Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics) & Earth and Space Exploration (Astrophysics) Majors

usma87
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 18:37:06 +0000

@Poseidonis - I am a parent on my second time through with a student at ASU. Your son sounds like a great candidate and typical of an ASU Fulton Engineering student. When you compare to CA schools (I am in Northern CA), ASU was actually cheaper for us. The basic aid, depending on your financials, will bring the COA down to in state levels.

First, I recommend you have your son check out the Barrett Honors College. Barrett is a smaller, subset of the ASU campus. The advantage of Barrett is priority registration and dedicated dorms. Barrett students also get research $$.

Can you graduate in 4 years with a double major? Definitely possible. I would have your son take as many AP classes/tests as possible. FYI- you don’t need to take an AP class to take an AP test in a given subject. ASU allows a ton of AP credit if you get a 4 or 5 on the AP tests. My son came in with 27 credits, or almost a full year. He will be graduating with a CS degree in 3 1/2 years. He has been accepted into the 4+1 program that will help him get his masters in 4 to 4 1/2 years.

Hands on stuff - Neither of my sons were in Aerospace, so I am not sure of the level of hands on. There are several clubs that do some interesting stuff with rockets. There is also proximity to Raytheon, Honeywell and other space/defense companies.

Overall, ASU would be a great choice to keep on his list.