Student looking for guidance!

Hey everyone!

My name is Nick and I'm currently going to school at my local community college studying engineering. I plan on transferring to a four year next fall but I'm still not sure so where I want to go. I had good grades through community college these past two years (4.0 so far, maybe one B at the end of this semester). These grades allow me to transfer to a lot of schools but for the most elite schools such as Stanford or MIT I will still need to take the SAT. How important is my choice of college in aerospace or environmental engineering? I would like to have some free time but at the same time I want to set myself up for a really good future. Should I just power through studying for the SAT and try to get into really hard schools or go somewhere like CU Boulder for my Bachelors and decide what I want to do after that? Another thing that may or may not matter is I would be going into my third year at a four year college but I'll be college freshman age (18).

Any advice is appreciated! 

Nick

PS - Admins - Feel free to move my post if it's in the wrong section.

I feel like you're probably already in a really good spot for scoring well on the standardized tests, so brushing up for that shouldn't be too strenuous of an undertaking (but I didn't take the sat only the act). I'm not versed in aero or enviro for schools so I'll let other pros speak to that. 

Nice work getting ahead. Hopefully you can start into your 3rd year but you may have some credits that don't transfer so once you've chosen your ideal schools have a chat with a counselor there to get a better grasp of what you'll need to do to get your degree. 

Good luck! 

At the age of 18, I think you're doing great son. There are multiple economics answers to your questions as follows:

a. Elite Schools, MIT, Harvard, etc.- if you can get in and finance is not a problem, then most nearly you would want to list your "brand name education" on your resume up-front once graduate. This gives you an edge because of the brand recognition. 

b. Elite Schools, MIT, Harvard, etc. -  you will take up student loans and are going to incur $100,000. to $200,000 (Plus) worth of debt, most nearly you would want to graduate debt-free.

c. Most nearly you would want to graduate debt-free.

d. Most nearly you wouldn't want to be a financial liability to your parents.

P.S.

For me, for as long as the engineering degree of your choice is ABET accredited, you're safe on your educational investment.  :2cents: . GOOD LUCK!

Typical curriculum for a BS in engineering is pretty consistent as long as the program is ABET accredited and the school has a reputation for being a "good" engineering school.  The elite schools like MIT, Stanford, etc. get lots of research money and are doing cutting-edge research so getting gradutae degrees from them are more impressive as the grad students gain experience in the latest developments in the field over lesser known schools that don't attract the top-end research grants or corporate sponsorships.

That being said, for grad school you will no doubt have to GREs so it makes any fear of taking more standardized tests like the taking the SAT somewhat moot.

There's a big difference between aerospace and environmental engineering so the earlier you pick a track the better off you are to start gearing your classes to meet the end requirements.  Good luck.

Lastly DA has a valid point about assuming significant loans.  You need to factor in the cost-benefit and pursue as much free money (scholarships, financial aid, etc.) as you can to keep debt down.