Why
Florida Tech…
I started looking for a
college to transfer to about a year ago. It came down to about five
schools Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida Tech, SUNY-Farmingdale,
the College of Aeronautics, and Dowling College. I applied to all of
them, and was accepted. This just complicated my decision. ERAU has
the best-established name for the field I am taking up, so I thought that was
the way to go. However, I decided I would visit each school. Of the
NY schools, Farmingdale simply felt depressing. The other two did not
have Aviation programs that I was pleased with. This left me with ERAU
and Florida Tech. ERAU was the first school I visited and I was ready to
settle for it, but I arranged to fly down to Melbourne, Fl to see Florida Tech
as well...just to make a fair decision. I'm glad I did. The school
was far superior in one way: They treat the individual as (just that), an
individual. I felt the opposite was true about ERAU. Its not that
the fine people at ERAU treat visitors like dirt, it just felt different.
There were several other reasons that favored Florida Tech over ERAU. Of these,
financial aid was at the top of the list. ERAU didn't offer any
scholarship/grant money; whereas Florida Tech exceeded my expectations.
Another reason was the housing situation: Florida Tech's dorms looked
like beachfront resort-condo's in comparison to ERAU's jail-cell type
housing.
In defense of ERAU, they have a damn-good Army ROTC Ranger Challenge
team. The "Airman" -a good friend-is there now, and I'm sure he
would tell you it's a fine institution. Although it may be, I am now
coming from a biased point of view and I'm sure he'll understand :-P
So there, Florida Tech made its case and won my thirty grand a year.
I will be majoring in Aviation Management-Flight at Florida Tech. I
originally was going to major in Aeronautical Science-Flight but vowed I would
never take another Calculus Class in my life, so there goes that idea!!
The Management degree will still involve the same professional flight training,
just a different book-emphasis. –JS
11JUN01