@Darcy123 This is the hard choice- engineering or STEM (or CompSci) at LAC. Definitely staying away from 3-2s for the reasons you mention!
The other problematic program is RPI’s “arch” program that takes kids off campus for a semester. From what I’ve heard it’s a big disruption.
Do you really need to steer him away from colleges with gen ed requirements or is it about the way they are delivered? Would he have an issue with a “Europe Between the Wars” history class if it had 60 students and taught in a lecture format? The one gen Ed I would be careful about is Foreign Language. They almost have to be small interactive classes.
University of Florida offers remote classes. If these are also “on-demand” classes, then it might be attractive to your son.
Thanks, this is helpful. There seem to be fifty shades of core requirements out there, some of which are up his alley. Anything history (especially war-related, good pick) or music is on the safe side. Language is tricky. He has 4 years of high school language.
You nailed it. Remote learning has been a huge success this year. Maybe we will see more flexible remote classes in the post-covid world.
That is not true at all schools. Purdue has required recitations for all their large lecture classes.
Purdue engineering is a very collaborative program. Group projects and subsequent presentations are the norm from the beginning of freshman year. Oral communication is a required course for engineers. Attendance and participation in recitations is mandatory for all large lectures. My D’s engineering design class met in a makers space. Definitely no place to hide.
My point is to not assume that a larger school is going to make it easier to disengage/hide.
Purdue is also planning the return to all in person classes in the Fall with no stay at home remote option.
Interesting! Great to know that Purdue is doing project work right away. I was picturing large lectures all of freshman year. What is a recitation? How many of your daughter’s classes were lectures vs smaller classes?
Purdue is hanging by a thread of his list because we are all so intimidated by the size. The learning communities a could be a good fit. Has the size been an issue for your daughter at all?
By “participation is voluntary”, I meant participation in discussion in a recitation section, not its attendance, is voluntary. On the other hand, at some colleges, attendance of recitations or lectures are all voluntary.
Recitations are small break out sessions that are run by the PhD student TAs. They are mandatory at Purdue for all large lecture courses.
My D took 5 courses her first semester freshman year:
Honors Engineering Design - about 75 students in a makers space. 100% all group projects and presentation. (One of the reasons she wanted to go to Purdue)
Chem - 250ish students and a 20 person mandatory recitation. Lecture met twice/week, recitation once/week.
Calc - 250 ish students - met three times a week with 2, 20 person recitations/week
Honors Seminar - 25 students
Oral communication - 25 students.
D is part of the honors college and the school never felt too large or intimidating. She knows a ton of her professors, their families, and she has had more personal connections than I had a school half the size. I highly recommend the living learning communities!
Thanks, this is such helpful info. I wish colleges had parents on some of these virtual open houses. I’m learning much more here on CC.
Your daughter’s schedule seems like a happy balance of big and small. So even if he hid in the lecture, he will be very much seen in recitation. I like the double exposure to content as well.
My son is interested in the honors college too, but I hear the competition is stiff! Congrats to your daughter!
Happy to answer any Purdue related questions. My D is a junior now and has had a fabulous experience at Purdue.
Purdue hosts an accepted students parent group for every in coming class that has a bunch of upperclassman parents who help facilitate conversation. Unfortunately it is only for accepted students’ parents but it’s a wealth of information when the time comes.
Since you mentioned engineering, be aware that ABET accreditation for engineering requires that there be general education requirements. That means that, for example, otherwise-open-curriculum Brown requires four humanities and/or social studies courses for ABET accredited engineering majors. Granted, this is fewer than required at places like MIT, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd, but it is not zero either.
For many situations, it is best to avoid the term “STEM”. Biology, computer science, and mechanical engineering are all under that descriptor, but the academic characteristics of the majors and their post-graduation career prospects vary greatly.
Thank you for clarifying ABET… I was not aware there were humanities reqs, but four classes is reasonable. The programs that concern me are the ones where 2/3 of the curriculum is outside the major.
At this point, I use the word stem because he’s still undecided and could end up in any of the sciences, comp Sci, data Sci, stats, engineering, so on and so forth. Hopefully he can make some decisions this summer and senior year before embarking on the great college path. At the very least, he needs to decide about engineering, as there are many schools on his list that don’t have eng.
This is not always true. S19 hasn’t had more than maybe 22 in his math classes at Bowdoin. I don’t believe that kids were forced to participate though. It was more his humanities classes where everyone is expected to discuss.
To those who have kindly replied or anyone else who may have expertise, do you know which disciplines require the most verbal communication/interpersonal skills and which ones require the least?
Stereotypically, there are some careers that seem to require less verbal communication, such as those involving a computer screen. However, are there some types of CompSci that require more interaction than others? How about math? Lab sciences?
I assumed that chemists working in a lab would need less, but my Professor Dad reminded me that lab scientists at his university are together in a lab all day and there’s quite a bit of chattiness.
Engineering seems to be team focused. Are there some engineering disciplines that require more verbal communication than others?
I’m sure there’s a ton of variation between specific jobs in these fields and of course ALL jobs require communication skills just to get in the door. I’m hoping my son builds interpersonal skills over time, but it is worth exploring which careers could be particularly ill-suited and which ones might work better with his personality.
I’m somewhat introverted and majored in communications in college- ha! That career didn’t last long 
Experiential learning at its finest.
That’s likely because Bowdoin doesn’t have any particular math course that is required for non-majors. The only requirement seems to be that a student has to take at least 1 full math course (e.g. a quantitative reasoning course).
Maybe but S19 is a math major and passed out of the calc series to start in Linear Algebra. So his math classes are pretty advanced and intense but I think he would say his professors don’t call on kids to answer questions in class. It’s voluntary and participation is not part of the grade which it can be in his humanities classes.
None of D’s Bowdoin courses have been large (none over 30)…including intro and lab courses like chem, micro/macro, orgo, bio and calc 2. She’s only had required class participation in 2 classes though AFAIK, both in humanities.
ABET accredited programs have:
Science and math majors commonly have 1/3 to 1/2 in major requirements, a varying amount in non overlapping general education (probably commonly 1/5 to 1/4, but there are certainly colleges with none and those with more), and usually a fair amount of free electives.