Purdue vs Ohio State vs Embry Riddle?

My son is having a tough time deciding where to go to school this fall, so I’m looking for some insight.

He really wants to study aeronautical engineering, but the only schools that accepted him to his preferred major were Ohio State and Embry Riddle. He was also accepted to Purdue (and a few other schools) but not direct to engineering. Almost all of the schools gave him some sort of scholarship, except Ohio.

But, Ohio has everything he every wanted in a college (accepted for his preferred major, amazing marching band, and one of the few schools with an actual fencing team). The pricetag that comes with out of state tuition is quite a bit over our EFC though, and I do have concerns about affordability. He’s been applying for scholarships and plans to get a job to help pay.

We’re in Washington, so these are all out of state (he’s on the waitlist for UW, so unlikely to get engineering there). He also can’t seem to decide on a backup major, he’s set on aeronautical or astronautical engineering.

Mechanical engineering is the back up to aerospace. In fact, many pick it over aerospace because it may provide more options at graduation. My nephew went to CU, one of the best in aero, but majored in mechanical; he now works for Northrop Grumman in an aero dept.

It sounds like he wants the bigger university experience, with more than just engineering. ERAU in pretty much engineering and engineering type activities - no marching band (although they may have a pep band), no fencing. They are just very different schools.

Thank you.
I agree ERAU would get him a decent degree but not the full experience he’d prefer.

We did talk to him about Mechanical engineering in case he ends up at a school that doesn’t give him an aero path. He seems open to that, but even at Purdue it seems like a risk if he isn’t able to start out in engineering. (They accepted him for Exploratory Studies there.)

When you say not directly into engineering at Purdue, do you mean freshman engineering or aero engineering? If he is in freshman engineering, that is the same for all freshmen at Purdue. You apply to the school of choice in the second semester of your freshman year. However if it is the former, then it is truly a tough climb to transfer into engineering.

However, the aero program at Purdue is one of the best, one that follows the most famous footprint of all time in the field.

It’s not guaranteed to be able to transfer from exploratory studies to engineering at Purdue. Especially into a popular major. I would take one of the direct admit offers and not chance it.

Right. He’d be trying to get to aero from Exploratory Studies at Purdue.

He’s leaning to Ohio State right now, it’s just so much more expensive.

He was accepted for Exploratory Studies at Purdue (not FYE).
But OSU accepted him into Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering.

@WAmom2020 double check on the Ohio State acceptance. My son graduated from OSU last May and loved every minute of it. He can’t imagine having gone anywhere else. However, all engineering students have to apply into the actual major After prerequisites and they have strict GPA guidelines. You say he was accepted into Aeronautical engineering but I’m guessing that’s just pre engineering as it was for my son when he was accepted for Electrical engineering. The difference between that and exploratory was that he had a dedicated Electrical Engineering advisor and he was more guaranteed the pre-requisite classes over the exploratory kids.
Double check all this as it could have changed since my son started in 2015.

We have a friend who’s daughter is currently at Embry Riddle studying some kind of aviation investigating. ( investigating airline crashes). She loves it and says it is very highly regarded in aviation studies although I don’t know about engineering.

We loved Ohio State and it is a great choice but I don’t want your son to be blindsided by the pre-engineering. Good luck with your choice.

Thank you for the insight! We will have to look into it. His acceptance showed aeronautical/astronautical engineering as his major, but it’s possible he missed something.
I think what you described is similar to the process at Purdue and UW, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Ohio is the same.

He liked Embry Riddle a lot more than he expected to when we toured there last fall. The only drawback was the lack of marching band. (He also enjoys fencing, so the fencing team at Ohio was a pro there but not necessarily a deterrent for anywhere else). They did seem to have some cool robotics types of clubs there though.

I know no college kid wants to hear this, but it might be a good year for a CC especially with the unknowns this fall. Go to local CC, get some of his early course work done, do well (obviously), then have a good chance to have better/cheaper options next year. The only thing I’d recommend with this route, though, is to transfer as if you’re a freshman. Live in a dorm and experience the first year life even though credit-wise he’d be a sophomore. I have some experience with this route and the not “acting” like a first year student is a regret.

He has a few options that wouldn’t cost much more than going to the local community college, especially if they all end up being online this fall, so in his case it wouldn’t save a ton.

I almost think he has too many options, but not all of them offer the major his heart is set on, and of course the one that offers everything is by far the most expensive.

There is a difference at Purdue between exploratory studies and first year engineering (FYE). FYE is within the College of Engineering. Acceptance say College of Engineering with the student’s intended major but there is a transition to major process after the first year. Thinking OSU is probably the same and worth looking into more to be clear about GPA benchmarks and the process.

Exploratory Studies at Purdue is outside the College of Engineering and there are no guarantees for transitioning into an engineering major, even if the GPA threshold is met. Especially for popular majors ones like Aero. The other issue is not having priority for registering for the engineering pre-reqs.

Ohio State, Embry, and Purdue top my current senior’s list. I’m curious what you decided??