Need help choosing an aerospace engineering college

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm an international student that is looking to a career as an aerospace engineer, and am having a hard time deciding which colleges would be a good fit for me.</p>

<p>Right now the colleges I'm looking at right now are:
MIT or Stanford (I know this is quite a reach, but still...)
Georgia Tech
Michigan Ann Arbor
U of Illinois
Purdue
Texas Austin
USC</p>

<p>I scored a 2030 (700/700/630) on my first SAT, and will be taking it again along with subjects Math2, Phy, and Chem. My GPA is around 3.5~3.7, but that's because my school is one of the top three high schools in the entire nation, where GPA's of 4 are the stuff of legends.</p>

<p>I would highly appreciate any form of input, whether it's my chances of getting into a certain college, another college I should consider, the school's culture, and etc...</p>

2

<p>you have some pricey publics on there. those won’t give aid to int’ls. Are your parents willing to pay all costs?</p>

3

<p>It is true that the tuition for most of these will be a burden for my parents, but they have expressed that they would be willing to bear it if the education is really worthwhile, which is what i also want to ask here, seeing the information available in our country is limited.</p>

4

<p>What country are you from? </p>

<p>When you say “a burden”, how much do you mean? Is it possible that after a year or two, the burden will be “too much” and you’ll have to withdraw?</p>

<p>Many of these schools will cost your parents over $50k per year. That’s quite a burden unless they have a strong income.</p>

<p>Along with the above listed schools, there are schools that would give you merit awards for your stats. As long as the Eng’g disciplines are ABET accredited, you’ll still get a fine eng’g education without burdening your parents or risking having to leave the school.</p>

5

<p>The other two public schools that rank in USNWR top ten for undergrads in aero are Maryland and Penn State. Both of these schools would be a little easier to get into than the schools you’ve listed. Penn State, the school which I am more familiar with, accepted a record number of international undergrads last year.</p>

6

<p>I’m form Taiwan. My parents have expressed that they would rather see me get into a college where i can come out competitive even if it means they will have to bear with debt. (english is not a main concern here, I’m bilingual)
@mom2collegekids you mentioned that some colleges would give merit awards for my stats, could you mention a few? Also, I din’t quite get the ABET</p>

7

<p>My main two concerns are, my main aim here is to enter the aerospace industry, and I don;t know which schools would be the best for this goal (I’ve only relied on rankings up to this point).
The other concern is, in my country, only the graduates from the top 5 colleges are relevant , and I wonder is the situation similar in the US?</p>

8

<p>I went to Taiwan during spring break!</p>

<p>No that’s not how things are in the US. You can probably graduate from the top 200 schools and still be very relevant.</p>

<p>Have you looked into Texas A&M since you’re interested in aerospace engineering. More officers in the Air Force graduated from Texas A&M than any other college including military academies. It’s also becoming very international and is one of the best engineering schools in the country.</p>

9

<p>There’s no shortage of jobs for engineers who graduate from Texas A&M</p>

10

<p>

This statement might be a little confusing. A school’s engineering programs or departments are accredited by ABET.
[ABET</a> - Why Accreditation Matters to Students](<a href=“http://www.abet.org/accreditation-matters-students/]ABET”>http://www.abet.org/accreditation-matters-students/)</p>

11

<p>Hi there,</p>

<p>For Aerospace, I would go to either MIT, GA Tech, UMich, Purdue, or UIUC. If you want to be amongst other taiwanese/chinese, then go to UT Austin, as that’s where most of the Asian American Aerospace students tend to go, at least in Texas.</p>

<p>I personally am going to Purdue, as I feel that is the best Aero Engineering school for me. But it depends on other things as well. </p>

<p>Do you like to party? How important are costs and quality of education?</p>

<p>Also, Stanford’s Undergrad Aerospace program is surprisingly worse than most of these schools, so I don’t think it would be a reach at all, more of a high match or a low reach if any.</p>

12

<p>Stanford has a 7.1% acceptance rate. It is a reach for just about anyone.</p>

13

<p>Would someone please elaborate a bit on the party aspect? I don;t quite get why it should be a consideration, because frankly, in my country, the typical student goes through over ten years of studying without even going through a proper b-day party.</p>

<p>Also, if graduates from the top 200 schools are all relevant, then what do the rankings imply? and how do companies decide who to use?</p>

<p>@anonemuss yes, quality of education is very important, costs on the other hand aren;t that crucial</p>

14

<p>Also, if graduates from the top 200 schools are all relevant, then what do the rankings imply? and how do companies decide who to use?</p>

<p>They decide by interviewing and picking people that they like best. </p>

<p>And, surprise…if they hire 5 people from 5 different schools (Purdue, GT, Cal State Long Beach, UAH, UMich)…guess what??? They’ll pay them all the same!</p>

