East Coaster needs info on the West Coast

<p>Unfortunately we are one of the many who find themselves seeking a new job. We have been East- Coasters all of our lives, and have a HS Senior (who will finish here in NC). A wonderful opportunity might present itself in Portland, Ore. I thought it would be wise to ask for advice on colleges within a 4 hr drive, as we know absolutely nothing about the area. If you have some great schools to tell us about, we would have a place to start in case this becomes something to consider, Colleges will be a huge factor in our decision.</p>

<p>Gen info: Son, GPA 4.4, SAT CR 600 M660 WR 620 , Class rank: 31/343, 7 AP's by end of Sr. Yr, 8 yrs A/AA Travel Ice hockey , great rec's, 3 yrs French CLub, current president, 3 yrs Math club, current Vice President, NHS 2 yrs, community service, ( not a ton) Music interest club 3 yrs, plays drums and guitar,</p>

<p>Interested in ??? depends on the day, but likely mechanical eng, chemistry, pre-med, pre-dental, as I say depends, sciences....</p>

<p>THANKS SO MUCH!!</p>

<p>I'm most familiar with the LACs, so I'll let someone else speak to universities (which might be better for eng and/or pre-dental)</p>

<p>But to give you somewhere to start:
Reach - Reed, Whitman (maybe match)
Match - Lewis and Clark, Willamette, Univ of Puget Sound
Safety - Linfield</p>

<p>If engineering has to be available in the mix, few of the above wonderful schools will fit the bill unless he wants to try a 3-2 program that takes 5 years to complete. (Considering that many state U's will probably take 5 years for an engineering degree given class restrictions and such, the 3-2 programs don't sound quite as stupid as they do at first look)
One thing to research is what Oregon requires for a kid to be considered in-state (or Washington if you would live across the river.)<br>
Does he have preferences about size, location, type of school?</p>

<p>UO, OSU, UW, WSU, Gonzaga, USC, UCD, UCI, UCR, UCM, UCSC, ASU, UA.</p>

<p>Oh, Portland is a wonderful city! Others posters have mentioned colleges... all good lists. Whitman is a fabulous LAC.</p>

<p>Universities 4 hours from Portland with Engineering that I have visited and my sons liked.</p>

<p>Seattle University
University of Portland (LAC)
Oregon State University
Univ of Washington (very big)</p>

<p>One of my twin sons, with similar stats, is in computer engineering at Oregon State in Corvallis and is having a great experience. He had an internship his freshman year and continues to work for the company part time his sophomore year. Engineering at OSU is in the top 75 or so on US news engineering rankings and has a great internship program in the Portland area. They also awarded him a nice Scholarship for OOS students.</p>

<p>We did not like the 3-2 programs since you would transfer after your junior year. That really killed the idea for my sons. The other twin is at USC in LA. A bit far from Portland but also loves the school. The University of Oregon does not offer Engineering so is not an option if that is an interest.</p>

<p>Check out the thread on Pacific Northwest Road trip - it has some excellent suggestions.</p>

<p>Sorry - should have given you the link:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>NCmomx2, I live in Portland. I think the college lists--both private and public you've been given are great. In Oregon, OSU has the engineering school of repute, and Reed College is he best known/respected private. </p>

<p>Happy to answer any questions if you plan to visit!</p>

<p>Santa Clara U in California.</p>

<p>I don't know what TUOwls is thinking. </p>

<p>OP, just in case you haven't looked at a map yet- No part of California is less than a four hour drive from California. It takes five and a half hours to get to the border. UC Irvine? USC? Irvine is in SOUTHERN California, fifteen hours away. USC is in Los Angeles, again, fifteen hours. </p>

<p>University of Arizona? Come now. That's 1500 miles away.</p>

<p>This is like someone asking for schools in the Boston area, and getting a recommendation of the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa.</p>

<p>Thanks. Just call me a moron while you're at it. Really necessary. Lighten up. If the OP doesn't like my 'picks' they can disregard them all they want. The fact of the matter is they dont have too many options within 4 hours of Portland. But whatever. I'm not the one who wasted time looking up the distances between the places.</p>

<p>Are you sure your son would not prefer to be in a college back East?</p>

<p>We moved out west this summer from the East coast. Our D is a junior in HS this year. At least at this time she is determined to move back East, which she thinks of as "home". My suggestion is- make your decision about your move, and then let your son make his decision about where he wants to go.</p>

<p>This would seem to make sense, but we have move twice in 4 yrs, uprooting our kids twice ( he did k-8 in 1 place, 9th in another and 10 -12 here) He is only applying to schools currently within 3 hours of home, and wants to be near home (perhaps even within 2 hours considering how he has narrowed his choices down to schools within that driving range). I do not want to move at all for this reason alone. I would hate for "home" to be somewhere he has no friends, but realize he will make new ones in college anyway.</p>

<p>You might want to consider a small school with a 3/2 program in engineering. University of Puget Sound, Whitman, Reed, Willamette and Lewis and Clark have such programs, in which the student spends the first three years at the liberal arts college followed by two years at a bigger university. The student gets two bachelor's degrees, one in engineering and a second in something else.</p>

<p>If the 3/2 student ends up deciding to major in something else, say chemistry, he'll finish up in four years at the original school with his classmates. So it's a great plan for a kid who's not sure he wants to major in engineering.</p>

<p>Be very careful with 3/2 engineering programs.</p>

<p>Some guarantee admission to the engineering program(s) assuming a certain GPA; other programs only give you the opportunity to transfer, and you may or may not be accepted. Reed to Cal tech is this way with no guarantees. Be sure to check that out. Also many offer the basic classes for engineering like physics and calculus but no real engineering classes. How can you decide if you like engineering when you can't take any classes in it until you transfer?</p>

<p>Read the fine print and check out the class offerings for these programs as I think they vary greatly. My experience was that some are pretty shallow programs.</p>

<p>Why the 4 hr drive limitation? What about locations that are within a 2-3 hr direct flight distance? That would give you California schools as an option.</p>

<p>Here's a link on the 3/2 at UC Santa Cruz & UC Berkeley Exploring</a> Majors</p>

<p>^^agree that if you open up your goegraphical boundries you open up a heck of a lot more wonderful options in northern California, and Colorado.</p>

<p>Berkeley would be very iffy OOS with those stats. Santa Cruz is a match, if OP's son will fly. </p>

<p>But let's return to the original request and assume that OP's son really does want to stay within a four hour drive, a reasonable criterion in these expensive times. OPson needs to figure out whether he wants a school that offers engineering. If not, there are quite a few LACs in the area, as others have already listed, including Linfield, George Fox, Willamette, Lewis & Clark, Reed, Whitman and University of Puget Sound. If so, pickings are slimmer.</p>

<p>Grew up in the West always thought Reed would be interesting.</p>