<p>I'm looking for suggestions for my HS freshman S who is thinking about going into engineering (not sure what kind). He's a bright kid with a knack for math & science, but probably won't be a candidate for places like Cal Tech or Harvey Mudd. So, I'm sort of looking for places (out West) that might be the "next tier down" but that are respectable (and respected).</p>
<p>Oh, and he might want to play soccer too, if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions!</p>
<p>Santa Clara, Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>Hello again!</p>
<p>Add to that Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State.</p>
<p>Several of the UC’s, but the well-established engineering schools have become very hard to get into.</p>
<p>The recruiter from Olin had very good things to say about UC Merced. Small, hands-on program that uses a lot of the same curriculum ideas as Olin.</p>
<p>DD just graduated in engineering from Santa Clara…great school, great location, great programs in engineering.</p>
<p>Oregon State University. Lots of money being invested in the department and a new building a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone (and hello again Shrinkrap)!</p>
<p>How hard is it to get into Santa Clara? Or, rather, how much harder will it be 3 years from now? 
(I know he would love to play soccer in Buck Shaw Stadium too!)</p>
<p>Hard to say, but I think it WAS a “safety” for the kids who could get into the “top tier” schools (Ivy’s, Stanford, UCLA).</p>
<p>Pretty much any of the UCs would be good.</p>
<p>Well… a couple of things…soccer at Santa Clara is Division I I believe so your son would have to be either a recruited athlete or walk on. </p>
<p>Re: acceptance…entrance directly into the College of Engineering is more competitive than entrance as an undeclared major. BUT it’s not hard to transfer into engineering if you fulfill the requirements you need to fulfill. DD applied and was accepted as an undeclared major and switched to engineering as a sophomore. BUT she took ALL of the engineering courses her freshman year anyway (calculus, physics, chemistry, etc). The switch was an easy one for her.</p>
<p>The only thing…Santa Clara is expensive. Their need based aid isn’t particularly generous and merit aid goes to top students only.</p>
<p>I know it’s early but what level of soccer is he aspiring to? My son is looking at DIII schools with 3+2 engineering programs, both both aspects will be reaches for him.</p>
<p>thumper, that’s good to know about the feasibility of applying undeclared and transferring. </p>
<p>And FWIW,this year Santa Clara has no boys club soccer! But they have intramural and lots of soccer spirit, if he isn’t recruited and doesn’t mind watching from the sidelines.</p>
<p>University of Washington.</p>
<p>Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University,Tempe.
Brand new facilities.tons of private $$ support.scholarship opportunities.
probably soccer would be at a club level unless the kid is Div I material.</p>
<p>University of Denver has engineering and brand new lovely soccer facilities. They have a club team as well.</p>
<p>Caltech, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Pomona, Stanford, UCLA, UCSD</p>
<p>@boysx3: DU is a fine school, but it is definitely not known for engineering.</p>
<p>CU-Boulder and UW are top-notch flagship schools. Also check out Washington State, Oregon State, Montana State, Colorado State, and U of Utah. Colorado School of Mines is excellent if a tech school is of interest.</p>
<p>Since you’re in-state for California for a state school it generally (not always) makes sense to look at the in-state schools to take advantage of in-state tuition - especially since California has some excellent ones.</p>
<p>With respect to the soccer issue, check out how competitive the teams are at the different schools. Soccer is a traveling club sport at ASU, but it is very, very hard to make the team, and even some players who had D1 offers don’t make the club team. If he’s willing to play intramural soccer then he’ll certainly fit on a team, but I wouldn’t assume that club soccer is always going to be a slam dunk (wrong metaphor, but you know what I mean) for good soccer players.</p>
<p>^Good to know! How can you find out more about club soccer at various schools? I did look at a website for them once, but it wouldn’t have told me that.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nirsa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Sports/Soccer/SoccerLeagues/Soccer_Leagues.htm[/url]”>Sign In;
<p>CO School of Mines is a great school (very techy). I hear that SD School of Mines is good too, and it is very affordable even for OOS.</p>
<p>Freshman year is a little early to hone in on schools unless you are thinking about weaving visits into family vacations.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at USC-Viterbi and is loving it! Don’t know about soccer though.</p>