The aerospace industry employs nearly all the engineering disciplines. Many who want to be AEs don’t understand that. It’s important to know what you want to do within the industry.
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I don’t think my nephew had any idea what he wanted to do, just found this job. It is in ‘real’ aerospace, something to do with a moon project.
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His background must have aligned with the job posting. There are all sorts of engineers in “real” aerospace jobs. 
It’s been 4 years but my son had much stronger stats and ERAU and Fl Tech both gave half tuition. If UAH is too far, they will be too.
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Since Case is his #1 choice and if the npc is within budget, have you considered ED?
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Yes we are wondering about ED at Case. It’s a definite possibility.
My kiddo is guaranteed full tuition at one of the other schools on our list- so committing to Case without seeing the $ is scary for me…
We talked with the school counselor this week and he said to submit the act scores… we weren’t planning on it at Case (yes everywhere else). I was surprised by this advice.
He also suggested taking act one more time which we will consider the September test. We weren’t going to- but are reconsidering.
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Since reading all these posts- we are going to look more into Huntsville AL, U Kentucky, and U Buffalo. Seems like our best bet will be state schools in Ohio, schools that meet need, or schools with generous merit for a 30ACT (WVU, UK, UAH).
Recommendation on retaking the ACT in September?
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Yes - because why not - but he should study or work on sections he’s struggled - even if 30 minutes a day for a few weeks - especially for schools that super score, he can work on the areas he’s struggled.
That said, if he’s taken it 5 times, then likely not but if once or twice, then yeah. It could make the difference in scholarship $$.
As for reporting the 30 to CWRU, that’s a hard no.
While 69% did and that could hurt, the 30 is well below the 25th percentile. Unless math is a 35/36, not sure I would consider that.
But if you’re considering ED, that’s another reason to take the test again.
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I would take a careful look at WVU and look to see if there are any changes in the engineering department (or others) that might impact your son’s interests. The university currently has a big financial shortfall and is making some serious cuts to some of its programming as described in this article:
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I don’t think I’d pass up a full ride for Case. You can do a lot of impactful things for your child with the money saved. That said, they can ED Case and then turn it down if it isn’t affordable. That’s a legitimate reason to reject an ED offer. With a full ride, you’d have lots of latitude.
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Doesn’t sound like full ride…just tuition.
Still, that’s a lot. To match that at Case, they’ll need more than $50k per year. Case doesn’t give that much in merit alone.
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I get it - was just clarifying. It’s still $15K a year Room and Board, etc.
I’m not sure which school is giving them. But UAH would almost be free tuition as well - and since he’s aspiring to NASA, why not work directly where NASA is.
You can get there from anywhere - but it never hurts to be close. The student can FaceTime OP.
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It’s not as close to home as they wanted, but I agree, it’s a good fit otherwise.
Yes tuition waiver at Kent State (not room, board, fees, etc). They have an abet accredited aerospace engineering program but it is relatively new (accredited in 2020) and their engineering college isn’t as robust as some of the others (but is growing). But they have a lot to offer there.
We definitely have UAH on our list to explore now. My kiddo is okay going further away for the right school. And we had no info about this school before.
Appreciate all the input- it’s all so helpful!!
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You can compare curriculums. I think if it’s ABET it will be ok. Many apps ask for it.
U should pull up some folks from NASA and other defense companies from the colleges you are looking on LinkedIn.
Or ask both for placement data. They also may have it online.
Huntsville has an airport - so that’s a way to simplify transport.
CWRU mid 50% range is 32-35, so I agree to not submit: Facts & Figures | Undergraduate Admission | Case Western Reserve University
That’s a tough call. How many times has he taken the test? If his psyche is in a place where he will prep hard for another test, along with doing well in his senior year classes…then it could make sense.
But if he really isn’t into it, I wouldn’t…he has college apps to do, essays to write, and wants to start the first semester strong.
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Kent State is hard to assess for engineering on LinkedIn. If you search it, looking up alumni then what they studied, engineering doesn’t crack the top 10.
Doing the same at UAH, engineering is the top major. Within that, NASA is the number one employer for both AE and ME.
Now you have to take that with a big grain of salt. Students work at NASA, so that artificially raises the totals. I don’t believe LinkedIn separates post graduation jobs from internships or even student jobs. It just aggregates all the companies in the profile.
I’d also caution against having a dream job before one has any real clue what that company is actually like. My son has friends at both JPL and SpaceX (formerly his dream job before he knew better). They are less than thrilled with their jobs for opposite reasons. SpaceX works them like dogs, but surprisingly, NASA can be slow and boring.
There’s a third way, find a contractor doing work on NASA projects. @HPuck35 can certainly speak to all of this better than I can.
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Seconding the “dont submit” the score to Case. The idds of reaching 32-33 from a 30 are slim unless he took it once and something was off.
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Has he taken the SAT? It may suit him better. The ACT is all about speed. My son was better at the SAT than the ACT. You can figure it out with this fast and cheap test.
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