<p>Our son, who is a sophomore, is very bright and quite accomplished in DIY engineering projects, both mechanical and electrical. His dream has always been to go to MIT, but we're not sure his grades (which aren't great) will allow that. What other small to mid-size colleges should we be considering? He tests pretty well most of the time and got a 5 on the AP Computer Science exam as a freshman, but we have no idea how he'll do on the SAT or ACT.</p>
<p>*His dream has always been to go to MIT, but we’re not sure his grades (which aren’t great) will allow that. What other small to mid-size colleges should we be considering? He tests pretty well most of the time and got a 5 on the AP Computer Science exam as a freshman, but we have no idea how he’ll do on the SAT or ACT. *</p>
<p>Tell your son that he needs top, top, top grades and test scores for MIT…and even then it’s very hard to get in. MIT only accepts 10% of applicants.</p>
<p>90% are in the top 10% of their class</p>
<p>Test Scores of the 2 middle quartile of students</p>
<p>Middle 50% of First-Year Students </p>
<p>SAT Critical Reading: 670 - 760<br>
SAT Math: 740 - 800
SAT Writing: 670 - 770
ACT Composite: 32 - 35 </p>
<p>As you can see, the test scores of MIT students are very high. </p>
<p>*What other small to mid-size colleges should we be considering? *</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>What is your budget? How much can you spend each year on college?</p>
<p>Did your son take the PSAT as a sophomore?</p>
<p>Your state flagship university is always a wise choice for engineering. If you want a small school environment with smaller classes and are willing to pay for it, there are lots of other options: Rose Hulman, RPI etc.</p>
<p>UCSD, University of Indiana, Carnegie Mellon. I live on the west coast though.</p>
<p>Here in Indiana we are known for Rose-Hulman and Purdue in engineering.</p>
<p>Purdue is relatively easy to get into with mediocre grades. As long as you have consistent A’s and B’s you could get in with a sprinkling of C’s. Also I recommend at least 1200 on your CR+M SAT. The big thing with Purdue is that, while easy to get into, it’s not easy to stay in. Many engineering students have to switch to easier majors because Purdue’s curriculum isn’t a walk in the park.</p>
<p>Don’t go to Indiana University (not University of Indiana) for engineering. It’s known for business.</p>
<p>You need to be more detailed regarding how mediocre his grades actually are. What’s his GPA? There’s a wide range of schools below MIT.</p>
<p>I think CalPoly SLO is an excellent university for engineering if your son’s in the range.</p>
<p>I should have noted we are in the midwest, his GPA is around 3.0, and no PSAT results.</p>
<p>Rose Hulman will probably accept him with high enough test scores - say a 750 on the math SAT and 600 on the reading.</p>
<p>
I think RPI is probably NOT an option. The scores and grades required for engineering are high. It has gotten very competitive the last 5(?) years and has seen an increase of 160+% in applications in the last 5 years or so.</p>
<p>It’s nearly impossible to get into top engineering schools with a GPA “around a 3.0” without being a URM or have some unusual hook.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your son about his grades. If he wants to go to a “good school” then he needs to get his grades up. </p>
<p>For instance, at Purdue, 65% of students have GPA’s above a 3.5 GPA. 80% have a GPA above a 3.25. Those that have lower GPA are probably athletes and URMs.</p>
<p>If your son’s cumulative GPA ends up around a 3.0 by the end of junior year, that will limit his choices. He can still get into some mid-tier schools, but probably not well-ranked engineering schools.</p>
<p>I should have noted we are in the midwest</p>
<p>Which state?</p>
<p>What is your budget? How much can you spend each year on college?</p>
<p>One can slide with the verbal-related skills a bit, but engineering programs require pretty high math skills to get through. If he’s not at least pretty decent in math and physical sciences he may have a tough time getting through many engineering schools, even if he is a pretty mechanical kind of guy.</p>
<p>A local non-flagship engineering school, such as U Illinois Chicago Circle, may have more modest entrance standards, and good students from there can got jobs, at least at the firm I used to work for they could.</p>
<p>But its really premature to say much till you have SATs/ACTs and grades in upper level advanced science and math courses.
If he does pretty poorly on all of the above he may want to re-think the plan, because getting in is one obstacle, getting out is another.</p>
<p>In my experience with two engineering kids, a lot of schools are not nearly as interested in courses other than math or science. I am not talking about MIT or Stanford… but schools like Rose Hulman or Stevens.</p>
<p>So if the B’s are in English & social studies, and he has A’s in math and science, he has a better shot than just considering his GPA alone.</p>
<p>Purdue, Missouri University of Science & Technology</p>
<p>*So if the B’s are in English & social studies, and he has A’s in math and science, he has a better shot than just considering his GPA alone. *</p>
<p>I think his GPA would be higher…like a 3.5 or so if that were the case. It sounds like he either gets mostly Bs and maybe a few A’s and C’s. The mom used the word “mediocre” to describe his grades.</p>
<p>^^^I’ll second MO S&T, formerly known as U of MO-Rolla. It is primarily an engineering campus, and is one of those “easy to get into, hard to stay in” programs.</p>
<p>It has a good reputation for mechanical and electrical in this region. Take a look at the Common Data Set for the most recent class for the mid-50 rank and score ranges:</p>
<p>[Missouri</a> S&T, Common Data](<a href=“data.mst.edu – Institutional Research and Data Management | Missouri S&T”>data.mst.edu – Institutional Research and Data Management | Missouri S&T)</p>
<p>Ohio Northern University might work.</p>
<p>Thanks, all of you, for your helpful suggestions! I truly appreciate it.</p>
<p>If he is good at the DIY stuff, and isn’t doing so well in high school because the daily grind of the homework isn’t sufficiently compelling to hold his interest long enough to get it done, you might want to consider sending him off to do his pre-engineering at your local community college instead of completing his HS diploma at his current HS. He would have small classes for the core math, science, and first year engineering courses instead of being just a number in those courses at Big State U.</p>
<p>Pick the cities your son would like to live in, then find the top schools using the rankings below:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate)</p>