Best wue schools

My son is currently beginning his college applications for 2018. We live in Hawaii and he is not interested in University of
Hawaii. We have a list of WUE schools that meet his criteria:

  1. Offer a Engineering major, preferably Mechanical aEngineering.
  2. Are in a state that has access to mountain biking or snow boarding. He can handle the cold but hopefully not too gloomy.
  3. Would prefer small to medium schools but he may adjust well to a large school.
  4. Good freshman orientation and retention.
  5. Diversity would be a plus. We visited Western Washington and liked the size and resources but were disappointed with the lack of diversity.
    He has a 3.9 gpa and SAT scores of 1180. We can’t visit all the schools on our list so we would love advice.

Not going to find a lot of diversity but the schools are all really friendly and accepting. My daughter goes to Wyoming, about 10,000 students, mountains and skiing, Mech Eng. Utah, the NM schools, Montana and Montana state are all fun.

In California, most of the best-known UCs and CSUs do not participate in the WUE program. My top pick for a WUE school with mechanical engineering would be Chico State.

  1. Has ME
  2. No snow, but not too far from the slopes of North Lake Tahoe. The town has an enormous park with miles of mountain biking trails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT-iX4yo4q8
  3. About 17,000 students in one of California's top college towns. One of the few CSUs that is not a "commuter school", offers traditional residential college experience. Fun and friendly atmosphere on campus and in the adjacent town.
  4. 86% freshman retention rate
  5. Largest reported ethic groups: 44% white, 31% Hispanic, 6% Asian.

Downsides: not close to any of the major urban areas of California, not close to airports, can get hot in summer and foggy in winter

If you liked Western Washington, then Chico State is roughly the same size, has higher freshman retention, and significantly more ethnic diversity.

Here is the list of schools with WUE and mechanical engineering:



Alaska      University of Alaska Anchorage<br>
Alaska      University of Alaska Fairbanks<br>
Arizona     Arizona State University / Polytechnic Campus<br>
Arizona     Northern Arizona University<br>
California  California State Polytechnic University, Pomona<br>
California  California State University, Chico<br>
California  California State University, Maritime Academy<br>
California  California State University, Sacramento<br>
California  University of California-Merced<br>
Colorado    Colorado Mesa University<br>
Colorado    Colorado State University<br>
Colorado    University of Colorado Colorado Springs<br>
Colorado    University of Colorado Denver<br>
Hawaii      University of Hawaii at Manoa<br>
Idaho       Boise State University<br>
Idaho       Idaho State University<br>
Idaho       University of Idaho<br>
Montana     Montana State University, Bozeman<br>
Montana     Montana Tech of the University of Montana<br>
Nevada      University of Nevada, Las Vegas<br>
Nevada      University of Nevada, Reno<br>
New Mexico  New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology<br>
New Mexico  New Mexico State University<br>
New Mexico  Northern New Mexico College<br>
New Mexico  University of New Mexico<br>
North Dakota    North Dakota State University<br>
North Dakota    University of North Dakota<br>
Oregon      Oregon Institute of Technology<br>
Oregon      Portland State University<br>
South Dakota    South Dakota School of Mines and Technology<br>
South Dakota    South Dakota State University<br>
Utah        University of Utah<br>
Utah        Utah State University<br>
Washington  Central Washington University<br>
Washington  Eastern Washington University<br>
Washington  Washington State University<br>
Washington  Washington State University Tri-Cities<br>
Wyoming     University of Wyoming<br>


I Know which wue schools have Mechanical Engineering programs. I wanted some feedback about which ones are the best quality from folks who are familiar. Thanks.

Interesting. I grew up in California and Chico always had a reputation as a big party, stoner school. Has that changed at all? Thanks.

Colorado State University or U New Mexico
Both top 100 engineering schools and near snowboarding.
U New Mexico wins for diversity.

I think you will find that students everywhere are more serious about school than they were a generation ago. The job market for college graduates is tougher than it was then, yet college costs more and students are graduating with more debt. If you want the college investment to pay off, you can’t spend all of your time partying. So yes, I think Chico has sobered up, although it is still considered to offer a better social atmosphere than most of the other CSUs.

The top WUE school for engineering in CA would probably be Cal Poly Pomona, in the unglamorous eastern suburbs of LA. No one has ever called CPP a party or stoner school, and it would be hard to beat for diversity (42% Hispanic, 23% Asian, 18% White). But the downside here is that CPP is a “commuter school”. Most of the students don’t live on or near the campus, and so the campus goes dead in the evenings and weekends, because most people leave as soon as their classes are over in order to beat traffic.

The out-of-staters who ask about WUE schools in California typically want to avoid the “commuter schools”. They want their kid (who obviously won’t be commuting, since he is coming from out of state) to have a more traditional residential college experience. Chico is arguably the best WUE option for that. Humboldt would be good too, but they don’t have ME.

