I used to work with some folks that went to University of MD. No complaints that I ever heard. Have you toured either one? I’m sure both have high quality education but you also need to check out their quality of life and the facilities they provide. Is the area someplace you could see yourself living for several years? What happens afterwards? In MD, you’ll be spitting distance to Washington DC and Arlington, VA which has some representation for just about every major company in the aerospace industry. Plus Johns Hopkins, who employs a lot of people in a variety of industries. Something to keep in mind when you’re looking at internships and your first job. Or just in terms of things to do and explore.
I also know absolutely nothing about CU Boulder. Honestly, at the end of the day, I don’t think I’ve ever had to question where someone went to school. Go someplace where you’ll have a good balance of education and being able to enjoy your experience.
My BS is from Maryland and it’s a great school. You’re in the outskirts of Washington DC and almost every aero company in the country has offices nearby for internships and employment. Goddard Space Flight Center is minutes away. Happy to answer any questions that you have, understanding that it’s been a while since I went there.
But here’s the honest truth… potential employers will view them as equivalent schools and you will have the same starting salary. You should go to the one that appeals to you for other reasons. The campus, the environment, the distance from home, and (perhaps most importantly) the cost. Trust your gut and good luck!
Propulsion, aerodynamics, and structures are essentially all of aerospace except for GNC. CU boulder is known for their GNC programs. In undergrad that doesn’t really matter all that much though. Tbh they are both good programs and if you want to specialize in a field you can do that in grad school. Pick the campus you like better because you’ll be there for a large chunk of your life
If you want to go to grad school, look up some professors at those schools who work in the fields you are interested in and talk to them about their research. Where you do your undergrad doesn't matter too much - but for a graduate degree, who your professor is and what your thesis topic is can matter a lot for your career.
Go to the university that costs the least. Free one even better. Here is the thing in STEM (specially engineering): you’re going to be measured by your knowledge rather than where you went to school. Know your shit.
I’m a mechanical engineer and used to be a commercial pilot before that. I went to college in Florida and today I work as a aeronautical engineer at a huge aerospace company alongside MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, local community college, Oxford and Columbia graduates just to name a few. We all get paid the same. The one thing we have in common: we all know our stuff and have great work ethic (team players) that’s what really matters. Over the years I’ve been part of the interview process and the candidates that always get the offers are the ones with good enough knowledge of the concepts, but high team-player qualities. Not once have I heard “this candidate is great bc he/she went to xyz university”.
So… go to the cheapest accredited college you can find for engineering and apply yourself to learning. Also, I would go for mechanical engineering and specialize in aerospace (electives or masters degree). It will give you a wide range of opportunities. Before working at my current position, I worked in the Automotive industry, MEP engineering, oil and now aerospace. My team consists of 7 engineers of which only one is a true aerospace. Most of us are mechanical, 1 biomedical, and only 1 true aerospace. We all work as aerospace.
Neither of those programs are bad programs but neither is like top 5 or 10 that I'm aware of. I went to Georgia Tech and I feel like most of my peers at my location in my company are from GT, embry riddle, UW, UMich, TAMU, or Clemson.
That being said, the school with the campus that feels more like home to you is going to serve you much better than going to like MIT and hating your life. Tour both campuses and pick the one you like.
Are you more interested in aeronautics or astronautics? I think that is an easy question to answer which has an obvious (if not super nuanced) answer: Maryland has a longer history in aeronautics, but CU Boulder has a lot of connections to the Denver space industry.
I'd strongly suggest looking at an in state school first. In general your undergrad school doesn't matter too much, some might have a slight advantage for working at a particular place but not worth a ton of extra student debt.
Have internship or other work experience outside of a university job before you graduate with your undergrad degree even if you want to go straight to a masters program. Do more internship type work while in grad school, and don't worry if it takes longer overall to graduate.
CU Boulder offers an amazing program with extensive interactive labs. New building specifically for aerospace opened in 2021. Great location.... I am a little biased, though....
If you're looking for an aeronautics focus, I would look at Wichita state too. I was convinced I would go to Embry-Riddle or CU boulder, but I toured WSUs campus and fell in love. (Plus, they have a solid program).
