I am well aware of where Ames, Des Moines, and Iowa State is. Don’t understand why you feel the need to correct me. Ames is 40 minutes away
@AustenNut there would be zero snowboarding at Purdue. He would be catatonic in a library. Yes, I’m half kidding but it is on his wish list. Agree that the in-state PA options looking most appealing at the moment. Would be fun to check out WVU and Cincy.
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Be forewarned that there are similarities to Purdue, especially as it pertains to being a smaller university town, though Des Moines is 45 minutes away.
S2 also found the math section easy compared to the reading. What finally got him better at the reading was for him to start reading recreationally, which he hadn’t really done before. He read non fiction…things like Freakonomics, and some biographies. It did help, and he also got razor focussed on the math section by watching tutorials on Youtube…I think College Panda was one of them, but there is a host of them. We never bothered with tutors.
Good luck.
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Sorry - I said many apps require a lot of extra work - I meant to say many apps “don’t require” extra work.
Snowboard - look at Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming (a bit of a haul) and South Dakota School of Mines - all with access to skiing. U of Nevada Reno too. In the East - well U Maine, UVM, and WVU.
It could be, with schools like these - an extra $50 and no extra essays, etc.
Set up an email for your son that’s college only - like Billyengineering23@gmail.com etc. and then start getting on school’s info lists…any and all that interest you. Some will send you free apps.
Didn’t realize about the snow boarding. Good luck.
PS - I do worry about the test taking and making it through engineering - which is a off the charts insane major requiring ridiculous amounts of concentration.
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Michigan Tech has ChemE, an on-campus ski hill, substance free areas of housing, but is definitely not urban. Cute town that is walkable, even in the snow.
As for Rose-Hulman, we tried, and couldn’t get it below $35k for the first year, and as tuition increases, that cost will increase. That’s just tuition and room/board. That included a $25k merit scholarship, $2,500 for going to camp, $2000 for NMF, and $5k for Noblitt Scholar. With a 3% increase, we figured he’d be at about $40k for his final year and that was for sure too much for us.
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Fwiw, if 225,000 population is too middle of nowhere, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and others should come off the list.
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@RichInPitt PSU is our affordable in state so it stays Virginia tech not on the list. My best friends son goes to Purdue. I will admit I know nothing about the area. He is a sophomore and I am getting my info from her. His preference is for an urban school but for the right school he would give that up.
So where does snowboarding factor in? Penn State does not = snowboarding. Purdue more so does not equal.
Purdue is a fine school but there are many similar in rep which you said doesn’t matter and there are many below it reputationally that are fine.
I get Penn State (and Pitt and Temple) as in state. I get $40k budget. Where does snowboarding factor in which is more likely in the far northeast or mountain regions?
Penn State has a snowboarding club, snowboarding, ski trips, etc.
Purdue has a snowboarding club too.
Must be for a local hill or annual trip but not for regular daily/weekly real boarding
The snowboarding was just a side comment. He would love to be able to go to a school that he could do that on occasion. It is low on the priority list. If you picture a cake-it’s the sprinkles.
So $40K - outside of instate, your best bets are in the South (Florida schools, Alabama, MS State, Arkansas, UAH - of those, it sounds like USF or FSU, Arkansas, and UAH would be best for not rural.
West - Arizona, Colorado State, Utah, New Mexico, etc.
Iowa State, Mizzou, Missouri Science & Tech, and more. WVU as mentioned is another.
Lots of possibilities - but you do have to focus on those that can or will get you to your price.
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He should also look at Material Science and Engineering. That area is more about the properties of the materials and involves chemistry as well.
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I second @AustenNut suggestion of U of Louisville. Your son will qualify for auto-merit aid there, and the amount differs a bit depending on which part of PA you live in. It is a nice urban (but not high-rise) campus and appears to have a surprisingly strong and fun engineering program. Louisville is a cool city! Plenty of flights. I have been on the campus for work reasons but haven’t looked at the engineering school yet. Will be doing that soon with my kid.
I definitely recommend that you check out Utah as well! It has a great engineering program and is simply amazing for a kid who enjoys the outdoors. Tuition is reasonable. The campus is on the foothills of the mountains and is gorgeous. SLC is a really neat city and directly abuts the canyons. Plenty of flights. You can ACTUALLY attend your classes in the morning and go snowboarding in the afternoon.
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I forgot to add that Utah is a chemistry powerhouse. Any of these schools will have good chem programs, but they are noted for theirs.
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@ColdWombat that place looks amazing but I was just blown away by something my son has probably not thought about. He is a huge gamer. He builds his own gaming computers-has for years. I didn’t realize he might be able to combine that with Engineering!
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Oh absolutely! A great option might be a major in ChemE with a minor in electrical/computer engineering (which is more hardware focused than software engineering is). The first year courses are largely the same for the two disciplines anyway.
I didn’t know electrical engineering offered minors.
Hmmm, I am just looking and noticing that Utah seems to have a bunch of programs with an interdisciplinary gaming focus, which they are calling “entertainment arts and engineering”. Very interesting! The minor in games is pretty intriguing. However, career-wise, you can’t go wrong with traditional engineering degrees, and I would strongly advise only doing an ABET-accredited major. Those are the more traditional ones (including ChemE, ComputerE, and ElectricalE at Utah).
And yes, depending on the school, you can get engineering minors and/or concentrations in a variety of disciplines if you want. The actual minor doesn’t matter as much as your training and experience in the different fields. Think of the minor as a means to help a person more formally explore and learn about a field, rather than a certification of any kind.
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What is the Material Science & Engineering degree? A few have suggested this as a possibilty. What are the pros of this? What sort of career path is this?