HN’s, my nephew is being courted by several colleges in the mid-Atlantic area. He has top-1% test scores and is really interested in aerospace engineering.<p>How would you learn about a school’s program reputation? I will send this question to some industry recruiters but could use some other ideas. His family lives 2000 miles away from me & will be heavily dependent on scholarship money. Thoughts?
Most engineering education in the US is fungible, particularly at the undergrad level. The curricula are standardized. There are elite universities like MIT and individual engineering programs at very ordinary universities with special circumstances, e.g. aerospace engineering at UA-Huntsville's proximity to Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal provides students easier access some world class opportunities that rankings might not reflect.<p>Elite universities aside (possibly), making a decision on the basis of economics is not unreasonable because engineering credentials are mostly treated as equivalent. By design, engineering credentials indicate basic competence not relative expertise.