has yet mentioned the American Board of Engineering Training, (ABET) the association that accredits engineering programs and specific engineering disciplines, including programs in aerospace engineering. I would suggest that you focus on schools specifically accredited by ABET for aerospace engineering. They have a searchable database that will allow you to identify these schools at their website: <a href="http://www.abet.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.abet.org&lt;/a>. Click on find an accredited program, then engineering, then do a discipline search for "aerospace engineering. "</p>

<p>It may interest you to know that Cal Tech is NOT accredited by ABET for the specific engineering discipline of aerospace engineering. That doesn't mean Cal Tech isn't a great school for engineering - it obviously is - just that they are not accredited specifically for aerospace engineering.</p>

<p>Among the schools typically named as best for aerospace engineering, besides MIT: Embry Riddle (this school is entirely focused on aerospace and aviation technology), Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Washington (the proximity of Boeing in Seattle gives many internship opportunities), and the University of Arizona. But, there are other good schools for aerospace engineering out there as well, including some, like Florida Institute of Technology, that go out of their way to recruit international students (and offer good merit money to attract them as well).</p>

<p>In short, focus on accredited programs first, then build a list that includes extremely selective schools like MIT, mid-range selective schools, and perhaps some of the schools primarily focused on aerospace engineering.</p>

11

<p>Dear molliebatmit, the list that you had provided was awesome! I liked many of the works being there at many of those labs.
I went through some of the works and publications found that some of the works being done there are amongst many of those on which I too wanted to work upon and have given tremendous amount of thinking many a times. For eg. I had many a times thought of using Piezoelectric materials for the actuation of ailerons and flaps of aircrafts as, I think, that they will reduce the overall weight of the wing stucture. Now from the link that yu had given me, I found a publication from MIT-ICAT by a certain Eric F. Prechtl about "Piezoelectric Servo-Flap Actuator for Helicopter Rotor Control". It was exciting to see it there at MIT, someone doing something which I had thought of for so much.
Then there were these projects as well from Space Systems Laboratory which impressed me: "Electromagnetic Formation Flight" and "Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems". </p>

<p>Dear molliebatmit, thanks for that link. I am learning and enjoying many things from that.</p>

<p>=========</p>

<h1>SHABIN</h1>

12

<p>.
Dear carolyn, I did not know anything about ABET and it's accreditation! So, your information is very much new to me. And this one is quite surprising : "Cal Tech is NOT accredited by ABET for the specific engineering discipline of aerospace engineering."
But still, thanks for pointing out "That doesn't mean Cal Tech isn't a great school for engineering - it obviously is - just that they are not accredited specifically for aerospace engineering."
- Does this lack of accreditation put CalTech's AeroSpace course at any disadvantage? I think not, but what do you say?</p>

<p>I have heard of Embry Riddle, but don't have much information about it. It doesn't figure in any of those `popularity' rankings' lists like :
- < <a href="http://www.stat.tamu.edu/%7Ejnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area19%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area19&lt;/a> >
- < <a href="http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical-rankings.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical-rankings.htm&lt;/a> > </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Apart from the proximity of Univ. of Washington to Boeing, how good is the AeroSpace program there?
What are other plus points of doing AeroSpace there?</p></li>
<li><p>How good are the AeroSpace programs at Georgia Institute of Technology and Florida Institute of Technology? What will be the facilities and opportunities available to pursue the fields mentioned in the first post of this thread?
Any special advantages or disadvantages of both?
I noted your point that F.I.T does "go out of their way to recruit international students".</p></li>
</ul>

<p>For the above universities:
- How good is the student support for International Students?
- What about Financial Aid and Support for International Students?
- Any other information that you feel will be useful in the present context?</p>

<p>Dear carolyn, do you know anyone studying at any of the colleges that you have mentioned, especially in the Aero/Astro/Space field? If yes, will you be able to provide some input from them?</p>

<p>~"focus on accredited programs first"
Does having or not having an accreditaion matter highly? For example, CalTech stands at the top in Aero/Astro/Space, eventhough it does not have an accreditation as per the information from you.</p>

<p>~"build a list that includes extremely selective schools like MIT, mid-range selective schools, and perhaps some of the schools primarily focused on aerospace engineering."</p>

<p>I do thank you for this piece of advice. I will do exactly as you said.
- May I ask you to drop a hint on such a list?</p>

<p>Yours truly,
SHABIN
Aug 21, 2oo5.</p>

<p>.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
No one has yet mentioned the American Board of Engineering Training, (ABET) the association that accredits engineering programs and specific engineering disciplines, including programs in aerospace engineering. I would suggest that you focus on schools specifically accredited by ABET for aerospace engineering. They have a searchable database that will allow you to identify these schools at their website: <a href="http://www.abet.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.abet.org&lt;/a>. Click on find an accredited program, then engineering, then do a discipline search for "aerospace engineering. "</p>

<p>It may interest you to know that Cal Tech is NOT accredited by ABET for the specific engineering discipline of aerospace engineering. That doesn't mean Cal Tech isn't a great school for engineering - it obviously is - just that they are not accredited specifically for aerospace engineering.</p>

<p>Among the schools typically named as best for aerospace engineering, besides MIT: Embry Riddle (this school is entirely focused on aerospace and aviation technology), Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Washington (the proximity of Boeing in Seattle gives many internship opportunities), and the University of Arizona. But, there are other good schools for aerospace engineering out there as well, including some, like Florida Institute of Technology, that go out of their way to recruit international students (and offer good merit money to attract them as well).</p>

<p>In short, focus on accredited programs first, then build a list that includes extremely selective schools like MIT, mid-range selective schools, and perhaps some of the schools primarily focused on aerospace engineering.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think a Caltech engi degree will not need any help from ABET to be a job getter.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]

Dear molliebatmit, thanks for that link. I am learning and enjoying many things from that.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You're quite welcome! Best of luck in your application. :)</p>

15

<p>Rice is affiliated with NASA -- did you consider it?</p>

16

<p>.
~mommamia : "Rice is affiliated with NASA -- did you consider it?"</p>

<p>Well mommamia, I am an international applicant and hence I may have many restrictions at many of the national labs, or therefore labs affiliated to the same, including NASA.</p>

<p>I had asked details of it elsewhere and you can get the details of it here :
< <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=1133108&postcount=4%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=1133108&postcount=4&lt;/a> ></p>

<p>Will you please be able to provide further details abour Rice?
I have asked some questions with respect to some other universities above, you can answer those questions in relation to Rice, if you may.</p>

<p>Thank you mommamia for your suggestion.</p>

<p>Truly yours,
SHABIN
Aug 24, 2oo5.</p>

<p>.</p>

17

<p>Please can anyone of you provide a list of universities and colleges that gives good course work, laboratory facilities, and financial aid for the fields mentioned in the first post of this thread?</p>

<p>SHABIN</p>

<p>.</p>