Inland from California/Oregon/Washington there’s not a whole lot of diversity, though obviously Arizona and New Mexico will have large Latino populations.

UC Merced:

  1. Has mechanical engineering.
  2. Has a cycling club (mountain and road, see http://recreation.ucmerced.edu/sport-clubs/cycling ) and organized snowboarding trips (see http://recreation.ucmerced.edu/about-us ).
  3. 6,815 undergraduates and 521 graduates for 2016-2017, according to http://www.ucmerced.edu/fast-facts . Intention is to expand.
  4. 85.8% frosh retention in 2015, according to http://irds.ucmerced.edu/docs/Retention%20and%20Graduation/First-Time%20Freshmen%20Retention%20Graduation%20Rates.pdf . Be aware that WUE schools are not generally that selective, so their retention and graduation rates may not be the best.
  5. Not sure what diversity means to you, but you can judge for yourself: http://www.ucmerced.edu/fast-facts .

However, like Chico, Merced is relatively distant from major metropolitan areas and major airports. http://iss.ucmerced.edu/resources/transportation describes getting there.

Chico cracked down on Pioneer Days years ago and the culture has apparently toned down a lot. I would think Boise State would be a good one for mtn biking.

What is his math sub score? He has physics etc? You might consider a uni that has wide options should he change his major. 50% or so of students switch out of eng so you want options. You also would want to look at the school of engineering’s average SAT scores for admission, vs the overall admission scores, and retention information fro eng vs overall.

Be aware that California and South Dakota public universities require a year long high school art course in their admission requirements.

UC Merced is the newest and smallest UC campus, and the only one that participates in WUE. It carries the “UC” brand name, which is generally more prestigious and widely recognized than the “CSU” brand name. However, the Merced campus itself is not (as yet) particularly selective; it’s not really different from Chico State (or many other CSUs) in this regard.

It’s true that Merced and Chico are both relatively isolated. However, if you are going to spend four years as a student in an isolated town in the Central Valley, you will probably find Chico to be a significantly more congenial and entertaining option than Merced. Also, I suspect that the mountain biking in Chico’s Bidwell Park is way better than anything in Merced .

Boise State is surrounded by (arguably) some of the best mountain biking in the country. It’s also only 40 minutes from Bogus Basin, a ski area that just happens to offer $150 season passes to college students. Their engineering program is accredited. I personally know two professors there who are just fantastic people. It’s a large school, but Boise is a big little town. I hardly ever make a trip to the grocery store without seeing someone I know. I don’t know much about the diversity there, but they’re at a bit of a disadvantage because most of their students are from Idaho, a 90% white state. Boise is really an awesome place, especially if you’re not from California. I love it, and I plan on returning after college.

    If he is a senior, he really should be pulling his finger out if he is only just starting now. Does he have a backup in HI already lined up? Is there any ABET in HI? How is CC for the first 2 years as an option? Have you looked at what a 4 yr eng plan looks like with your kid? My take on WUE schools is that there are no bargains for a kid who won't get any merit. Itis still a  lot of money. Boise, for eg is 26K a year.
     If he does a great job in CC and can be a WUE, consider transfer once he can show he can manage the basic first year eng classes that usually spits out the ill prepared/unsuited kids. 

Have you tried the scholarship estimator for ASU? https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator. I put in a 3.9 GPA, 1180 SAT and Hawaii resident and got a net cost of $25,810 for a WUE major and $27,167 for an unrestricted major at the Tempe campus. He loses the WUE benefit but makes most of it up in a Dean’s Scholarship. And if that’s the result at ASU then I’ll bet he’d get a similar result at NAU (Flagstaff) or U of Arizona in Tucson.

For a small school that is all about skiing/riding/mountain biking/hiking, check out Fort Lewis College. For diversity, it is has a huge a Native American population. It doesn’t rank academically, but that just means you would be an above average student and qualify for more merit $.

For small to medium in WUE, I think U of Idaho and New Mexico Tech might be good fits.

The U of Idaho recreation opportunities would be appealing to your son. Both cycling and snow trips are organized.
http://www.uidaho.edu/current-students/campus-recreation

As others have noted, “just getting started” in late October is kind of worrisome. He should be finishing his list and starting to apply right now.

Following up with post 16, Northern Arizona has snow. ASU would have the fewest transportation issues with the major airport at Phoenix.

NAU is a WUE school with ABET accredited Mechanical Engineering. https://nau.edu/cefns/engineering/mechanical/degrees-programs/undergraduate/. It’s also much smaller than ASU and as pointed out has snow and I’m sure mountain biking. Flagstaff is a nice town, too.