Hey, I’m an engineering student. Now I have couple acceptance: Aerospace Engineering at Penn State(University Park), Electrical Engineering in Northeastern University (Boston), and Business undeclared in University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, (They accepted me with my secondary major, but I plan to transfer to Engineering anyway.), Texas A&M in Galveston(I applied to College Station I don’t know why they put me in Galveston). I personally love aerospace more than Electrical Engineering, but due to my citizenship(Chinese), I heard many inter and researches will close their doors for me. Northeastern has great co op, but when I visited the campus, I wasn’t so impressed. However, I also worried about Penn State’s quality and inter opportunities for aerospace.(Their ranking is dropping.) Now, I’m so confused and don’t know what to do. In my mind, I value working experience and my plan after undergraduate is to go to graduate school, or get a job in the field I studied(if I can).I will visit Penn State on April 25th, please comment and help me.
What is the net cost for each college?
What state do you live in?
I currently live in Miami, but it doesn’t matter since I don’t have family in the State. Northeastern is the most expensive one (around 65,000 dollars).
Can you stay in Miami for a year and take CC classes to knock out the pre requisites and reapply to target schools for Aero next year?
Thanks for your advise, but I currently have couple courses in UM and AP credits. I’m able to knock out most of the requisites already. Secondly, I personally don’t want to do so.
Would you prefer to complain about your options, or set yourself up to the best aero schools?
If I want to complain, I wouldn’t event bother to write that much, but agin thanks for ur advice. CC is really not a choice.
Don’t count on transferring from Business to Engineering at UIUC, it is very unlikely to happen.
^ I agree. If you want engineering then go to a college in which you’ve already been accepted into the engineering school.
Thank you. I have the same feeling.
Have you researched what internship and job opportunities are available for non-US citizens from these various schools? I know of many companies and governmental agencies that will not or cannot hire foreign nationals.
You don’t want to commit to a program that will not produce employment at the end of all the studying and hard work.
Good luck!
If you want engineering, don’t choose a college where you don’t have that major. I’d also cross out TAMU Galveston as it’s really not the same as TAMU College Station and it’s not the best pick in your list.
So, the choice is between Northeastern and Penn State.
They’re very different, so you should have a clear preference after you visit Penn State.
(BTW, don’t worry about aerospace engineering rankings, as they’re for grad programs and do not apply to undergrads, since they’re not based on the things you’ll be doing. In addition Penn State aerospace remains excellent).
If you still don’t have a preference after visiting Penn State, choose the cheapest one.
Thanks for your advice. For TAMU, they told me I will spend my first year there. After Freshmen year,they will send me to College Station. If that’s the case, should I still consider it?
That’s my concern. My feeling is I may need to switch out from aerospace because it’s impossible to get an aerospace job in U.S. for me.
That’s true. ^
Look at each university and see how easy it is to switch to another engineering major. Email them too.