That depends completely on the school. The best engineering honors program I’ve encountered, and one worth it for the OP to look at, is Oregon State. Honors sections go deep into the curriculum. That said, there are still early large lecture classes.
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Based off the info you provided about what you want in a college, I really like U. of Louisville for you, and the honors program’s class schedule also indicated honors sections of engineering classes. I’d also keep U. of Arizona in consideration, as its W.A. Franke Honors College would also be of interest. Some other schools you may want to consider include:
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U. of Arkansas: About 24k undergrads. Its engineering school participates in the university’s honors program. You would receive an 80% deduction in the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, bringing the costs down to about $27k for tuition, room & board, and you’d be eligible for additional scholarships as well.
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U. of Cincinnati (OH): About 29k undergrads at this school where co-ops are emphasized. There’s a variety of scholarships, up to a full ride, available. You may also be interested in its Next Innovation Scholars Program, a small select cohort of students focusing on innovation and transformation. I can’t tell if its honors program includes courses in the engineering department, but that would certainly be a good question to ask them.
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U. of Kansas: About 19k undergrads and Lawrence is reported to be a really great college town (but it’s not a major city). Looking at the class schedule, there were specialized engineering classes with honors sections (at least for aerospace and petroleum engineering). You would receive $16k/year in merit aid here, bringing your costs down to about $23k/year.
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U. of Nebraska – Lincoln: About 20k undergrads at this school in the capital of Nebraska. Although there are honors sections of engineering classes, it looks as though some may be combined with non-honors sections, so I would certainly inquire about that and class sizes. There are a variety of scholarships up to full tuition, including a $15k scholarship for incoming students with IB diplomas. With a $15k scholarship, the costs would be about $24k here.
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U. of Tennessee-Knoxville: About 25k undergrads. It appears that you would receive $15k in merit (if you increased your score to a 34 you would get $18k). That would bring your costs for tuition, room & board down to about $29k. The Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program in the Tickle College of Engineering seems as though it’d provide many of your desired benefits.
In looking at the costs of some of these schools, though within budget, I would still strongly urge you to take a closer look at your in-state schools, like U. of Alabama (Tuscaloosa and Birmingham both have football teams) and Huntsville if you can live without football, though admittedly there’s less to do in Tuscaloosa than in Birmingham or even Huntsville.
In looking at your original list of schools, you did have some smaller and more medium-sized schools on the list. These are some schools that might also have smaller class sizes in engineering, though you would definitely need to inquire. These are schools that I think you’d have a good chance of admittance to, and a shot at sufficient aid to bring them within budget.
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Lehigh (PA ) About 5500 undergrads and Lafayette (PA ) with about 2700 undergrads would be worth a look to see what the NPC looks like, as these schools also offer merit aid which, when combined, might be able to make budget. Looking at the net prices that family’s pay, Lafayette may be more generous in defining need.
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Southern Methodist (TX): This school of about 7k allows scholarships to stack (up to full tuition) and you may be competitive for a number of them.
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Syracuse (NY) has about 15k undergrads. You might be able to get a scholarship up to full tuition. You will want to show real interest in the school, as if you don’t, you may not receive an acceptance. If your robotics team experience in high school was with FIRST Robotics, there’s also an additional scholarship available. Its honors program doesn’t seem to have engineering-specific classes, though other required classes (chem, physics, etc) do.
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we know one of these kids. The opps are pretty great. Kiewit Scholars | College of Engineering | University of Nebraska–Lincoln (the scholarships are great too)
The new engineering facility opening in 2024 is world-class! Kiewit Hall: Opening January 2024 - YouTube. So - NE is a large state, with small population. It’s flagship can’t afford to be select as there are just not the students around to fill it. But that in no way means the programs are lacking!
The Raikes program is pretty great too - has a CS slant, named after microsoft Raikes from NE.https://raikes.unl.edu/
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Can I second and third this? @An_D you should really check out this school. It’s right in the middle of a bustling area. There are enough students to make the sports stand out, but the school also has an impressive co-op system. It will get you out of your home state, which I think is important to you. And it should be in budget.
U of Cincy is a school that flies way under the radar. People who profess an interest in co-ops get enamored with Northeastern and consider Drexel, but often ignore U of Cincy. Northeastern is highly rejective. Drexel and Northeastern are very expensive for full-pay families. U of Cincy offers a lot of what those two offer, but at a very affordable price for doughnut hole families.
Check it out An_D. I think you might discover it’s worth applying to at the least. And U of Cincy has great basketball and very good football. What’s not to love?
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Another benefit of Cincy is that Ohio freezes the tuition for 4-years for each entering cohort at its public colleges. So what you pay your first year will be what you pay your fourth year, no 4-5% increases per year.
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This is likely every school. CertaInly every with a larger program.
Internships will come moreso from your efforts than the schools, I’ve talked to parents at name schools - it’s all the same.
If you are at an ABET school ;a must for meche with few exceptions), one school in most cases will not provide large advantage over another.
