<p>Consider too that if she applies to schools as an "engineer" and gets merit money, she may have to stay in engineering to continue receiving the money. My boys got great engineering scholarships at schools such as Rice, Wash U, Vanderbilt & Duke, but they had to stay in engineering (and maintain a high GPA) to keep the scholarship.</p>
<p>Along those same lines, I have heard that at some schools if you apply for engineering and are accepted, you can't switch for a certain period of time. I wish I could remember where I heard all of this, but you all are being very helpful in clearing up some of the misconceptions I had. That is a good point about engineering scholarship $$; one I hadn't thought much about. </p>
<p>D doesn't seem concerned or worried about the workload/difficulty of most of the engineering curriculum- I think she worried more about driver's ed than AP Chem. She likes the idea of a collaborative environment and I think is concerned she wouldn't find that at Hopkins.</p>
<p>I think at WUSTL you don't have to stay in the major to maintain the merit scholarship (at least based on their FAQ on the web site).</p>
<p>^^^The minimum gpa to maintain a merit scholarship at Vanderbilt engineering is 3.0. </p>
<p>As for keeping a merit scholarship if one changes major, I believe that is usually OK (at least that is what I remember a dean in engineering say in answer to that question).</p>
<p>Take a look at University of Rochester. D is a sophomore there, BME major. Very collaborative in nature and offers lots of research opportunities at next door medical center. Most of the BME majors are pre-med or pre-health. When looking at schools, she also wanted strong liberal arts in case the engineering part didn't work. She was accepted to UVA, in-state, but remains thrilled with her choice of Rochester. This summer she will be at University of Colorado - Boulder for a REU (research experience for undergraduates) which shows UR students compete well in academic circles.</p>
<p>(Full disclosure: my S is finishing his freshman year at Case in electrical engineering, and they bribed him to come there from the mid-atlantic region.)</p>
<p>If she would consider traveling as far as Vanderbilt, at least have her take a look at Case Western, too. (Both Cleveland and Nashville are served by Southwest, which you would probably access through BWI? It is very easy to get from the airport to the Case campus on the rapid transit.)</p>
<p>Case would seem to meet you stated desires of a strong BME program (#7), smallish (~4000 students), and strong in engineering and science but with a broader A&S curriculum, too. They have a med school and numerous research opportunities.</p>
<p>Case is also known to be generous with merit money, leaving more money for med school. If your D has Duke/JHU stats and from out-of-state, I would guess she is probably in the half to three-quarters tuition scholarship range. For merit scholarships, there are no stipulations on changing majors and the GPA requirement is only 3.0 after freshman year. </p>
<p>Of course, with the other offerings at Case, she may fall in love with the BME or econ or dance or whatever. :)</p>
<p>That's great about the transit getting to Case. We haven't looked closely at them but have gotten information from them- we need to get over the "but it's in Ohio" hurdle first. And I grew up in Ohio! I am definitely going to take a closer look at their site. </p>
<p>This is wonderful information and I really appreciate all of the suggestions and advice. Now I better do my paying job instead of being an unpaid, unappreciated college counselor and parent!</p>
<p>
[quote]
She likes the idea of a collaborative environment and I think is concerned she wouldn't find that at Hopkins.
[/quote]
I have a son at Hopkins in Engineering. Based on his experience, I would say there is no need to worry about lack of collaborative environment. The kids work together in study groups etc., even supporting each other when one might be struggling in a course (my son found a new study partner once to help him when this was the case). </p>
<p>I do think that the academics are "intense" in Engineering there. Mucho mucho studying, kids very intense about keeping that GPA high, curves can be tough. The "competitiveness" is internal rather than cutthroat competition among students, imo. There has been at least one excellent thread on this in the JHU forum here on cc. Not sure how easy it would be to find, but I could search if you want to follow that discussion.</p>
<p>Still, the important part of the job right now is to find the safer and safe-match schools for her. Plenty of time to decide which of the uber-selectives she would like to apply to.</p>
<p>Thanks, jmmom. I like Hopkins and I think some of the reasons she's not interested in Hopkins are silly, but it's her choice. I'm not the one that has to go to college. Any thoughts from anyone on safer and safe-match schools? Safe to say she is competitive statswise for the more selective schools.</p>
<p>Sabaray,
I think that having an early admission form the state flagship university is a great thing. Do I remember correctly that UVa is your state "flagship" school? If it has early or modified rolling admission, applying very early may be advisable so, if accepted, she has that card up her sleeve no matter what. It's a great stress reliever. Our son's acceptance to U of Mich engineering served that purpose for him. Plus it was a great option.</p>
<p>UVA doesn't have EA or rolling (as far as I know) and is probably not a "safety" though easier since you are in-state.</p>
<p>possible "safer/safety" (most are not small!)</p>
<p>Case ;)
Maryland
Virginia Tech (may be too "techie"?)