<p>Besides, this country doesn’t have a bunch of unemployed engineers. Engineers are needed, so they get hired. However, your chances are better if you keep a good GPA. Employers do look at GPA and get worried if they see low grades in the math and other STEM areas. </p>

<p>This country (this world) needs WAY TOO many engineers to restrict itself to only hiring from a tiny number of schools. </p>

<p>Besides, engineering isn’t so hard to teach that only a small number can do it. This country has invested billions and billions in eng’g facilities in every state. Every state has very good eng’g programs. The state of Calif alone has over 25 good eng’g schools. </p>

<p>The purpose of ABET accreditation is so that an employer knows that X school meets the standardized req’ts of a good eng’g program. </p>

<p>There is a small univ by my home that has a very good eng’g program. It’s located by Cummings Research Park…the 2nd largest research park in the nation. Many of the techie companies are in CRP…so guess where many of their new-hires come from? </p>

<p>The University of Alabama would give you free tuition for your stats. You’d also get 2500 per year from the Col of Eng’g for being an eng’g major. All of Alabama’s engineering depts are ABET accredited. The school has just built a 900,000 square feet new Science and Engineering Complex (the fed gov’t funded a good portion of this).</p>

<p>Anyway, send an app to Alabama (the app is super easy…no essays, no LORs) and fill out the scholarship app as well (required). This could be a good safety for you since your remaining costs would be about $15k per year plus travel costs. (you’re going to need to estimate int’l travel costs wherever you go to college since those aren’t in the COA)</p>

<p>quality of education is very important</p>

<p>engineering isn’t so unique that only a small number of schools can teach it well. Every state has very good eng’g programs. You’d have to search pretty hard to find an eng’g program that wasn’t very good. If a school is going to take upon itself to have an eng’g program, it’s going to make the effort for it to be a good one.</p>

15

<p>Would someone please elaborate a bit on the party aspect? I don;t quite get why it should be a consideration, because frankly, in my country, the typical student goes through over ten years of studying without even going through a proper b-day party.</p>

<p>Well, it’s not like that here. Even at MIT, the party aspect is very obvious. My Comp Sci Tufts nephew travels to MIT on weekends because according to him, “MIT has the best parties”. </p>

<p>That’s not saying that STEM kids don’t study hard…they study hard, and they can party hard (on weekends). My own son graduated with a Chem Eng’g degree in May. He had to study a lot. But, he did manage to attend all of his school’s home football games…even if he did have to leave at half-time to get back to a lab project or studies. And, he and his roomies hosted Bday parties for all their friends…so those didn’t go unnoticed!</p>

16

<p>so, er, how important is partying? how will affect on me? (sry, but i rly don;t understand the concept and point of partying)</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids so what would be the main difference between studying at a high ranked uni and a lower ranked uni if they both have ABET accreditation? (aside from cost)</p>

17

<p>*so, er, how important is partying? how will affect on me? (sry, but i rly don;t understand the concept and point of partying)</p>

<p>*
NO ONE is req’d to party… However, eng’g is a “team sport” so to speak, so you do need to have good team skills and social skills, so socializing with your classmates can have positive results. Plus, everyone needs some R&R at times.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids so what would be the main difference between studying at a high ranked uni and a lower ranked uni if they both have ABET accreditation? (aside from cost)*</p>

<p>Not much. Some might say that certain companies love to recruit at X, Y, Z schools, but the truth is that big name tech companies recruit at many places, including the eng’g schools that are in their region. </p>

<p>Take Boeing for instance. It has division locations in many states (Washington, Calif, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, etc). It’s going to recruit at the schools in the states that it has divisions, plus other places as well.</p>

18

<p>so it would be beneficial to my social skills and understanding America’s culture if I choose a school that is has more parties as opposed to a school that has none?</p>

<p>and so, on the education and job finding lvl, most eng’g schools are equal, how bout the quality of students?</p>

19

<p>Engineering students can develop team/social skills without partying, as my son and his friends do by participating in sports, student activities/clubs, playing video games, going to museums, going out to eat etc. etc. At some engineering schools you also develop those skills by working on group projects for classes.
On every campus there are many students who don’t party so don’t feel as though you need to partake in order to understand American culture!
If you read through other posts here you will find students looking for great party schools and just as many kids trying to avoid party schools!</p>

20

<p>it would be beneficial to my social skills and understanding America’s culture if I choose a school that is has more parties as opposed to a school that has none?</p>

<p>You’re misunderstanding. First of all, there are few eng’g schools that have no parties (probably would have to go to Utah to find one). Secondly, you don’t have to party to develop social skills. You can develop social skills by joining clubs, groups, etc. </p>

<p>My point was that it’s good to develop social skills. Eng’g companies PREFER hiring eng’rs who have some social skills because those people are the ones that they can send on business trips, they can handle meeting presentations, companies can have them present info to “the customer,” and they are generally easier to work with.</p>