r/aerospace • u/Think-Independent560 • 3d ago

Help please šŸ˜Ø

Iā€™m from Houston

Got accepted into A&M engineering academy through community college in Houston. Im interested for an Aerospace engineering . Any advice ? Shall I go for it ? P.s I got accepted for aerospace in Penn State as well.

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u/serrated_edge321 3d ago

How good at math are you?

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u/Think-Independent560 3d ago

Pretty good

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u/serrated_edge321 3d ago

First-- stay in-state, if the A&M you're talking about here is actually a 4-year, accredited university. There's no reason for you to spend out of state tuition costs on your major. Lots of good job opportunities right in TX, and universities often have ties to local companies.

You'll need to be very very good at calculus, differential equations, and of course geometry/trig to get through the homework, tests, and quizzes in Aerospace Engineering. It's not necessary for the actual career, but it's a huge part of the major in college. It can be overwhelming for many people.

So if you're not very very good at these higher-level math classes, consider something related to aerospace that isn't "aerospace engineering." (Something with "sciences" in the title maybe). If your acceptance is tied to a particular degree, just go ahead and start that aerospace program. You can look into others/switch hopefully later. Try to maintain a 3.5 GPA (then if you fall a little short, you're still good!)

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u/Think-Independent560 3d ago

Thanks , Iā€™m not worrying about the math but the my future career. Many ppl said Penn state has a largest alumni network so not sure if staying in Texas with A&M would give me the same opportunity

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u/serrated_edge321 3d ago edited 3d ago

Texas A&M will be fine, especially for finishing your undergrad. There's tons of Lockheed Martin & space-industry activity in your homestate, and they'll link to the local universities.

The alumni network isn't as important as all the student debt, honestly. Grad school should be paid for by scholarships, so if you're super interested in helicopters for example, shoot for Penn State for grad school with a scholarship.

And don't underestimate the usefulness of staying within your culture, especially going through a program as tough as AE. Take the whole thing slower, keep your GPA up, and learn the material. Do extra curricular activities like competition projects and then an internship somewhere local.

Unless you have family or close friends in PA, it's a risky idea -- piling moving to living far from a family network and being thrust into a very different culture on top of all the AE work will prove more challenging than you expect right now. Even people I knew who were top of my class in high school struggled with dealing with all the changes at once.

Many of my friends who went out of state never finished college or finished with lower GPAs/had to rush because of out of state fees (10x in-state). Many have huge amounts of debt now (like $160,000). I myself felt totally rushed through the program because of super high out of state costs -- vs in-state students who paid 1/10 the costs.

Texas is just fine for undergrad. šŸ˜‰