Research - you need to ask. Plenty is out there. My son’s gf did all 4 years ahd 3 summers at Bama.
I think you think this is tied to bigger names but I believe it’s there most anywhere for those who want.
But you have to be happy four years so @AustenNut is correct in asking - what kind of school. You will be there day after day - living in dorms, eating food, attending class.
To say one where I can get good internships and research - isn’t really a differentiator because name a school and I promise you it has all that and then some.
PS - engineering is not just rigorous - it’s brutal. Most anywhere. Nationally 40-60% don’t make it depending on the study. That’s all kids so that will skew lower at harder admit schools. But expect to work, 6-7 days a week and all the time. btw - I won’t say futuristic and you won’t want to hear it but the engineering quad at your state flagship is as nice as there is out there - but I’m sure there are many other very nice, modern ones as well.
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Completely unrelated to everything else but how much of an impact does senior grades impact admissions?
Some colleges may ask for a mid year transcript and/or counselor report before making an admission decision. So 12th grade fall term grades may matter for some colleges that you apply to while in high school.
Colleges that are not open admission typically attach conditions to admission offers specifying that the admission offer may be rescinded if your courses that were in-progress at the time of application are not completed with high enough grades or GPA. Note that changes in your schedule should be reported to colleges you applied to as soon as possible. Grade or GPA thresholds may be explicitly stated (e.g. “at least 3.0 GPA with no D or F grades”) or not (e.g. “we expect you to maintain your previous high academic performance”, which gives the college more discretionary room but increases stress on admits whose GPA dropped by 0.3 or whatever).
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It depends on the situation, the schools applied to, and how much senior grades differ from 9-11 grades.
For instance, my S20 had average grades/tests. Not average-excellent grades/tests like many referenced on CC, but regular for all of America. A few schools he applied to EA deferred him and specifically mentioned they wanted to wait for Q2 (and some even Q3) grades before making a decision. His Q2 and Q3 grades were better than his 9-11 grades and most of those slightly-reach (for him) schools accepted him.
For most public universities, your senior grades probably won’t matter much. For the MITs and T10s, a severe drop in senior grades (especially Q1 and Q2) might make it more difficult. For private schools in the USNWR 40-100 range, senior grades probably won’t matter unless you fail a class.
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Grades have an impact as seniors for those applying regular decision for sure. And every single student will need to send a final transcript including senior grades to the school they choose. So…in that sense…senior grades always matter.
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Looking back at my question it seems like I was asking if I have to try anymore. Let me give some context. Im taking AP Calc BC in senior year and was not worried about it because I have been told that the teacher is very good. Yesterday I find out that it is now the same math teacher that I had last year (a teacher that the class had to go complain about because they themselves did not know the coursework. Last year they said, “I haven’t done calculus in 30 years and don’t plan on relearning it now. Yall are smart enough”). So I am just worried about a small possibility of a B in that class.
A teacher can make or break. You don’t know if they’re good or not.
But you might consider AB if you know the teacher is strong as it’s unlikely to alter any decisions.
You sound like a very strong student. Both my s’s are engineers (one mechanical, one chemical) . They might have used the word intense, but I don’t think they would have considered it brutal.
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I’d agree. I think this really depends on the student, and in particular their facility with mathematics. The heavy math things like Continuum Mechanics just came to our son like words come to some writers. It’s thinks like literary analysis that he struggled with.
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For some spelling is challenging 
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Typing while waiting for takeout 
At least that’s what I thing it was. 
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Is that second typo here on purpose??? “At least that’s what I thing it was.”
Yes 
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Again, focus on the OP.
Things to add to topics to be avoided in this thread:
- Stories of how it was back in the day
- Moderating a thread if you’re not a moderator
- Posts about what a moderator should do
Several posts deleted.
I am not going to go through 450+ responses but I am sure you have been given a lot of very good advise. If you need a financial safety then Alabama will be the school for you. Consider their MIS program, which by all accounts is stellar.
https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/commerce-business-administration/information-systems-statistics-management-science/mis/
Go on Reddit to the r/capstone sub and read first hand accounts.
If I may put it bluntly, your stats while impressive are not complemented by your ECs, which are pretty standard. So, a lot of these reach schools you have, coupled with your limited ability to pay, will be hard reaches. Just giving you my perspective. You will spend a lot of time and energy that are better spent elsewhere.
If you must target aspirational schools, lean towards the ones that like high stat kids. For example, Duke will be non starter but Vandy looooves high stat kids. Same with G-town (stingy with $$) and Notre Dame. Why are you not looking at schools like Harvey Mudd and Olin?
Your list needs a lot of work.
Here is my recommendation:
Safety: Alabama and Auburn (You can consider Ole Miss and U S Carolina as they give very good money too)
Target: Olin, Harvey Mudd, Texas A&M, Purdue and G-Tech (first two are reaches IMO)
Reach: Vandy, CalTech, CMU, Notre Dame, Dartmouth
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