Environmental Engineering School

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a highly qualified junior in a large, Wisconsin high school (33 ACT, 1st in class of 400, 4.56 GPA, Eagle Scout, Varsity Ski Racing) trying to pick a university to attend and major in Environmental Engineering. I can't afford a school like Stanford for my undergrad, though I have every intention to go on to get my Masters degree hopefully at a prestigious institution like Stanford.</p>

<p>Right now I'm looking at universities such as Bucknell, Lehigh, CU Boulder, UNC Chapel Hill, Washington University in St Louis, and UW Madison. I realize that this is a wide range of schools (Bucknell and Lehigh are particularly different from the others), but I'm not very worried about size or location right now. I also know that places like a CU Boulder have a party-school reputation, though I've heard they have a great engineering department, and what better place to study the environment than the mountains of CO?</p>

<p>I'm hoping people can help me decipher the pros and cons of these schools, and where I would receive a better education. However, a strong social life is also very important to me, as I believe it is a key component to a well-rounded college education.
One final though: I'm looking for schools that will provide me with merit-scholarships to help defray the cost of my education. </p>

<p>Knowing this, if anyone has any input or other colleges to look into, I would be extremely appreciative! Thanks much!</p>

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<p>Bump bump…
Please?</p>

3

<p>UNC doesn’t have a lot of merit aid available for OOS except for those that are the best of the best. It is a pretty good engineering school but you might learn more about Environmental Science than you will engineering. Check out NC State, they have the best engineering school in the state. Both schools have awesome social lives and UNC athletics are top notch.</p>

<p>I noticed you want to go to grad school. I Know William and Mary isn’t on your list and while the college doesn’t have an engineering major, we have a 3+2 and a 4+2 program with Columbia University where you can get a bachelors in engineering or a masters of engineering at Columbia as long as you maintain a certain GPA. It’s a smaller school (6,000 undergrads), and social life is more similar to Bucknell or Lehigh kind of quirky, parties on weekends, and athletics aren’t as big (However our football team is phenomenal at the FCS level). Finally, Scholarships to OOS are reserved for the best of the best.</p>

<p>Try Virginia Tech They’re the best Engineering school in VA and one of the best in the nation. They give more aid to OOS and they’re nestled in the mountains. Tech has a vibrant social scene and everyone there loves the school. Also, Tech practically worships football.</p>

<p>Sorry I don’t know enough about the others to say much about them! I do know Bucknell and Lehigh are very generous with financial aid</p>

4

<p>USoCal also has a great engineering department and offers a 5 year program where you can get your bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering. Their engineering school is called Viterbi. They do offer half to full tuition merit awards for top students they want, which would still leave you to pay room and board an expenses, but it is a great U. Our S graduated from there as an BEE. Admissions and scholarships are very competitive there.</p>

5

<p>The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has one of the elite Environmental Engineering programs in the United States. Here is a a link: [BS</a> in Environmental Engineering - Civil & Environmental Engineering Cal Poly San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://ceenve.calpoly.edu/programs/bsenve/]BS”>http://ceenve.calpoly.edu/programs/bsenve/)</p>

<p>It is located in one of the most pristine areas in California on the Central Pacific Cost and has a hands on learn by doing philosophy. Your ACT score and GPA are competitive for the school.</p>

<p>The campus also is a an agriculture school as well as a top ranked engineering school and offers several related majors. One real benefit is that it offers exposure to both the ocean and mountains. Cal Poly is one of the largest landholding campuses in the country and is 15 minutes away form the Pacific Ocean and has mountains literally on campus. The area is so natural that there have been mountain lion sightings on campus. It is also located in one of the best college towns in the US. You owe it to yourself to check it out at the very least. here is my favorite link to a video that showcases the beauty of the campus, surrounding area and a bit of the town of SLO: <a href=“The SLO Experiment - YouTube”>The SLO Experiment - YouTube;

<p>Here are some other great links:
[Cal</a> Poly - Welcome to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California](<a href=“http://calpoly.edu/]Cal”>http://calpoly.edu/)
[Cal</a> Poly: National Honors, Ranking and Recognition - A Constantly Growing List](<a href=“http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/rankings.html]Cal”>Cal Poly's National Honors, Rankings and Recognition: A Constantly Growing List - Cal Poly News - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo)</p>

