<p>^^^I’m going to second the comment from ngnmm. My brother is also smart but was not a fan of formal schooling. Without any college degree at all, he is a plant manager for a pharmaceuticals company, and makes a very good living. But I can assure you he lives with his fingers crossed that his company is not sold to another group that wants better credentials on the manager resumes, and he absolutely does not recommend his life approach to his three children (in college or soon to be at this time). </p>
<p>I’m not an engineer myself, but I’m wife to one and mother to two more. It’s true that the hiring decision is based more on what you know than on where you went to school, but it really helps to get in the door in the first place if you have gone to a school with a strong national reputation. If your son plans to settle in Minnesota there is probably nothing wrong with going to the lesser-known school, but if he wants to have the flexibility to go somewhere else after college he will have a much easier time finding that first job if he comes out of a better-known program. Also, the well-established engineering programs have strong alumni groups with great contacts - very helpful if he is laid off or simply wants to make a change. IMHO the strategy of transferring is very risky and will end up being more expensive in the long run if it involves an additional year of school.</p>
<p>CRD points out that a benefit of going to the nationally known program is associating with students of similar intellect and motivation. I can’t overstate how much it has meant to my kids to be with their intellectual peers. It gets old being the smartest student in the class.</p>
<p>– midmo, I think you misunderstood: the brothers I refer to are college-educated engineers now in upper management positions at major companies. I used their example to illustrate that it is not necessary to go to an elite school to get jobs/succeed in engineering. These men went from junior college to a small and modest state college. One of them still recruits students from that same college.</p>
<p>Easterndad, the deadline is looming close now. Let us know what you and your son decided. Do look at some threads like the featured on in this section about kids who did choose third level school, 4 years later. There is also a thread about kids who turned down more prestigious schools for financial aid. Weigh some of those viewpoints with what parents are saying here. The thing is, all of the points are valid, and you and your son need to pick which ones weigh the most heavily in your particular family/individual situation.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, good advice, but be careful about designations such as ‘3rd tier’, ‘4th tier’ and so on. Everyone has a different definition. In the thread mentioned above, the student attended a western <em>flagship</em> university. It is one of the states in which there are very few universities, either public or private, so many good instate students end up attending this school, providing at least a core of students with quite good academic backgrounds. It may be considered 3rd tier here on CC, but instate students would not likely agree. </p>
<p>S and I just accepted the offer at Purdue and he will be heading there. I spoke to the International Students office and they will enroll him in an optional ESL program. He had also made it to the honors program over there. </p>
<p>Since finances will be a bit tight, he will either have to get a job through Co-op or will have to transfer back to UMN or Wisconsin. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice (esp. ClassicRockerDad) </p>
<p>How wonderful to have the decision made! And I think it is a good one, too.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Frankly, I cannot imagine moving to another country, with a different language than my native tongue, and immediately having to deal with the college choice issue in a system as wide open and complicated as the one here in the U.S. What a challenge.</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your son. Wishing you both the best of luck for the future. I too am impressed with how quickly you and your son have adapted to a new system.</p>
<p>Congratulations to you and your son. With you as his champion and mentor, he will do well. While I know nothing about engineering schools (my kids were science & liberal arts types), I was secretly hoping Purdue would end up the winner!</p>
<p>I’m familiar with Georgia Tech since it’s in my city and while it’s an incredibly well respected institution for engineering, it’s not a very nurturing environment. It has a reputation for “weeding out” many a student. I was glad to read you had ruled it out.
All in all, Eastern Dad, you did an excellent job of navigating the admissions process…a very stressful thing to do, even for those of us born and raised here.</p>
<p>Please keep us posted on your son’s progress and feedback about how he likes his experiences at Purdue!</p>
<p>Well, you now have Purdue in the pocket. If you are still interested in looking at some other alternatives, I am going to throw out some ideas.</p>
<p>If your son was not accepted to your flagship school engineering program for fall of 2010, check and see if they have openings starting this summer or for spring of 2011. I know a number of people who did this with a number of state schools, and they did get seats on an off schedule that way. That is if your flagship school is one that your son likes as much or better than Purdue, or if the value to him is good enough to make this switch. You have time to explore this option even as you keep Purdue as your main destination. Sort of like a waitlist situaton.</p>
<p>Fantastic! Thanks for reporting back. Hopefully he will be able to earn enough during school and in summers to stay with Purdue. If not, then he will be able to transfer anywhere, likely. Honors? That is fantastic. You might be surprised at how funding can be handled. And your other kids may be eligible for merit scholarships. See these forums to find out about great opportunities.</p>
<p>My daughter, who was a science/math type in college, always held a job in the school year and summer. Only 10 to 15 hours a week, schoolyear, but she was always able to get one that involved research in her area of interest, so it was not just a job, it was an area of interest and helped her build a great resume for grad school (or employer.) She had paid work recruiting subjects and administering cognitive science research testing, crunching numbers for a physics prof (and getting a trip to the Fermi lab in the process), an assistant in the brain research institute, a paid TA for 4 semesters, a paid research study on something I don’t understand that has to do with grapic algorithims, a group study on e-cash where she created a cryptographic library.</p>
<p>So, don’t think of the burden on your son of doing some work, think of the advantages. He should knock on doors and talk with people right away to get a good position/lab. But he should read about their research first.</p>
<p>You made a great choice. So happy to hear. Please keep us posted. Many parents here started by trying to find info, then they end up the ones providing the info. Some, like me, even help kids locally who don’t understand the process or the options. Hey, I am still on here six years later.</p>
<p>BrownParent’s comments about on-campus jobs was very interesting, and I should have written it myself. My son is a computer science/math student, now a junior. Shortly after arriving on campus as a freshman, he went looking for a professor who would let him join a research group for the experience. By summer he was on the payroll, and hasn’t left it yet. He has a couple of publications out of that research and hopefully a bit more before he finishes. He has gotten to know several professors in the research group very well. We expect those contacts to be very useful for recommendations for post-graduation plans. Since the work complements course work, it has definitely not been a drag on his time. </p>
<p>So, that is a long way of saying not all campus work is created equal. Once your son feels comfortable with his routine, he might look around for something interesting.</p>
<p>Excellent decision, EasternDad. I live in Minnesota, and I agree with other posters that your son would have a very difficult time transferring from St. Cloud State to a top university engineering program. I went to U of Michigan, and I can say that even if he could get in from St. Cloud State, it probably would not have prepared him well academically for that environment. Also, St. Cloud State has had some significant issues with accepting students from different cultures and backgrounds (frequently in the news here in Minnesota), so your son will probably find a much more accepting community at Purdue.</p>
<p>Regarding work on campus, it is often difficult the first year to get work except in jobs like the dorm cafeterias. Most job on campus are typically work study jobs; if you haven’t filled out the FAFSA, you should, even if you have high income your son may be granted some work study funds. Then it is easier to find a job on campus. Even if he works in the cafeteria or something the first year, he can then start looking and asking around in the spring to line up a better job in a lab or something for fall of his sophomore year.</p>