<p>Son is trying to decide between Texas A&M (he would do the Corps there) or Clemson or Auburn for either Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. Any insight would be great. Scholarship money at Texas A&M and Auburn but not Clemson. Liked the size of Clemson and Auburn. Not sure about the Corp at A&M.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would not recommend mixing the Corps and engineering unless your son is highly motivated. The percentage of Corps members in engineering classes drops every year, and typically the corps guys are always falling asleep in class.</p>
<p>^ What do you want to know about Auburn?</p>
<p>It’s well-respected enough, from what I can tell, but is close enough to Georgia Tech that it is pretty much eclipsed. All the graduates I have known from engineering get jobs locally and nationally paying around the national average. Retention rates are decent.</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of the campus or city, and there are a lot of really annoying people here (this may just be the South, though, or just ‘people’…). The administration is inefficient and sloppy. Not much diversity.</p>
<p>Academics are generally enjoyable, but would be more so if they only let half the number of people in as they currently do (some people are here that just make me wonder). Opportunities for serious students are plentiful, though.</p>
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<p>To be fair, the percentage of regular people in engineering in engineering decreases every year too. I will say that my advisor has said he likes teaching the Corps people more than everyone else most of the time because he thinks they are harder workers in general, though I don’t know how serious he was.</p>
<p>Out of all three schools, TAMU is the “best” as far as rankings go, though those don’t mean a whole lot. I can definitely tell you that the aerospace program here is very high quality. That is what I am in here (though I am a grad student) and my experience has been very good so far. Seems like most of the people I know that did their undergrad here also think highly of the department. Mechanical is a department I don’t know as much about here though.</p>
<p>I would suggest that if he comes here, he not just automatically decide to do the Corps. If he wants to, great, but even without it, I would say to keep TAMU an option. The Corps isn’t everything.</p>
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<p>HERE HERE!!! I’ll drink to that!</p>
<p>Last year, son visited Auburn and Clemson for mechanical engineering (potentially aerospace). Texas A&M was on the initial list however he decided it was just too far away. We read all the rankings and then toured the selected schools based on certain criteria he had. Amazing how the “rankings” change from year to year and so we contacted engineers we knew and they said Auburn is a good school with a good program.</p>
<p>My son immediately nixed Clemson (on the tour) however he really liked Auburn and two larger universities. Similar to your son, my son received scholarship money from Auburn. </p>
<p>We recently visited the schools for a second look, trying to make that final decision. He was glad to see the two new engineering buildings under construction at Auburn (expected completion 2011). One is supposed to be the new home for Mechanical Engineering and the other a research building. He really likes how pleasant everyone was when we were there. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, hes still trying to decide. He says academically, the schools are tied so it now comes down to where he will be the happiest for 4-years and which school will help him get a job at the end of 4 years. Hes now reviewing the co-op programs (he said its because of the economy). Sounds to me like our sons are in the same place.</p>
<p>Id be interested to know from AuburnMathTutor what he/she meant when he/she said: The administration is inefficient and sloppy.</p>
<p>^ Oh, just the little things.</p>
<p>Advising has really been hit or miss in particular. I have had five advisors in my four years as a double major. Of those, two were good, one was passable, and two were unacceptably incompetent (case #1) or rude (case #2). I know some people who have been misled by advisors… I have to assume by accident… and have had their graduation adversely affected. Mine was impacted as well but not irreparably.</p>
<p>The bulletin is written very poorly, and they interpret it how they like. In particular, if you have the misfortune of having the bulletin change while you are in residence, good luck having them honor the old policies. Of course, it is their policy not to punish currently enrolled students arbitrarily by changing policies, but it has happened before - to me - and I know for a fact it has happened to many others. They may change the required courses, the required hours, prerequisites, etc. and this means headaches.</p>
<p>The scholarship and admissions offices must just be making random guesses, because I have known two people in identical situations receive different treatment from both offices. The funny thing is that they refuse to admit anything has gone wrong, insisting that there was some reason… for instance, one student being in-state, the other out-of-state, and in the <em>exact</em> same situation. Other things like this.</p>
<p>The online system - AU Access - is error-prone and not fully-featured. In most cases, to change anything requires setting up a meeting in an office somewhere and waiting to be handed paperwork that requires knowledge no reasonable person would have guessed to have readily available.</p>
<p>In recent years, “campus security” has become tighter. This has had the effect of ****ing everybody I know off completely, without having any impact on “actual security”. Laws are generally not enforced by “campus security” unless something bad happens and there is a liability issue, in which case it is not the University (or, in the event the University is involved, they toss a coin) who is responsible.</p>
<p>Changes to policy are quick and makeshift, dirty and thrown-together, jerry-rigged and accomplishing nothing. </p>
<p>[/cynicism]</p>