<p>Cal Poly was ranked the 3rd Best College Town in the US and the top ranked college town West of the Mississippi.
[url=&lt;a href=“America's best college towns”&gt;America's best college towns]Yahoo![/url</a>]</p>

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<p>By the way, you should apply to Stanford anyway. Don’t assume that they don’t offer assistance. Also, just like USC, you can get a BS and an MS in the 4+1 program at Cal Poly too.</p>

7

<p>UNC-CH has no ABET-accredited engineering degree programs.</p>

<p>Its Environmental Science and Engineering department is graduate degree focused:
[Degrees</a> and Certificates || UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health](<a href=“http://sph.unc.edu/envr/envr-degrees/]Degrees”>Degrees and Certificates - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health)</p>

<p>North Carolina State University is the most prominent school with engineering in that state. It does have a bachelor’s degree program in environmental engineering, under its Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering department. You can apply for the full ride Park scholarship there.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ce.ncsu.edu/[/url]”>http://www.ce.ncsu.edu/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://park.ncsu.edu/[/url]”>http://park.ncsu.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you are concerned about a party school reputation, you should investigate Bucknell more carefully. It has a number of characteristics that tend to be associated with high alcohol consumption (small rural coed non-HB school, over 50% in fraternities and sororities, 84% white), so you want to check whether the alcohol scene is too dominant for your liking (see [High-Risk</a> Drinking in College: Understanding College Drinking From a Multidimensional Perspective](<a href=“College Drinking, Changing the Culture”>http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaacollegematerials/panel01/highrisk_05.aspx) for information on what college and student characteristics are associated with high alcohol consumption).</p>

<p>In previous threads, you mentioned that your parents will only contribute about $12,500 per year to your education, which probably means a maximum cost of about $22,500 per year if you take direct loans and make the largest reasonable expectation of work earnings to add. Is that still correct?</p>

<p>If so, look here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Some other EnvE schools in great locations (if you like the outdoors):</p>

<p>-New Mexico School of Mines
-NAU</p>

9

<p>Everyone else seemed to have a good answer for the colleges you mentioned, except for UW Madison. Just a heads up, Environmental Engineering is considered an “option” at UW within the Civil Engineering major. It is a specialization, not its own major. Just something to consider. I live in Wisconsin, too, and I also want to major in Environmental Engineering. I suggest looking at the curriculum for EnvE programs at these schools. They are all excellent schools, so you really can’t go wrong. Looking at what kind of courses you will be taking will give you a good idea of what you’ll be learning in each individual program, and you can base part of your decision on that. </p>

<p>I can’t tell you about any of the other schools, but UW (in case you haven’t visited) is very urban. The academic buildings are among the city itself and there isn’t a ton of green space, though there is some. Being one of the top public schools in the country, engineering is of course a strong point for them. UW is also a MAJOR party school - ranked in the top ten for that as well. Partying is pretty big there, but there’s no pressure to do so. All of my friends that went there are managing grades and free time quite well.</p>

<p>As far as financial aid, UW offers some good merit scholarships that you will most likely receive since you’re highly qualified. If you have financial need, even more so. If affording college is going to be difficult for you, UW might be your best bet, since you get instate tuition.</p>

<p>Another option to look at is University of Minnesota Twin Cities (that’s where I am going). You’ll qualify for reciprocity there and it’s about the same cost as UW. Their engineering program is comparable to the UW’s, so it is worth a closer look. They give out many merit scholarships and are very generous with need-based scholarships as well.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for the thoughtful responses and suggestions, everyone. They are much appreciated. I almost think it will just come down to wherever I get offered more money, because I’m just so torn, I don’t know how I’ll choose other than that! Now I’m looking at Vanderbilt too, since they offer full ride merit scholarships, and it’s a great school with reputable engineering. Anyone have thoughts on Vandy?
I think I’ll also apply to Duke and UT Austin, since they offer merit based full rides as well.</p>

