AeroMike

I'm a senior at a public high school in Palm Beach, Florida, about to start applying to universities. I feel like I have a bit of a special case though, which is why I'm asking here in hopes that someone with much more knowledge can help.

Basically, I've been dual enrolling at Palm Beach State College (now full-time dual enrolled) and part of AP courses since Sophomore year, so I have a lot of college credit, enough to easily graduate with a transfer degree this spring. I plan on majoring in Aerospace Engineering, so I've focused on the pre-requisites for that course, and should be done with calc III, differential equations, physics II w/ calc, and a bunch of other general education courses. I'll list some other stats below,

SAT: Math-750 Reading-800 Writing-680, 1st attempt, no retakes
No ACT
High school GPA: 3.79
Weighted GPA: 4.6 (likely to get very close to 5 by the time I graduate)
College GPA: 3.82
College credits: 49 (will graduate with 85 or 88)
Extracurricular: Eagle scout, JROTC, math olympics

So, taking this all into account, I'm planning on applying to University of Florida, Georgia Tech, University of Texas (Austin), and also considering Purdue. I really cannot afford MIT, nor do I very much like the weather up there, not that I like the hot mugginess of South Florida. I've kind of ruled out California schools for mostly cultural reasons. But anyways, UF is 25th or so, and GT and UT are top 10. UF is nearly free to go to, given that I'll receive bright futures and prepaid benefits. UT may offer a full ride scholarship, but to the Houston campus. On to the actual questions,

1. How prestigious would a degree in aerospace engineering be from each school? Directly relating to that, would a degree from UF land me jobs nationally, or regionally? I'd preferably like to move to Northern Virginia after college.

2. I feel like I may have better internship opportunities at UF than out of state, because of personal connections to Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, and Lockheed Martin around where I live currently. Am I correct in assuming that I'd get better internships then by staying in state? I have been told that internships matter the most when it comes to jobs after college.

3. I want to get my master's. UF offers a program to combine master's courses with undergraduate, essentially counting some courses twice for credits. This allows people to graduate in 5 years (4/1) rather than 6. I was wondering if the other universities have similar programs.

4. Since I'll be graduating with the two year degree, how much less time will I be spending at university? I pretty much have all the engineering pre-reqs. The only thing that concerns me is that I know some engineering courses are taught in freshman/sophomore years, and they may be pre-reqs for later engineering courses. Can I reasonably expect 2 years less, or is it closer to 1? Would I have a easier and more favorable transfer from state college to state university than out of state? Also, should I apply with the freshman (now) or with the transfers (Spring), or even both?

5. Social scenes. I realize UF can be considered a party school. I'm not in to parties. However, UF seems like a more balanced school than Georgia Tech (3:1 Male:Female), and like I'd enjoy myself there. It's a massive school, with lots of clubs and organizations to involve myself in, and lots of activities to take part in. I'd like to have a reasonably successful dating life in college, which I've heard is not so good at GT. I also have a bunch of good friends that go to UF. So I'd expect to enjoy UF a bit more, but I've not been to Georgia Tech, or even Atlanta for quite some time. Which of the schools I'm considering will be the most enjoyable and motivating? I realize that I'm not going to university to have a good time, but I know that if I enjoy the experience, I'll do much better and be more motivated to learn.

Thank you all for your replies and reading the lengthy post.

Batllo

What are the cultural reasons that are preventing you from considering Universities of California?

AeroMike

Basically the liberal attitudes and green culture in California. Also, the congested roads and extreme housing prices. I have no desire to bicycle and walk everywhere. I don't mind it on occasion, but I absolutely love (and will not give up) open roads, full sized houses at reasonable prices, and loud sports cars that would never pass California's stringent emissions standards.

AeroMike

I'd intern at a Californian company. If I was offered a job at a company like SpaceX upon graduation, I'd probably accept it. I simply have no desire to spend 4+ years of my life there. Anyways, I don't want to get too off topic into a conversation about California

Erin's Dad

Can you afford GTech, Purdue and UT OOS? You would be full pay for those schools.

polarscribe

If you have personal connections, internship possibilities and significant financial aid at UF, I'd say you would be very well served by heading there.

AeroMike

I can afford the out of state tuition. I suppose the question is, "Do I gain from attending one of the OOS schools?" and is it worth the difference in tuition? I'd probably end up splitting the cost with my parents, meaning I take out loans equal to their contributions. So I'd pretty much graduate UF debt free, but end up 40-60k in the hole by going to the others. Is the name of the school worth that, or will companies care more about my internship history?

PackMom

UF.... Graduating debt free from a good school that you like..seems like the obvious choice.

Erin's Dad

UF is the obvious choice. BTW, you can only take out Stafford loans yourself (max of ~$25K)

rogracer

Yep...a top 25 program with lots of research and intern ops for cheap is pretty obvious.

mom2collegekids

tuition? I'd probably end up splitting the cost with my parents, meaning I take out loans equal to their contributions. So I'd pretty much graduate UF debt free, but end up 40-60k in the hole by going to the others.


Not only would it be crazy to borrow that much, but YOU can't borrow that much. You'd need your parents to co-sign and many parents won't do that.

That much debt is crazy and totally unnecessary for an eng'g degree.

Are you aware that engineers are paid the same when they're hired? When Company A is hiring 5 engineers (and they'll come from varying ranking eng'g programs) they will ALL start at the SAME salary????

AND, how will you feel when your fellow new-hire engineer who has little/no debt is paid the same and therefore has more "extra money" than you do, but that person graduated from UF or even a lesser ranked eng'g program? The engineer could be from UA-Huntsville and commuted for $6k per year...and he'd get paid the same as you....with all your big debt.

blueiguana

No one here can tell you how many of your AP and dual enrollment credits will transfer to each university. You will have to contact each university individually and find this out. From there you can speak to the engineering department about a reasonable schedule given credits awarded, pre-req's you'll have to take before moving on, etc. This will obviously drive how long it would take you to finish your degree at each university. The answer may be very different depending on how generous they are with transfer credits. Some universities will not award DE credit if those classes were also used to fulfill a hs graduation requirement. In other words, they won't let you double dip. Make sure you know who will accept what.

patesq

My husband is an aerospace engineer with his PhD and he has mentioned Ga Tech (his school), MIT and University of Maryland as *the* schools in his field. Especially since you're interested in Northern Virginia, you might want to check out UMD.

Erin's Dad

^ I don't know how UMd is in that group and not Purdue. I work with a bunch of aerospace engineers including PhDs.

SlitheyTove

Ohio State? Embry-Riddle?

Agree that finishing with no to little debt is the best plan.

If you were open to California schools I'd suggest looking at the Cal Polys, which would be more affordable than the UCs.