I think OP s son would find Edinburgh Napier a much better fit (or Strathclyde with year in Industry or Herriot Watt) than St Andrews which is definitely a topnotch college but not for a conservative (Royalty notwithstanding), religious Engineering student with a 1330 SAT/3.3 UW GPA 
Many more churches in Edinburgh or Glasgow in any case, although not the right denomination.
When I was also St Andrews there was a thriving Christian Union, and I am pretty sure any of the UK unis would have the same…CU tended towards the more evangelical side of Christianity as well
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Not sure why all the attention is being paid to Scotland for a kid without any APs to date (or at least none mentioned above). It doesn’t look like this is a kid who thrives on high stakes testing. Even a 5 in Calc AB would put them behind UK kids with A level maths and is a 4 or 5 a realistic expectation?
Sure a mid or lower tier UK university might like to take their money for the first year, but throw them in the deep end 4000 miles away and they seem more likely to sink than swim. Our neighbor’s kid who is very sharp and very dedicated to her subject, but has ADHD, has struggled enormously just to pass the exams at St Andrews.
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It kind of went off topic with Scotland because 1) Herriot Watt, Strathclyde, and Edinburgh Napier have Polytechnic courses for under 50k thus matched the topic and 2) OPs objection was about Scottish universities’ atheists/churches.
Note though that Scottish Highers Maths is similar to Calc AB and ADHD kids can do very well with the “lab every day” model. (Obvs not St A’s).
But this is OT since OP has nixed it so don’t worry about it.
URI international engineering (match), wpi (reach), Missouri S&T (match), Denison Data Analytics (reach), CPP, Iowa State, UCincinnati, IUP-UI, PSU IST, Embry Riddle, Florida Tech are all more likely for this student and better than SMU specifically for Engineering or Tech fields.
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It’s interesting to know that St Andrews is that tough. I have seen that some top high school send a person or two to St A’s and I thought it was primarily due to great golf.
My son has taken five AP exams: two 4s, one 3 and two 1s. He was diagnosed with ADHD after ninth grade.
I’m attending a SMU Cox business open house tomorrow morning. He seemed open to the Data Analytics and Supply Chain major. We’re going to a SMU Lyle engineering open house later this year. I have heard of (relatively) great outcomes from Lyle students so I’ll dig into why the engineering program is ranked #103 or so. A friend’s kid chose SMU mechanical engineering and CS over Texas A&M and is really liking SMU. The journey is great but outcomes are what I am interested in learning more about.
I’m also going to look more into URI international engineering. Cinci engineering is ranked even with my alma mater, U of Houston. I’ve encouraged him to look at in-state options besides UT and SMU but no interest. I’ve also learned to look more into the technology majors because they are quite different than engineering. No one’s commented on the polytech majors before and maybe that’s because they aren’t very popular with the CC crowd.
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There have been a couple of conversations about engineering vs polytechnic in the Purdue forum over the last couple of years but I agree that generally speaking, the CC crowds tends to be looking for engineering.
Again, the term “polytechnic” is being misused here. It does not mean engineering technology. It means a school that has many, if not all technical offerings, like engineering. Why Purdue uses that term for a campus that offers mostly just tech degrees is a mystery.
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@momofboiler1 are the Purdue polytechnic classes not on the main West Lafayette campus? We met a lady from Georgia working in the welcome center who is majoring in Cybersecurity, which is clearly polytechnic. On an engineering forum, the Purdue admissions officer suggested putting Exploratory Studies as the #2 major if polytechnic isn’t really a goal. He said some can go from Exploratory to engineering. Seems like a long shot.
Polytech is on the same campus.
The Purdue admissions officer is 100% correct in saying if engineering is the goal, that exploratory studies should be the 2nd choice major. There is a more well defined pathway to engineering from Exploratory Studies and a student should have an easier time getting into the courses they need to transition to engineering. They’ll also get an advisor who understands the transition to major process.
@eyemgh - I understand that polytechnic at Purdue is different but the OP has Purdue on the list so I’m trying to specifically address the Purdue questions.
