Son got in Purdue early, waiting for UM, UW, UCLA, UCD, UCI and UCSD. We are CA residents and can help him with out of state tuition, but we wonder if it’s worth it to go to Purdue or UM for the extra money? Thanks.
Oh, forgot Cal Poly SLO, too, which has the least tuition.
Which UM?
Purdue has a competitive secondary admission process to get into engineering majors after entering as a first year pre engineering student. This is less desirable than a school where entry just requires passing the prerequisites. A school that gives direct admission is also preferable, unless he is likely to change his major to another one that us capacity limited. If he is admitted to the school but not the major, check how difficult it will be to get into the major.
Aerospace engineering may have more limited job prospects than mechanical engineering from where one can seek aerospace jobs but also be better considered for other jobs.
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Aerospace engineering may have more limited job prospects than mechanical engineering from where one can seek aerospace jobs but also be better considered for other jobs.
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And don’t pay for OOS when you have uc’s and cal poly.
Cal Poly is a great option.
UM - University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
Thanks for the replies.
Son really likes airplanes… and wants to work in the industry, at least for now.
Is ME easier to get in than AE at Purdue? I forgot if UM accepts students as first year engineering students or directly to their majors. However, UCs requires them to put down majors in the application. He can’t change it even if he wants to, right?
Michigan admits to the engineering division, but the requirements to declare a major from there is not difficult.
https://advising.engin.umich.edu/declaring-or-changing-major/
Compare to Purdue:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear/T2M
At the various UCs and CPSLO, the difficulty or not of changing major varies, and may depend on the destination major. Examples:
http://mae.ucdavis.edu/changing-majors/
http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/within-engineering/
http://changeofmajor.uci.edu/
http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/curric/SOE.html
https://eadvise.calpoly.edu/majors/changing-majors-within-ceng/
Given the above, Michigan is probably the most favorable to the student in terms of declaring/changing major, if he is admitted to the engineering division. But it can be much more expensive than UCs and CSUs for many California students (OP: have you compared net price calculator results?).
The UCs and CPSLO are favorable if he gets admitted to the major (some of them may admit some applicants to the school but not the major). However, if he may want to change to a different engineering major, those where the criteria to change are difficult (high GPA and/or highly competitive; this probably means UCLA and UCSD) are less favorable.
Purdue’s competitive system to enter one’s major does not look very favorable, though it depends on what the actual GPA thresholds are (which are not published on the web site).
@ucbalumnus Thanks for the links! Very helpful. 
Agree about attending Cal Poly SLO and also keeping an open mind about ME (or other more generalized engineering) versus AE. AE firms hire ME, EE, etc. One wants to be employed after all the work. Once in college, try to get internship or Co-op opportunities.
Just visited UCSB and Cal Poly SLO and love them both. You are all right that it’s not worth it to go out of state. DS probably got in UCSB ME (invite to Chancellor’s reception). Yesterday got admitted to UCI MAE with honor. I understand all your suggestions about ME. If I can convince him to switch from MAE to ME, he will have only UCSB and Cal left if he got in both as even switching majors in the engineering college is hard, so I heard…
good luck