Need to shorten my list; Aerospace engineering

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,
Im a rising senior in college and started the whole addmissions process at the beginning of the summer. Im looking to major in Aerospace engineering and will either minor/double major in computer science.
I've made a long list of schools but I can't seem to decide what to get rid of.
heres what I have:</p>

<p>California Inst of Tech [commonapp]
Carnegie Mellon Univ [commonapp, Will do Chemical Engineering if I get in]
Cornell Univ [commonapp]
Embry-Riddle Aero Univ
Georgia Inst of Tech
UMD College Park [I live in MD]
MA Inst of Tech
U of Miami [commonapp]
Pennsylvania State Univ<br>
Purdue Univ
Rochester Inst of Tech [commonapp, I have a $3000/year scholarship here already]
Stanford Univ [commonapp]
U of Texas Austin
U of Virginia</p>

<p>So i have a 3.63 GPA, not ranked (Our school has no ranking system), 1250/1790 on the SAT (old/new scale), an internship at Lockheed Martin, and my most impressive extracurriculars are captain of debate and senior engineer on out botball robotics team.
The RIT scholarship was in the form of a "computing medal" that I won at the end of my junior year.</p>

<p>Not the best stats but they're not to shabby either. </p>

<p>From what I hear Purdue, and Embry are the top aerospace schools on the list but the others are also pretty highly ranked.</p>

<p>Anyway, applying to 14 schools is both overkill (even with the commonapp) and expensive. I need some help narrowing this down to 7 or 8.</p>

<p>Thanks
-Amoo</p>

2

<p>Hey i've been looking out for aerospace engineering too.But I am an international student so my options are limited due to less availability of financial aids. As far as I know MIT,Caltech, Stanford, Purdue, RIT, Georgia tech, Cornell, UT at Austin are good for aerospace. My personal choice is embry riddle because i've heard its got the best aerospace program.I would get rid of the rest...</p>

3

<p>I thought the top two aerospace engineering schools were MIT then GTech.</p>

<p>Though so long as your in a top tier engineering school your fine. For example, I have a JHU friend who landed a pretty sweet internship at Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grunmann or something, though he is an EE/CS double major. He just completed freshman yr btw and its kinda tough for freshmans to get those types of internships.</p>

<p>Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grunman, Boeing, BAE, Raytheon, General Electric, what more could you want? lol</p>

4

<p>Embry Riddle, period.</p>

<p>They have cross training and internship programs with Nasa at the Kennedy Space Center.</p>

5

<p>First, don't forget that you'll need subject tests for quite a few of the schools on your list. Be sure to double check the requirements for which subject tests, because certain schools, such as Cal Tech and MIT, have specific requirements.</p>

<p>Second, we don't have your transcript, subject scores, or even a breakdown of your SAT scores, BUT based solely on the GPA and test scores you've provided us with, I'd say the following schools are going to be in the "reach" category for you:</p>

<p>Cal Tech
Carnegie Mellon
Cornell
MIT
U of Virginia- out of state
Stanford
U Texas-Austin - out of state</p>

<p>Georgia Tech might also be a reach for someone with your stats applying of of state, and U of Miami won't be a cakewalk either.</p>

<p>My suggestion for narrowing down your list, therefore, is to focus on cutting from this set of schools. While every list should have some reaches on it, 9 reaches is way too many. Try to narrow it down to no more than 4 schools from this group.</p>

6

<p>I was about to say the same thing --- too many reaches and super reaches.</p>

<pre><code>I would not waste the fees applying to Cal Tech, Stanford, Cornell, MIT, Cornell, UT or UVA (since you are out of state for those) or CMU.

Don't think you have to go to a top 10 or top 20 engineering school to get a great education. Did you look at UColorado-Boulder (second highest NASA funds recipient in the country)? Seems to have a lot to offer.
</code></pre>

<p>Academics</a> | College of Engineering & Applied Science | University of Colorado at Boulder</p>

7

<p>I'm also looking at Aero schools and here is my advice from EXTENSIVE research and college visits. From your gpa and scores, i would say that you will need to be looking at the schools like UMich and UIUC<a href="which%20i%20am%20incredibly%20surprised%20are%20not%20on%20your%20list%20because%20they%20are%20considerably%20BETTER%20and%20EASIER%20to%20get%20into%20than%20the%20schools%20you%20mentioned">/b</a>. also, look at **Purdue, a 1st tier aero program that fits in with UMich and UIUC. Unfortunately, MIT, CalTech, Cornell, Stanford, UT and CMU will probably be just out of reach.</p>

