UT vs TAMU for Aerospace

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I am thinking about applying to a school in texas in order to study aerospace engineering. I am looking to eventualy work for NASA, or a defence contractor such as lockheed martin. Distance from home (colorado and/or arizona) is a factor.</p>

<p>Looking at it, UT and TAMU seem to be the top choices. thing is, I cant tell the difference!
Both are similarly ranked for AE
Both have similar size
Both have similar admission requirements/averages
Both have similar costs
Both are ~95% in state students</p>

<p>the only difference i can tell is admission rate with UT at 44% and TAMU at 70%, but i assume that is just because of the number of applicants UT gets.</p>

<p>so, is there a difference between the two? Is one better for AE, and why?</p>

2

<p>At the UG level I say they are just about the same–bon3head however might be able to shed some light on TAMU’s ASE Program.</p>

3

<p>The main difference that in the schools is their “personality”. If you look at the campuses atmosphere and what they have going on you’ll find them very different. TAMU has a much more conservative, spread out feel whereas UT is much more “liberal” and urban. </p>

<p>Austin (where UT is located) prides itself on being unique. Everywhere you go you’ll see shirts that say “Keep Austin Weird”
A&M is the opposite and I’ve seen shirts there that say “Keep College Station Normal”</p>

4

<p>Austin is a VERY cool city. I wish TAMU would have been in Austin so that I could live there instead of College Station to be honest. Alas, it is not, and I am in the not-as-bad-as-people-make-it-sound town of College Station.</p>

<p>While my experience here is still pretty limited, as I haven’t been in school HERE very long, maybe I can at least help you somewhat, especially since I am from out of state and so I don’t have the typical bias that most Texan’s do towards one school or the other.</p>

<p>Overall, the school at UT is probably a better school, though not by as much as some would have you believe. However, for engineering, from what I have seen of the two schools, you are right on; they are nearly identical. They are more different in the graduate area where you can get into what research areas each is best at, but for undergraduate, it would be hard to sell one over the other from what I can see.</p>

<p>I can tell you that the Department of Aerospace Engineering at TAMU is going on a spending frenzy, upgrading a lot of its facilities and capabilities and getting more and more research grants as a result. For example, the lab I work in just recently got a $10 million grant from NASA and is bringing in and building a lot of state-of-the-art wind tunnels for use in the National Aerothermochemistry Laboratory and at the Hypersonic Transition Center. The airport research facilities as a whole are expanding rapidly. There is also a big research group working on huge money from contractors that is part of a consortium of universities who are working on shape memory alloys and ceramic-metal composites. Those are the two groups I have the most exposure to, and are expanding rapidly.</p>

<p>Just for the general aerospace engineering department, they are about to install a supercomputer in the basement of the main building, which means much easier access to CPU time for learning CFD or for running meaningful simulations. There aren’t very many aerospace departments in the world that have their own supercomputing facilities, but TAMU will soon. I have also found the faculty to be very approachable compared to some places I have visited, so despite the size, it ALMOST has the feel of a smaller school… almost.</p>

<p>As for UT, I really can’t contribute much there since I don’t go there and only know it by its reputation and the people I have met/worked with from there. I really don’t think you can go wrong either way.</p>

<p>My suggestion: visit both and see where you feel most comfortable.</p>

5

<p>honestly, academically wise, both are almost the same. UT is slightly higher for engineering, but not significantly. if your liberal or don’t care, go to Austin. If your conservative and very Christian, go to A&M.</p>

6

<p>oh yea, and UT is more of a party school. also, UT has hot girls, and apparently A&M has attractive guys.</p>

7

<p>Those admissions rates are not accurate. TAMU’s for Class of 2013 was around 33% (~ 8500/25,000). Not sure on UT’s, but it was somewhere near that. Overall, both schools are highly represented at major Aero companies and agencies, especially within the state of Texas at places like NASA-JSC and Lockheed Martin. Ultimately it should come down to which school you feel more comfortable with.</p>

8

<p>so basically my thoughts have been confirmed- UT and TAMU are basically identical
and it does sound like i should make a college visit, Thing is, i am not going anywhere near texas in the near future…</p>

<p>Just out of curiousity, how would you say that University of Colorado (boulder) compares with these two? UC will eventually be competing for the same “slot” if i dont get accepted to/ cant afford my ideal college.</p>

9

<p>CU-Boulder is a great school, especially in aero, and is actually pretty comparable with UT and TAMU.</p>

10

<p>After analyzing some things, it looks like UT is closer, and will be cheaper w/ the GI bill</p>

11

<p>Tuition was the deciding factor for my UG as well–remember you can always go to graduate school on their dime.</p>

12

<p>^^^^^</p>

<p>I rarely read why someone edited their post, but yours made me laugh out loud!:)</p>