Where should I get my Aerospace Engineering Degree

[Raisintoe]

I am looking into starting my education; and have been interested in Aerospace Engineering. However, I am not finding much help on the web as to which prerequisites I aught to have accomplished first. I suppose much of that has to do with the specific school I will be attending.

I also wondered if I could get some advice on what schools I should look into. I live in Utah, but schools outside of Utah are OK.

I would appreciate any help finding where to start.

 

[Ignea_unda]

Alright. First off, make sure you enjoy and are passable at math and physics. If you struggle with these, you will struggle with just about all engineering. Additionally, are you detail oriented? Engineering is one of those fields where you can do the first 75-90% in your garage - the reason you get paid are the little details.

After that, "prerequisites" should mainly be High school. If you have some college under your belt, you'll get to start into the core engineering classes a little sooner, possibly - it depends on the school.

As for schools to look at, it depends on what kind of aerospace you're looking into and how much you're willing to spend. Typical top of the list type schools are those such as MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Embry-Riddle, Cal-Tech, etc. These are NOT the only good programs, but are consistently in the top 20, usually top 10.

Shameless plug for the school I attend - Wichita State University has the 2nd highest research dollars in the nation for aerospace engineering. We are partnered with the National Institute for Aviation Research, which is located partially on campus. There are research opportunities in everything from aerodynamics to structures.

Really, it depends on what you want to do. Feel free to contact the different schools and talk to students or professors. Visit any schools you can to try to get a feel for the campus and see if you could be happy there for 4-10 years (depending on if you want to go for advanced degrees or not).

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any other questions if you need advice.

 

[grantwilliams]

Although it may not be of the same caliber of some of the universities listed above, Oklahoma State University has a very good aerospace program and has some good equipment like a wind tunnel. It's also significantly cheaper than some of the other high ranked aerospace universities.

 

[Aero51]

Good aerospace engineering schools for undergraduate students:
UIUC
Embry-Riddle
Purdue
Texas A&M
OSU
NCSU

to name a few.
From my experience I would recommend going to a larger school for undergraduate work and a smaller one for graduate studies.

 

[boneh3ad]

Although it may not be of the same caliber of some of the universities listed above, Oklahoma State University has a very good aerospace program and has some good equipment like a wind tunnel. It's also significantly cheaper than some of the other high ranked aerospace universities.

For almost the same price you could got to places like Texas A&M, which is head and shoulders above Oklahoma State.

Of course, the bottom line is that choosing a university is highly personal. The OP needs to determine what he/she finds important in a school and go from there. There is a lot more than just academics and a lot more than just price.

 

[grantwilliams]

For almost the same price you could got to places like Texas A&M, which is head and shoulders above Oklahoma State.

Of course, the bottom line is that choosing a university is highly personal. The OP needs to determine what he/she finds important in a school and go from there. There is a lot more than just academics and a lot more than just price.

I'm attending OSU (originally as an aerospace engineer) so I may have some bias, but I chose it because of its good program. In fact, in the last 11 years OSU has won the aerospace competition every year except for the year MIT won with their team: "beat OSU."

 

[strine07]

I'm currently in the Aerospace program at OSU, and after recently going through the first year engineering program I can say that they do a good job getting you involved right away. I know that, other than some schools, you get to work on pretty fun, interesting group projects in your first year which will help make life bearable while going through the boring general classes. The aerospace professors I've had so far have been great too.

 

[boneh3ad]

It's funny, because the last two posters have both made mention of OSU in one way or another without actually saying which OSU they are talking about. There are at least 3 that I can think of with engineering programs in the US.

 

[Mithrandir13]

KU

Cal Poly Pomona or SLO

not the elite of MIT.. but good never the less...

 

[Mithrandir13]

here is another list to consider as mentioned by Dan Raymer...

http://www.aircraftdesign.com/other.html#Heading6

 

[Aaronvan]

University of Washington.

 

[Astronuc]

I am looking into starting my education; and have been interested in Aerospace Engineering. However, I am not finding much help on the web as to which prerequisites I aught to have accomplished first. I suppose much of that has to do with the specific school I will be attending.

I also wondered if I could get some advice on what schools I should look into. I live in Utah, but schools outside of Utah are OK.

I would appreciate any help finding where to start.

This is nearly 6 months old, but one can find information about curricula on university websites.

For example, here are degree plans in TAMU's Aerospace Engineering department.
http://aero.tamu.edu/current-students/undergraduate-students/undergraduate-degree-plans

http://aero.tamu.edu/research/undergraduate/reu
http://aero.tamu.edu/research/undergraduate/aero-propulsion-fluids

Other universities have similar plans and research opportunities. Simply search by the name of the University and Aerospace Engineering.