<p>There are some engineering summer programs - so maybe that's something he could do next summer. Otherwise I'd encourage him to look outside the UC system. As I recall, at least at Berkeley pretty much anything in Engineering was impacted making transfers difficult. My son has very similar stats. We like Rennselaer and Worcester Polytechnic. They are more hands on and career oriented than MIT and Caltech. My nephew just started at Rice for engineering and biology and so far he's very happy.</p>
<p>No much help on finessing the UC's , but I did notice a comment about climatology. Your S might keep an eye on possible Geology/Geophysics degrees. You can go many directions and most of the Cal schools mentioned have great to world class geoscience programs. I am a 23 year Geoscience professional, including 11 years in California</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents here (as a physical sciences PhD who works with engineers quite a bit) - but if your son is really bright, curious, likes all kinds of science he is almost surely going to want to go to graduate school (that's where the fun science is!). One track I have seen others take is to do an UG BS in a science and then do engineering in GS if engineering is what he really wants. Would probably be a good idea to check w/ UG dept of interesting-looking colleges to see whether they think that is possible, but I'll bet it is.</p>
<p>I know that some people have asked about "Engineering Days". I have a few links to programs that my family has attended. I tried to search CA schools but didn't have much luck, so I tried for programs that I knew about. My S put that he was interested in engineering on his PSAT. I think that we heard of most of these preview days from a mailing from the school. I have to believe that there are preview days in other parts of the country than the midwest. My S found them very informative and liked to attend these events. </p>
<p>Purdue <a href="http://www.purdue.edu/Admissions/Undergrad/visiting/fall_preview_day.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.purdue.edu/Admissions/Undergrad/visiting/fall_preview_day.shtml</a>
This was informative but it seems that because you don't apply for a specific engineering major, it was more general. Purdue you apply as a pre-engineering major and they explore the difference majors in a freshman seminar class.</p>
<p>University of Cincinnati <a href="http://www.eng.uc.edu/prospectivestudents/collegevisits/%5B/url%5D">http://www.eng.uc.edu/prospectivestudents/collegevisits/</a>
My S found this very informative. They have a general overview and then they divide into groups. We talked to the department head and several professors. We saw labs and the tours were guided by engineering students, who were very informative and friendly.</p>
<p>Ohio State <a href="http://www.eng.ohio-state.edu/futurestudents/infoevents.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.eng.ohio-state.edu/futurestudents/infoevents.php</a>
My S attended the Engineering Preview Day and found it very informative. It also had a general overview and department tours. I highly recommend this tour and think that OSU does a great job at promoting engineering.</p>
<p>Michigan <a href="http://www.eng.ohio-state.edu/futurestudents/infoevents.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.eng.ohio-state.edu/futurestudents/infoevents.php</a> My D and I were going to attend this but she was being a PITA and we bailed. She's not going to be as cooperative as my S, she tells me that she's going to pick out her school based on the dorms and the food. UMich did not meet the food requirement! Sigh!</p>
<p>My H is an engineer and he meets the tinker mode but I don't think that you have to be such. I've meet many engineers and they are very different in what interests them.</p>
<p>H is a mechanical engineer, a graduaute of our big state u where you must declare your major on your application He was steered in that direction by parents and teachers because he was good in math and science. He has told me many times that he never really understood what an engineer did until he actually got a job after graduation. He has worked in the nuclear power industry for 25 years and has never regretted his choice because it has allowed him to do several different jobs within his company. He feels that the mechanical engineer is sort of the "jack of all trades" in the engineering world, can go in a lot of different directions.</p>
<p>S1 is now attending H's alma mater. He was not sure if he wanted engineering but applied to the college of Engineering on his application because he was told as others have said that it is easy to get out of engineering but it is very hard to transfer in (at his school anyway). He changed his mind before he even graduated high school and switched his major. </p>
<p>Also to the OP, if your S is really interested in Climatology, he might want to consider majoring in Meteorology. One of S's best friends at our State U is majoring in that and it is packed with math, physics,chem (the exact same ones the engineering majors take) and lots of meteorlogical science classes that are very challenging and you graduate with a marketable degree.</p>
<p>Unless a kid is truly gung ho about a program, I would not recommend starting college with a restrictive major. The stats are just against freshmen sticking with their major. A glance at the rate of change in major will establish that pretty quickly. Engineering poses the additional problem of being a tough major. Many kids leave that major, because they don't want to do the work it entails, and because they do poorly. Doing poorly restricts your transfer options.<br>
There are a number of engineering programs that permit switching into a different area of study. There are also engineering programs that encourage kids to transfer into the department if they take the intro courses that engineers take, and do well in them. With the high dropout rate in engineering, I would think that transferring into a program with a good college record in the very subjects so many kids fail or do poorly, would not be too much of an issue. I would check about the flexibiltiy that the schools have and avoid those that have the potential to be a problem if your son changes his mind about what he wants to do. As an aside, I know a few CMU students who dumped engineering and went into other disciplines at the school. One , a close friend of my son did so under duress (flunked some courses and got himself on probation), and he said that this happens a lot there. He switched to the Humanities School, and he said that his friend in the same boat switched to the Science school. So I don't think CMU is tight about getting out of engineering. It is tight about getting into some of their programs, and for students already there, a stellar college record would be needed for consideration to switch to those competitive programs.</p>
<p>Your S sounds a lot like my S was in HS. </p>
<p>S goes to Mudd. Try to visit if you can. Their engineering degree is general. All the kids have to take an engineering class as part of the core. S really enjoyed it and was good at it but not enough to dissuade him from science. He has, however, been able to do some summer research in MatSci that uses both his science and engineering knowledge. I don't think they declare majors until sophomore year. </p>
<p>Also, look into merit aid. It's been a few years since my S was a frosh, but I'm pretty sure they still give merit aid for high standardized test scores. IIRC, there's a full-tuition scholarship that's competitive (that's been revamped since my S started, so I"m not familiar with current requirements).</p>
<p>I think you should post on the engineering forum here. There are a lot of engineers and engineering students from various schools who post over there and at least one prof. Good luck and best wishes to your S!</p>
<p>Wash U has an engineering school that students apply directly into. However, WUSTL easily lets you transfer from one of its schools into another - with no hassle. You might also want to look into Tufts, Brown and Swarthmore, as all have engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of the great suggestions! I will repost my original post on the engineering forum also as mudder's mudder suggests. Yes, Harvey Mudd is an appealing possibility for my son; he knows a couple of student who go there and we are planning a visit soon.</p>