My son was accepted to Michigan, Brown and USC and waitlisted at Duke for engineering. He is currently interested biomedical or mechanical engineering. He also enjoys writing, music and Spanish. We live on the West Coast and he prefers warmer weather but that won’t be the deciding factor. Would be paying about the same for each school. Would be grateful for any thoughts.
If BME, then definitely Duke!
If the Duke waitlist doesn’t work out, then the other 3 options are all fine schools. Are you looking for advice on how to choose among the remaining 3? Or are you looking for advice about the waitlist?
Just trying to get a sense of how they all compare. Thanks.
Take Duke off the table. Your child didn’t get in.
What are the net costs of his 3 options?
What type of kid is he?
@ClarinetDad16 Very rude. OP’s child still has hope and should consider it in the event he/she gets in.
OP, Brown is know for it’s happy students. In addition, the ivy name (as much as I hate to promote this) can open many doors. Michigan will probably be the most fun but the winters and cold weathers can get depressing. USC is a solid school academically and as you may already be familiar, the weather is terrific. I’m not sure where these schools stack up in those specific academic departments but if I were in your child’s shoes, my preference (given he gets off Duke’s waitlist also) would be:
Duke/Brown
USC
Michigan
@Jwest22 95% not getting in sugar coats it for you?
@ClarinetDad16 Your sarcastic and rude statements tells me something have bothered you in your childhood.
The OP has three excellent schools that have admitted him to choose from. Let’s celebrate the victories and place a deposit at the best fit of those three. Otherwise in a week those offers are rescinded and Duke unfortunately is probably still not a yes.
Then what @Jwest22, gap year and try again?
I agree with ClarinetDad, talk about Duke after (if) your child gets off the waitlist. Until then, pick one of the three. I’d say Duke is a great option for engineering if the offer comes, but until then, I wouldn’t waste time over Duke.
Leave Brown out of consideration since your son is interested in MechE.
That’s a pretty eclectic selection of engineering schools.
Duke & Michigan do have good engineering programs though. Duke is ranked 1 or 2 for BME.
I would recommend Michigan, if you lived in Michigan. I don’t understand why people would like to attend a large public OOS school especially in a cold area. Flagship universities like Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio St, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, are all the same. They all have pretty good engineering programs but they also must accept most students.
Academically:
9 Duke, 10 Michigan, 16 USC, 17 Brown
http://universitybenchmarks.com/#~rankings~Div1
Brown, USC don’t appear in the list of STEM schools with a minimum STEM level.
I’m guessing the student committed to one of the schools 2 weeks ago.