This looks very much like D17’s profile, with many common schools. Ones she added were Virginia Tech, Lehigh, and Maryland.
Fwiw, she ended up at (and recently graduated from) Purdue ME. Purdue and VT were her 1 and 2, well clear of the others (she was admitted to all).
OSU has a scholarship for OOS students based on GPA/SAT - National Buckeye Scholarship. They used to publish criteria, and it was automatic. It may have changed, but D17’s 3.75 and ACT 31 qualified.
A HS classmate, who also went to Purdue, also applied to Delaware as a ChemE. It seems to be a particular strength, given the DuPont ties. She was concerned about options if she changed her mind on majors.
Just want to point out that the landscape has change in the last 5 years. The average engineering GPA at Purdue is now 3.9 UW and 33 ACT. Acceptance rates have also been dropping. Scores and GPA have risen at OSU as well.
My D also had UMD CP on her list but with your son’s present scores, I would put it into a reach category with Purdue.
We looked in UD for our D too but she ended up not applying.
@momofboiler1 my DD was a Junior BioE at UMD in the Honors college. She got the President’s $$$. Otherwise UMD would have been out of budget. With that came the requirement to keep a 3.2 GPA I believe and my son is very weary of that.
My daughter applied to Smith School of business and switched her major beginning junior year. Her honors seminar course freshman year (finance) set her on fire and it never went out. Just goes to show you-just because you are great at math, physics, chemistry and all things Engineering- it does not mean you should be an Engineer! Glad she figured it out before she graduated lol.
As a separate matter, when I (a parent now) was growing up, we were told many times that Chemistry is not chemical engg :-). Just something to keep in mind.
Mostly agree with this. The majority of my D’s chem e classes are math and physics heavy, especially upper level classes. That said, she did need two semesters of inorganic, two semester of organic, and physical chemistry. But the fundamental chem e courses are energy balances, thermo, fluids, reactions, separations, heat and mass, controls, etc…
Enjoying, and being strong in, calculus and physics is crucial. It’s engineering
And pressure vessel design etc…
But coming back to the other question — a large part of the allure of Chem E in the past has been associated with the petro chemical industry. If you wanted to partake of this, in the past, you needed to go south — Texas for instance. But, given global warming, and the reluctance to use petrochemical energy, I suspect a whole host of associated industries (eg plastics) will also be under some stress. It doesn’t hurt to think of this upfront and see what the end goals are.
As I mentioned on a different thread on CC, materials science seems to be an interesting and useful field, in some demand now. It is very chemistry adjacent. Something to think about.
Regardless, you should look for universities where the industry is, for ease of internships etc. I suspect the industry is in the south.
@neela1 This is what we seem to have trouble with here. At least with my son he knows he has a real interest in chemistry, he picks it up quickly and the same with math. He hasn’t taken Physics yet. He doesn’t know what he wants to do with his Chemical Engineering degree. We looked at what jobs you could do and he is like-Yeah…they look cool. Back to video gaming. My thought is that he could always switch to all Chemistry at a school even if he starts as a Chem E. One thing is for sure I’ve seen lots of kids go in with one major and switch to something completely different. So while I think it is great that he can pick a major I am not attached to it nor do I expect him to stick with it. I am expecting him to probably change it! That would mean he is actually interested in something
Haha. Yes. Kids are like that. I suppose it is often easier to change from ChE to Chem etc. Chem is a major that requires grad school, and has Pharma or Medicine vibes. I’ve seen a recent Chem kid try banking one summer :-). It is all good, and as you say, if they want to change, that itself is a good thing.
@aquapt are you sure about Rose-Hulman? I’m looking at their website now and the tuition is like 70K with room & Board. They must give out some hefty merit $$$ to bring it in range of our 35-40K budget. Do you have experience with that? I really like that school for my son!!
thanks
@Neela1 LOL my son came home Freshman year after doing a career assessment utility of some kind in the guidance office and told me he tested out as best suited to be an OB/GYN. I don’t see it. Really I don’t. LOL.
No, I’m not sure - I know they give merit, and some big awards, but I’m not clear on what the best case scenario looks like nor on what a particular individual can expect. I think the odds of big merit are better for women, because the gender balance is so uneven and they’re always trying to improve it. I just thought it was worth throwing out there.
UMaine and WVU both have substance-free housing FWIW.
If your son is looking at ChemE because it’s a practical, career-oriented degree based on chemistry, he might also want to think about Food Science: Food Science — Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences This involves less of the heavy physics and higher math that ChemE requires, lots of chemistry, and a lot of cool practical applications. The “Small-school feel. Big-university opportunities” quality of the department could be a nice experience within Penn State. Ohio State has a highly-ranked food science program also - maybe the merit potential would be better than in engineering.
Another chem-heavy path, if art is of any interest, is art conservation. At my daughter’s college, they recommend that the art conservation students who are serious about working in the field do a double-major in chem. A lot of art-loving students who think they want this field end up being deterred by the chem requirements. Art Conservation | Major Finder | Admissions | University of Delaware
@momofboiler1 - when you mention that ACT average - is that a straight ACT or superscored? think schools ever look at superscore? (kiddo here has a 33 superscore; 32.25 regular. so close; not sure about taking it again.) so interested in what you know. thanks
SO - for this thread - ISU in ames, IA impressed us when we toured. they are machine, and get kids in and out of engineering; huge career fairs. I was interested to see how many staff/advisors they have working with each separate major.
Lots and lots of kids from chicago area attend ISU; and in the parking lot on tour day we saw license plates from all over (ok; mostly midwest, but many states: MN, WI, MI, IL, MO, IN, NE, KS, OH, SD, TN etc. to name a few.) It is well regarded throughout the area. they have good auto merit.
@dharma517, you might find this site helpful: Merit Aid by Institution – College Transitions. For many of the more popular colleges mentioned on CC it will show what percentage of students without financial need receive merit aid and what the average amount of merit aid is. That way you can get a quick sense of how likely a school is to be affordable.
If the price still looks higher than your family feels comfortable in paying, but there’s some real interest in the university, then check the university’s website. There may be specific scholarships that your son would be interested in trying out for/eligible for that could be higher than the average merit aid award. Also, if you run the Net Price Calculator at a university, if the calculator asks for GPA and test scores, then it is also likely to give you an estimate of what kind of merit aid your son might receive. Obviously, that last option would be your best guess as to what the university will cost, but not all universities do that.
If a school you’re interested in is not in that Dataverse list you can get the same information by doing a search for university name common data set. You’ll have to pull your calculator out to do the percentages, but that’s where the information is located.
Referring back to Rose-Hulman specifically, cost of attendance is around $70k, and 32% of first years without need received merit aid, averaging a little over $21k. So a rough estimate would be to think that Rose-Hulman might come out to about $50k which would be over your budget.
@aquapt. More great info I will check it out. I am liking U of Cincinnati. I like the Coop concept for him (my husband did it at Drexel and is still at that job-DoD Navy). I also have a hard time seeing him at a school like my DD -UMD (CP). He does well when he can interact, connect with the teacher and ask questions. UMD was a sink or swim situation for the Engineering freshman. No lifeguards on purpose. It got better but they made sure to thin the herd. Thanks again for all your help!
