Embry Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach

Date: Feb 25 2011
Major: Aerospace Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer, and for that ERAU is supposed to be one of the best in the world - so I worked my butt off, applied to only this one university, and got in with a generous scholarship. So far so good, I gathered my hawaiian shirts and sandals and headed for Florida.

This university WILL mold you into a top notch engineer/professional as long as-

1. You're among the elite and live to study physics and math. Seriously, if these are not your forte or if you don't like sitting in front of 1000 page text books, dont choose AE and make the same mistake I did. You should see ERAU's retention rate. It is certainly not for everyone, and a shit ton of students transfer out early on. It's sneaky because by then the U has already hungrily lapped up your money.

2. You are willing to socially and sexually castrate yourself. At my orientation (I'm not kidding) one of the faculty boasted that 15% of the student body was girls. You'd think that this insane ratio is just a number and the partying is there for those who want it yada yada, but trust me the number becomes very real 1 month in, when there's basically nothing to do in Daytona except 2 run-down, trashy as hell clubs which invariably turn into sausage fests. I have heard frat boys boasting that they're having high school girls coming to their party. It's that sad.

Which brings me to the feminine gender - which is a big part of any college going man's life. The women at ERAU suddenly take on mythical status. Just because there's so few of them, you start seeing them much hotter than they really are - which puts them on an even higher pedestal - which in turn leads to a very sad existence and feeling emasculated. Luckily I had a girlfriend (not from ERAU) throughout this time.

The faculty are helpful and outstanding (especially the Comm faculty)

I think ERAU would be a great choice if you're sure you can forgo the whole college experience, not party for 4 years, live in an absolutely shit town, and bust your ass to keep your grades up.

If your priority is a degree at the best AE program in the country, even at the cost of all that i mentioned above, go for it; but don't say you weren't warned ;)