<p>I would not suggest ERAU but that is up to you. it is a good smaller school, but it is not on the same level as the schools you mention (people, please refrain from arguing about this).</p>

<p>UofMiami and UVA are not really engineering schools in the same sense as the others. but with BIG 10 schools, you really cant go wrong (especially UMICH UIUC and PURDUE!)</p>

<p>GaTech is a great school, but you need to realize that you will get very little aid and girls.</p>

<p>but in the end, thats really just my opinion.</p>

8

<p>so many out of reaches...</p>

9

<p>Thanks guys.
@ExplorerCY
Actually UMich should be there. I guess I forgot to put it on. I will look in to UIUC.</p>

<p>@carolyn
660 math, 630 reading, 530 writing 8 on the essay.
Im taking the SAT IIs in October (math, chem) so Ill have those in before I send most of the apps off. As for my transcript, the jist of it is that its nearly all honors, 7 APs (1 5, 6 4s, 1 3) and something like a 4.3 weighted (my impression is that no one cares about that).</p>

<p>@all
Thanks for the input. Its much appreciated.</p>

10

<p>Hey, does anyone know what kind of job/co-ops/internships are available near Purdue?</p>

11

<p>Your stats should work for admission to ERAU. The online application is free, I believe. ERAU is FAFSA only and they have a modest amount of FA, including merit scholarships available.</p>

<p>Not arguing, but ERAU was my son's first choice and he had a pretty good experience his freshman year, including research and internship opportunities.</p>

<p>You might also look at St. Louis University.</p>

12

<p>i would say Boeing PhantomWorks in St. Louis would be sort of close... maybe something with NASA in Cleveland, OH. for coops, jobs and internships i would encourage you to experience other parts of the country than suburban Indiana. there really isnt anything aerospace near Purdue.
its very common for people to not intern/coop where they are going to school.</p>

13

<p>I would definitely drop CalTech and MIT, unless you can get those SAT scores over the 700 threshold. CM and Cornell are going to be reaches. </p>

<p>I'd add VA Tech to your list.</p>

14

<p>So heres what I have now;
Georgia Inst of Tech
U of IL Urbana-Champaign
UMD College Park
MA Inst of Tech
U of Michigan
Pennsylvania State Univ
Purdue Univ
Rochester Inst of Tech
Stanford Univ </p>

<p>Standord and MIT are my reaches (let me just hang on some monkey bars for a while to lengthen my arms)
UMD, PennState, and RIT are my safeties and the rest are where I'd realistically like to go.</p>

<p>At this point i don’t want to add anything to the list. Removing or replacing are ok though.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

15

<p>OSU would be a good Match/safety. haha but that is just adding to the list.
personally, i would cross off rochester.</p>

16

<p>dude michigans harder to get into than texas.</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
personally, i would cross off rochester.

[/quote]

The only reason Im applying here is because I won a Computer Science award from these guys which came with $12,000 [$3000/year]
Plus, they have no additional essays required with the common app, which Im already filling out.</p>

<p>
[quote]
dude michigans harder to get into than texas.

[/quote]

The question is, whats a better school. I should be able to [looking at college board stats] get into UMich with my current scores, but I don't think that UTA's aerospace program is better than UMich.</p>

<p>I spoke with a recent cornell graduate today and he recommended that I try and apply for the arts school there and transfer to the engineering school after the first semester.</p>

<p>Any thoughts on this?</p>

18

<p>cornell doesnt have a true aero program. also, that is very risky. i wouldnt mess up my dreams by trying to find a way to trick the system and get into something that doesnt really meet my needs.</p>

19

<br>


<br>

<p>Anyone with a sense of humor like that gets a plus in my book. :)</p>

<p>I second the recommendation of St. Louis University. It would be a good safe bet. But, it sounds like your list is shrinking, so you may not need another at this point. </p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

20

<p>If you can apply EA to some schools, that can give you some idea of where you are and also eliminate some schools from your list. Take a look at Ohio University as well.</p>