Delaware (no BME)
JMU (no engineering)
Pitt (?)</p>
<p>By the way, Case has non-binding EA that was one of my S's stress-relievers that mafool talks about.</p>
<p>As to safe and safe-match schools, my son had very similar criteria to your D (mid-sized U, around 6000, with A&S in case of change from Engineering; although he was more open geographically). So some suggestions I might make for safe and safe-match -
Villanova
Trinity (CT)
Fairfield (CT)
Lehigh
Miami (Oh)
UMiami
Bucknell. </p>
<p>Not all are in metro areas, I suppose, but several are. Lehigh and others are reputed to be "Tufts syndrome" schools, and I believe that, so demonstrated interest is important - visits, etc. I'm not sure if they all have the BME, so you would need to check that; but all have respected Engineering programs.</p>
<p>Uber-safe would include Hofstra and Fairleigh Dickinson and some of the above, maybe, depending on her exact stats.</p>
<p>I don't think you've posted her stats, which is fine, so I am going by the statement that she is competitive for the very most selective schools. If I missed the stats, my apologies. I would call these schools safe/safe-match for a student with at least 1300+/1600 SAT, solid A average GPA, "most challenging" courseload for her hs, at or very near top 10% of class. With recs and essays to match. </p>
<p>Being a female and applying Engineering should be a plus, as would geography if she wanted to spread a bit toward Southern/mid-West/western schools. But will leave them out for now. If you think she might consider those, I'll come back with other ideas. </p>
<p>As to having known "forever" that they would go Engineering, I think that, while that may apply for some, it's important to remember that kids have typically not been exposed directly to this discipline in high school. Mine had real talent in creative writing and for some odd reason his history prof considered him a "prodigy" in that field (whatever that is ;)), but he had always liked math and science. DH is an Engineer and open-mindedly believed that his son should "major in whatever he wants; whatever form of Engineering that is" (lol). S loved Physics and decided Engineering was for him. Job-shadowed in two Engineering firms in senior year which confirmed his interest in EE/ECE/AE vs. Mech/Civil/bio/chemEs. But he knew that a lot of kids changed their minds so respected and adopted our suggestion that he go to a full U, not a tech institute.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, Dad'o'2.</p>
<p>Yes, any type of early or earlyish non-binding admission is a wonderful thing!</p>
<p>I second U-Michigan as a non-binding early admission - get the app in as quickly as possible. U - Wisconsin Madison also has early non binding admission, very strong engineering dept.</p>
<p>^^^I would agree, except that the OP's daughter is looking at E and SE US. Strong as those programs are (add Purdue), they are definely midwest!</p>
<p>Sizewise I think Michigan and Wisconsin would be overwhelming for her. Distance, winter weather and travel are also factors! I am liking Case more and more- in spite of the winter weather in Cleveland! Dad'o'2, you're doing a great job promoting it- particularly the non-binding EA. That's the kind of stress reliever that's needed. I think she's competitive for more selective schools- she has strong ECs, SAT is 1480/2240, should have really good recommendations. Definitely top 10% in her class. I don't want to put too much more about her out there. I guess the one thing I wonder about is if she should retake the SAT. I have seen students on here with higher scores wondering about a retake. She's only taken it once in HS. I guess I think there are better ways to spend her time.</p>
<p>Has she taken the ACT? Some students do much better on one test than the other. When asked (!) I recommend that students retake these tests, as familiarity and comfort can both help raise the scores.</p>
<p>I know your geographic restrictions, but if your D becomes more adventurous I would recommend looking at the engineering programs at Trinity University in San Antonio and at Santa Clara University in San Jose. Both are easily reachable from the nearby airports (at Santa Clara there is a shuttle to the CalTrain which is across the street from the main entrance.) They are smaller school looking to increase geographic diversity.</p>
<p>Would she consider NC State? It is known for engineering and would be a safety for her. It offers almost any kind of engineering degree you can think of (including Biomedical and Biological) along with lots of other great majors if engineering turns out to be not her thing. It is in a city (Raleigh) not too far from home. The weather's good and there's lots of school spirit. State has EA admissions. If you apply by Oct. 15, you get your decision by Dec. 15. It's an easy online application.</p>
<p>Yes, NC State is on the radar- they've sent her a lot of info and (don't laugh) a flash drive that she got very excited about. Kids love toys. Their info (at least what we received) was very targeted to her interests. We thought we would take a driving tour to visit Vanderbilt, Duke, UNC and NC State - UVA and VT are a short distance from us and we're pretty familiar with them already- then head up North. Get a feel for the campuses. Just need to narrow down that list!</p>
<p>mafool- hadn't really thought about the ACT- but good idea. Don't know that retaking the SAT is really in the cards. Her scores are very close- she's not significantly stronger in any one area and I think she is happy with them.</p>