Hi, my daughter is trying to decide between Purdue Honors College or UCLA for Aerospace engineering. Both are out-of-state for us with UCLA being much more after Purdue scholarship. we would appreciate any insight you might have especially with which companies do more recruiting on campus.
If Purdue is more affordable, I would say Purdue HC all the way. Just understand that she will be first year engineering and then will need to transition to major.
Totally as an aside, my daughter spent some time at one of the NASA sites last summer and when they asked her where she was applying to school, she was met with a chorus of Boiler Up! 
thanks for the responses, its not very clear to me which space companies do on-campus recruiting
Here’s a link to Purdue’s career expo for aero…https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAESAC/events/ace
Assuming direct admission to aerospace engineering at UCLA and first year engineering at Purdue, the tradeoff is basically:
A. Cost: Purdue is less expensive as you say.
B. Major: Purdue first year engineering students must compete by GPA to get into their majors, while UCLA engineering students are already in their majors.
So Purdue is lower cost, but with some uncertainty about getting into the major, while UCLA is assured of major but higher cost.
From Purdue’s website: “Transition from FYE to an Engineering School is a competitive admission process, based primarily on the GPA and EAI (Engineering Admissions Index) of each student when he or she completes FYE requirements. The EAI is the analogous to the GPA, but only for courses that are used to meet FYE requirements. Students will make a formal request mid-way through their final semester in FYE; after grades post at the end of the semester, all records are audited and students are informed of their transition. Historically, more than 99% of students with both GPA and EAI above 2.75 enter their first choice Engineering School. For all students who qualify to transition to a school (GPA and EAI > 2.00), more than 93% enter their first choice Engineering School.”
It would help if Purdue posted historical information indicating past GPA thresholds for each engineering major.
^ They do have those numbers for transfer students but it’s supposed to be easier to transition to major from FYE already on campus. I can let you know how it goes for my daughter next year. Doesn’t help this poster but hopefully will help others. I will say though that if my daughter can’t maintain a 2.0 in intro classes, she’ll need to reassess how she thinks she will succeed with thermo and advanced coursework. IMO, there is probably some wisdom in having some cut offs.