<p>Ok lets get into some specifics haha. I want to get into the Aerospace industry after I graduate. One of the schools I’m thinking of going to (UCSB) doesn’t offer aerospace engineering, so I would have to major in mechanical. Since they don’t offer AE, only a few Aerospace companies go to their career fairs. So what it’s sounding like is I would probably want to choose a different school if my goal is to work in the Aerospace industry.</p>
<p>Here’s what is tricky. Deciding among colleges isn’t based on one factor alone.</p>
<p>For example, let say you were deciding between UCSB and Purdue, and everything else is equal. Purdue would be a better choice. However, all things aren’t equal. Maybe you want to live in Santa Barbara. Maybe UCSB is in your price range. Maybe you like California weather. Maybe you have friends going to UCSB. There are tons of other reasons that are very good to go to UCSB.</p>
<p>What I have said on here and I stand behind is the best school to go to is the one you will be most likely to graduate from. Only 1 out of 3 freshman engineering students will sit for graduation 4 or 5 years later so you need to give yourself every advantage possible.</p>
<p>Engineers are in demand now and will continue to be in demand for the next 30 - 40 years. You can work in aerospace with a mechanical engineering degree from UCSB if you want to. Now, you may not get the aerospace job from an on-campus interview at UCSB, but your degree will qualify you to work in aerospace and you’ll be able to get hired if you continue to be passionate about aerospace.</p>
<p>norris212, </p>
<p>There is a strong correlation with the strength of a school’s career services and it’s overall strength/reputation; so it’s not like you will need to chose one over the other right?..the exceptions would be very small programs with like with say 20 grads ( Cooper Union?) then there’s not a correlation.</p>
<p>You can just check the schools list of employers…</p>
<p>Cyclone10, thats true, most strong engineering schools will have good companies hiring there. The problem I have is that UCSB doesn’t have an Aerospace program. So even though its a decent engineering school, few aerospace companies go there to hire. So my question is… How hard would it be to get an aerospace job without using UCSB’s career services.</p>
<p>Cyclone10,</p>
<p>My college had a fantastic engineering department and a crappy career services department. Career services was not run by the college of engineering, it was run by a different entity and they had a few government employees who were most interested in collecting paychecks. It happens.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that we didn’t have big name companies recruit, but they obviously established their relationship with the college of engineering.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you have the opportunity to go to a different school with an AE program and industries ties you’ll make your life easier. There are other ways to go about it, monster.com, apply to company websites, etc… But, if you know this is what you want to do, why not just cut to the chase from the get-go and give yourself the greatest opportunity and advantage?</p>
<p>In the past three months, I applied online and received interviews from Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Siemens ( Industry ), Jacobs engineering and I am waiting for Boeing after the initial call. All of these for summer internships.</p>
<p>I received a part time offer from Siemens in NY. I rejected it due to low pay. I was dropped from HP after the third interview( technical interview -longest two hours of my life! ) . I still have to wait on Motorola, they rejected three times and I made it through the first round for fourth time I applied. Jacobs wanted me to pay for the airfare to Texas and I wasn’t so interested after that. Although I would have done it for a full-time offer. Truth be told, I wasn’t too confident about being hired knowing that students from good schools were just miles away from their offices.</p>
<p>Career services should always be the first stop on one’s journey into the industry. Many companies come to career fairs and tell you to apply online like Motorola.</p>
<p>I got most of my interviews through alumni, friends, and past co-workers/bosses. Some people were looking to hire and asked me if I wanted a job unsolicited. One knew I was looking and put in a good word for me with a friend at another company. Some of my classmates got jobs through professors’ industry connections.</p>
<p>I had a couple of interview offers through school career fairs. </p>
<p>Going through the internet / cold calling / emailing randomly, etc I received a total of one interview offer. I spent less and less time doing this as I learned it wasn’t very effective for me.</p>
<p>norris, have you checked their list of employers? Aero E Companies hire mostly ME’s and EE’s too so it may be possible. </p>
<p>bigtrees, I agree, the ECS can be run crappy at any school i.e. a poorly done job website or plain rude employees… but like you said if the program is strong the top employers will make the connections with ECS and come to CF to recruit.</p>