“If your search criteria is mostly based on academics (engineering) and cost, UC-Boulder will be hard to beat.”
Since you are in-state, yes, exactly right.
“Should the rankings be taken very seriously?”
No. #56 vs #90 is not a significant difference.
CU, CSU , or Mines are all good for engineering. I was just out at Mines this morning and it really is beautiful. Golden is such a nice town but close enough to enjoy the sports, theater, entertainment of Denver. Or the airport if you need it.
If he wants to go OOS, then look at the WUE schools. Utah and Wyoming are great, but so are Montana and Montana State. It depends on the specialty, but all schools are good.
My child never had any interest in the Ivys and hated every small liberal arts school. Wanted to go to a big state university. I am a big believer of the flagship instate schools. Its alot cheaper and it makes alot of sense when you live in a state with good schools. With few exceptions state universities give little aid to out of staters. People are way too caught up in rankings. Yes you want to go to a good school but you dont have to spend a fortune to get a great education.
@CU123 There are a number of problems with the article - not only are they conflating working in Silicon Valley with doing technical work, they also miss that plenty of engineering work happens in places outside California. A number of grads from UWs top CS program end up at local firms like Amazon and Microsoft. Those from MIT might be joining the tech communities in Boston and New York.
@AroundHere Yes, these types of articles lead to false expectations.
Silicon Valley firms are expanding to the Phoenix area to provide a better quality of life for employees because the cost of living in San Jose is so high. The number of graduates plays a big role in hiring statistics but the location does as well. It will always be easier to get paid more and land jobs in an area experiencing growth in one’s field.
Thanks everyone for the replies.
He is working on EA apps and the whole package and has arranged rec letters and such.
His stats are a bit unique – he has good test scores (36 ACT, national merit semifinalist, 5 on a couple of APs including Calc BC but he’s in an IB program so did not take many), ok EC (pres. of some clubs but not a lot; he plays club sports but not varsity), and very rigorous course work – perhaps the hardest offered (he was 3 years ahead the norm in math, etc.) and for the entire 3 years took only a couple of unweighted courses and those were all mandatory ones. However this heavy load hurt his GPA as he’s got a bunch of B’s and weighted GPA is only ~4.5 (unweighted ~3.7).
I looked at admission history in his school and 4.5 is not good enough for the tops without some big extra factor, but at least for the past a few years seems possible for UW/UTA and such (not a sure thing either).
Although it is really late,m he’s not really decided between an engineering and pre-law (he’s good at math but is also a debate freak). So my question was/is actually two – for engineering major I think people have replied and it seems CU or Mines are quite comparable with the ones slightly ahead in rankings. But how about pre-law (I suppose communications, econ, maybe business, international relations?) – would a better ranked OOS public school carry much more prestige?
Also how do you think his other stuff would help mending his GPA deficiency?
Thanks,
Sean
You have a fantastic in-state flagship at CU Boulder for pretty much any major they offer. He would probably feel out of place as a prelaw student at Mines since it is so tech focused, so find a second school for that.
Make sure he applies to Honors at CU. It’s a great university so he’s lucky to have that choice at instate rates.
If he’s quite ahead at math, have him look at Harvey Mudd (excellent math, lots of “accelerated” math students) and Northwestern (special track for “accelerated” math students.) Those two would offer something different than CU.
For prelaw, I’d look at smaller colleges with small class sizes that emphasize participation and lots of writing as well as field a top debate team. Basically cross reference top LACs with debate winners. That too would offer something different from CU that’d be worth the extra money you’d pay (if you have the money for the difference!!)
Your son is unlikely to gain any significant career/job advantages by going out of state since Colorado has three good/very good engineering choices and its economy is strong.
That said, going OOS will broaden his horizons, especially if he goes to a very different part of the country.
Is that experience “worth” extra money? That’s a very subjective matter. OTOH, some WUE schools may be cheaper than some of your instate options, for example Montana State, generous with FA for accomplished OOS students, often costs less than Boulder.
So much about the college decision is balancing many factors. But as the father of a good student, OP does have some solid local options.
for Law school, GPA (and when he gets there, LSAT) will be more important than any of the colleges in play (there is a diff of opinion on CC wrt HYPS…). If law school is on the cards, saving money is an extra-good idea!
NM is a good reason to go out of state, you will save a lot of money over in-state options. Consider U Oklahoma, U Nebraska, ASU, U New Mexico. etc. etc…
This list is not up to date, but it is a good starting point. http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
As far as law school is concerned, there is no need to be “pre-law” and there is no such thing at most colleges. He can major in engineering and later decide to apply to law school and indeed that is a great combo that opens up possibilities in intellectual property.
Admission is largely GPA and LSAT. The caveat is what the major will do to the GPA - I do not know how law admissions views a somewhat lower GPA where the context is engineering.
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Although it is really late,m he’s not really decided between an engineering and pre-law (he’s good at math but is also a debate freak).
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Actually, engineering is a good pre-law degree. One area of law that is most marketable is patent law. Many of the other areas of laws are less marketable, making it much harder for grads to find decent jobs.
Debate/forensics can be done at many schools, regardless of one’s major.
Remember for a career in law he should be aiming for top 14 law schools where there will be a lot of job offers. Outside of those it will be much more difficult to land a good job as a lawyer. There are a plethora of lawyers out there, unlike med schools where the AMA carefully controls the amount of medical doctors produced each year, no such restraint exists for lawyers and law schools.
Also one piece of advice, there is no specific major required for professional schools (medical/law/business) so majoring in engineering with a high GPA and test score is much more likely to get you into a top professional school then say international relations. In fact most top MBA programs don’t take many business majors.
BTW, your son is a virtual lock for UT and UW, 4.5W GPA/36 ACT and OOS tuition, that is a gold plated admission for both of those universities.
Grades at Mudd are not likely to help with law school admission. I’d look elsewhere.
There is no pre-law major and any major will prepare you for law school. Engineers go to law school too.
Yeah, you’re right, Mudd is good for kids very advanced in math and interested in Engineering, and there’s enough variety with the 5Cs and the liberal arts curriculum to satisfy students with many interests but… grade deflation would make law school unlikely.