<p>University of Portland. I really don’t know anything about soccer, but U of P’s soccer teams are always in the sports news here in Portland.</p>
<p>according to the infamous USNWR, Cal Poly SLO is a top ranked school where Ph.D.'s are not granted.</p>
<p>My twin sons are seniors in engineering in the west and here was their list and thoughts. I encouraged both big, medium, and small schools for our visits so they could see what they wanted to experience. We were looking for academic scholarships as well with 32 ACT scores so that OOS would be affordable,</p>
<p>U Washington (too big and impersonal feeling - lousy OOS aid offer)
Washington State (did not like the community it was in)
U Wyoming (Runner up choice)
Oregon State (one ended up here)
Univ of Nevada Reno (OK choice but did not make the cut)
Univ of Colorado (loved it – lousy OOS aid)
USC (one ended up here)
Arizona ST (runner Up choice)
Univ of Arizona (good choice but felt better engineering in other choices)
Montana State (too close to home lol)
Univ of Utah (good choice – scholarship GPA requirement was way too high)</p>
<p>Small Schools: ( they did not like small LAC environments at all)
Gonzaga
Univ of Portland
Univ of Pacific
Univ of Seattle ( I liked this one)
Colorado School of Mines (good choice but too small)</p>
<p>^ Good stuff, thanks for posting.</p>
<p>Great stuff, thanks everyone. Yep, I know it’s early since he’s only a freshman, but I like to start forming at least a preliminary list (with the understanding it will likely morph many times).</p>
<p>S is currently a Div 1 (club) player, also trying out for ODP state pool and of course his HS team (tryouts next month). His HS has 3 teams (frosh, JV, V) and it’s very competitive, but I have no doubt he’ll at least make the frosh team. I think he could be a recruited athlete somewhere, but it’s more important to us that wherever he lands is a good fit for him.</p>
<p>I was thinking it might be nice if he landed in the Pac 10, as that way we could go to some of his games. :)</p>
<p>Once question-- how important is it that a kid knows what KIND of engineering he wants to study coming in the door?</p>
<p>Engineering choice could be important especially in the small schools. They only offer a limited number of majors so if he wanted say Nuclear engineering or computer engineering those small schools mayl not offer that.</p>
<p>In addition, each school will have strengths and weaknesses within the different engineering majors. A school with a great electrical program may not be so good in mechanical engineering for example.</p>
<p>"Once question-- how important is it that a kid knows what KIND of engineering he wants to study coming in the door? " - It could help. But know that many students switch kinds… or switch out of engineering. </p>
<p>It could be a good time to start some long term planning for summer engineering camps, which could help him learn more about that. I’ve heard that the Rose-Hulman Catapult camp is great. </p>
<p>My husband and are both mechanical engineers. Our son just started college as Undecided Engineering. If he can’t decide, he’ll default to Mech E since fairly general.</p>
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<p>Not important as the basic core courses are the same for at least the first year.</p>
<p>One thing you need to realize. Your freshman son is only 14 or 15. The attrition rate in engineering programs is very high. In other words, there are lots of kids who enter engineering programs and then switch majors. It’s a very tough major.</p>
<p>I’m going to throw this out there and please don’t flame me folks…I have to wonder how easy it’s going to be for a PAC 10 (which is D1 athletics) to be a student athlete AND major in engineering. The time commitment for D1 recruited athletes is HUGE, very huge. Engineering is a very intense major which requires lots of time as well. I’m not sure I see this as a good combination. Not saying it’s impossible, just going to be hard to juggle.</p>
<p>My college was mostly engineering, with a business school too. The hockey team was almost all business majors. There were a few engineering students on the team, but we never knew how they were able to do that. The training and the travelling consumed A LOT of time.</p>
<p>perhaps University of Portland. Has an engineering school and soccer. Girl’s soccer has been a very good (ranked and national championships). </p>
<p>Portland, OR has lost their baseball triple A team and has replaced it with major league soccer.
Oregon soccer is getting big.</p>
<p>It’s great that you are looking now as this gives you and your son lots of time to visit colleges and have a general plan. As far as majoring in engineering and playing a D1 sport- it can be done. Look at rosters of the schools he is interested in and look specifically @ the players majors. It can be done at some colleges and not at others. Some coaches are very flexible about players missing practices for labs. Some coaches tell the student-athlete up front that they won’t support their academics coming first. </p>
<p>The University of Portland has several student-athletes, male and female, that are engineering majors. That may be a benefit of a small college or just the coaches feelings. Their women’s soccer team is presently ranked #3 or #4 nationally and the men are top 25. Not a sport to be taken lightly. If not recruited there I can’t think he would make it as a walk-on.</p>
<p>Again, it’s great you are starting early. Your son may change a lot the next few years and you may redefine what you’re looking for in a college but at least you’ll have lots of info to help him make his decision. Good luck and enjoy hs as it goes by really fast!</p>
<p>My dad was a Computer Engineering professor (e.g. hardware and chip design) - and a EE undergrad at UCLA. Since I had him on the phone this morning, I asked him about what he would advise a HS freshman with Engineering interests who might also want to play college sports. As my son plays college baseball, and he taught at a school with college athletics, he is really aware of the level effort required both in HS as well as at the college level.</p>
<p>His comments/suggestions:</p>
<p>Take all of the science and math you can in HS. A strong foundation here is critical.</p>
<p>Also take a broad range of other courses - especially foreign language. Many LAC engineering schools still require a FL as a graduation requirement and a solid base in HS can lighten this requirement. Aim to take and pass 4 AP exams as that will allow you to lessen the load in the season where your team is playing road games etc.</p>
<p>Participate in science fair every year - and take it seriously - starting work on your project early so you can do well rather than knocking it out in the weekend before the fair (he has judged a number of science fairs !!! ). Great way to build your application for college. </p>
<p>Try a science camp or two if you can fit them around your sport schedule. (He knows how intense baseball summers are in HS and is assuming that soccer is the same way).</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>