<p>Auburn I think is second rate engineer program in south after Georgia Tech. I advise him to go texas A&M just because Auburn will not challenge your son and full of rednecks who boast how my school is better than harvard. I go to Georgia tech and I never heard anything great about auburn engineer program</p>
<p>^ By that logic, Texas A&M is a second rate school and everybody should go to UT Austin instead. In fact, there are maybe 20 “first rate” schools in the nation, if not the world, and everybody should go to those instead of wasting their lives getting ABET accredited degrees that lead to decent jobs or continued study. Sad world we live in.</p>
<p>Now, if GaTech is on the table, I would recommend going to GaTech. I might have gone there had my circumstances been different from what they were. GaTech is a better school, academically, than Auburn - indeed, it trumps every school on the OP’s list.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m really trying to say is that bringing up GaTech is irrelevant because it wasn’t on the table and has nothing to do with the other programs at all. It’s sort of a spurious argument that the physical distance between the schools is a major factor…</p>
<p>AMT, I think you were fooled by his terrible grammar. I believe he meant “second rated” rather than “second rate”. I could be wrong though, since his spelling and grammar is pretty bad.</p>
<p>here’s ranking for engineer program:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Best Engineering Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings/]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings/)</p>
<p>Texas A&M #14
Auburn #69
Clemson #90
Auburn and Clemson is tier2 ranking engineer program </p>
<p>World ranking:
[World’s</a> Best Universities: Engineering and IT - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-universities/2010/02/25/worlds-best-universities-engineering-and-it.html]World’s”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-universities/2010/02/25/worlds-best-universities-engineering-and-it.html)</p>
<p>Texas A&M is in top 100 list in the world ranking where as Auburn and Clemson, not even on the list.</p>
<p>I know it’s graduate school ranking but the undergraduate and graduate ranking reflect one another. You will see similar ranking in undergraduate and graduate engineer program. Auburn and Clemson is not known for its engineering like Texas A&M. Your son will have better opportunity when finding job with Texas A&M than Auburn and Clemson.</p>
<p>I know Texas Instrument hires directly from UT Austin and other Texas oil company will come to either UT Austin and Texas A&M. </p>
<p>In South region of America, companies will recruit engineers from Georgia Tech and University of Florida. </p>
<p>I am giving you unbiased opinion. Texas A&M will serve your son better as to finding his job after graduation.</p>
<p>You all are great. I am wondering why people seem to think doing engineering and the Corps at TAMU is too much? I know TAMU is rated higher in engineering but I am hoping my son is looking for the ‘fit’. He works hard but is not the kid that studies 5 hours per night in high school. He seemed to like Clemson a lot but also liked TAMU. He goes to a very competitive high school (ranked about 50th in the nation) so I am wondering what you all think of the difference in the academics at Clemson or TAMU?</p>
<p>The Corps at TAMU is very time demanding. You wake up at ~5am, have curfew, and are required to participate in many physical activities. As a Corps member, you are also required to take military classes that, as an engineering major, can put a lot of classes on the back of someone who already needs to complete many to get a degree. With that being said, there are many people in the Corps that are in engineering. To get the best idea of the time commitment, your son should talk to a member of the Corps that is in engineering. I know that you can do a “stay the night” deal with a current student and member of the Corps – this would give your son some perspective. Personally, as a junior aerospace engineering major at TAMU, there are not too many Corps members in my degree (most of which are behind their degree plan, but then again, more than 4 years for an engineering degree here is common).</p>
<p>CSmajor, I am surprised that you would make such comments about American Citizens considering that you are in the U.S. on a student Visa from the country of India.</p>
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<p>Clemson is amazing but doesn’t have aerospace engineer. By the way, those rankings above are probably for graduate school as Clemson and Auburn are traditionally ranked about the same for undergraduate engineering.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions about Clemson or the engineering program! (I’m a freshman in the general engineering program planning on moving into civil engineering next year!)</p>
<p>@ JohnAdams12
- I ain’t no Indian and I am U.S. Citizen
- I have freedom of speech by the U.S. constitution states as first amendment right. This is not hate speech toward any race.<br>
- lol do you have to make this kinda childish attack on a comment I made about how Auburn is not par with Texas A&M in engineer program?</p>
<p>I can see why JohnAdams12 would think you are foreign, CSmajor5, because you write English as if it were your second language.</p>
<p>FWIW, I also assumed that CSmajor5 was a foreigner due to his posts. It isn’t an incredibly hard conclusion to come to. He very well still may not speak English as his first language while still being a citizen, though.</p>
<p>I know some that go to A&M and really liked the Corp. The engineering have their own group deal in the Corp and have this strict time to do homework and ask questions from upperclassman. Still from those that visit back home from A&M they seem to really enjoy it. I’d go with A&M.</p>
<p>^Hey! Keep that annoying crud in the other thread.</p>
<p>Oh! And he’ll likely come back really buff after the corps. Every guy going there comes back buff even the chubbiest guys. They also come out very smart. So it’s likely you’ll find yourself with this completely transformed buff and smart son.</p>