dariusz

i am interested in studying aerospace engineering, but i dont which college has good prog.
my goal is work in NASA, so i am tryin to find a college which has connection with NASA.

RETHEEM

i would recommend MIT,Georgia Tech,Stanford,Purdue,Cornell,Florida Tech,also Embry Riddle aeronautical university

Papa Chicken

to start, here's the USNews rankings for you. Aero eng as an undergraduate is ranked in 2 groups. First group is colleges/uni's without a PhD program, 2nd group is colleges/uni's that have a PhD program.

W/out PhD
1. Embry Riddle Aeronautical U. (FL)
2. United States Air Force Acad. (CO)*
3. Embry Riddle Aeronautical U.–Prescott (AZ)
United States Naval Academy (MD)*
5. St. Louis University

With PhD
1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
2. Georgia Institute of Technology *
3. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
4. California Institute of Technology
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
6. Stanford University (CA)
7. Princeton University (NJ)
8. U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
9. University of Texas–Austin *
10. Univ. of Maryland–College Park *
11. Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
12. Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
University of Washington *
14. Cornell University (NY)
15. Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
16. Virginia Tech *
17. University of California–Berkeley *
University of Colorado–Boulder *
19. University of Florida *

On connections with NASA, one investigation route would be to go to the aero faculty pages of any target school & see what the faculty's research interests and papers look like....a NASA funding source should be visible.

Also, there should be a public record of research funding by NASA. I'd bet a few phone calls could get you pretty close to having a list with professors & subjects, if that's not on the web already. If I find such a thing, I'll let you know....PC

Papa Chicken

a few NASA links for you to explore, no convenient lists of best-connected aero eng schools yet, but I bet you can get a glipse of some research providers from these sites.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forrese...res/index.html
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI_Program_Plan_2005.pdf
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/Pubs/star/star0524.pdf

Also, the NASA research labs, e.g., Ames & Langley, will have their prefferred researchers, probably some being relatively local (like Stanford for Ames)....suggest you study these labs, get to know which each does, and figure out which colleges support those that interest you.

sakky

If you want truly close affiliations with NASA, I think it's very hard to beat Caltech. After all, the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) is actually part of Caltech.

aibarr

Incidentally, Rice, given its nearness to Johnson Space Center, feeds at least a couple of engineers from its mechanical/aero department to NASA every year. It's something to consider, at least. We don't have an aero department, per se, so we're not in the rankings there. Still, mech will get you where you want to go. There's a lot of research collaboration, too... My prof from structures was actually doing some research for NASA and the ISS.

Not a decisive high on the list, but it's at least a contender. Something to consider.

karthikkito

Another thing to look into is applying to NASA internship programs. NASA STSP, Robotics, Academy, SIP...etc. You get to work on actual projects on various centers, and as a result, when it comes time to apply for jobs, you have a work history AT NASA...and rec letters from their own people.

MattBowes

nasa is history, private spaceflight is the way. nasa is static and bureaucratic, whereas private industry is dynamic and efficient. Look at SpaceShipOne... a complete launch system designed, built, tested, and flown for $20 million dollars. That's the cost of a paper study at nasa. Another way to look at it is that each shuttle launch costs $1 billion, which says nothing of the immense development costs.

I'd consider which schools have good networking/connections, that way you're connected in general to the real business world. In this aspect, MIT/Stanford/Princeton beat everyone else. georgia tech and michigan are also good at both aero and business, but less so... also they're teeming with people, but if that's your thing then hey.

The question boils down to whether or not you want to aerospace engineer as a career or as a means to gain influence in the business world. The industry is rapidly shaping up for the latter. If you arent interested in money, you might prefer to go to an either more "pure," theoretical, research-oriented program like Caltech, or a very career-oriented school like embry riddle.

Also, the schools that are ranked "without phD" are in general worse schools, with the exception of the military academies, but those are really a separate category of schools.

aibarr

I'd tend to agree with MattBowes' comments on the future of spaceflight... NASA's not the brass ring of aero engineering that it once was.

Corbett

Burt Rutan of SpaceShipOne fame went to Cal Poly, which is noted for aerospace engineering. Cal Poly has been ranked on the US News "non-doctoral universities" list in the past, although it apparently did not make the list this year.

Rutan's Senior Project at Cal Poly won the national student paper competition of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1965.

Alexandre

MIT, Stanford and Caltech are the top programs in Aerospace. Michigan is right up there too.

karthikkito

Just to clarify though, Stanford's aerospace undergrad is a concentration in their general engineering degree which prepares you for continuation onto a masters in aerospace. That doesn't make it any worse, but it's a distinction.

hazmat

Purdue also has a program and you didn't really say what type of school so here it is: https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/

and where they got jobs:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/S..._Employers.htm

sakky

Smilarly, Caltech's aero program is a concentration within their EAS (Engineering and Applied Sciences) major.

kwtortoise

I go to Embry-Riddle, and rankings don't say everything. Our job placement stats are really high, and the academics are tough...many companies look for Riddle graduates first, or only hire from here.