Originally Posted by
erictgill
US News does the rankings each year for Universities and Embry Riddle Daytona Campus has held the #1 in aviation for about as long as they have been ranking. USAF Academy is #2 and ERAU AZ Campus is #3
Top Schools for Aeronautics, Aviation and Aerospace Science
What I have herd is the USAF Academy flight training is mediocre, The government contracted out the flight training to a place called Doss Aviation in Pueblo Colorado. The CFI standards are low for a job at doss teaching cadets
Employment
Keep in mind when the Government contracts civillians for anything the contract goes to the lowest bidder. You should know that being in the Marines and all. What gives the USAF Academy such a good name is dispite their hands on flight training they do have a really good academic standard. Plus add the 6 years of active duty and experience.
As I said - and I see that Rickair already beat me too it - the USAFA isn't a Flight Training Academy the likes of ERAU
I do appreciate that you provided the source of your statement though and I can see where some (and I include the author of the article) get confused.
I do find it interesting to note the qualifications that this very article attributes to the two schools:
(Source: U.S. News,
US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com):
- 1. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida)
This private university has built a solid reputation for its aeronautical program.
-Undergraduate Student Body: 4,407; Faculty to Student Ratio: 1:17; Tuition Costs: $23,500 (not including housing fees); Average High School GPA of Incoming Freshmen: 3.3; Test Scores of Incoming Freshmen: ACT: More than 40% had scores 18-23, SAT: More than 40% had scores 1000-1100.
- 2. United States Air Force Academy (Colorado)
-It prides itself on educating future leaders.
-Undergraduate Student Body: 4,274; Faculty to Student Ratio: 1:9; Tuition Costs: Not Listed; Average High School GPA of Incoming Freshmen: 3.9; Test Scores of Incoming Freshmen: ACT: More than 50% had scores 24-29, SAT: More than 50% had scores 1200-1299.
Although I hear that ERAU does have a fairly respected engineering department (I only know about it via these forums), I'm willing to say that I'd expect that a Engineering degree from one of the service academies is probably a very well respected degree too
Even looking at the general statistics presented I'm still trying to figure out exactly what criteria was used by the author to rate these schools.
Maybe it was percentage of graduates who get an corporate engineering job with one of the major aeronautical firms immediately after graduation
USMCFLYR