<p>My son is a rising senior and wants to study Aerospace Engineering. I am a UF grad so he has grown up going to games there and various other events. We also have a number of friends within a couple of hours of Gainesville so he could always visit with them if he needed a breather on a given weekend. He loves the campus and much of what we’ve seen of the Engineering school. We now live in Virginia. He will be applying to at least eight schools. They are:</p>
<li> Florida</li>
<li> Michigan</li>
<li> UVA</li>
<li> Virginia Tech</li>
<li> Vandy</li>
<li> Purdue</li>
<li> Penn State</li>
<li> NC State</li>
</ol>
<p>While he wants to study Engineering, he has an equal passion for History, particularly military history. I worry about whether he will succeed in Engineering since I’m aware of how many end up in other majors and also because, while he scored a 31 on the ACT, he only got a 29 in Math and a 33 in both English and Reading. Should I just advise him to go to the best school he gets into for Aerospace or the one with the most flexibility to schedule classes in the History area or, since he’s so comfortable with the UF campus, advise him to go there if he gets in? It should also be noted that he intends to go NROTC as well so will it really matter where he went to school if he does four or more years in the military and is then looks for a job in the industry?</p>
<p>He and I both like that UF, VT and Penn State have Summer programs before the kids start in the Fall that gets them prepared for the pace they will experience in Engineering. He has taken a very rigorous schedule in high school but he wants to be as prepared as possible. UVA and Vandy, while not at the very top of the Engineering rankings, have a tremendous national reputation and also offer a great deal of flexibility in their curriculum.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure any of those schools is going to have good aerospace engineering. Not sure about UVA and Vandy but I've at least heard good things about all the other one's engineering programs. Virginia Tech has a very, very active ROTC program, so that's something to look at. It'll take up a lot of his time, though. He probably wouldn't have all that much flexibility in schedule here, but if he does ROTC he'd be taking military history classes anyway I suppose... To be honest if he likes all of the campuses one thing I'd really think about is where he wants to live after college. If he wants to live in Florida then that might be the right school. If he wants to live in the midwest Purdue. Going to college in an area doesn't mean you have to live there (especially if he's joining the military afterwards) but it sure doesn't hurt.</p>
<p>Florida and aerospace...would he be interested in ERAU? I'm not sure if they have NROTC, but they definitely have AFROTC, and aerospace is their big thing.</p>
<p>You don't have to be a math god to succeed in engineering. You just have to be able to get through the required math (calculus, diffeq, probably probability theory).</p>
<p>I wouldn't be worried about the Math ACT score. My daughter's was lower than that. She was the top student in her HS AP Calc class, got a 5 on the test, and has received A's in all her Math classes in college (2 years). Test scores are not everything. I would encourage him to go where he will be most comfortable.</p>
<p>By the way, I'm laughing pretty hard at the phrase "only got a 29." The expectations some people have here... A 29 puts you in the top 6% (that's approximate) so as long as he works hard he's got the intelligence to succede.</p>
<p>I realize a 29 is an excellent score and, don't get me wrong, we were very proud of him for every aspect of his ACT score. I just have read a lot about admissions officers looking very closely at the Math scores on standardized tests when they assess applicants for their College of Engineering. I guess I've spent a little too much time on this site reading comments of individuals berating others for what they perceive as low test scores when they are better than what my son received. </p>
<p>As to Embry Riddle, he has not expressed an interest to go there. He is not so much interested in flying planes as he is in the design of them and also the design of weapons systems used by planes and ships.</p>
<p>Again, thanks all for your advice and I'll keep checking back for any other comments.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I guess I've spent a little too much time on this site reading comments of individuals berating others for what they perceive as low test scores when they are better than what my son received.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If I paid any heed to what the people on talk.cc claim to be "good scores" vs. "bad scores," I'd be living next to a dumpster behind a bus depot right now. I would certainly not have made it through my masters degree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
As to Embry Riddle, he has not expressed an interest to go there. He is not so much interested in flying planes as he is in the design of them and also the design of weapons systems used by planes and ships.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, and they have one of the best aeronautical engineering programs in the country. They aren't a flight school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I guess I've spent a little too much time on this site reading comments of individuals berating others for what they perceive as low test scores when they are better than what my son received.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wouldn't let the collective, er, wisdom of CC deter you.</p>
<p>I will discuss ERAU with him but I think he has looked largely at schools where, if he learned for whatever reason, Engineering was not for him, he could look toward a good History program. I will have to check and see if that is an option at ERAU. We certainly appreciate the information.</p>
<p>UF engineering, while they've got good facilities & plenty of research money, has (at least in my experience) horrible professors that were either unintelligible, were too wrapped up in their research, or just plain couldn't teach; for the kind of money I was spending, I was expecting a lot more than what I received. Coincidentally, I was also doing aerospace & also wanted to go the NROTC route; remember that it's an 8 year obligation for Naval Aviators after the 2 years of API & flight school.</p>
<p>Edited to add: </p>
<p>For the Naval Aviator program, no specific degree requirement is mentioned, so it might be wisest to go with whatever he's interested in & is guaranteed to do well in, since NROTC will also expect additional military classes & activities that might be a bit too strenuous while doing engineering. The aircrew I talked to earlier were political science majors & and they learned all the aerospace engineering they needed while in API and beyond.</p>
<p>
[quote]
He is not so much interested in flying planes as he is in the design of them and also the design of weapons systems used by planes and ships.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Aviator commitments don't apply to engineers, correct...?</p>
<p>Then I fail to see what the point of joining NROTC would be, if not to be an aviator: there are three pipelines, Naval Aviator, Naval Flight Officer, and aviation maintenance officer (the latter of which has nothing to do with designing & all to do with managing a huge repair shop). The only branch that I know of that offers military engineering positions is the Air Force; the Navy, nothing. All our design work is done by civilian contractors. From my point of view, it would then be best to fore go the military & just apply for a civilian contractor job after graduating. My apologies if I misunderstood something.</p>
<p>ACT scores aren't everything...some people just aren't good at the ACT. I took it twice and got a 30 on math both times, but got an 800 on the SAT-M first try.</p>
<p>He actually wants to go Surface Warfare in the Navy. One thing he likes about VT and Michigan is they both have Aerospace and Ocean/Naval Architecture. He has a deep fascination with weapons systems. He understands that, while in the Navy, he will not be designing such systems but, he could still be gaining knowledge of the Engineering systems of both ships and planes. He can decide at the end of his obligated service whether he wants to make it a career or explore other avenues.</p>
<p>This is not the first time I have seen negative comments made about the Mechanical and Aerospace profs at UF being very difficult to understand and not very good profs. Does anyone know more about this at UF or any of the other schools on his list? I know there will be a certain number of foreign profs in any Engineering program so a language barrier can be a problem but it shouldn't be so prevalent that one departs the school feeling they didn't get much from it. Also, the research demands at major universities can impact how one feels as to their access to and relationship with profs but it should not overwhelm the experience.</p>
<p>A word of advice on the SWO path: he needs to have above-average grades since the community is severely overmanned, and will only get worse with the DON's philosophy of downsizing the amount of personnel in the Fleet.</p>
<p>Can you give me any insight into the profs at VT and whether there are an overwhelming number that are very devoted to research but are either not very good profs or there is such a language barrier that it gets in the way of the learning experience? I know you are not in Aero or Ocean Engineering but do you have friends that are? If so, what have you heard about those areas? Thanks.</p>