Engineering school decision time! Need help selecting

College Search & Selection
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My kid has some great engineering school options, but it’s so hard to choose. We’re trying to be thoughtful about this (hmmmm … maybe overthinking, lol?), but we don’t know what we don’t know. What ways to think about this are we missing? We’d love some of your collective wisdom.

A little about my son:

  1. Specifically wanted an urban campus.
  2. Very interested in issues around public transportation from both an engineering and policy perspective. His senior project explores the issues around expanding DC’s Metro trains and buses into underserved areas. So likely majoring in civil engineering, though a Pitt associate dean told us yesterday that there might be some industrial courses that would serve him as well.
  3. Not a big builder/tinkerer, but captained small First Robotics team and Electric Car club at his small humanities magnet school. For college, interested in extra-curricular team projects such as SAE competitions, especially as a way to make friends.
  4. Not a partier and tends to hang back on the social front, though he likes being around people. Needs other ways to build relationships. Interested in Hillel and possibly Chabad, though he found Pitt’s Chabad a little much this past Friday night. (I think he’d be ok there after more visits – and not with his mom!)
  5. Loves words (puzzles, spelling, Scrabble, AP Latin, etc.), but not such a fan of writing. Wrote his college essay on his fascination with the engineering/decoding of words. He may need some academic support for writing and to help him explain/show his work.
  6. On a related note, he is very smart but executive-function challenged. Looking for supportive environment from the school/professors – at least one where profs don’t scoff at students with accommodations such as extra time, using laptop to take notes and record lectures, etc.
  7. Would benefit from atmosphere that is more collaborative than competitive.

If you’re still reading … here are his acceptances and some of our thoughts:

Carnegie-Mellon (no aid) (Will attend admitted students day in April):
Honestly, this acceptance was something of a surprise yesterday. Big potential plus for him is Engineering and Public Policy double major or 1-year masters. If anyone has experience with this program, we’d love to know more! But is it too demanding/not supportive enough for students with ADHD/anxiety? Is the workload really any more than at other ABET programs? Are students really so much unhappier/stressed than at other schools? Will a shy guy be able to make friends there? We read that maker space is hard to access because of certification requirements and pales in comparison to CWRU’s, but given that he’s not much of a maker, is this a big deal? His dad went there and is a big fan of school traditions like Buggy, but his experience was a long time ago.

Pitt (no merit but eligible for a special $10,000/yr grant for state schools outside Washington, DC):
Because of school’s flexibility, could probably cobble together a program to meet his interests. Perhaps even something like a minor or double-major in Urban Planning & Geographic Analysis. Or maybe linguistics. Need to do some more discussing with the associate dean we met at admitted students event yesterday. While this could make for an interesting and customized program, he’s not sure he wants to be in charge of DIY’ing it. Coops are also a potential plus. He’s not sure about the rah-rah sports atmosphere or party pressure.

Case Western Reserve ($30.5K/yr merit) (Will attend admitted students day in April):
Program is great in general, but we need to do more research into support for his specific academic interests. He likes the small size and nerdy atmosphere socially, but it means academic offerings aren’t as diverse as at a big school like Pitt. But, then again, he could just get his basic civil engineering degree and specialize in grad school.

Drexel ($28K/yr merit): He likes the coop culture more than he thought he would. But is the coop program as good as they say, and are coops significantly more helpful than summer internships?

Northeastern: deferred EA, now waitlisted. No reason to expending effort on this option right now.

Thanks for getting this far! Whatever thoughts you have are welcome!

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Congrats to your son on all the great acceptances!

While CWRU students work hard, it doesn’t seem like an oppressive environment. Plenty of weird but not unhappy nerds there. I’ve heard they have good student support. We liked the campus and its surroundings. It might be a good fit for him.

Our son didn’t apply to CMU because he was… uninterested in that culture. I’ll leave it at that.

Pitt sounds like it could be a winner to me as well. I do think he’ll find his people no matter where he goes. The choice might come down to little things for him, and there’s several great options!

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based on what you say about your son, Case sounds like the best fit: urban, located in a city that is working on urban issues related to his interests, “one college” policy so he could major in Civil engineering and minor in Environmental science or anything that relates to his interests that may not be in the COE, not a party school, lots of people who find robotics cool, very supportive environment (especially if compared to CMU).

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Forgot to mention that another plus for Pitt is that he could take up to one class per semester at CMU (at Pitt prices), so he might be able to do some of the public policy courses that way.

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Can you post what the actual costs are? Sounds as if CMU would be over 80k, Pitt maybe about 45K, CWR maybe about 50K, and Drexel maybe about 52K?

I think that the obvious place for him is Drexel, hands down. It is right next to Penn, which has a fantastic Hillel, great Jewish life, that he can fit into easily, wouldn’t have to resort to Chabad, not to mention that it has its own Hillel, too. It’s urban, and Philly is a great city. He can easily walk right over the Schuylkill into Center City, and all the adjacent areas of interest. Co-op programs are longer and better at building an engineer’s skill, and usually result in job placements. Plus Philly is not far from home. He can walk over to 30th St Station and take Amtrak home to DC.

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I can’t speak to the services available through Pitt’s official accommodations process. You might consider posting to the Pitt thread to see if anyone there knows.

CWRU stood out to us because they assign something like 3(?) people to every student to make sure they’re supported in everything. I can’t remember the details but it was unique to all the schools we explored, where the most common arrangement is that you have just your 1 academic advisor. In addition, our tour guide went out of her way to talk about how amazing CWRU was when she had a long and difficult recovery from a serious concussion. Hope your visit provides some insights.

