I am interested into going to college. What school or degree should I take to get a seat in the Mars missions? Space Camp?
Which school has the highest student to space program statistic?
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1$\begingroup$ This school might be a good idea to visit first. This is a text-book definition of a question who's answer is primarily opinion-based, and so will be quickly closed. $\endgroup$ – uhoh Aug 7 '18 at 2:26
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3$\begingroup$ Space Camp? No. You need to get a very serious degree from a very serious college or university. Your best bets by far are the US Naval Academy and the US Air Force Academy. (West Point also is a good choice.) Other than those military academies, you should look at the very few top schools in aerospace engineering: MIT, Stanford, Purdue, Georgia Tech, the universities of Colorado, Texas, Washington, Michigan, plus a few others. Ivy League schools are another good choice. If you're 12, now is a good time to start planning to attend one of those schools. If you're 16, it's probably too late. $\endgroup$ – David Hammen Aug 7 '18 at 3:46
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$\begingroup$ @DavidHammen I see some "space stuff" at Johns Hopkins (e.g. Parker Solar Probe) $\endgroup$ – uhoh Aug 7 '18 at 3:51
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh - That's the Applied Physics Lab, an offshoot of Johns Hopkins (I worked there several decades ago, and took some graduate classes while I was there). Maybe my google fu is lacking this evening, but the only astronaut I could find who received a degree from Johns Hopkins is Gregory R. Wiseman. But that's a master's degree. His undergrad is from RPI, which boasts four astronauts. I intentionally left graduate schools out of my list because (a) The Naval Post Graduate School outranks all of them, by far, and (b) one step at at time. $\endgroup$ – David Hammen Aug 7 '18 at 4:07
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2$\begingroup$ Speaking of one step at a time, Eagle Scouts are thick as thieves in the Astronaut Office. (The Girl Scout equivalent, the Gold Award, is also quite well represented there.) More than two-thirds of all current and former astronauts have been involved in scouting. If you're ten, now is a good time to start thinking about working toward Eagle / the Gold Award. If you're fourteen and haven't started yet, it's probably too late. $\endgroup$ – David Hammen Aug 7 '18 at 4:14
