Any Purdue Grads out there?

[benb172]

This April Vacation I am going out to Indiana, Michigan and Illinois to look at some schools for Aeronautical Engineering. I am touring U Michigan, Purdue, and U Illinois. Purdue is one of my top choices. Any particular thing I should see? Thanks for the input!

 

[ScottM]

This April Vacation I am going out to Indiana, Michigan and Illinois to look at some schools for Aeronautical Engineering. I am touring U Michigan, Purdue, and U Illinois. Purdue is one of my top choices. Any particular thing I should see? Thanks for the input!

Not a Purdue alum but one of my friends is a prof there, so I have been there before several times.

When you visit make sure you go to the Triple XXX, have a root beer and a Duane Purvis burger!

https://www.triplexxxfamilyrestaurant.com/

 

[jpower]

I know you asked for Purdue...but I'm a current U of M aero student. PM me if you have any questions! Happy to help out however I can.

In terms of what to see here, the Aero building is nice, sure--we have a bunch of cool stuff out on the floor (Lesher Nomad aircraft, a GE-90 fan blade, an Allison turboprop, etc etc) but it's not like we're a museum. The wave field outside is pretty cool! But you also probably want to get a feel for Ann Arbor. Though I'm probably a little biased, I think Ann Arbor is the perfect college town. And if you're so inclined, take a drive past the Big House. It doesn't look extremely impressive from the outside, but you have to keep in mind that probably about half or maybe more of it is undeground.

Again, do ask if you have any questions! Every school has its goods and bads, but here at Michigan, I think the goods far, far outweigh the bads.

 

[AdamZ]

I expect that Jason Herman will check in soon. Jason just graduated from Purdue's aviation program.

 

[gismo]

This April Vacation I am going out to Indiana, Michigan and Illinois to look at some schools for Aeronautical Engineering. I am touring U Michigan, Purdue, and U Illinois. Purdue is one of my top choices. Any particular thing I should see? Thanks for the input!

One of the best things about Purdue is they have a nice airport right on the Campus (within walking distance). My daughter is attending in their ME program (not aviation) and enjoying the school. Amelia Earhart and Neal Armstrong have been involved with Purdue so there's some good history there too.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Hey there,

Relatively recent Purdue grad here... ask away! I graduated May 2012 in Aviation Technology and had a blast out there. I made some really great connections, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun too. It's a great Big 10 school and it gave me some very unique opportunities like marching in the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I still visit a few times a year to see my friends who are on the 5 or 6 or 7 year plan... The winters are not so much fun, but that's the midwest for you. Fall and spring are really great.

Try to eat in one of the dining halls while you're there for a visit. They usually let you eat for free on a tour. Lots of good options but Earhart and Ford were probably my favorites. Check out the Engineering Beering fountains. They are lit up at night and look really cool. Just walking through campus is always a lot of fun. Also ask about the clapping circles.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Hopefully I can point you in the right direction. Here are some pictures, though it would take a few thousand more to convey all of the memories. Purdue is a cool place. Lots of really awesome people there.

 

[guardrail]

I was up in West Lafayette a few years ago for a business conference at Purdue. Was a really wonderful little town. I got a rental car and drove around with my wife in the evenings to the different suburbs, etc. I remember thinking that was a place I wouldn't mind living. Looked like it offered quite a but of the "good" America and very little of the "bad". The tunnels connecting the school buildings were pretty interesting too, seemed like they went on for miles and miles.

 

[iflyforfun]

I'm a '97 Aero Eng grad - BS and MS. I'm obviously biased, but it is an EXCELLENT program. Compared to EE and ME which graduate +/- 1,000 per year, Aero is pretty cozy at 80-120 a year. This means once past Freshman Engineering (with huge class sizes, TAs and all the engineering programs mixed together) you get LOTS of interaction with the professors and grad students.

Freshman year - by far least enjoyable, huge classes, TAs, many goof offs, schools weeds out the real engineers from the wanna-be's, usually living in the dorms with mix of friends

Sophomore year - begin core program, find yourself spending much more time with smaller group of fellow Aero students

Junior year - is a real crucible, you practically live with your classmates - find somewhere you are comfortable studying (we LIVED at Pappy's and had our own table that was pretty much staffed around the clock ;^), build your core team and lean on each other to get through ... by far the hardest year, but also the most fun

Senior year - really the capstone, enjoy the senior design class, take that really cool controls class you've been putting off, interview like mad and enjoy the year, challenging but workload is much more manageable than Junior year

Along the way, you'll spend plenty of time at games (AHHHH, the smell of stale beer and second hand smoke), enjoy the Chocolate Shop, likely head to Bloomington for the Little 500 and generally enjoy yourself. You will also make life long friendships. Out of my core group of 8 friends, 5 of us have stayed in pretty close contact - we know ech others wives and kids, the whole thing.

