S22 is down to two colleges for Industrial Engineering: Iowa State and UIUC. He has a full tuition scholarship from Iowa State and has been admitted to the Honors program. After two visits to each, he has a slight preference for Iowa State.
However, there are two factors that give me pause. First, undergraduate enrollment in the Iowa State College of Engineering has declined from 7.8k to 6.1k over the past five years. At UIUC, it has grown from 7.5k to 7.8k. I worry that it may have repercussions for future funding of engineering facilities at ISU.
Second, ISU recently withdrew from the AAU. While not of much concern to an undergraduate, I wonder if there are implications down the road in terms of how the engineering community views ISU. I understand that some good engineering schools such as NC State and Virigina Tech are not AAU members, and that Georgia Tech has been a member for only a decade or so, but still …
I wouldn’t think twice about it. He’ll be there for 4 years. The impact from those things won’t be felt for years down the road, if ever. Iowa State is a great engineering program. In fact, when my son was looking at schools, my uncle, who had a PhD from Stanford, taught there for a while, ran a department at another university and also had a very successful entrepreneurial career, told him that if he wanted to be a practicing engineer, he’d be better off at a school well known for teaching undergrads as opposed to research. The school he cited…Iowa State. UIUC doesn’t have a National Lab, but ISU does. In my opinion…GO CYCLONES! Congrats on your son’s achievements.
Congrats to your son on the scholarship and honors acceptance!
Iowa State’s programs are all ABET accredited, so I’d have no concerns about AAU.
Similarly I would not be concerned about the enrollment. 6K students is still a very good sized engineering program and there could be all kinds of reasons for the decrease that has zero to do with the quality of the program.
It looks like the only real impact will be to reduce the chance that ISU gets into the Big 10. They left voluntarily because they said the ranking criteria over emphasized medical schools and under emphasized land grant missions. Syracuse and Clark voluntarily left. Nebraska was kicked out. I think in the big scheme of your son’s education and career, it won’t mean anything.
I don’t think this is a problem. That’s still a lot of students. You don’t know why UIUC has more students right now. It could be they are expanding and simply have more room for kids in that program. And maybe there are accompanying teething problems that go with that expansion.
Remember too, there are fewer students overall in college than there were five years ago. If he likes Iowa, he should go there.
Two reasons appear to be driving ISU’s CoE enrollment decline: the decline in Iowa high school senior population, and a sharp decrease international students. Illinois faces similar high school student trends as well, but Grainger appears to have had more success attracting OOS and international students, perhaps because of its reputation.
We were impressed by ISU’s facilities during our visits. They are getting a new IE building, because of a large donation from one of their most loyal alums. So, I don’t think there is a problem in the foreseeable future. But the demographic issue is one that many schools will have to deal with in the future, especially after 2026.
The take home message though is that none of this is anything but a plus for your son. They are expanding. There will be less competition for classes. They do a great job at training engineers. Iowa State is a respected brand, and that only matter until he procures his first job. What a wonderful opportunity to graduate debt free and maybe even have some left over for a MS, house down payment, etc. GREAT opportunity!
Your son will be less stressed at ISU, but still get a good education, especially in the honors program. Paying nothing…well…hard to beat that.
Both colleges are more alike than different. UIUC will be have higher stats kids, so he will be one of many, while ISU he will be in the elite.
S2 choose MN for ENG over some higher ranked schools, and not because of the lesser tuition. It was because, after digging into things with students who actually went there for his major, he found that the MN students were more positive about the (profs) and teaching support(TA’s, tutors) than at the other schools.
He would’ve applied to ISU if he didn’t get such an early admit to MN. It has a good rep among engineers. It’s also a nice looking campus, with good facilities.
If your son has a slight preference for ISU, that’s fantastic. My D22 got a significant set of scholarships to ISU for CS, we visited and liked the campus and town a lot. She ultimately withdrew her acceptance yesterday because the CS program wasn’t the right fit for her. I’d encourage your son to take the full-ride opportunity and enjoy the next 4 years in the very charming Ames, IA!