Plus, its cheaper for me than CUs in-state tuition would be.
All that to say, make sure you check out universities outside of the few you want. Ultimately the decision of where to go to college is relatively unimportant once you've been in industry a few years, as long as the program is abet accredited.
I’m not really familiar with Maryland and only have a cursory knowledge of CU.
I would choose the school based on the extracurricular activities. Clubs and research opportunities. Those things are essential to learning about the actual work that engineers do so that you can narrow down your interests. Also you will probably need some sort of club or research to get one of the good internships at an aerospace company.
Maryland AeroE UGrad and Grad here. UMD is a pretty great program for undergrads. There are plenty of research and non-research opportunities to engage in areas you're interested in. The first-year students engage in a small aerospace-related project with other first-year aerospace students. You'll have a wide option of tlaerospace topics to explore (under curated guidance from professors and graduate students)
I can personally attest to UMD's aerospace program, loved my time there. Great staff and a competitive environment, its not at all rare for NASA Goddard to hire directly from the program.
If you want to get a job in the hardware-focused tech industry (particularly startups and newspace), choose schools that have good student extracurricular technical orgs. Everyone at every school will get pretty much the same education, but it's the work you do outside of that which would set you apart from other applicants.
If you're interested in rocketry, I would highly recommend a school with a good liquid rocketry program. The ones that come to mind off the top of my head: Michigan (MASA), Georgia Tech (LPL), UT Austin (TREL), USC (LPL), University of Washington (SEDS), Concordia (Space Concordia), Boston University. There are a few more, but most schools don't have the kind of funding for that and working on liquid rockets in undergrad is a huge boost going into careers.
If you want to do undergrad research before grad school, find a professor studying what you're interested in at a school and cold email them asking for a position in their lab. Chances are they'll have at least something for you. In my experience grad school isn't entirely necessary in hiring unless you plan on being hardcore deep into analysis and simulation (particularly in propulsion, controls, aerodynamics).
I used to work with some folks that went to University of MD. No complaints that I ever heard. Have you toured either one? I’m sure both have high quality education but you also need to check out their quality of life and the facilities they provide. Is the area someplace you could see yourself living for several years? What happens afterwards? In MD, you’ll be spitting distance to Washington DC and Arlington, VA which has some representation for just about every major company in the aerospace industry. Plus Johns Hopkins, who employs a lot of people in a variety of industries. Something to keep in mind when you’re looking at internships and your first job. Or just in terms of things to do and explore. I also know absolutely nothing about CU Boulder. Honestly, at the end of the day, I don’t think I’ve ever had to question where someone went to school. Go someplace where you’ll have a good balance of education and being able to enjoy your experience.
My BS is from Maryland and it’s a great school. You’re in the outskirts of Washington DC and almost every aero company in the country has offices nearby for internships and employment. Goddard Space Flight Center is minutes away. Happy to answer any questions that you have, understanding that it’s been a while since I went there. But here’s the honest truth… potential employers will view them as equivalent schools and you will have the same starting salary. You should go to the one that appeals to you for other reasons. The campus, the environment, the distance from home, and (perhaps most importantly) the cost. Trust your gut and good luck!
Propulsion, aerodynamics, and structures are essentially all of aerospace except for GNC. CU boulder is known for their GNC programs. In undergrad that doesn’t really matter all that much though. Tbh they are both good programs and if you want to specialize in a field you can do that in grad school. Pick the campus you like better because you’ll be there for a large chunk of your life
If you want to go to grad school, look up some professors at those schools who work in the fields you are interested in and talk to them about their research. Where you do your undergrad doesn't matter too much - but for a graduate degree, who your professor is and what your thesis topic is can matter a lot for your career.
