Engineering Schools

Parents Forum
1

<p>My DS is interested in Engineering and is looking for some schools with a great Engineering reputation that are not quite as selective as the Ivies. He is going to apply early action to Stanford and Regular admission to Harvard, Rice, Vanderbilt, Duke, Emory and possily Tulane. He is not heard about great things about Georgia Tech (rumors are they try to bury you the first two years) so he is hesistant about applying there.</p>

<p>His ACT score was 32 overall and his SAT was 1870/2400. He is retaking the SAT one more time in May. He will retake the ACT one last time this month to try to raise his score to 34. He will have excellent teacher recommendations and his EC's are ok. The location of the school does not matter much to my dismay. He has no reservations about moving clear across the country.</p>

<p>Suggestions would be welcome.</p>

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<p>For starters read the US News and World Report info on school rankings- he may be surprised at which schools rank highest, it isn't always the Ivies. The field within engineering also matters.</p>

3

<p>You are looking at some very selective schools, even though most are not Ivies. I'd suggest looking for some more match/safety schools. What about RPI? What do his SAT IIs and GPA look like?</p>

4

<p>Harvey Mudd, Rose-Hulman, Purdue, RPI. Lots of choices!</p>

5

<p>Where is RPI? I'm sorry I'm not familiar with that one. His GPA is around 3.65 unweighted. He had a one D (PE) and 2 C's his freshman year due to family problems. He has made straight A's every since the beginning of Sophomore year usuallly with a 97 or 98. He is on a advanced honors diploma track and takes AP classes. </p>

<p>Do most of the schools I mentioned only look at Sophomore and Junior year grades? If so won't his GPA go up since it's currently averaged using freshman year grades? He is ranked 20 out of 347 students in his class.</p>

6

<p>I don't know what your son's record looks like in terms of gpa, course rigor, SAT subject tests, etc. but I suggest you add some schools like Case, RPI, WPI and so on. This year saw a jump in SAT scores for students admitted to Vanderbilt and no doubt some of the others on your list. (Vanderbilt admitted--not yet enrolled--this round has a mid-50 ACT of 31-34).</p>

<p>I think you need to have a wider range of schools represented. If your son is interested in Georgia Tech, why not apply? The reason schools like Georgia Tech have a big weed-out rate is because they are less selective in the first place. How about Univ. of Illinois U/C? Excellent engineering.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I forgot he has not taked the SAT subject tests yet. He will take these in May instead of the SAT. He plans on taking the SAT in June.</p>

8

<p>I agree - RPI is definitely one to look at. It's in Troy New York. Listed as a "New Ivy" last year by Newsweek. It used to be a great safety, but they got considerably more selective last year. WPI is somewhat similar (a little smaller, a little less well known) in Worcester, MA. Also Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Stanford is the only school I know that says they don't look at freshmen grades, but nearly all schools will discount them if the subsequent grades are good.</p>

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<p>RPI is in Troy, New York</p>

<p>Rensselaer</a> Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Home Page</p>

<p>I am under the impression that, in general, the schools you listed will include freshman grades. However, given your son's very considerable improvement, I think the general rule may not hold. The environment has become very competitive, though, so I wouldn't bank on it.</p>

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<p>Case Western, WPI, Univ Texas , Texas A&M, UMich, UC Berkeley, U Rochester, Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Emory is not really an engineering school, and Tulane has cut back on some of its programs after Katrina, so it depends on what he's interested in. Without his GPA, it's tough to tell if Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Johns Hopkins might be possible.</p>

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<p>I suggest that you also look at your flagship university. Though not a resident Buckeye, I got my undergrad engineering degree from Ohio State and can testify to the fact that I received a top notch education which served me well in my Ivy grad program.</p>

<p>PS Our son is graduating from RPI in May, my wife's alma mater and he has had a fabulous 4 yrs there.</p>

12

<p>Another school to consider that has developed an outstanding reputation in very short time is Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts It is very selective, has a student body of 800, but each student gets a full tuition scholarship.</p>

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<p>I think Stanford ignores freshman grades.
I know that Rice looks more heavily at your later years as well (I got into Rice and I had mostly B's freshman year)</p>

