which college has the best aerospace engineering - Page 3

rocketDA · 12-18-2006, 01:38 AM

"And the obligatory HMC exposition has been posted."
oh _____ you. it was an example. in fact, i gave mad props to olin. at least i only write about stuff i know about. you haven't the faintest clue... you're not even on the west coast so keep your trap shut.

you have no freaking clue who you are dealing with so keep your personal commentary to yourself.

to the OP, it is your decision to read what i write. i am unaware of anyone else (who is frequently) on this forum who actually does work for nasa. i'll stop offering my thoughts though (and my freaking time, mr payne!) because i have better things to do than be ridiculed for using my education as an example to OP inquiries where it is perfectly justified.

good day.

Alexandre · 12-18-2006, 02:57 AM

rocketDA, I personally respect HMC a great deal. However, I feel it is unwise to compare LACs to research universities. Some students are better suited for the LAC approach whereas others prefer the flexibility and offerings of a research university. A student at HMC or RHIT will get great individualized instruction and build an amazing foundation in general engineering, but will be limited, for the most part, to those general Engineering classes. Some students may wish to delve deeply into a particular discipline, such as Biomedical or Aerospace Engineering, taking several highly specialized and focused classes in those sub-divisions. Such students will probably be better off at a school like Cornell or Michigan.

In terms of placement, I am not sure how other schools do. I am familiar with Michigan and since Michigan is one of the schools the OP is seriously considering, let me say that year-in, year-out, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, NASA and Northrop Grumman are among the top recruiters at the CoE. Last year, 16 Michigan Engineering students were hired full-time by Lockheed Martin alone. Another 25 or so joined Being, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. As far as NASA goes, the Glenn, Johnson and Kennedy centers as well as the JPL all recruit students at the CoE too. But one should remember that the competition for those 50 or so positions is stiff. There are literally over a 100 undergraduate and graduate students applying for those jobs so one must be highly driven and qualified. Still, the fact that 50 or so Michigan students get jobs with those highly desirable, cuting edge Aerospace companies means that one's chances are far better than at most other universities. I am sure most top rated Engineering programs have similar success placing their students into top companies. As RocketDA points out, the only way a student is going to improve her/his chances of landing such a covetted job is by rolling up their sleeves and digging in.

Mr Payne · 12-18-2006, 03:22 AM

Quote:

"And the obligatory HMC exposition has been posted."
oh _____ you. it was an example. in fact, i gave mad props to olin. at least i only write about stuff i know about. you haven't the faintest clue... you're not even on the west coast so keep your trap shut.

you have no freaking clue who you are dealing with so keep your personal commentary to yourself.

to the OP, it is your decision to read what i write. i am unaware of anyone else (who is frequently) on this forum who actually does work for nasa. i'll stop offering my thoughts though (and my freaking time, mr payne!) because i have better things to do than be ridiculed for using my education as an example to OP inquiries where it is perfectly justified.

good day.

I'm on the West Coast, actually.

Also, it seems as if every post you are talking about how much HMC rocks. That's fine. Just don't expect people not to comment on it. If you can't handle free speech, well, tough.

morfinx · 12-18-2006, 02:41 PM

I truly feel GT has one of the best AE programs. I'll quote myself from another thread (which was a quote itself):

Quote:

Guggenheim's strong interest in aviation was responsible for persuading his father to provide funds for the establishment of the first Guggenheim School of Aeronautics at New York University in 1925. He became president of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics a year later. This fund, totaling $3 million, included an equipment loan for operating the first regularly scheduled commercial airline in the United States. It also provided for the establishment of the first weather reporting exclusively for passenger airplanes.

Before the fund terminated in January 1930, it had helped to establish schools of aeronautical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia School [now Institute] of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Stanford University and University of Michigan. From these schools came many of the aeronautical engineers who built today's airplane industry.

Also, some prominent AE graduates of the GT include:

* Robert Ormsby - President, Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co., 1984-86.
* David Lewis - CEO, General Dynamics Corp., 1970-85.
* David Garrett - President, Delta Airlines
* Hollis Harris - Delta
* John Young - Commander, 1st Space Shuttle flight, Director Astronaut Corps, 1974-87.
* Richard Truly - NASA Administrator, GTRI Director
* James Thompson - Deputy Administrator/NASA
* Maj.General Carl McNair, Jr.- Chief of U.S. Army Aviation
* Don P. Giddens - Dean of Engineering, Johns Hopkins

lil_killer129 · 12-18-2006, 03:39 PM

I am majoring in aerospace engineering and would love to work at Lockheed Martin. But I picked PSU over Purdue for undergrad. Was that a bad choice? Is PSU's AERSPeng still respectable at companies as prestigous as Lockheed? Does PSU have good connections with companies like Lockheed?

Windley · 12-18-2006, 07:42 PM

Georgia Institute of Technology

rocketDA · 12-19-2006, 03:15 AM

"Georgia Institute of Technology"
I second that. Along with Texas A&M

lil_killer129 · 12-19-2006, 09:20 AM

Where does Georgia Tech rank for grad in aerospace eng?

Alexandre · 12-19-2006, 09:22 AM

It is tied with Michigan-Ann Arbor at #4.

boulderco · 12-19-2006, 09:36 AM

If you want to work on real Aerospace projects, you can't do much better than University of Colorado - Boulder. They do a lot of joint work with Ball Aeropsace (the people who built the corrective lenses for Hubble), which is also located in Boulder. If the Hubble servicing mission ever flies, they will be installing two new instruments built at Ball Aerospace, one of which was designed at CU. CU will also be doing the data analysis for NASA for that instrument.

In addition to Hubble, there is a long list of instruments on planetary probes, that were built at BallAerospace in Boulder, many of which had CU involvement.

And if your idea of Aerospace involves actually getting into Space, there are few colleges that have had as many astronauts as CU.

lil_killer129 · 12-19-2006, 02:51 PM

Does Umich grad have good connections with Lockheed?

Alexandre · 12-19-2006, 03:18 PM

The University of Michigan has very strong ties with Lockheed Martin. In fact, Lockeed Martin hired 16 Michigan engineers last year alone, making it the largest employer at the CoE. And that was not a one-off. Lockheed Martin hired 8 Michigan Engineers in 2005, 12 in 2003 and another 12 in 2002. So in the last 4 years, Lockheed Martin hired 50 Michigan engineers. As you can also see, in those 4 years, Boeing also hired 50, as did Northrop Grumman. Raytheon and NASA also hired a substantial number of Michigan engineers. Altogether, as I mentioned above, the "big boys" hire roughly 50 Engineers from Michigan on an annual basis.

http://career.engin.umich.edu/Annual_Report05-06.pdf

http://career.engin.umich.edu/Annual_Report04-05.pdf

http://career.engin.umich.edu/Annual_Report03-04.pdf

http://career.engin.umich.edu/02-03AR.pdf

lil_killer129 · 12-19-2006, 04:54 PM

Thanks for the information. Do you happen to have PSU's [grad & undergrad] placement rate in these "big boys"? I have been looking online all week of statistics, but did not find any. Maybe you have something?

Alexandre · 12-19-2006, 09:45 PM

I would assume that PSU is well recruited by the likes of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The answer to the 4th question actually names Lockheed Martin as one of the options PSU engineering grads pursue upon graduation.

http://www.esm.psu.edu/faq/

However, PSU does not seem to release exact numbers.

M4gici4n · 12-21-2006, 07:07 AM

Anyone ever heard of Kettering University in Michigan? I heard that its a pretty good school, small, and that graduates there have no problems getting jobs. Its purely technical school I think, however I dont think they offer AE.

Your thoughts?