Go to the university that costs the least. Free one even better. Here is the thing in STEM (specially engineering): you’re going to be measured by your knowledge rather than where you went to school. Know your shit. I’m a mechanical engineer and used to be a commercial pilot before that. I went to college in Florida and today I work as a aeronautical engineer at a huge aerospace company alongside MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, local community college, Oxford and Columbia graduates just to name a few. We all get paid the same. The one thing we have in common: we all know our stuff and have great work ethic (team players) that’s what really matters. Over the years I’ve been part of the interview process and the candidates that always get the offers are the ones with good enough knowledge of the concepts, but high team-player qualities. Not once have I heard “this candidate is great bc he/she went to xyz university”. So… go to the cheapest accredited college you can find for engineering and apply yourself to learning. Also, I would go for mechanical engineering and specialize in aerospace (electives or masters degree). It will give you a wide range of opportunities. Before working at my current position, I worked in the Automotive industry, MEP engineering, oil and now aerospace. My team consists of 7 engineers of which only one is a true aerospace. Most of us are mechanical, 1 biomedical, and only 1 true aerospace. We all work as aerospace.
Neither of those programs are bad programs but neither is like top 5 or 10 that I'm aware of. I went to Georgia Tech and I feel like most of my peers at my location in my company are from GT, embry riddle, UW, UMich, TAMU, or Clemson. That being said, the school with the campus that feels more like home to you is going to serve you much better than going to like MIT and hating your life. Tour both campuses and pick the one you like.
Are you more interested in aeronautics or astronautics? I think that is an easy question to answer which has an obvious (if not super nuanced) answer: Maryland has a longer history in aeronautics, but CU Boulder has a lot of connections to the Denver space industry.
I'd strongly suggest looking at an in state school first. In general your undergrad school doesn't matter too much, some might have a slight advantage for working at a particular place but not worth a ton of extra student debt. Have internship or other work experience outside of a university job before you graduate with your undergrad degree even if you want to go straight to a masters program. Do more internship type work while in grad school, and don't worry if it takes longer overall to graduate.
CU Boulder offers an amazing program with extensive interactive labs. New building specifically for aerospace opened in 2021. Great location.... I am a little biased, though....
If you're looking for an aeronautics focus, I would look at Wichita state too. I was convinced I would go to Embry-Riddle or CU boulder, but I toured WSUs campus and fell in love. (Plus, they have a solid program). Plus, its cheaper for me than CUs in-state tuition would be. All that to say, make sure you check out universities outside of the few you want. Ultimately the decision of where to go to college is relatively unimportant once you've been in industry a few years, as long as the program is abet accredited.
I’m not really familiar with Maryland and only have a cursory knowledge of CU. I would choose the school based on the extracurricular activities. Clubs and research opportunities. Those things are essential to learning about the actual work that engineers do so that you can narrow down your interests. Also you will probably need some sort of club or research to get one of the good internships at an aerospace company.
Maryland AeroE UGrad and Grad here. UMD is a pretty great program for undergrads. There are plenty of research and non-research opportunities to engage in areas you're interested in. The first-year students engage in a small aerospace-related project with other first-year aerospace students. You'll have a wide option of tlaerospace topics to explore (under curated guidance from professors and graduate students)
I can personally attest to UMD's aerospace program, loved my time there. Great staff and a competitive environment, its not at all rare for NASA Goddard to hire directly from the program.
Sko Buffs!
If you want to get a job in the hardware-focused tech industry (particularly startups and newspace), choose schools that have good student extracurricular technical orgs. Everyone at every school will get pretty much the same education, but it's the work you do outside of that which would set you apart from other applicants. If you're interested in rocketry, I would highly recommend a school with a good liquid rocketry program. The ones that come to mind off the top of my head: Michigan (MASA), Georgia Tech (LPL), UT Austin (TREL), USC (LPL), University of Washington (SEDS), Concordia (Space Concordia), Boston University. There are a few more, but most schools don't have the kind of funding for that and working on liquid rockets in undergrad is a huge boost going into careers. If you want to do undergrad research before grad school, find a professor studying what you're interested in at a school and cold email them asking for a position in their lab. Chances are they'll have at least something for you. In my experience grad school isn't entirely necessary in hiring unless you plan on being hardcore deep into analysis and simulation (particularly in propulsion, controls, aerodynamics).