UMD [$45k] vs. Cornell [$90k] vs. UIUC [$60k] aerospace

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My son was very fortunate to get in almost everywhere that he applied. He is interested in aerospace, from the “civil” more than the “mechanical” side, and he is also a strong amateur vocal musician. Significantly, a large/vibrant Jewish community is important to him. We are full pay.

He got merit aid but is OOS at UMD, so about $45K/year. UIUC about 60K/year. Cornell about 90K/year. (He also got into Pitt and UMA which come out to less than 40K/year, but they do not compete on his must-haves).

He was admitted to aerospace engineering at UMD and UIUC and to Engineering in general (?) at Cornell; not sure how that works exactly but he told them he wanted aerospace which is inside mechanical there. DS is pretty sure that he will want to do graduate school, but who can really be sure at age 18. He is into his first choice Honors LLC at UMD including what is to DS the most desirable dorm. He was not admitted to Honors at UIUC and is less enthusiastic about UIUC in general.

DS applied ED to Cornell and was deferred in December. Since that time, he has been falling in love with UMD, including a visit where he felt great about it.

The Jewish community at UMD is the best in the country, at least for DS’s purposes. Cornell’s is very good. UIUC and his other admissions are “OK”. - Probably, although UIUC is the best of the three for aerospace, the Jewish community (in comparison to his other options) will pull it out of the running.

We live in the Boston area, so transportation is “fine” to Cornell but “good” to UMD. DS is fine with the weather and political climates at both Cornell and UMD. He likes walking around (luckily, with those choices) and he will not be interested in a fraternity. He’s a mathy guy but doesn’t want to only have mathy friends, and is very social and would also like to do singing and theater in some capacity.

I think he was ready to commit to UMD until 7:01pm yesterday. The admission to Cornell threw in a big (but good) monkey-wrench. Are we just comparing prestige to money? People I know who went to Cornell say that it opened a lot of doors for them. Although we are full pay, Cornell will be painful and will require some sacrifice. It might require DS to graduate early if he can. His brothers went to P and M, and I am also worried about being “fair”. (The costs were lower for P and M for various reasons that do not apply now.)

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Cornell has secondary admission to engineering majors, but the thresholds are not very difficult (C- minimum in some prerequisites, 2.5 GPA minimum in a set of prerequisites, according to Cornell Engineering Handbook - Fall 2024

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I think there is no best in aerospace. All three are ABET accredited - and you don’t need to do Aero to be in Aero. My son is as a MechE.

My son is in a job that moved to four places in the first two years. With engineering, short of a few schools, the where doesn’t matter. You’ll find Michigan and Purdue grads next to Western Michigan, Buffalo, Akron, etc. Companies pay by location, not school, in most cases.

If you look at career outcomes, UMD says 65% were employed, 13% in grad school, and 14% still looking. For aero specifically, they show 53% employed, 17% grad school, and 20% still looking with an $87,361 average salary. The still looking is a lot but it doesn’t show the date (last snapshot).

UIUC says this but I can’t find data: * 93% of students reported securing their first choice destination upon graduation.

  • The average starting salary for an aerospace engineering graduate is $84,075 with an average signing bonus of $5,000.

If you look at the Cornell dashboard, they show (for MechE) an $85K median but $95K mean. That’s likely due to consulting, etc. But in engineering proper, companies pay by location and not by school.

Of 60 that found jobs, 17 found on the Internet - which is more and more today. And 10 in direct contact with employer. 6 and 6 found through handshake (Cornell’s Linkedin) and social media. Only 4 through a Cornell set up interview and 2 from alumni. I think in 2025 - the school name mattters less - my opinion, but ABET accreditation does matter.

I get the allure. It’s Ivy. My Jewish kid chose a safety over top ten engineering and I thought he was nuts but he told me not to worry. He was right.

That said, they are different schools - size (class size), weather, Jewish life, weather, etc. and that’s what you have to factor.

That Cornell will be painful and cause sacrifice gives me pause - because other than bragging rights and possibly a different career - consulting or banking as an example - I’m not sure what you gain. And while I don’t think one can predict a masters today and most engineers won’t - at least in engineering - if you did it’s more money and they won’t care where you went.

Be careful of your retirement and day to day living first and foremost. If that’s too much to give up, as hard as it is to say no to Ivy, you’ll be better off for it in the long run.

If he’s truly going to be an engineer - and note 75% of engineering majors do not end up in engineering jobs - but if he’s truly going to be an engineer - then the school likely isn’t going to matter - any of these three or even others.

I’d also check into Jewish life. You said UMD is best. I know they have #s but did you check into the actual life itself? I found some schools had big #s but not a lot of programming or attendance whereas some other schools with lesser #s but had engaged Jewish communities. They worked hard at it. So check deeper than just #s.

Anyway, that’s one person’s opinion on the scenario - I’d be very wary if - your retirement and day to day were going to be severely impacted…because there are no guarantees from any school.

Best of luck.

Employment Outcomes | A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland

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Congratulations to him on some great choices.

Have the parents previously discussed with him that relative costs could be important to the decision? You don’t have to answer that publicly of course, but if those discussions didn’t happen I would hesitate to bring it up now. Meaning…let him make the decision based on the best fit for him. The major seems to work at all three schools…has he researched the various singing and theater opportunities that are open to non-majors at each school?

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Yes. He is if anything over-aware so I feel kind of bad about it. (I have a low-paying job which I like. I had a great day and said, “I love my job,” and he said, unprompted, “it’s fine; I can go to UMD”)

He has also been looking in to the theater/voice stuff but should do that more.

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There is still a lot of time. I am sure visiting both and talking to jewish organizations on campus can help decide.

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If it is a concern to you, Cornell has had some high-profile antisemitic incidents after October 7, 2023. Here is a link to the Anti-Defamation League’s evaluation of Cornell University: https://www.adl.org/campus-antisemitism-report-card/cornell-university.

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it’s almost a dead tie with UMD in this regard
https://www.adl.org/campus-antisemitism-report-card/university-maryland-college-park

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Before the university of Georgia had its own department, many Jewish students in this area went to Maryland for their Judaic studies program. UMD has a strong, vibrant Jewish community as I’m sure you know. It is OK to turn down Cornell if it’s not the best fit and/or if he loves Maryland better. Maryland is an excellent school and he will be fine. All the side comments about other colleges or salary comparisons are irrelevant for your son’s choices. And career outcome studies have lots of problems, as has been explained elsewhere. Colleges’ career success stats don’t tell the whole story about how their graduates are doing after they get their degree
Cornell is a great prize but he sounds like he prefers UMD, and the extra $ savings is a great benefit :slight_smile: Congrats!

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More should take note of that vs. just chasing the almighty $$.

You brought your son into the world. I’m sure he appreciates that you are happy!!!

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#NowATerp - committed this morning! He feels good about it. We told him we would pay for Cornell if his heart was there, but on his revisit, he just didn’t love it as much.

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