<p>As a student who was probably very much like your daughter I would like to offer my advice/opinion/experiences on the matter. I have had a very strong passion for the space program from the time I was in about 5th grade. Not really sure where it came from, but it's never gone away. I knew that some day I wanted to work for NASA. Throughout middle school and high school I demonstrated strengths in mathematics and the sciences. Throughout high school I began looking at colleges and majors as well as the best way to get a position at NASA. I know there are going to be people out there who disagree with me, but I looked at colleges for 3 years and talked to people who currently work in the field and everything indicated that for your undergrad it really didn't matter where you went to college, it was the graduate degree that mattered. If you talk to 100 people who currently work at NASA you will probably find out they went to multiple different schools (granted it depends on which NASA site you're at as to which schools those are and just how much variety there is). The same is true for any of the major aerospace contractors. Sure some of the bigger schools might have a greater percentage, but doesn't this make sense if they are graduating more students? After speaking with several people and reading a great deal of literature both from NASA and other sources I determined the best way to get a job there was going to be to enter the co-op program. As a result I placed a great deal of consideration on the co-op programs of the schools I was looking at. I have just finished up my first year (although I will technically be a junior at the end of the summer term thanks to AP credit) as a Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering major and possible Russian minor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and last week, I received a phone call informing me that I have been selected for a coop position at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center here in Huntsville beginning this fall. When you do begin looking at colleges I would recommend you look at how well established the relationships are between the schools and the companies in the area your daughter decides she wants to work. </p>
<p>Also, don't let yourselves be blown away by big names and numbers. Purdue is an excellent engineering school located in my home state and I could have just as easily attended school there. I loved it and to be honest with you up until about April 15, 2005 I was supposed to go to Purdue. What changed my mind? Well, both Purdue and UAH offered me nearly equivalant scholarships and have excellent coop programs. I chose UAH for several reasons. The size of UAh is significantly smaller. As a result I get a significant ammount of one on one attention from my professors and instructors in contrast to just being another freshman engineering student. UAH allowed me to jump right into my MAE courses. Purdue enrolls all freshman engineering students in a freshman engineering program. They do not specify their specific area of engineering until their sophomore year. I was 99.9% sure I wanted to Aerospace and I wanted to be able to get right into my classes. Last semester I took my Intro to Mech/Aero Engr. course, this semester I am taking my Engineering Graphics for Mech Engineers course, this summer I will be taking Statics. UAH is located in Huntsville, Alabama, the home of Research Park and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Research Park is the 2nd (I believe that's correct) largest research park in the country and every major aerospace contractor in the country has an office located here. When it came to co-op, UAH's program is excellent(as I mentioned before) and because so many companies within my industry are located here in Huntsville I had a very good chance at getting a job locally. A local job allows me to stay involved on campus and saves the hassle of having to move every 4 months. In fact, I will actually still be living on campus this fall. Those are the biggest reasons I can think of why I chose UAH over Purdue. The housing set-up was a definite advantage as well (I LOVE having my own room!).</p>
<p>If you're looking for things for your daughter to do over the summer there are several links from the NASA site to various programs, just make sure to take note of application deadlines. Also, I don't know how interested she is in engineering or where you are from, but I would definitely recommend checking into Operation Catapult at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology between her Junior and Senior year. If I hadn't been studying in Mexico that summer I would have gone for sure!</p>
<p>I apologize for the length of this post, but I thought hearing from a student who had been in a similar situation might help. I hope it did. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.</p>