I 2nd taking a look at Dayton. They have some new facilities that were not yet available when DS16 was choosing or it would have been a real contender.
“taverngirl” is on target!
WPI is a very unusual school because of the focus on STEM and overseas studies, Their studies are project directed. The IQP project is of particular interest because of the interdisciplinary focus. A STEM focused university that loves eclectic students.
For a more complete overview of the process see: https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan.
You might also look at the project center directory @ https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-program/project-centers
Not sure if the OP is aware of these dual degree programs (“Indiana’s two premiere universities – Purdue University and Indiana University – have collaborated to offer this innovative dual degree program at IUPUI in Indianapolis, IN.”)
http://engr.iupui.edu/departments/dualdegree/index.php
IUPUI is her ultra super safety - in csse of catastrophe, parent death, etc. we’ve seen this happen sadly.
What language does she want to major in?
Not major in a language. She will major in mechanical &/or robotics engineering. She is currently in a 200 level Spanish class with credit from a Big 10 uni. She might add mandarin.
So she just wants to study abroad, no real deep desire to immerse herself in a culture and integrate that with her engineering degree?
I am a Santa Clara mechanical engineering grad. It is a strong program and they cram in quite a bit of liberal arts education. There is not much room for classes that do not meet a liberal arts requirement however. Look at the class progression at all of the schools, you should be able to get a decent idea of how much flexibility there is. I don’t know any engineers who studied abroad while I was at SCU, though that was quite a while ago.
@nordicdad D16 loved SCU when we visited. It seemed very chill. D16 was accepted for CS, but alas, it was too expensive, even with a small merit scholarship.
@promom4 Have you looked at Rose Hulman? I’ve heard good things about them, but never visited.
Rose Hulman has a summer program called Operation Catapult. If she hasn’t got plans for the summer, it would be a good way to see if she really likes engineering. https://www.rose-hulman.edu/admissions-and-aid/early-planning/operation-catapult/cost-and-dates.html
@bouders We lived in the town where Rose is, we are not considering it. They give very little merit and was all male until 20 years ago. Which is a long time ago - but not the scenario we are looking for.
Rose is one of the very top engineering schools in the nation and a great school with super sucessdul graduates.
We know this is what she loves. She does 2 different robotics teams (one of which is at a rival school district), has done an engineering camp and other programs and a nanotechnology camp. She has gotten more focused on engineering since middle school when she was also doing more science major type (bio/chem) camps. (I know engineering is science).
I go to UCLA and from personal experience if I wasn’t part of study groups we would never get our homework done
@nordicdad She could some of the social justice trips at SCU. She loved it there & their facilities are unreal. They also offer a 5 year masters which is really appealing. But the cost is substantial when you consider travel costs, etc.
Have you looked at Franklin Olin (olin.edu)? A friend’s daughter went there and had a wonderful experience. Plus, they are generous with merit and meet full need.
Northeastern sounds like a good fit here. Very much collaborative, co-op focused, and has tons of global opportunities via co-op, study abroad, and other options that are less than a full semester / 6 months at a time. While generally a bit more practical than liberal arts, the core is flexible enough to easily take electives as desired.
@promom4
Students can minor in Mandarin, Spanish or German at WPI. See https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/foreign-language-minor. Project centers are in Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. For Spanish they have project centers in Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, two in Costa Rica, Panama, and Puerto Rico. For German the project centers would be Konstanz Germany or Zurich Switzerland at ETH.
ME and robotics are very big at WPI. With degree majors from the BS to the PhD levels. See https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/robotics-engineering.
Music is also a big thing at WPI as it is at many STEM schools. It seems to flourish where there is a strong math interest. They also offer a performance minors in music. For a general description see https://www.wpi.edu/search/google/music#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=music&gsc.sort=
In case you have not heard, WPI has been working very hard to balance the female/male ratios in engineering. There is evidence that they work well on group projects.
Full disclosure, I am a WPI Alumnus who loves their project based, interdisciplinary program.
It might be a good idea to add CMU to your list. I second Olin because it is project directed at the tutorial level, but very small. I don’t know how the overseas programs work.
:bz
I left out the most important part. Project teamwork is the name of the game in our highly project based system. Too much competition gets in the way of listening.
WPI is 75% male 25% female if that is a concern.
Have you checked out Case Western Reserve University?
Olin really tries hard to facilitate students spending time studying abroad. Lots of students take advantage of it. Also, there’s an option in the senior year to participate in their “Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship” (ADE) program. ADE is a service program and my understanding is that many students travel overseas as part of their ADE projects. http://www.olin.edu/academics/experience/engineering-capstone/
@bopper WPI actually is 66% male and 34% female. Still imbalanced, but not as bad as it used to be. And the ratio for this year’s entering class was 56-44, due to the school’s recent efforts to increase the percentage of female students.
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a very supportive of women students. The engineering is excellent and well known by many major corporations and engineering firms. However, being a small school, you won’t find many Liberal Arts opportunities at Mines. Mines students have studied abroad at some top European engineering universities, like Trondheim in Norway.