My son was accepted into both of these for this summer and can only choose one. NC State’s is discipline specific (his is aerospace engineering) for the entire week, while UAH’s is a general engineering camp. Both are a week. NC State’s is $800 while UAH’s is $600. He would have to fly to NC State while UAH is an hour and a half away by car. Has anyone done either of these engineering programs that could provide feedback regarding how organized they were, how interesting/hands on the program was etc?
He is most interested in focusing on the astro side of aerospace in college–hence, UAH is his top college choice. I believe NC State focuses more on aero. However, he really likes the discipline-specific approach of NC State’s summer engineering camp.
I wouldn’t do the Aero one. AeroE major is very limiting anyway. Better to major in MechE and maybe take some AeroE classes. Far more marketable than AeroE.
Did your son apply to UA’s SITE program if a discipline oriented one was desired. If you’re only an 90 mins from UAH, then maybe UA is not much further (depending where you’re coming from)/
http://site.eng.ua.edu
@mom2collegekids is correct. Aerospace engineering is very narrow. In fact, at many schools it is just a sub-specialty within mechanical engineering.
More importantly, it is absolutely not necessary to have an aerospace engineering degree in order to work in the aerospace industry as an engineer. My brother-in-law, for example, is an electrical engineer at Lockheed Martin. His background is normal for the industry. This is a very important point. Airplanes and rockets and satellites need more than aerospace engineers designing and producing them.
If your son is mostly interested in “the astro side of aerospace” then it might be better to major in physics with a specialty in astrophysics.
I would recommend going to the UAH program, or if still time, look at the UA SITE program if there are still openings (can look at UA web site and type in SITE and link will come up). DD went through UA SITE and just finished freshman year of engineering at UA. I imagine UAH’s program is good, as they also have an excellent engineering program, and offer many engineering degrees through to PhD. It depends if son would be more comfortable in a larger engineering program (and UA offers several excellent honors options) or in a smaller sized school.
If S is ‘set’ on aerospace engineering, he may reconsider to ME - aerospace may be too limiting for job market when he gets out of UG. Many who work in aerospace industry do obtain graduate degree.