Engineering Colleges in NY Metro Area Advice

Hi, I am new to the forum and have been reading many threads, mostly older ones about the best engineering college in the NY Metro area. We live in Northern NJ and my son does not want to be more than 2 hours from home (he will live on campus) so he is applying to the following schools:

RPI (He received the Rennselaer Medal which gives $25K per year)
NJIT Albert Dorman Honors College
Stevens
Lafayette
Lehigh
Bucknell

Here are my questions:

  1. For those who have attended or applied to these schools, which do you feel gives the most bang for your buck? He will definitely be getting some kind of partial merit scholarship. I know that NJIT will be the cheapest, but which of the other schools gives decent merit scholarships?
  1. My son goes to a very small high school and is currently a "big fish in a little pond", meaning he is at the top of his class academically, but he only has 130 kids in his graduating class. Which of these schools do you think would give him the least amount of culture shock - in other words, which school will not make him feel overwhelmed both academically and socially?

Thanks in advance!

Rowan University will probably give you the most bang for your buck as a NJ resident. Definitely check it out.

Second Rowan. They’re really investing in their engineering program.

Take a look at Manhattan College, also. It’s not exactly traditional (like Bucknell or Lehigh), but they have a solid engineering program and they have some of the best placement statistics in the country.

Cornell, Stony Brook and Cooper Union are some other good schools… Stevens and Stony Brook are two very good engineering schools. It also depends on which engineering discipline.

If you’re looking for bang for your buck, you won’t do better than Rowan. Average engineering student pays $19k/year. If he has top stats, he could easily get more and possibly honors college with priority registration and housing. It’s large, but small class sizes so it’s been the best of both worlds for my son (not an engineer).

All the schools you list are great, but I don’t think you’ll get close to Rowan’s price unless you have need.

For all of you who are recommending Rowan, do you have any stats on job placement/beginning salaries after graduation compared to a school like NJIT or RPI?

@SnoogieMom my son is a sophomore and my husband and I alumni. From last month’s alumni magazine (engineering only):
$15k/year average cost of attendance (sorry, I said $19k!)
83% graduation rate (national ave is 60%)
96% job or grad school placement rate
$69,750 ave starting salary
9 Bachelor’s degrees, 6 master’s and 5 doctoral specializations
220+ industry partnerships and an exclusive 4 year co-op with Lockheed Martin
22:1 student-faculty ratio
$11m in research funding
$80m in captial improvements to academic/research facilities.

I personally think it’s super underrated. You should visit - the facilities and on campus housing are amazing. My son is living in a brand new apartment that’s nicer than my first house! LOL We are full pay and it’s under $25k year. Next year moving off campus will lower it more.

Good luck!

Thank you! We will definitely add Rowan to the list.

Lafayette’s Marquis scholarships are pretty generous

RPI and Bucknell are each probably a little over over three hours from you.
So I guess those are out.
Stony Brook is about the same. [ As is SUNY Binghamton]
Cornell is closer to four hours, probably.

For others: NYU [took over? affiliated with?] Brooklyn Polytech, so it’s now NYU’s engineering school.
City College of NY used to have a well regarded engineering program, don’t know about now.
U Pennsylvania is close.So is Villanova. And Drexel.

FWIW my graduating class was smaller than your son’s, I went to Cornell, and was not overwhelmed by the size. It was a different experience, but I expected college to be a different experience. YMMV.

Don’t know about scholarships.

Thanks to all for your very helpful input. @monydad, RPI is only 2 hours from us and he did receive the Rennselaer Medal, which gives him $25K per year. However it is a $60K/year school so trying to figure out the ROI as opposed to NJIT and other less expensive schools.

… in that case:
Two of the few LACs that have engineering programs are also two hours from you, probably:
Union College in Schenectady and Trinity College in Hartford, CT.
These are more of a size that you are projecting for your son.

And Stony Brook is probably closer than I thought.

I also failed to mention Columbia has an engineering and applied sciences school.

I’ve no idea if you qualify for need-based aid.

Colleges vary as to whether they offer merit aid. Maye someplace there is a list more recent than this one, though 2011-12 isn’t that long ago:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/08/education/edlife/8edlife_chart.html?_r=0

RPI is a great engineering school, it’s possible that it could have more out-of-region recruiting than some other schools. There won’t be much salary differential for a starting engineering job, and salaries thereafter depend on performance. Any difference would be more about opportunities than initial salary.

At places like Columbia and Penn, salary differential may come into play. Because a chunk (actually, probably most) of their engineering students wind up not working as engineers, but rather work in finance on wall street

There is more to consider during the college selection process than just projected future salary though, IMO.
There is the question of where your son may like it better, since his overall happiness may affect his performance. There may be social consequences/ differences as well that might matter to him, and affect him.

FWIW, engineering programs vary as to the extent of their coverage of the engineering field: depth and breadth. This impacts what courses your son can take and what areas of engineering he can get meaningful exposure to. The “core” education will likely be close to the same, but the upper electives can steer and inform one’s areas of interest going forward

Well said monydad. All engineering programs are not created equal. Which discipline makes a difference as well. You may get laughed at for having certain degrees even from some very prestigious universities because some universities might say great medical schools but their ChemE or MechE programs are sub par. Each field has it’s favorite list of schools.