Input on engineering schools, VT, ASU, FIT, Rose
 

Not sure if i'm monopolizing the groups knowledge here with more college talk but we are in the latter stages of my son picking a college. I know we have a pretty diverse and well educated group on this forum so....help!

Son is a math/science type and has said engineering/aerospace eng. is what he wants to pursue. Options being considered so far-

Va Tech
Az St. U
Rose Hulman
Fla. Institute of Tech.
Embry Riddle
UNC Charlotte

Waiting to hear from Penn State and Auburn. Couple of wait lists and deferred decisions out there as well but i think we've got our hands full already.

Big thanks already to Rick Lee for insight into the area around ASU.

I had two kids graduate from VT, although they were finance / accounting majors, not engineering. Our collective experience with Tech was very positive, however, and I always heard good things about the engineering school. We lived in Northern VA at the time both were accepted, and it was pretty darn competitive, especially for the engineering school.

That's all I got. Good luck and Go Hokies.

My daughter went to ASU for their business school. Great experience.

A friend of mine has a son who is a senior at ASU in the engineering school. I can hook you guys up.

My company does a lot of work with VT. Great kids and program.

Nice problem to have:p:cool:

If cost is a consideration and UF somehow gets on your list (no idea as to what their engineering program is like) we have a "bridge" where you do the gened stuff at Santa Fe and as part of it you are preadmitted to UF and given a future slot in your chosen degree track. Smaller classes (max is 25 or 26), our best math faculty (well, honestly quite a large percentage of all faculty) are all native English speakers, it is a smaller campus, still in G'ville and much cheaper tuition. https://www.eng.ufl.edu/students/gesf/

He should be a Yellow Jacket!

1. Best aerospace engineering schools in the US – US News Rankings 2021

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Stanford University
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Purdue University – West Lafayette
University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
University of Texas – Austin
Texas A&M University – College Station
Cornell University

My son did 7 years at VT. PHD then Vet school. He loves Blacksburg and so do I. He plays hockey( goalie) in the winter and tennis in the summer.

As long as they are all accredited institutions and they have his flavor of engineering, he will be all set. They are all good picks.

Unless he’s been accepted to MIT or Harvard it doesn't matter much where he goes to school as long as he graduates with decent (above 3.0) GPA. I hired lots of Mechanical engineers, where they graduated from didn’t matter. Good grades and a good interview is enough. All that said it would depend on where he sees himself working. My two cents worth.

This. I was once adjunct faculty at GT. But, engineering there is a very, very challenging program. They also have good Army, Navy, and AF ROTC Programs. Probably not the same college town atmosphere to enjoy as a lot of schools since it is in downtown Atlanta.

One of my very close friends is a engineer who graduated from VT, it was a positive experience and he has a very good career in Colorado.

If there is a company he knows he wants to work for, then he should pick the school which heavily recruits there. That said, he won't have an idea about that now. Have him pick the school where he thinks he will be the most engaged, get good grades, and completes his degree.

Then, he can start working and decide where to get his masters from if he wants to toss his name in for companies who care about that.

All of these are great options.

I'll add one more: RPI - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. One of the oldest engineering schools in the USA.

The good - One of the best schools in the USA.
The bad - in Troy NY

Honestly - You cannot get a bad engineering degree. Anywhere will be great.

I do have to say - Gig'em Aggies!

Have you considered Lehigh?

I'm fascinated with Colorado School of Mines.

I loved Auburn. Just went down for E-Day with my two sons and it made me want to retire and go back to school for fun with all the cool engineering projects they have going on. They did not have all that when I was there (decades ago). My son was most interested in the Formula SAE and the autonomous formula racer. Before the trip he wanted to go mechanical. After the trip he is talking about Electrical/Computer and wanting to buy a standalone ECU for the Miata.

My daughter and her fiance will be attending grad school in the fall at Va Tech. My wife visited up there with my daughter and liked the area a lot. I have heard good things about the school but only met a couple of engineers that went there (both plenty smart). Future son-in-law is already up there freezing his butt off.

Mississippi State also has a decent engineering program and I have a nephew that just graduated from there. They have a reputation for providing really good scholarships as incentive to out of state students. He had a job with Lockheed lined up that started right after he graduated.

Haven't heard any bad stories about any of them on your list. I agree with Seahawk. It's a nice problem to have.

Only think I can add to the thread is there is going to be a boom in engineering jobs.....

Combination of EV's replacing ICE cars, increased defence spending due to the Ukraine situation, space exploration and the push to move away from fossil fuels to greener energy I doubt your son will have any trouble finding a great job after he graduates

Or maybe he decides not to grow up and gets a job in motorsport ;)

My take.... any of them will set him on a great career path. Does he want to go to college in a big city, or a college town ... totally different experience. VT is an awesome school, but Blacksburg probably doesn't offer much afterwards. A school like NCSU (Research Triangle area), or UNCC (motorsports mecca) will likely offer a better transition post degree, and the "connections" made in school there.

