Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach — Attraction in Daytona Beach

If you're planning on applying here: DON'T DO IT. You'll be treated like the best student ever from your application to your first day of orientation. After that, you better learn how to fend for yourself because you'll be hard-pressed to find friends outside of Greek life or sports. Both of which are highly exclusive groups that will treat you terribly if you aren't one of them. You'll find yourself wasting away in your dorm room, wondering why you're never happy. Believe me: it wouldn't be your fault. The school would be responsible.

If you're a freshman, you'll be assigned an advisor non-specific to your major in "First-Year Programs." They seem nice enough until you're sitting there, being told "you probably just aren't cut out for a STEM field. You should try somewhere else, but PLEASE stay! We value your presence here!" It's all lies they tell for money, and you'll get some vague answer that dances around everything you just asked.

As for the classes: you'll be challenged, no doubt. However, that doesn't mean they're useful. The school isn't preparing you for the real world. They're preparing you for an exam that will mean nothing after the semester ends. You'll be pulling your hair out for nothing. But don't consider asking the school for advice. They'll simply reply, after a week or more of waiting, that you're just not smart enough for them and that the classes are challenging for a reason (translation: more money for them).

If you aren't planning on being an engineer or pilot, good luck. You're the bottom of the barrel. They don't care about your program, so you better just stick with what's making you pull your hair out every day. If you start as an engineer or pilot, but then you decide to switch majors, good luck with that too. If you didn't do well in a class (say you got a B), you'll get an email back from the program advisor saying he doesn't want you in his major because you didn't get the grades HE wanted. He'll also say he doesn't want to meet with you because you're not worth his time, so try again when you have a 4.0. Yes, that really happened to me.

Sure, there are a few good things about this campus. It's near NASA, you're in a warmer climate, and there are some professors that contradict everything I mentioned above. However, those do NOT cancel out the bad at the nightmare that is ERAU Daytona. It is a mess that has students working to fix the school's problems. You're going to be scratching your head at every turn, wondering how such a prestigious school can be so idiotic and useless.

You're much better than this university will ever treat you. You're capable of making the closest of friends, passing all your classes with amazing grades, being an active community member, working on research projects with highly-qualified professors, and much more. This is where I shamelessly plug the ERAU Prescott Campus. I transferred here in the Fall of 2018, and I can assure you that I have thrived so much here. I can't promise this will be a better fit, but I know it's a better campus. The two feel like different schools altogether, even when Daytona takes money away from Prescott to fund their useless projects. This place does more with less, and it really pays off.

I wish you luck in your future endeavors, and I trust you'll make the right decision for your needs and desires.

If you're an employee from the Daytona campus reading this: thank you for the absolute waste of a first year. I never received the help I needed, both in and out of the classroom. You need a reality check because there is nothing, NOTHING more valuable than the minds of your students. I never met a single student there that could say, wholeheartedly, that they loved where they were. Their money should mean less than their efforts and happiness by a long shot. Then again, I'm sure this is just a minimum wage student reading this, and it will never even reach the computer screen of an...

01/02/2023 - School is overly expensive and would rather spend student money on dinner parties and replanting trees than building proper facilities for its students. It is nearly impossible to find the correct faculty member when seeking assistance for anything related to the university. Parking is non-existent, and the administration prefers telling students to walk or carpool while actively removing parking spots. Professors are the only saving grace as they are the only people who remotely care. Any dean or faculty that stands up to administration mysteriously get fired and new individuals refuse to leave their office. School loves constructing dorms with the company owned by its lead board members. Highly recommend looking elsewhere, plenty of aeronautical schools that can offer better social environments and networking opportunities.

01/06/2023 - As they decided an automatic comment from the schools bot system was necessary, I'll add the part that made me post this. Attended school from 2016-2021. Achieved Masters. When working towards some extra classes after my Masters graduation, I lost my grandfather. Requested a withdrawal from my class and its wait time put me outside the withdrawal period. Was denied because the faculty didn't see my request until then and told me I waited too long. Filed for a late drop and was told that unless I provided proof such as an official death certificate or pictures of his corpse, I would get denied. The letter from my counselor stating my grief and accounts from my family were not enough. Was denied late drop and then charged $3,000 for the trouble. School doesn't care. They never care and would gladly take your application fee and first year of tuition just to fail you out of the school. Staff was grossly irresponsible in aiding me in every process. Also, career services don't exist. I probably sent around 40 emails to the department in my last year or so before graduation, and only once did I receive a reply. When attending said meeting time, I was told the individual who I was supposed to meet wasn't even in the office that day. I would have to email again the following week. Just thinking about the school now...

Alright, I've been in industry for almost 30 years now and I have come to a conclusion that I will not hire from Embry Riddle and I have couple of other universities blacklisted as well.

Why I say this?

1. Of the ~370+ folks I have met from this university not one can survive in a technical role. The students are very high level and when asked to go in deep I have yet to meet anyone that can.

2. Most end up in management roles. This is not a good type, it's mainly because it is hard to execute technically and the arrogance is equivalent to a Texas A&M or UT Graduate. Again all negative connotations.

3. The students only have merit as a FAA private pilot; when it comes to building real planes and avionics they fall short of knowing anything except to test a system with zero flaws. If an issue arises they have to go to someone who has technical and flight experience.

4. I see these folks as paper pushers and requirements writers. Most candidates do not know technical so they end up as technical writers or paper pushers for engineers that understand and execute to engineering abilities.

I could blast this school on its poor graduate standards, but its a private institution that is after you money. You have...