Hello, I’m still a junior in high school, but my goal is to go to a college that will allow me to get hired at either Boeing or Honeywell Aerospace as either an aerospace engineer or software engineer.
I was considering either Georgia Tech or Texas A&M, but are there any other colleges (non-Ivy League) that will lead me to those positions at Boeing or Honeywell Aerospace?
How hard is it to get accepted in GA Tech versus Texas A&M?
There are plenty of schools that will give you the education to be successful in your career. What are your stats and what type of school are you looking for?
As long as the school I go to will allow me to work at Boeing or similar aerospace companies as an engineer (debating between software and aerospace), that’s all that matters to me.
In my freshman year, I had about 4 honors classes. The lowest grades from that year were the two Bs I got first quarter, then 1 B the second, and straight As the next two.
In my sophomore year, I had about 5 AP/honors classes. I don’t remember the exact ratio/amount of letter grades, but all I know is that my final GPA was a 4.05. I had a C-average in chemistry, and that’s the only bad grade I remember. I did not do too good in that class. But I did well in all of my other classes.
Edit: I’m also looking for an engineering school that is either in the southeast or midwest. I want to get out of the northeast. The engineering jobs I liked were all in Arizona.
I used to work at Boeing in Seattle. Most of the people I worked with had gone to state flagships, e.g, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12 schools. We had a couple of people from MIT, and one from Cornell. (Back then the Ivy League wasn’t known for engineering and computer science.)
We also had people from smaller schools. A guy who sat near me went to Oregon Tech, another went to Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, one had gone to Trinity in Connecticut, and we had three or four people who had gone to college in North and South Dakota. We also had a guy who had gone to Drexel, but never graduated. This was a department that mostly did computer modeling and simulations, but we only had three or four people with computer science degrees, including me. Most people had math and various types of engineering degrees. The guy who ran my group had a PhD in Fisheries. (Lots of statistics in Fisheries.)
If you wanted to work at Boeing’s South Carolina plant, I’m sure any ACC or SEC school would work.
I’d occasionally go to the Boeing plant in Wichita (since closed,) and most of the people there had gone to Big 12 schools, along with a bunch from Wichita State.
These companies (as well as other Aerospace companies) actively recruit at 60 to 70+ colleges, but hire from far more. If you want to attend a college where they do actively recruit (recruiters visit the campus a few times a year, sponsor events/design teams, etc.), then your best bet are large state public universities (but don’t necessarily limit yourself to these type of schools).
Location can also play a role, as described in post #3. Of course, GT and TAMU are both heavily recruited and excellent choices, but you do have other options. For these two schools, you’ll find plenty of information online, such as acceptance rates (in-state and OOS), test scores, etc. For example, at GT:
http://admission.gatech.edu/first-year
Go to each college’s forum for more details.
Good Luck!
I do a lot of work with Boeing in TX and most of the aerospace guys there came from big schools. Pretty much anything with an aerospace, electrical or mechanical engineering degree. There is a mix. I’m electrical but have done nothing but aerospace for years. There are people form all the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC schools. UT, A&M, Purdue, Georgia Tech, Embry Riddle, are all equally represented. Just met a couple new hires from Kansas State, University of Kansas, Iowa State and BYU-Idaho. So you have lots of choices!
What is your State of residence? I presume, since you mention “getting out of the northeast,” that it is somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line; in which case, you are going to have a hard row to hoe to get into Georgia Tech as an OOS applicant unless you are the valedictorian or salutatorian of your high school class, and/or have some admission “hook” (such as URM or first-generation college student). Even then it’s not a given.
Lots of engineering programs have recruiters that come in from all over the country; so where you go to study engineering is not necessarily going to determine where you get a job. Broaden your horizons in terms of where you look to be admitted.
maybe this thread helps? (esp #21)
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/569439-which-college-has-the-best-connection-with-nasa-lockheed-boeing-p2.html
What’s the deal with having to work at Boeing? or an aerospace firm?
Most firms have subcontractors that work on different contracts.
You do realize that most aerospace work is going to the mechanical or electrical engineers? Software gives you portions of a program.
You also realize that oftentimes, you won’t design a whole plane? Every part of the plane is partitioned out and built in different parts of the country. Lots of travel.
These companies recruit everywhere and they look at your internships and GPA’s in college. It’s not easy to keep a high GPA in engineering.
I had two aerospace jobs and they were by far the most interesting jobs I had in my career. It is true that you’ll likely not be designing airplanes, and that groups tend to focus on particular subsections of planes. Aerospace companies will have lots more CS people than aerospace engineers.
Michigan is probably one of the more heavily recruited campuses by aerospace and software companies:
FULL TIME HIRES (out of approximately 500 Computer Science and 160 Aerospace Engineering graduates)
Software companies:
Amazon 49
Microsoft 41
Google 36
Apple 33
Intel 23
Epic 20
Facebook 12
Manhattan Associates 11
Oracle 11
Cisco Systems 7
Expedia 5
TOTAL
Aerospace companies:
Boeing 13
Lockheed Martin 9
Raytheon 9
Northrop Grumman 7
SpaceX 5
NASA 2
http://career.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2017/02/annualreport1516.pdf