<p>Would appreciate any comments and/or personal knowledge/experience concerning the quality of the aerospace engineering programs at these universities (and any general comments about the university itself). Thank you!</p>
<p>Iowa State has a very good rep. I would guess that UA-Huntsville benefits from the massive aerospace presence in that area.</p>
<p>no offense but they are all rather pedestrian</p>
<p>Why is that bearcats, because they don’t lead to ibanking jobs like you so covet? If you can’t be of help to the OP, then why post at all? Not everyone has to go to some elite school according to USNWR.</p>
<p>IA State has a good reputation, and UA-Huntsville has an underrated program that I have heard good things about (though I only know one person who goes there, she did get a good job at Sandia and now is in grad school with me). Minny has a solid engineering program overall, but I have no idea if their aero department is any good. I think they are mainly known for their chemical engineering. I don’t really know anything about Bama.</p>
<p>No. Because I am merely stating a fact. The fact is for the same amount of money you would spend going to those schools, you could find a school of much better quality in terms of prestige, student body quality, faculty quality, facility quality and amount of resources available for each student, not to mention the job opportunity, and I don’t only mean the elite jobs in finance and consulting, but ordinary engineering jobs as well.</p>
<p>
I love how you can predict this without knowing the OP’s stats. May I borrow the crystal ball when you finish?</p>
<p>Did I at any point imply that the OP could get into the better schools? Maybe you have reading comprehension problem or a rather imaginative mind that allows you to make up content, because the only FACTS that I have stated are :
- They are pedestrian and not great schools.
- You could find better schools that cost the same.</p>
<p>“you could FIND a school of much better quality” does not equal “you could GET INTO a school of much better quality”. Being able to read well is a great skill to have.</p>
<p>The OP asked about “any comments and/or personal knowledge/experience concerning the quality” and that is what I have.</p>
<p>^ Cost is devilishly tricky to predict.</p>
<p>^ Unless you have a crystal ball</p>
<p>Some clarification about the OP:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>OP has the stats to get into many “top 10” engineering programs, but doesn’t care to attend a number of them (MIT and GT among others).</p></li>
<li><p>OP would likely get a full ride to the 4 univ. mentioned previously and is seeking info about these schools to consider in weighing that factor.</p></li>
<li><p>OP likely not eligible for need-based financial aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Iowa State University is ranked 18th in Aerospace Eng. in 2010 USNWR.</p></li>
<li><p>Interesting perspective quoted below from Lockheed manager in a 2008 posting on CC.</p></li>
<li><p>Would appreciate more feedback, can handle constructive comments whether they are positive or negative. Would like to hear more in particular from someone with actual knowledge/experience of the university.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>QUOTED MATERIAL:
09-23-2008, 10:02 PM #16<br>
rogracer
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 813 I’m a hiring manager for Lockheed, so I can help you out a bit. We have 27 schools on our “key school” list and about 50 others on our “target school” list…these are the schools we most heavily recruit at…it is not just the top 5 or 10 commonly mentioned on these boards. I will also mention your individual accomplishments in school (GPA, breadth of class work, skill-set, projects, internships, coops, interviews) are far more important than the school listed on your diploma. The same is true of all major aerospace companies I might add.<br>
rogracer
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 813 Here is the key-school list (most heavily recruited):</p>
<p>Iowa State
Texas A & M
University of Arizona
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Texas - Austin
Howard
Carnegie Mellon
Ohio State
Purdue
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)
University of Michigan
Cornell
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Penn State
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Pennsylvania
Georgia Tech
University of Florida
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Virginia
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech)
Stanford
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Los Angeles
University of Southern California
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo</p>
<p>Here is the Target School list:</p>
<p>Colorado State
Southern Methodist University
University of Texas - El Paso
Kansas State University
Oklahoma State University
University of New Mexico
Texas Tech
Colorado School of Mines
Texas Christian University
Hampton
Morehouse
Tuskegee
North Carolina State University
Mississippi State
Alabama A and M
Florida State
University of Arkansas
Spelman
Florida International University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida)
University of Central Florida
George Mason University
James Madison University
Michigan State University
Notre Dame
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri - Rolla
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Florida Atlantic University
Old Dominion University
Rutgers - New Brunswick
Clarkson
Drexel
Lehigh
Rochester Institute of Technology
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Buffalo
Syracuse
Villanova
University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Arizona State
Brigham Young University
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
San Jose State University
University of Washington
University of California - Davis
University of California - San Diego
University of Hawaii
Santa Clara University </p>
<p>09-28-2008, 12:59 PM #32<br>
rogracer
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 813
One thing I should mention about “Key Schools”…it isn’t simply about recruitment. Those are the schools we develop relationships with to cultivate talent…we will sponsor engineering society dinners, senior projects, DARPA challenge events, Formula SAE competitions, etc. It gives us a chance to “get inside” the schools and find the best students…the ones that are exceptionally smart and work well as organizers and as part of productive teams…those are skills that are very important for a career in engineering. Schools with small programs, although they may be deemed “elite” by some folks on these boards, sometimes do not produce a good return on our recruitment investment in finding suitable talent.</p>
<p>09-28-2008, 03:36 PM # 38<br>
rogracer
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 813
Our key school list is all about return-on-investment. The schools listed have depth of programs across a range of departments and have talented students that are as good as those anywhere (trust me, this is a true statement). You will notice a lot of public universities on the list…and I am willing to bet that stuns a lot to see that especially when many ivies and so-called elite schools are missing. But we can harvest more talent typically at the schools listed for every dollar spent. And again, at our Key schools we have deep involvement with professors, projects and students that is simply not possible with small programs that don’t have the resources to field, for example, a DARPA challenge team.</p>
<p>Also, at the schools listed we can get BS, MS and PhD students engaged…and get to know these students at a working level…which again is not always possible with smaller programs. Do we think some of these smaller schools are “over-rated”? No, not really. But I do think there is a perception on these boards that underrates many of the quality public school programs that are out there.</p>
<p>Minnesota and Iowa State have excellent engineering programs…</p>
<p>I go to Bama. I can’t speak on our aerospace engineering program a whole lot but I do have a few friends who are aerospace engineering majors. They have had opportunities for undergraduate research here and have had no problems securing internships and/or co-ops with various aerospace industry companies.</p>
<p>Being from Huntsville, I would say that UAH has a great engineering program plus it being right now the street from Redstone Arsenal, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA, etc, it has great connections with them. I think UAH would be a great choice if you want to work in the aerospace/defense industry.</p>
<p>I go to Iowa State, it’s not ‘prestigous’ like them ivies but some positive things i have to say</p>
<ol>
<li>in the Midwest it’s got a good rep…in these parts it’s as good a school as any to employers</li>
<li>it’s a huge engineering school…u will enjoy the engineering community here. We have an entire week dedicated just to engineers + one of the largest Engineering career fairs </li>
<li>Aerospace program has special history at ISU…i’m an M.E. but apparently we did a lot with the development of CFD and there’s also ton of alum at Lockheed and Boeing</li>
<li>ISU is one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation</li>
</ol>
<p>as an ending note…it’s the “go to” school if you are in-state, but otherwise there may be other choices for money…</p>
<p>Well I think the point bearcats was making was that if you can get into these schools you may be able to get into Maryland or Virginia Tech which are traditionally better known for aerospace engineering.</p>
<p>I’ve been at UAH and it looks depressing. It’s more of a commuter school because the dorms suck.</p>
<p>OP, just pick the one that best fits you socially and academically. In the end, it doesn’t matter where you got your degree as long as you have the right attitude and put yourself out there.</p>