Well, as a graduate of SMU’s engineering school I have had no problem in finding jobs.
Back in the dark ages the engineering program was the schools stepchild - buildings dark and old, outdated labs, outdated professors. Wasn’t a great experience for me but I know it has come a long way. However, I have done very well with my degree. I went to work for Exxon at first and then moved over into the aerospace industry and am still there.
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The thing is, ALL engineering majors are “polytechnic.” What the OP is looking for are technology programs, not polytechnic programs.
There are no such thing as “polytechnic classes.” They are engineering technology classes, that happened to be sequestered into an area Purdue and no other school calls a polytechnic campus. At all other schools with the term “Polytechnic” in the title, they are primarily full blown engineering schools, with few if any other majors.
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What’s the difference between Purdue polytech and other schools’ technology offerings? ASU and Cinci were mentioned quite a bit. I believe both are off campus. I’m obviously confused by the Purdue Polytechnic Institute name.
My alma mater, U of Houston’s College of Technology offers the following majors and they’re all on the main campus:
Biotechnology
Computer Engineering Technology
Computer Information Systems
Construction Management
Digital Media
Electrical Power
Engineering Technology
Human Resource Development
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Retailing & Consumer Science
Supply Chain & Logistics Technology
Technology Leadership & Innovation Management
Somewhat disparate offerings. Computer Information Systems has the highest transfer admissions requirement at 2.75 GPA. Most engineering schools don’t seem to offer technology or polytech majors. I suppose an exception would be WPI, RPI and RIT which all have technology or polytech in their names.
SMU is and will always be a great name, punching much higher than it’s ranking. The “perception” of SMU has been and likely always will be strong.
Interesting - here is middle tennessee state (MTSU). They have Engineering Technology and Mechatronics Engineering.
And Ohio U who has traditional engineering - but also engineering technology - which I imagine is similar to the Engineering Tech vs. Engineering.
Engineering Technology | Middle Tennessee State University (mtsu.edu)
You need to discard the term “Polytechnic” and simply look for places that offer Engineering Technology degrees. The best place to start is here: https://amspub.abet.org/aps/name-search?searchType=program
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Purdue’s Majors in their Polytechnic Institute:
Undergraduate Majors
Aeronautical Engineering Technology
Airline Management and Operations
Airport Management and Operations
Automation and Systems Integration Engineering Technology
Computer and Information Technology
Computer Engineering Technology
Computing Infrastructure and Network Engineering Technology
Construction Management Technology
Data Analytics, Technologies and Applications
Design and Construction Integration
Electrical Engineering Technology
Engineering-Technology Teacher Education
Industrial Engineering Technology
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Mechatronics Engineering Technology
Robotics Engineering Technology
Smart Manufacturing Industrial Informatics
Supply Chain and Sales Engineering Technology
Purdue College of Engineering Majors:
Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
Agricultural Engineering
Biological Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Construction and Management Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Environmental and Ecological Engineering
Environmental and Natural Resource Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies
Materials Engineerings
Mechanical Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
Thanks, that’s what was confusing.
Thanks to this string, my son is out of technology and I may steer him a bit towards business. If not, a large university with differential equations, three years of physics, etc. probably isn’t going to be a recipe for success.
I helped him with his Honors Physics I class the other night and was amazed how much the internet helps. When we were in school, you had to look at multiple texts to get a good description about how to solve the problems. Today, it’s so much easier. Maybe I would be a chemical engineer if I wasn’t so confused by all the units ops, fluid mechanics and themo homework. Business is way easier…for me.
Not true at all at Virginia Tech. There are tons of majors outside engineering. There are about 116 undergraduate majors across many disciplines .
College of Agriculture and Life Science
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Pamplin College of Business
College of Engineering
Interdisciplinary Studies
College of Liberal Arts and Humanities
College of Natural Sciences and Environment
College of Science
Iowa State.
Visit the campus and meet with faculty, students, admin. It is an amazing value for the money; often less than paying in-state for other flagships. Beautiful campus, great engineering and technology programs. Generous merit for OOS.