I'd opt for the "college town" experience (and did decades ago).... I just didn't want to go to school in a bigger city.

He's a youngin' .... enjoy the journey too ;)...

Best to you both .... great "problem" to have :)

I have a number of coworkers who attended VT, they have a very good alumni network. You might want to check that too since the goal of a college degree is a good job in your favored technical field.

I would also suggest FIT since the school does have a good rep and aerospace has a bright future on the Space Coast.

Thanks so much for the input!

Wasn't sure about FIT as it is a very small school. He's interested though and does want to be somewhere nice. There is also a g/f that will be in school in Boca so i'm wary of his thought process. I'm wondering if a small school will have the resources to get him hands on experience vs a larger school.

He's waitlisted at RPI but i'm thinking he would hate going to school in NY. I'm partial to VT but he's not particularly wild about the location. Penn State would only be about 4.5 hrs away. VT is around 7. Everything else is a plane ride.

Consider the rest of the school's portfolio - many of us didn't come out as we planned going in.

I am not rocket surgeon or plane doctor, so I can't really comment on the schools under discussion, but if the school's accredited one would get a solid education. The big difference, I think, is how a student can get internships and a relationship with future employers. Or perhaps an easy entry into grad school if you want to prolong the college experience. (I did, and it was awesome. Totally made up for the previous four years of torture)

The GT campus is very nice. I disagree with your atmosphere statement. My son has an aerospace engineering degree from Ga Tech. He’s now a commissioned officer flying Apache’s in the Army. The work was grueling. He will freely admit that the Army is a piece of cake compared to the Aerospace program at GT. I’ve never seen him work so hard for anything. Missed holidays, nights, weekends, lost weight (and didnt need to). But that diploma is more valuable to him than anything.

If your son has the drive and ambition to pursue one of the best and most strenuous AE programs, GT is worth a look.

I’ve never understood this whole “college tour, atmosphere” thing. It’s only temporary...pick the best school you can get into for what you want to achieve. If the cafeteria is painted the wrong color, it doesn’t matter. If he’s going to pursue AE...that should be the priority.

Now stepping off of soap box.

^^^^ Life is a journey, not a destination, and we are all different. At 17 .... he might not have a clue if he really wants what he thinks he does now. My hs buddy went to West Point, flew Blackhawks, then got his eng. masters at GT .... smart guy.... corporate exec is where he wound up. Younger relative had scholarships all the way through graduating from med school, before he decided is was not "his journey"... now an ordained minister.

Lots of ways .... lots of paths.... lots of stories ....

It's his life to choose what path he desires to take :)

Choc GT was the reach school but didn't get in.

What i'm trying to understand is if any of the schools he was admitted to give a decided advantage on internships and job opportunities after. Thus far the read i get is 'not really unless its Stanford, MIT or GT'. And at that point are we just shopping price and location?

For the most part you’re right, but I don’t think price and location are the primary factors you should consider. While important, the fit of the school and campus to your son’s personality and expectations are paramount. All of the schools mentioned are good and well respected and will put him on a good path to start. But some will make his experience better than others, and that’s where you want to send him. Saving a few thousand per year seems smart unless he ends up spending five years at the cheap school and could have finished in four at the “expensive” one. The schools you’re discussing run the gamut, so let him pick and chose between them to find something that fits him. The better the fit the better he’ll do and the easier his time on campus will be.

90-95% factor -for any serious student, go to the one that he got into that is the most selective and hardest to get into (almost always this will also be the one with the highest HS GPA and SAT scores, the lowest admit rate and among the highest yield).
That’s the market objectively telling you the best school.

As I noted, it was an excellent school when I worked there, but not a typical small town campus (where the school "is" the town). The students, professors and curriculum were first rate. We got the brightest and the best. It certainly was not a "party school." There were plenty of Co-op opportunities for engineers and plenty of opportunities for graduates.

As far as the atmosphere, the campus has expanded and experience may be a lot nicer today when I worked there (in the 90s), but it certainly was not then. I expect it has improved some due to the massive urban renewal in that area of Atlanta after the 1996 Olympics where it was Olympic village and fences/security were installed (Assuming they are still there). Also, a couple of the worst tenement housing projects were leveled for UGA dormitories (skyscrapers) at that time. When I worked there, it was in the middle of a ghetto and surrounded by housing projects and bordered by the interstate on one side. The homeless and drug dealers wandered the campus. Rapes and robberies were not uncommon. Movement on parts of campus after dark was considered "asking for it." Homeless people broke into my office more than once and slept there when it was cold. I had to deal with panhandlers daily and criminals attempted to mug me more than once. There was almost no parking or local (off campus) restaurants nearby). It is still in the middle of a large urban center with accompanying crime, parking, and traffic problems. If you compare it to Auburn/UGA or another school I worked at in GA and the difference in atmosphere was day and night. Auburn had cows grazing on campus and traffic was almost nonexistent.

