<p>OK, so I am currently in the college searching process. </p>
<p>Right now, aerospace is looking like one of my top contenders for a major.</p>
<p>I also dread cold weather(not the end-all-be-all but still relatively important).</p>
<p>So any schools in the southern, preferably east coast, United states that have decent aerospace engineering programs?</p>
<p>I have already visited florida tech, and fell in love with it. However my parents seem to think florida is a little far from virginia(where I currently live)</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is very small, very selective, and execptional. But there is only a general engineering degree. You can specialize in aerospace, however. (I go here)</p>
<p>USC is a large school. However, their engineering department is selective and has a great aerospace program. (Brother went here)</p>
<p>Caltech is a small school with a lot of stuff. Overall, it is very selective. They offer an aerospace degree. (I'm actually doing R&D/design for their HVI project right now)</p>
<p>UCLA is large but selective They have a good engineering program but I am unsure what majors they offer.</p>
<p>Stanford is moderately large and very selective. They have an excellent engineering program but I don't know about their aerospace program. (One of my group supervisors at JPL went here 40+ years ago)</p>
<p>UCSD, Cal Poly SLO are some more that I hear good things from.
These are only So Cal schools...I'll let someone cover Georgia Tech and all those.</p>
<p>But, yeah, it all comes down to what you want. If you would like to do a narrow course-of-study or rather a broad course-of-study with an emphasis on aerospace.</p>
<p>Personally, I am an aerospace guy. I know all about propulsion and control...I can design and build you a flight-weight engine of liquid or solid design and (eventually) do all the analysis on it. Still, though, I went for the general engineering degree because I know that being an effective engineer in aerospace technology requires a lot of working knowledge/theory with different subjects.</p>
<p>...though if Florida's far from Virginia, then California definitely will be... =</p>
<p>Have you looked at Embry-Riddle at all? It's down in Florida, too. It's highly aero-specific, small (IIRC), and I think it'd be a really good option for you.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech's high-quality, though it has a tendency to grind up and spit out students... Georgia Tech's also fairly huge.</p>
<p>VaTech's close to home for you. Good in Aero, but probably a little bigger than you'd like.</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman in Indiana is also a good one, for mechanical engineering, which is a good basis for an aero grad degree. It's a bit north of what you'd like, but if I can handle UIUC as a native Texan, you'll do fine. It's not Minnesota-cold, or Buffalo-cold.</p>
<p>Along those same lines, St Louis University's apparently pretty good in aerospace engineering, too... and as long as you're there, you could check out Wash U, too. Good engineering program, not too huge.</p>
<p>If you're willing to venture further southwest towards Texas... you'd love Rice. Not that I'm biased.</p>
<p>Stanford doesn't offer aerospace engineering officially for undergrads but it does allow for individually designed majors so you could simply create one.</p>
<p>Well, since you live in Virginia, let me lay out the land for UVa's e-school.</p>
<p>UVa just disestablished the aerospace engineering <em>department</em>, merging it with mechanical engineering. You can still get a degree in AeroE, and there are still lots of coop and other opportunities. </p>
<p>My son is in his fourth year at UVa's engineering school. I can assure you it fits two of your criteria: small-ish and "southern". You should look around their website a bit. I think they do a lot of work with the NASA-Langley research lab (on the penninsula). </p>
<p>And, of cousre, it would be in-state for you. That's a BIG plus.</p>
<p>lol Don't come to Georgia Tech if you are looking for a small school, because it's large. Not large in the sense of Univ of Texas Austin large, but probably larger than you want. </p>
<p>I would definitely look into Rice if you are looking for an excellent education at a school that's not too big.</p>
<p>If you are looking for small, you can't beat Swarthmore. Its the only LAC (I think) with a BS in engineering. Although it doesn't have you specific area of interest, you can specialize in a few different areas of engineering, and the degree is looked upon highly by employers and grad schools.</p>
<p>For clarification, are you looking for a small engineering school, or an engineering school at a small college/university? And what kind of numbers are you using to define << "small"-ish >> ?</p>
<p>I also was looking at small engineering schools, though my search was mostly in the Northeast, and I didn't have any geographic limitations. Of the schools that I've seen, I liked Harvery Mudd the best (by far). Olin was also amazing, but a bit on the strange side. With a class of less than 100 people, you would have to be sure that you wanted a small school before going to Olin (they also don't offer an aerospace degree). I looked at WPI as a saftey school, and thought that it was nice - small, starting an aerospace department, good environment.</p>
<p>You may notice that only one of theses schools has an aerospace degree. During much of my search, I found out that colleges don't want to have undergrads specialize so much. Cornell used to offer an AeroE BS, but it now encourages students to take a mech bachelors degree, and stay for a masters.</p>
<p>not small but University of Washington in Seattle is gorgeous, doesn't get snow or really cold (I was shocked to hear that)- Boeing is based there and their Museum of Flight is extraordinary. but not a small school and I don't know anything about the program.</p>
<p>The University of Arizona is probably a safety for you but it's worth looking into. It's not in the southeast and it's big but it has one of the best public engineering programs (that's why you always hear about them in science articles). If not now, maybe in 4 years...Just thought I might mention it.</p>
<p>I think I am looking for a smaller college/university with a good engineering department.... something like Florida tech.... Where the school is more engineering based, but has smaller numbers(x<8,000) so the class sizes are small and there is that community atmosphere...</p>
<p>I am still considering Virginia Tech(hour and a half from my house :D), but with such big numbers, 30,000ish-total/hundreds of engineering majors, I am not sure my research oppurtunities would be as plentiful or rather in easier acess.....</p>
<p>hmmm... thats interesting thinking it would be so far north thank you fourkidsmom........</p>
<p>Olin sounds pretty interesting too.... but Ive heard its cold(not as cold as wpi right next too boston brrr)...and I dont think they(olin) are accreditted yet which I am not sure if that is a huge deal or not....</p>
<p>Arizona sounds nice, but the distance thing probably wouldn't make mother too happy.... are they generous with aid?</p>
<p>Olin isn't accredited yet because in order to be yuo have to graduate a class (I think). Sicne their first graduates were in June they should be accredited in no time.</p>
<p>I love Olin. I love the concept and I love what they are doing. It is perhaps the only school that I would recommend along with HMC. This is saying a lot because (as many of you know) I am not fond of many well known schools.</p>
<p>Do take a look at Rice, though, if you're willing to venture as far as Texas. It's warm there, the campus is <em>gorgeous</em>, it's got a 'small' atmosphere to it, and the academics are fantastic. Ties to NASA don't hurt, either...</p>