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So cost looks like this?

School List Price FA / scholarships Net Price Notes
CMU $84k $0k $84k
Pitt $56k $10k $46k
CWRU $86k $30.5k $55.5k
Drexel $78k $28k $50k List/net price does not include misc/personal expenses.

How much does cost matter?

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Oh! Speaking of trains. We are riding Amtrak to Syracuse for a visit. I was pleased to learn about the cool routes. Now I want to get into riding trains. The Capitol Limited sounds perfect for this kid should he decide on one of the non-Drexels.

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Then it sounds like CMU probably won’t be a good fit.

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My daughter is a civil engineer, working in transportation. From your initial post I focused on the ‘doesn’t like writing’ part. Same with my D (she was actually pretty good at it, just didn’t enjoy it). I’d guess that if he takes a second major or even just classes in public policy it is going to involve a lot more writing and may even have more required writing or social science courses that require a paper or writing course.

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We don’t want to throw away money just for prestige, but, with much thanks to the generosity of grandparents and some decent
investing, we have the funds for whichever he chooses. With scholarships and grants, tuition only is around $30k at all schools except CMU, which is around $64K.

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When I read about CMU (niche), the first word I read is intense.

Obviously the best name. But you want him to be happy so if it’s true, I’d move it aside.

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I went to Carnegie Mellon and have a student at Pitt, but have no engineering experience so can’t help much that way.

On a very minor point, I think Pitt and CMU combine for one Hillel.

The culture at CMU is intense, and when I was there the workload was much higher than at peer schools. I have heard nothing to make me think that has changed. In my experience, it was a collaborative environment in many ways, but there was a grind mentality. People would use how heavy their workload was as street cred. I do think your son could find friends there, but I don’t know anything about how accommodations are handled.

I think your winner is Case. I have heard amazing things from multiple people about how accommodations and learning differences are handled there. I like Pitt a lot (and I actually had a great experience at CMU), but for the money I would take Case over Pitt for engineering. Unless there is something that Pitt has that Case doesn’t academically, he would get a bit more prestige, accommodations, urban, etc., for about the same price.

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They’re all good choices. I would look for the best support services. Getting into a school doesn’t matter if he doesn’t graduate.

CMU and Pitt are very close to Squirrel Hill.

I always walked over to CMU from Pitt for the Buggy races. The brainpower and resources at CMU are phenomenal. That said, it was an intense environment. I doubt it has changed.

Good luck

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Yes, I think MY favorite thing about Drexel is the quick and easy train situation!

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Great points! The writing demand is definitely part of the equation. He, too, isn’t terrible at it, but he gets stressed and procrastinates, which, of course, causes more stress.

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Second this. Looking into support services, especially for executive functioning, should be a priority. A smaller school may be a benefit too.

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There is not a lot of hand-holding at CMU but definitely a great school. I’d avoid Drexel. CWRU and Pitt are both great. I assume your kid will study civil with an emphasis on transportation?

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Having visited CMU with one of my kids, I agree that the “vibe” seemed a little on the grim side, and the admissions presentation leaned very heavily on corporate connections - certainly no discussion of “public benefit” type employment. While CMU obviously has a great reputation, I can’t see why you’d make the financial stretch when you have such good options that are so much more affordable, and are likely more hospitable to your son’s learning style as well. And further, if there are particular courses you can’t quite bear to miss out on at CMU, cross-registering from Pitt is another (far more affordable) way to check that box.

My gut says either Case or Pitt, for all the reasons others have already cited. If he loves Drexel when you visit, it’s certainly worth considering, but I wouldn’t weight the co-op factor too heavily, as engineering students at Pitt and CWRU can absolutely choose a co-op path as well. (If his executive function issues rose to the level of an autism spectrum diagnosis, Drexel’s support program could make it a winner, but it doesn’t sound as if he needs something that intensive.) I’d personally be reluctant to pay more for Drexel than for Pitt.

It isn’t uncommon for students to face the “CWRU vs. Pitt” choice, as they have a lot in common. CWRU offers the advantages of a mid-sized private U - it’s likely to be a bit more personal and a bit less bureaucratic, just because a bit of bureaucracy goes with the territory at a larger public U. (What I’ve heard from Pitt engineering students about the advising and mentoring they’ve received has been very positive, though - I didn’t get a “just a number” impression at all.) The culture at CWRU is likely to be a bit more cohesive, which can be a plus or a minus depending on how much that culture appeals. Whereas attributes of Pitt’s culture, such as rah-rah sports and party pressure, are present but not ubiquitous; especially in the engineering school, he’d find plenty of peers with zero interest in those aspects. As you already noted, a larger public like Pitt is likely to have a bit wider range of course offerings available in any given term, further enhanced by the option of cross-registration at CMU.

Also look at what’s available in terms of faculty research, in his areas of interest. The only transit-related research I could find at CWRU (although I did not do a deep dive) was this https://www.csuohio.edu/news/csu-and-cwru-partner-improve-public-transit whereas Pitt has a whole research center devoted to sustainable transportation infrastructure: CSTI Maybe he could make contact with someone there, to explore what opportunities are available for undergrads. The Civil/Environmental department also offers a masters in Transportation Engineering, and the School of Public & International Affairs offers an MPA; either of these would likely be available under Pitt’s 5th-year masters plan, although I haven’t verified this specifically.

All told, as much as I like the idea of CWRU for your son, I think Pitt may offer the best combination of opportunities; and the almost 10K/year savings doesn’t hurt either!

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