Purdue should be in your list! In budget, great career outcomes, cradle of astronauts, etc… And you absolutely could continue to play your instrument in orchestra while studying aero.
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Arizona State University admission requirements are listed here: https://admission.asu.edu/apply/first-year/admission
Aerospace engineering admission requirements are listed here: https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/bachelors/major/ASU00/ESAEROBSE/aerospace-engineering-aeronautics
100% agreed - if OP is going for “prestige” - the value is extraordinary - and well under budget vs. some on the list.
I had mentioned earlier as well for that reason.
Ultimately OP will have many options should they choose - from save a ton of money to go with the original list or some new found add ons - that might cost many thousands more per year but be deemed by OP and family as worthy.
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I agree with others, UMASS is a match, and 3 of my kids were offered $18,000 a year OOS with slightly lower stats.
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Congrats on your accomplishments!
My son is a Cal Poly alum (BS/MS ME). The Learn by Doing is real. He had multiple lab projects on par with the capstone projects at other schools. It will be in budget and is certainly worth a look.
The bottom line though is that there are so few ABET accredited programs that you’ll be fine wherever you go.
BTW, I’m not sure if it was mentioned but Amherst does not offer engineering.
Good luck!
Notre Dame for Aero?
Carnegie Mellon doesn’t have aero specifically, but few places are as deeply involved in space stuff.
These are all outside your price range. Caltech and Stanford give no merit scholarships and the others give very little so you can’t count on it.
I second the suggestion to consider Purdue. Great program, and it’ll be affordable (COA is $42k)
Penn State - very good program and COA ($52k) is close to your budget
UMD - very strong in aero. COA is $60k but if you get their Presidential scholarship it will come within budget
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COA is way too high for OP at both these schools.
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My DD had exactly the same criteria as one of her top ones when doing a college search. She contacted the head of the music department, the orchestra conductor, and the applied instrument teacher for her instrument (she also wanted to continue lessons).
So…reach out to schools and ask. My kid was able to do this, but I will say, of her criteria for colleges, this was the most difficult to satisfy.
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I will address this, since it was a major consideration for my S23… and I agree with @thumper1 that this was one of the more difficult aspects of the college search! Schools REALLY vary in how much they support non-music majors playing in the orchestra.
We ended up eliminating some of the schools with the strongest and weakest music programs. Some schools with very weak music programs simply did not have a strong enough orchestra to satisfy S23, while on the other hand, some of the schools with very strong music programs reserve all resources for music majors, and there is minimal opportunity for non-music majors to participate.
It helped S23 to put details like these in a spreadsheet. Think about exactly what is important to you:
- How many orchestras and which ones open to non-majors? (Many schools have more than one orchestra, some split these into majors vs non-majors)
- What about smaller groups like chamber groups?
- How many days a week does the orchestra rehearse? Often there’s a primary orchestra that rehearses 2+ times per week, and a secondary orchestra for non majors with once a week rehearsal, for example.
- What is the audition / application process for the orchestra?
- Are practice rooms available to non majors?
- Are music lessons available to non majors?
- Does the orchestra tour, or have a heavy performance schedule, that might conflict with other stuff? (for my son, he didn’t want to have a schedule that conflicted with his engineering team)
- What kind of repertoire does the orchestra play? (Look on web site for concert details, for example.) This can help to get a sense of what level of musicians they are looking for, and also… is the repertoire interesting to you?
- My son also looked up videos of past concerts to get an idea of the size of the orchestra and how well they played.
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Believe it or not, my DD was also able to arrange a private lesson at the colleges of interest. At one school, she was actually invited to play in a concert when the player of her instrument got sick. Imagine that? She was there for an accepted student visit. Got the music in the morning and played that night.
She found the music faculty very willing to answer her questions. And like @tamagotchi schools were eliminated if the answer was NO to her being able to play in an orchestra (note…not a wind ensemble or band).
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I forget to mention that Cal Poly has a student symphony that non-music majors are eligible to play in.
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Just want to be sure that you’ve got this info for A&M’s 2023 ETAM. Last year, of the students that wanted aero for 1st choice, only 60% got in to that major. For mechanical, only 64% got in. Since those are the two most popular majors for those seeking aero careers, it’s important to keep in mind as you’re making your list.
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It says that 307 applied for AE, of whom 131 were auto-admitted with 3.75 college GPAs. That means that 46 (26%) of the 176 with college GPAs below 3.75 were admitted to AE.
For ME, 587 applied, of whom 238 were auto-admitted with 3.75 college GPAs. 144 (41%) of the 349 with college GPAs below 3.75 were admitted to ME.
Of course, CS was highly competitive – only 17 (8%) out of 215 with college GPAs below 3.75 were admitted.
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Getting the 3.75 is tough in engineering classes. So it’s good to see the chances for those who don’t have the 3.75. They’re pretty low for aero and CS is yikes. OP would probably be fine, but I know this system would have scared my own kid off (who has 4.0 as an engineering major right now). But he’s admittedly not tolerant of risk, and other people wouldn’t mind the risk.
My HS GPA is 4.0 UW and close to 5.48 for W - I don’t know how the title of the thread was updated to 3.75. The gpa of 3.75 is from the dual credit and concurrent enrollment courses taken.
@ColdWombat - Where do I find this for other schools? This is so intriguing. Thank you for sharing this - you are right. Does my chances go up given the APs I have already taken and their gpa? I am saying doesn’t it set me up for success to be selected for the aero major if my gpa is already good - granted the credits are carried over hopefully.
This is great. I will email the AO to check-in and find out about other prereqs. thank you @eyemgh
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Weighted is always hard to tell - each weights differently.
The most common is a +.5 Honors and +1 AP - but it’s not the only.
If you have a 4.0 UW and rigor, you’re in great position.
Your only question is - do you want a big name - or a lesser known name that will likely get you to a similar place - at a fraction of the cost.
Not because they cost less but because with your accomplishments, they’ll pay you to come.
You noted $50K - so you can get a big name for that - Purdue. But you also noted national merit - where you can go for near free - for example an Alabama.
But there are other schools - even without the NM - you can go for under $20K - but they won’t be the big names.
They will be this: * My family is focusing more on a Aerospace Engineering program with good opportunities for internships and future job prospects out of college
But you have to look at placement and learn the reality. Engineering, short of a few schools (the MITs, Stanfords of the world), is less about name.
My Bama kid works with Michigan and Case Western, Washington, etc. but also W Michigan
and Akron.
This is really what you need to figure out - the priority financially.
Or you apply to both types of schools.and see what happens.
But Purdue gives you both - the big name so perceived job opportunities - and hits your budget. U of Florida may be another. A UAH doesn’t give you the big name but has you in better weather, is much smaller, and is in a cradle of aero companies…surrounded by them. If Houston is NASA’s home, Huntsville is #2. And will come at less than half your budget.
Best of luck.
Colleges generally will consider all college and high school courses taken by frosh applicants.