A great school and a great education, but not the same vibe as some...at least, not from my experience. It depends on what you are looking for.

My daughter went to accredited schools that are considered much lesser schools than her friends. So did I. We both have done well and in both cases, did better than most of our peers in the same occupation with degrees from much more prestigious universities. My daughter's employer was concerned about her ability to pass her boards (due to her "lesser" school), but she scored much higher than all of her ivy league peers, many whom work for her now. It was much the same for me and I went to a much maligned school for my undergrad while working full time (and two part time jobs simultaneously). In most jobs, an accredited degree will take you as far as your willingness to work hard lets you. One critical thing is that if you want to go on to a good grad school, it pays to keep your grades high. Otherwise, for most, a C is about as good as an A (as long as you learn what you need to know). The bottom grad from med school is called the same thing as the top grad. Doctor.

Don't overlook the Engineering programs at Mississippi State University!

Hail State!
Go Dogs!

I've read this thread and a few similar ones on different forums, and thought I'd finally give my thoughts on the question. As a degreed engineer from a university that many would consider "lesser" I had no problem getting a job with above a 3.0 GPA while working my way through college. I also recruited, hired, mentored, and managed engineers for an engineering leadership program for a very large multinational corporation. When it comes to hiring, one of my managers gave me the following advice, "If the candidate is graduating with an engineering degree and has a GPA above a 3.50, we know they can learn. What we need to know is whether or not the candidate can play nicely in the sandbox with the other 'kids.' We can teach them whatever they need to know, we can't teach them how to work well with others."
When it comes to a school, let me back you up and ask you a question about your son. Is he the hands on type that likes to get dirty or does he prefer to sit back at a computer and let someone else do the dirty work?

Cape Canaveral is an easy drive from FIT. Northrop Grumman, Boeing, L3 Harris, and NASA, and Lockheed are all in the region as well as smaller aerospace firms.

Constant theme from teachers is he's great in group settings. Better than solo i'd say.

I have no school spirit in the conventional sense but Purdue had a great engineering curriculum and i believe is still value priced.

Ut Austin is also a great school with a fun campus

RPI is a very very nice Campus in a terrible city. I started at Texas A&M, had a little too much fun and ended up at Union College (RPI's hockey rival) in Schenectady.

I went to RPI for 1 semester, 30+ years ago. The upside is it is a small beautiful campus. It is easy to get around. But it is a very cut throat place with everyone being a top student before going.

Texas A&M or any larger state school, big campus, lots of people and LOTS of people studying different subjects, which makes the male/female ratio better.

Union College is a SMALL school (2000 students), that offers a "classic" well rounded education, but is strangely 50% hard science and engineering. Beautiful Campus in another upstate awful city (but better now than when I went). If he like frats, this is one of the places to go.

It is hard to get a "bad" engineering degree. But he better plan on hitting the books because it is one of the more difficult degrees. School was easy for me, and I did not have great "study skills" before college. I had to learn them for engineering. And creating a study group is one of the best ways.

I nearly ended up going to GMI (now kettering) and when, on a student tour, some southerners asked about the "habitrails" above the roads. "Oh, this is Michigan. It's cold here". The guide's response was "no, it's Flint"

It seems that the more glamorous fields get the cut-throat mentality. I know that my wife with a ChE at Colorado Mines experienced that. Brutal and it seemed like they all were angling for that "fat" job in a consulting firm. It turns out that a comfortable grad degree is far less stressful and likely more profitable.

+1 on good and bad. Troy is the armpit of upstate NY. Just across the river from Albany. Not too far from NYC

it might be a coincidence
but I've worked with 2 engineers
who graduated from Rice
and they are both blithering
idiots

I once had a boss who graduated
from VT and I considered him
to be brilliant

Top Engineering Schools.............
 

I second (or third) taking a look at Georgia Tech. My son got both his undergrad degree (Mechanical Engineering) and his masters degree (International Business) from GT. After finishing his ME degree he was hired almost immediately (2008) by Gulfstream to do acoustic engineering work. He has been there for almost 14 years now with no end in sight! Getting a degree from GT is neither easy or cheap but in the long run is worth the effort and every nickel spent! Now if they could just figure out how to play football.........................

worst kid AND parent behavior i ever saw in sports was a baseball team from Troy NY in 11U ball. Memorable because they had two studs who could toss 75mph and at 50' that is smokin. Same two kids could launch any pitch well over the fence, ball or strike. just formidable players. but the parents encouraged them to talk trash on reaching base (literally cheered when the kids did it like it was some WWF event). The pitchers refused warm up pitches between innings but for one half hearted lob to the catcher. Just to make a point.

The parents on that team had no idea their behavior was abnormal and seemed somewhat surprised when we didn't reciprocate. They were really surprised when quite a few spectators started booing them. Never saw anything like it before or after.