<p>Can anyone suggest schools with strong Engineering (mechanical, electrical, mechatronics are likely areas of interest at this point) programs that are located in rural areas in the northeast? Preferably offering decent financial aid (merit or need-based). (For merit purposes, student is a rising junior with 200 PSAT & 28 PLAN and 800 SAT II Math all taken sophomore year -- PSAT & PLAN were taken "cold").</p>
<p>(I think suburban would be fine too, particularly if the school has a “real” campus feel, versus a city campus)</p>
<p>Cornell University</p>
<p>Bucknell, but I am not sure about merit aid with those stats. But it’s got rural and engineering down pat!</p>
<p>Cornell is the one place I already knew of (as my oldest is there). Bucknell looks interesting, but do they offer merit aid at all other than the arts merit scholarships? I don’t see anything for “non-arts” merit.</p>
<p>ETA: they don’t make it easy to find, but they do indeed have a small number of general merit scholarships available <a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/ScholarshipGrants.xml[/url]”>http://www.bucknell.edu/ScholarshipGrants.xml</a></p>
<p>Olin College of Engineering is about half an hour away from Boston but it’s a top-notch engineering school. And although I’m not sure, I’ve heard it gives each admitted student a half-tuition scholarship or something like that.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have thought of Olin as rural but I guess it may fit the “suburban with a real campus” and I think the program would be VERY appealing to my son. Their costs are super-high even with the half-tuition scholarship though, so I’m not sure how doable it would be (as I don’t think we’d qualify for additional financial aid on top of that). It definitely warrants a visit, though.</p>
<p>Union College?</p>
<p>And what’s wrong with University of Vermont?</p>
<p>UMass Amherst. Best public engineering program in New England, great college town, beautiful part of New England, five college exchange program with four great LAC’s. My son will be a sophomore this fall. He had a great first year. OOS tuition is reasonable and they offer some merit aid.</p>
<p>UVM is not particularly rural. It’s “on the list” but is relatively expensive for in-state and is not known for offering great aid, and as far as I can tell, isn’t particularly well-known for its engineering programs. S knows several older students who are not happy there, which also colors his views (probably impossible to avoid with any big school that a number of kids from your HS attend). In any case, we’re looking for a variety of schools that might be a good fit, so there doesn’t have to be anything “wrong” with it for us to also be looking into alternatives.</p>
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<p>Is it easy to get to the exchange schools without a car? I always wonder how practical and often-used those exchanges are.</p>
<p>I second Cornell and Bucknell. Have kids that went to both. They were not engineering majors, but many of their friends were. My D1’s bf is getting his PhD from Cornell in engineering.</p>
<p>They are respected and highly ranked schools with great college campuses and atmospheres.</p>
<p>Without getting into a flame war about how much reputation matters, how might one go about comparing the reputation of schools ranked in different categories in the USNews and similar rankings?</p>
<p>Clarkson? I’ve never been there … the overall location is pretty rural … no idea about the campus itself</p>
<p>RPI? Troy is a pretty small town but if UVM flunks the rural test than RPI will</p>
<p>I’d guess (and it is a guess) that both these schools give merit aid.</p>
<p>RPI is “on the list” as well, but IIRC when we visited with my older son, the campus had much more of a “city campus” feel to it. RIT had a more rural campus feel to it, even though Rochester is probably much bigger than Troy. So… maybe what my boys have been looking for is more the “self-contained campus with green space” then necessarily how big the nearby city/town is. </p>
<p>All of RPI, Clarkson and RIT do have merit money available.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses so far, and please keep them coming. </p>
<p>Does anyone want to comment further on Union College?</p>
<p>Union = very pretty enclosed campus … in a not so great urban environment. I’d give some thought about attending a very small engineering program. All of Union is a couple thousand students; I do not know how many engineers there are but there can not be many and if you go to any particular major I’d guess it might a handful per major.</p>
<p>Mathmom: There is an extensive bus network that runs to all 5 colleges. Some are obviously closer than others. Frankly, the engineering program does not have a lot of electives so the opportunity to take courses at one of the other colleges will be limited but it is there. My son has shown no interest.</p>
<p>Well, if you want to check out Union, they have an all-day (or most of the day) open house the first Friday in August. I was going to head over, but decided it was just a bit too much driving for me (from New Hampshire). Might not be so far for you.</p>
<p>Campus is supposed to be beautiful . . . don’t know much about the engineering program.</p>
<p>RPI and RIT do not qualify as “rural” in my book, but if you’re considering RIT, then you might as well look at University of Rochester also.</p>
<p>The University of Rochester is located in the City of Rochester…barely. RIT is located in Henrietta, a Rochester suburb. RIT is several miles south of U of R. I don’t consider either rural either, but both have the feel of being located in a large inner suburb. It’s my opinion only, but I think U of R has a much more attractive and traditional campus than RIT. </p>
<p>Union is just as urban as RPI but RPI feels more urban, in part, because it is larger and incorporates some larger buildings in its eclectic campus.</p>
<p>Clarkson is the epitome of rural. Lots of male math/science students from the rural and suburban high schools around Albany opt for Clarkson. Based on the many Clarkson students I’ve know over the years I’d say the OP’s son has a very good shot at a decent merit aid package. I don’t know if they could do better than the in-state rate for UVM, however.</p>
<p>Alfred University (NY) but I know I have mentioned it before to the OP…</p>