11

<p>Now I’m looking at Vanderbilt too, since they offer full ride merit scholarships, and it’s a great school with reputable engineering. Anyone have thoughts on Vandy?</p>

<p>Vandy is a great school, but unless you raise that ACT by 2-3 pts, you won’t be in the running for scholarships of any significant size, much less full rides. </p>

<p>An ACT 33 is just average for Vandy.</p>

<p>I also know that places like a CU Boulder have a party-school reputation,</p>

<p>Don’t worry about “party school” reputations when considering eng’g. Colleges of Eng’g are like small colleges by themselves. They’re in their own little worlds. The students aren’t usually the big partiers.</p>

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<p>Make sure that you have at least one affordable safety.</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids: Thank you very much for that feedback about Vandy. Do you believe a 33 is simply too low even with high probability of valedictorian, Eagle Scout, a stacked transcript and spectacular letter of recommendation? I was thinking I may have a decent shot at the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship, so this is very interesting. Also, I’ve heard people here mention a 3/4 tuition Deans Scholarship, though I can’t seem to find anything about it on Vandy’s site. Do you know anything about this?
Additionally, that is very good to know about the engineering colleges. I actually just read that within Boulder’s college of engineering, the student to faculty ratio is 14:1, which I’d say is pretty impressive for a university of that size. </p>

<p>UCBalumnus, you bring up a great point about an affordable safety. I think that’s what Madison will be for me (not that it’s not a very good school, but I can’t imagine that I’d have any difficulty getting accepted there). Do you think I should have something even more of a safety?</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for that feedback about Vandy. Do you believe a 33 is simply too low even with high probability of valedictorian, Eagle Scout, a stacked transcript and spectacular letter of recommendation? I was thinking I may have a decent shot at the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship, so this is very interesting. Also, I’ve heard people here mention a 3/4 tuition Deans Scholarship, though I can’t seem to find anything about it on Vandy’s site. Do you know anything about this?</p>

<p>those scholarships are highly test-score driven. The school has a lot of Vals/Sals/Eagles. That’s not what drives their awards. </p>

<p>Test scores or maybe ethnic diversity drive those Vandy awards. Those other things (val, sal, eagle) help with the down-selection, but not they’re not going to compensate for an average test score. </p>

<p>Vandy’s applicants are top scholars. They’re also applying to ivies. They all are spectacular.</p>

<p>My nephew had an ACT 34, most rigorous curriculum. He was Sal, Eagle, Varsity in two sports, captain for one, amazing recs, gazillion volunteer hours, and didn’t get ONE dollar in merit from Vandy. </p>

<p>You can certainly try, but consider getting a good-sized merit to be a very unlikely. </p>

<p>As UCB says, make sure you have a financial safety. That would a school that you know FOR SURE will give you large merit for your stats. I would recommend that you have at least 2 or 3 of these schools.</p>

<p>the reason I think you should have more than 1 safety is this: If other schools aren’t affordable, then you’ll like having more than one financial safety to choose from. Otherwise you’ll feel railroaded into your one affordable school.</p>

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<p>Besides Merit aid, Vandy has incredibly generous financial aid in the form of grants. The average grant for incomes between 80-99k is 49k with the range being from 14k-62k.</p>

<p>I know some people that go to Vandy and it is equally for affordable as a state school. For some, they actually got better deals at Vandy than they did from their state schools.
<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/Fall2014_Aid_Brochure.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/Fall2014_Aid_Brochure.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
There’s a link to their financial aid brochure.</p>

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<p>You indicated in a previous thread that your parents would cover about $12,500 of the cost, leaving you to self-fund another $12,500 to go to Madison in-state. That tends to be a stretch for a typical college student’s ability to self-fund ($5,500 direct loan plus $7,000 work earnings – most colleges do not assume that a student can earn that much). You may have to find an automatic merit scholarship with a lower residual cost if you are not comfortable with having to self-fund that much.</p>

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<p>However, frosh-level courses will typically be much larger than junior/senior-level courses. If you want to know, try looking up the class schedules on the school web sites.</p>