I can strongly recommend Purdues program and have stayed close to the school - got my MS there, still see some of the professors once a year, even started a business through the Research Park based on research funded/developed by one of my advisors. The place isn't perfect, but it is great.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[hindsight2020]

Hey there,

Relatively recent Purdue grad here... ask away! I graduated May 2012 in Aviation Technology and had a blast out there. I made some really great connections, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun too. It's a great Big 10 school and it gave me some very unique opportunities like marching in the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I still visit a few times a year to see my friends who are on the 5 or 6 or 7 year plan... The winters are not so much fun, but that's the midwest for you. Fall and spring are really great.

Try to eat in one of the dining halls while you're there for a visit. They usually let you eat for free on a tour. Lots of good options but Earhart and Ford were probably my favorites. Check out the Engineering Beering fountains. They are lit up at night and look really cool. Just walking through campus is always a lot of fun. Also ask about the clapping circles.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Hopefully I can point you in the right direction. Here are some pictures, though it would take a few thousand more to convey all of the memories. Purdue is a cool place. Lots of really awesome people there.

I'm glad to see you had a great time while at Purdue. I always believe my lack of enjoyment while attending that institution was directly tied to my major (Aerospace engineering). I know the non-engineering major types I bumped into @ KLAF while I was doing my certificates part 61 had a lot more free time to enjoy the college experience Purdue was offering. No offense but the Aviation Tech Dept degree plans were pretty vanilla in terms of academic effort required. So much so I'm not quite sure why someone would shell out tuition to the tune of 20K+ for. But I digress.

Seeing how the OP wishes to pursue the degree plan I was involved with during my tenure @ Purdue (I was a graduate student and worked for the Department as well), I don't think it'll be impossible to enjoy the social aspect of college, but his time will be severly limited if he wishes to keep up academically. I would steer him away from the degree plan, but that's for another thread.

break break--
OP, Lafayette is your standard college town. Not a bad place to live, I just despise cold places, but that was never a secret about the Midwest. Good luck to you.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

No offense but the Aviation Tech Dept degree plans were pretty vanilla in terms of academic effort required. So much so I'm not quite sure why someone would shell out tuition to the tune of 20K+ for. But I digress.

The program is what you make of it. If you are an ambitious student you can use it to really go places. I learned a LOT and it wasn't exactly "vanilla." To each his own.

 

[X3 Skier]

You might come to the Cincinnati vs Purdue football game at the University of Cincinnati this August 31. Purdue Road Trip and a chance to check out UC's Engineering school which is about 100 yards from the stadium. Before some new buildings were constructed, I used to watch games from the top floor of Baldwin Hall on Saturday while "studying".

The Aero department does a lot of work with GE Engines, a short drive up I-75 and WPAFB, a longer drive up I-75 and both hire a number of Co-Op students.

Cheers

 

[Captain]

I really like Purdue grads. Whenever I see one I always 'Biggie Size' it.

: )

 

[ScottM]

I really like Purdue grads. Whenever I see one I always 'Biggie Size' it.

: )

LOL!


That is sort of like what one does when they see a U of Michigan grad.

They pay him for the pizza and ask him to get off of the porch.

 

[iflyforfun]

...
I always believe my lack of enjoyment while attending that institution was directly tied to my major (Aerospace engineering).
...

Seeing how the OP wishes to pursue the degree plan I was involved with during my tenure @ Purdue (I was a graduate student and worked for the Department as well), I don't think it'll be impossible to enjoy the social aspect of college, but his time will be severly limited if he wishes to keep up academically. I would steer him away from the degree plan, but that's for another thread.

At the end of the day, and engineering degree is a major commitment. If you don't want to be an engineer, I'd agree, don't pursue the degree ... kind of obvious.

If you want plenty of free time, get a humanities degree. If you think you'll enjoy working your back-end off while learning and being challenged, engineering MIGHT be for you ... then again, it might not.

Not trying to be critical, but it sounds like you didn't enjoy engineering. Do you think you would have enjoyed engineering at another school? Was it Purdue, or just the course of study?

To the OP - I don't think this post adds much value to the "why Purdue" question, but it does point out how important it is to consider where Aero Engineering is right for you. I'm a aviation junkie, private pilot, have been in a partnership and owned my own plane. That said, my Aerospace degree has been used as a general engineering degree and I've never worked in aerospace. I'm a manufacturing guy and always have been. I LOVED my undergrad engineering experience at Purdue and the Purdue name (despite jokes above) has opened many doors.

If Aero Engineering is for you, Purdue is an excellent choice.