<p>D is a junior just starting to consider possible colleges. She plans to major in engineering and there is some talk of possibly studying architecture after undergrad. </p>
<p>She does the usual activites one would expect from a future engineer, robotics and math teams. But she is also involved in both visual and performing arts (drawing, band, tech theater.) I'd like her to have opportunities to continue to participate in the arts in college.</p>
<p>D tests well and is a top student at a struggling typical urban high school, albiet one with enough challenging class for interested students. She chose not to attend a G & T magnet because she was uncomfortable with the intense, competitive environment. So if we can find a college that is supportive and colabrative, all the better.</p>
<p>Merit aid is definitely a consideration. D is generally looking in the midwest, but is open to colleges further from home.</p>
<p>She did attend an engineering camp at UIUC last summer and came home saying she would be happy there. But I think it would be a good idea for her to broaden the search a bit and look at some other schools too.</p>
<p>Can you clarify what you mean, “merit aid is definitely a consideration.” Does that mean it would please you and help seal-the-deal, or is it the only way she would consider a given school?</p>
<p>Stepping away from the merit aid, I immediately thought of Smith College, a women’s college in Western Massachusetts in a Five College Consortium. It offers a five-year program for women who want to become engineers, and was the pioneer among Liberal Arts Colleges to encourage women into engineering.</p>
<p>Smith also has strong opportunities, on its own campus and on the other 4 available by free bus, to participate or find excellent coursework in theater, dance and the arts.</p>
<p>Washington University in St Louis has engineering and art and allows students to freely change their majors and take classes in other disciplines. They offer merit aid, but it’s very difficult to get, as the students on the whole are incredibly strong and accomplished.</p>
<p>If she wants to consider schools outside of the midwest, Rice has very strong engineering and offers merit aid to about 1/3 of their admitted students. It also has an architecture program.</p>
<p>Merit aid will be considered when making decision of what school to attend.</p>
<p>D would have to give us really good reasons to attend a school where her cost to attend is more than UIUC. (And I personally think UIUC is pricey.)</p>
<p>Needs based aid won’t be happening. (There is some discrepency between FAFSA estimates and our budget… at least if we ever want to retire.)</p>
<p>Look into Harvey Mudd College. If your daughter’s stats are very strong, they do give merit awards, up to a full tuition award (Presidential Scholar) for 10 or so exceptional kids from underepresented groups (and that could be girls there). And they like kids who are diverse in talents. Their students are expected to do a concentration in a humanities area. That could mean 6 courses in art (history and studio), which is offered as a major at Pomona and Scripps, two colleges in the consortium.</p>
<p>What about Carnegie Mellon? it has a highly regarded theater program as well as excellent engineering. I have no idea how easy it is to participate in the theater program if you are not a major, but things may also be different for people interested in production as opposed to performing. I know nothing about CMU’s aid policies.</p>
<p>The University of Rochester has very good programs across the board in technical and humanities areas, and is associated with Eastman, one of the premiere conservatories in the US. Rochester does give merit aid.</p>
<p>I don’t know how relevant it is to you, but back in the day I was highly impressed with the quality of student Shakespeare performances at MIT…</p>
<p>Do you mean arts as in minor, double major or for credit, or as extra-curricular. I can’t imagine a college that offers engineering but also doesn’t have music, theatre and other artsy activities available to students. Also being able to take ‘arts’ courses (as in the program noted about Lehigh above) seems pretty unrelated to the artistic arts.</p>
<p>One of our kids is very engineery/sciencey and very much into visual and performing arts. I honestly never gave thought to her being unable to find a good fitting college-- we’d look first at the best schools for engineering, and then just double check to see the availability of theatre, acting and related clubs for her (but really do not expect this to be hard to find as its just so popular on campuses in general).</p>
<p>S has a female friend attending Rochester Institute who is both techy(biotech major) and artsy (quirky thinker,dresser,personality) Did well with merit aid there. He has another female friend from high school who went there as a photog major.
You have to be able to tolerate cold/wet winters and Rochester itself…
Both these kids are New Yorkers,I dont know what the % is from out of state…</p>
<p>Look at Alfred. Engineering and art school plus humantities/business curriculum. We heard there is much interaction back and forth between the art kids and the engineering kids. Unique place. Good merit money for a top notch student like your D. I thought it was such an interesting school. “Classic” looking smallish college campus with cohesive red brick buildings and walkways, sculpture and original art everywhere, greenspaces etc. Primary research opportunities in engineering is with Corning. My S2 took a look. He was interested in engineering and art and it was one of the few places that he took a serious look at. It’s in a very tiny town so kids need to be prepared for that. About as different from UIUC as you can get. It’s in western New York State so not a bad drive out from the midwest TBD where you are located.</p>
<p>I feel like Case Western would be a good fit. There are plenty of scholarships available, and there are performing arts opportunities available to the laymen, not just the students majoring in the subject. And if your daughter is truly gifted, there are opportunities to take classes or double major through the Cleveland Institute of Music or Cleveland Institute of Art. There’s even a residential college devoted to the arts. The atmosphere is definitely collaborative, not cutthroat. If you have specific questions please feel free to PM me - most of my friends are engineers and I also have friends involved in theatre, band, orchestra, and choirs.</p>
<p>Would second Case Western in Cleveland. S1 recent engineering grad. He too continued playing music through the extra-curricular ensembles. He thoroughly enjoyed the small school marching band experience and played all 4 years. Also did wind ensemble all 4 years. You can do a little or as much as you want and/or schedule allows.</p>
<p>Great merit $$ available at Case if stats high.</p>
<p>You should check into the availability of art classes for non-majors – this is a big problem at many schools. Studio art classes are usually small and are often limited to majors – it can be very difficult for non-majors to take them as electives.</p>
<p>An extremely obvious choice (as suggested by Consolation) is Carnegie Mellon. Described as “Julliard dropped into the middle of MIT”. Only problem is that it is not particularly easy to get into, and aid is very hard to come by. Kids are not overly competitive, but they have to work diligently. May not be what you are interested in, but it is definitely the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>CMU: Compete, you’re dead. Collaborate, you live. DS got to use his engineering talents for artistic use by way of, Human Computer Interaction/Interface. Acceptance is by academic schools and each school is limited in accepted students. </p>