<p>Well, I'm wanting to get into school for Engineering. I'm going to start taking classes at a decent community college (Central Texas College), go for two years and get an Associate's degree, then transfer to a four year school for a Bachelor's or Master's. I figured starting out at CTC would be beneficially financially and grade-wise. I graduated at sixteen with a GPA of 3.0, on the verge of dropping out. I haven't taken my SAT/ ACT. My questions would be along the lines of:</p>
<p>Out of U of T, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech which would be a preferred school for Aerospace, Mechanical, or possibly Nuclear Engineering?</p>
<p>Would a GPA of 3.5 or higher be enough to enter a larger school with around 70 credits, or would I need an SAT/ ACT score?</p>
<p>And if anyone has any personal experience or opinions on those Engineering branches and schools, please feel free to share! Or any tips on how I might be able to fix my situation. I'm only twenty, so hopefully I haven't wasted too much time. Thanks for reading and any answers or information you're able to give!</p>
<p>U haven’t wasted anytime… I started at 23. I’m 25 now. Texas Tech Engineering auto-admit 3.5 with 60+ credits (on top of school scholarship for $6500 per year) for transfer, which I got accepted for, for Fall Summer 2013. They do also for 30+ credits also maybe with 3.0 but less scholarship fund. Got my reply in about 1 week.</p>
<p>Waiting on A&M, just turned in my app on 1/12. I’m choosing A&M over Tech barring huge difference on financial aid.</p>
<p>I was right at 3.5 with 60 credits when I applied… now I’m down to 3.46 with 69 after Fall. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>In the grand scheme of things, 2 years is nothing. The difference between 18 and 20 is pretty negligible.
Usually, transfer requirements are pretty simple, and you just have to keep a good GPA. But even if this is not the case, the SAT isn’t really something to worry about. It’s just a test of your quantitative and verbal skills, and acts more like a competency check than a real admission standard. If you did well enough to somewhat understand Algebra and English, you’ll be ok even if you do have to take it (I don’t think you do).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you wasted too much time. Just think about it this way, some people only go to school part time starting at 18 and don’t finish until they’re like 24. Some people older than you come from different countries and want to be recognized professionals in america, so they take the same route you are pretty much. </p>
<p>After you finish you’re Associate’s, those schools likely won’t even ask for ACT scores at a transfer requirement. A 3.5 GPA should be sufficient enough to get into any of those schools you just listed. Just use your time in CC to develop time management skills so you don’t get screwed once you transfer. I hear the workload at TAMU is insane, so you’ll have to be willing to put in the work. Since the other schools also have ABET accredited engineering programs, you should assume that their programs can be just as rigorous.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much.</p>
<p>But you do want to check the transfer credit pages of UT Austin, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and other universities you want to transfer to in order to see what courses at CTC are equivalent to what courses at the universities. Then also check the freshman and sophomore level course requirements for the majors you are considering at each university, so that you can then map them to the CTC courses that you need to take.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the great answers! I’ve made sure about the credits transferring. For TAMU, I only need the degree and an additional Chemistry and Physics class to transfer, so not bad. CTC is one of the schools that can transfer just about anywhere in Texas, since it’s for military around Fort Hood. I think I’ll wait until Fall and start on that Associate’s. Thanks once again everyone.</p>
<p>@Ghostayame, you can transfer into TAMU or UT Austin (I’m assuming the OP’s UT is @ Austin) that easily? Those are some selective schools…</p>
<p>You haven’t lost time, TRUST ME!</p>
<p>College is nothing like high school and middle school where if you are off by a year, you are laughed at by your peers or forget all the things you’ve learned.</p>
<p>Especially for engineering, I have to say about half-ish students are older than 18 before they even start an Engineering class.</p>
<p>Many students are not even Calculus ready out of high school so they lose a year or two, hence the average Engineers finish is 5 years from start to finish.</p>
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<p>However, in this case, starting at community college is an advantage, since extra semesters at a community college typically cost less than extra semesters at a four year school.</p>
<p>Before this thread dies, I’m curious about what to expect going into a field such as Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. I’ve considered Petroleum and Nuclear Engineering as well. I’m not too interested in Computers, but I’d considering having Electrical Engineering as my minor. What kind of work can you find with those degrees?</p>
<p>Depending on your focus for Aero, the typical jobs you see undegrads get are in the following:</p>
<p>-Avionics
-Dynamics and Control
-Structural Analysis
-Systems Engineering
-Aerodynamics and geometry optimization for aircraft, missiles, boats, cars, etc
-Software engineering positions since AEs tend to learn a bit of programming
-Computational Fluid and Solid Mechanics
-Probably a fair share of positions as analysts for big companies if they choose
-Etc etc</p>
<p>Others on the forum can give you insight into the jobs to expect in other fields.</p>
<p>@pyroknife: I figure a 3.5 would be good enough to at least get into TAMU as a CC transfer. One really couldn’t know unless they called and asked an engineering counselor for detailed information, such as the acerage GPA of admitted CC transfers. I wonder if they would have access to information like that…</p>