Phuz

Easy killer.

I posted a link to an article that is 100% relevant to the interests of people perusing this board who are attempting to make informed decisions about their futures.

I graduated from Riddle PRC in '07.

The Juice

Sweet! My alma mater is right in the middle, which is fitting since my scholastic achievements have been average.

bullmechum

O.K my fellow alum, yours is somewhat bewildering.
I guess you’re an unsatisfied customer who bravely exudes the “must warn others” mentality. Question: Do you bear the same cross during a job interview? I Imagine it would go something like this; “I would like to fly for your company. I graduated from Embry-Riddle, but it’s a horrible school and I wasted a lot of time and money. However I use the experience to underscore my complete lack of judgment.” (points for honesty maybe)

I submit your heartburn has more to do with the current difficult mechanics of a pilot career than the training you received at ERAU. Also the fact that a flight related degree leaves you little options outside of flying. These are the valid points you should impart to your audience.

Grumble

You guys missed the whole point of that ranking. When 75% of the graduates go on to live on ramen and the Wendy's dollar menu, making $19,000/year as a regional FO trying to pay their $100K in loan debt, when stacked to other schools... yeah, Riddle SUCKS!

~Riddle Alum

ryguy

Here is a quote from the article:

"Whether they're in the top 10 or near the end of the list, all 610 schools in this ranking count among the best in the country: We review just 9% of the 6,600 accredited postsecondary institutions in the U.S., so appearing on our list at all is an indication that a school meets a high standard. "

America's Best Colleges - Forbes.com

Nice try at misrepresenting the point of the article.

Grumble

atpcliff

Hi!

The 3 main service academies were all in the top 10-15 or so, while ERAU was, as you can see, almost last. This study was done by taking the student's views of their universities, and value was an important component.

Cubdriver

ERAU has a strong engineering program, especially on the Prescott side. I have worked with many of the graduates from both of their locations and they tend to be sharp engineers. The worst of them are merely "ok", and none are incompetent or troublesome. Money does seem to get some of them in, but they do not grant undergrad degrees to unworthy people in my opinion. Even "podunk" ABET accredited science institutions generally produce competent people. I have seen some real talent from Prescott, though.

USAF is a top notch institution that produces some of the best engineers, past and present. They have long been leaders in aeronautical science and research. Getting in is tough and graduating is no easy matter either. Naval Academy I can't really say anything about. It would have to be a quality education as well, but it does not have the reputation in airplane engineering circles the Air Force Academy has.

If you want a world class engineering education you need to go to a research institution that grants masters degrees and PhDs. I graduated from such a school although I do not care to name it. Such institutions have students competing to get in from all over the world, and they generally have an international atmosphere of excellence. To be a student at such a school is to be a kid in a candy store of current knowledge of aircraft and space technology. MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Georgia Tech, there are about ten or fifteen venerated institutions in the US granting graduate degress on the top levels of aeronautical and space science. Getting in is tough, and staying there after admittance is certainly tougher. But it can be done- no one should lose hope if they are sincerely interested.

rickair7777

I agree ERAU has always had a good reputation on the engineering side. I was addressing the flight ops/aviation science side.

The service academies, while not Phd mills, generally provide their students direct access to DoD operated or funded research and engineering facilities and programs. In the case of USNA it's located across the river.

Top talent will be sent directly to a high-end school for post graduate education either immediately after graduation, or even during their final two years (that's a biatch).

You don't see them too much in rank-and-file engineering because they tend to either stay in the military (with rotations through program management) or get out and go directly into management. They are on a different career track...the ones who like hands-on engineering tend to end up as test pilots and then on to nasa.

aerospacepilot

I used to think this too...

Then I met a manager at my work (Large Aerospace company) who didn't have an engineering undergrad and wanted to get a masters in engineering. So she enrolled in Embry Riddle's Aerospace Engineering masters program

It was basically an Aerospace Engineering degree masters program for F-16 pilots at Luke, so I knew it would be a little watered down. Well, then she told me her final assignment for her Aeronautical Sciences class.

Write a 5 page paper on any airplane you wish...

Any respect I had for ERAU went out the window.

As an aside, I never wanted a technical masters (I have my bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering), but I have considered enrolling in ERAU's program because it would be so damn easy!

But still.... I'd say that ranking is deserved.

Sounds right