<p>Texas A&M and UT are also good in engineering, though they are state schools so tuition might be higher if you're out of state.</p>

14

<p>He may want to consider Bucknell and Lafayette in PA.</p>

15

<p>most of those schools look like reaches for him-- his GPA and SAT scores are not amazing for stanford, harvard, or duke, especially without amazing ECs. Vanderbilt and emory might be pushing it as well, from what I have seen this year. Harvard's engineering school isn't actually particularly good at the moment, although they are putting money into it now. Cornell is much better among the ivies and slightly less selective. Emory also doesn't really have an engineering school as far as I know.</p>

<p>Lehigh has a very good engineering school, some of the larger state schools in the midwest might also be good to look at (penn state, wisconsin, michigan, ohio state). Also RIT. Northeastern has an engineering school, and they have co-ops so that he can get some experience and possibly job offers,</p>

16

<p>Michigan is also an excellent engineering school and they don't count freshman year which would be necessary in this case.</p>

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<p>Case Western, U Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern have great engineering programs. Emory's engineering program is a 3/2 with Georgia Tech.</p>

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<p>You have gotten much good advice already. </p>

<p>Harvard, Rice, Vandy, Duke, Northwestern are very selective, and the SAT you mention are probably on the low side for these and other top-rated schools with engineering like MIT, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Olin, and JHU. </p>

<p>The standard advice is to start building the list from the bottom up with matches and safeties that he would be happy at, then adding reaches that are good fits. This would be good advice even if he raises his SAT a few hundred points. Note that schools with acceptance rates less than 50% are not safeties! </p>

<p>I second (or third, forth,...) the recommendations to check out WPI, Case, and RPI. Note that applications have doubled at RPI in three years, so it may be unpredictable for admissions and I wouldn't consider it a safety anymore (I think acceptance rate dropped from 75% to 40%). </p>

<p>My S ended up in engineering at Case and I can sing its virtues--plus they have a free on-line easy application and are known for good merit aid! </p>

<p>A numbe of flagships have excellent engineering programs--Ohio State, UIUC, Penn State, Maryland, Delaware (especially for chemical eng). Some schools like UVa and UNC are tough to get into unless you are in-state. It sounds like you might be in the South, so would definitely consider Ga Tech and Va Tech, maybe NC State. </p>

<p>If he is <em>really</em> sure about engineering, Rose-Hulman (Indiana) is a top-rated non-masters school. Lehigh, Lafayette & Bucknell in PA are more like liberal arts schools with good engineering. Drexel is also a possibility, but more technical. Purdue is another top engineering school in the midwest.</p>

<p>Take some time to visit different types of schools--large/small, rural/urban, technical/liberal-artsish to help him get an idea of what is out there. He can get an excellent education at any number of places, so finding one where he can see himself is paramount to the reputation of the school.</p>

19

<p>Engineering programs should be ABET certified. This certification assures that students meet required coursework. </p>

<p>Many of the Big 10 schools are very good for engineering....According to 2006 U.S. News America's Best Colleges, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana ranked #4, University of Michigan #6 , Purdue #8, University of Wisconsin #12, Northwestern #14, Penn State and University of Minnesota #18, Ohio State #27, Iowa State #36 for overall engineering. Check out the current U.S. News for current rankings because they change slightly from year to year. Also, check rankings for specific majors. For example, Penn State, Purdue, and University of Michigan were all top 5 programs in the nation for Industrial Engineering, Purdue and University of Michigan for Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronomical Engineering. University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin for Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois for Civil Engineering and Computer Engineering, University of Michigan for Mechanical, etc.</p>

<p>I have found that top rated large state universities have some of the most extensive engineering programs, with a large selection of courses and majors. Also, they tend to have good co-op programs and job placement. (Of course, I'm somewhat partial to the Big 10 since I am a Big 10 engineering graduate and S is a Big 10 engineering student.)</p>

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<p>The nice thing about large state univ's is that there is so much varied research going on that students can pick and choose research that they might be interested in. In addition lots of engineering classes to choose from. One other point is that somewhere around 50% (numbers vary...some say 2 out of 3) of kids who start out as engineering majors drop out into another major. Tech schools will be more limited in additional options.</p>