Equivalency in style? Hidden CS/CE schools?

College Search & Selection
1

I have a junior and we are trying to identify colleges that are similar to some of the highest ranked for computer science/engineering. He is unsure which computer area he wants, so any school has to have engineering.

The names I keep seeing are: MIT, CMU, RIT, RPI, URochester, Rose-Holman, Harvey-Mudd, Stanford, Ga Tech, etc.

Even with great stats, these schools are iffy. We will be full pay, and with our efc, the prices are not doable. So I’d like to find some schools that are not top 20 but would have a similar feel to RPI, RIT, RH and the like.

Looking for a mid sized nerdy type of school, or a good honors college in a state U. That allows the school to feel smaller. He is not a sports person. We are in TN, and cost would need to be below 30 with reasonable opportunity for merit. I’ve looked at Hope College and Valparaiso, which might be similar, at least on paper. I just think there is something between those and the top 20.

We did visit William and Mary and he loved the feel of it. We also toured UVA and he didn’t like it, although it was on an open house day and was not as personalized as W&M. We do not want a 3-2 program or the like. I bought “Colleges that Change Lives” but many are the same as what is always recommended on CC.

So a couple other crazy requirements that he has stated…not in TX, not in tornado alley, not where hurricanes hit (FL). Personally I’d like it to be within about 600 miles of TN for travel purposes, but we do plan to visit RIT and RPI on the chance that he can get merit. No international either please.

We don’t have official test scores, but practice says 30+ is expected, his GPA is 3.88 unweighted, 4.0 in core classes, will have 4 AP and 2 DE for college - all that’s offered. He is having to take physics this summer at community college, as his school doesn’t offer it. He is a tech kid at a performing arts school with a tiny class of ~70 kids. His ECs are more unusual than some due to the school he attends. He’s won some school wide awards and team competition awards, but while extraordinary to me, he is likely a really smart, well rounded, self driven, academic type student who would compare favorably to high stats kids, but may not make the mark on the holistic review side of the ivy and ivy-like schools.

There are like 4000 schools in the US. There’s got to be more than the top 50?

2

Is the Texas requirement flexible? :slight_smile:

I know UTexas has a very solid CS program which he could combine with the Plan II honors program. Also UTexas has some merit programs through engineering honors (if he goes that route) and Texas Exes (very competitive). Nonetheless it should be more inexpensive than MIT, Stanford, etc even out of state.

I’m just finishing this process so it’s weird to be thinking about others starting it! Best of luck for your son regardless of where he goes.

3

My D wanted a small nerdy school when applying (2 years ago) and we didn’t come up with much more of a list than what you have there. She applied to: Rice, Cornell, Chicago (for its intellectual atmosphere, not its engineering), CMU, RPI, Cal (though she wasn’t interested in going there, basically a throwaway app), Stanford, Penn and Princeton. Those last 3 were “hail mary’s” of course and she didn’t get in. She got a large merit+need offer from RPI, making it very affordable, so went there. You’re right that even if you get into a top 20 school, you’re not going to get merit aid, so since you’re full pay, best not to waste your time applying to those. (Could she redo, she’d probably drop Stanford/Penn/Princeton/Cal and replace with Mudd, Brown, Notre Dame, Lehigh.)

Case Western, Tulane, Lehigh, and Colorado School of Mines are others you could consider. There’s also Olin, Cooper, and Stevens (NJ), WPI, IIT and Notre Dame.

My D had also ruled out Texas, but when she looked into Rice (couldn’t visit as we’re overseas) she liked it a lot and it became one of her top choices.

There are lots of large state uni’s that have good engineering programs, though honors program would definitely be competitive to get into. My D didn’t want to go to a large school and we didn’t even think about trying for Honors, so she didn’t apply to any like that (except Cal). But those might be your best option. For example OSU, ASU, CU-Boulder (those 2 maybe too far for you), PSU, Alabama, Wisconsin-Madison, Iowa State, Virginia Tech, UMass-Amherst (esp for CS), UPitt, Delaware.

4

@Cubano123 CS and engineering are in different colleges. You could not get scholarships from engineering honors as a CS major.

I second Case Western. Sounds like an amazing fit, and they have pretty good merit aid.

5

Tennessee Tech is a mid size university with computer science and computer engineering, and has a list price of $17,507 (billed costs only, not including books, travel, and misc expenses) for Tennessee residents.

Out of state and smaller are South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

6

I second Stevens institute of technology great location.

7

I think you have the wrong perception of honors college.

It is not a separate “college” the way the college of Engineering is. It doesn’t have its own professors or majors. While you’ll have to look up the specifics on a school-by-school basis, commonly these programs require a couple of classes lower-division, a few more upper-division although this varies, and then a capstone project or thesis. Contrary to what the college webpages seem to promise, most of your classes are still taken in the regular U.

It may make the school feel smaller in that they may offer a wing of the dorms for honors students, and you’ll see your fellow students in those honors courses, but it isn’t the small-school experience a lot of people envision. Furthermore with engineering it may be difficult to mesh with an ABET approved engineering program since those lower division classes are often intriguing multi-disciplinary classes that don’t meet the ABET requirements (although some schools, like Univ of Alabama, have engineering honors programs)

8

Unfortunately with his stats, assuming a 30ish ACT, you aren’t going to find many/any privates where the bottom line will be well below $30k. They are all $250k give or take. Even with $100k in merit, you’re still well above that mark. Expecting more than that, even from schools known to give significant merit, is unrealistic. As an example, our son received $100k from Case with a 3.96, a 32, 7 APs, 3 DEs, Rensselaer Medalist and captain of a soccer team that placed 2nd in state.

I’d suggest you focus on affordable state schools as was previously suggested and don’t sweat rankings. They are grossly overrated.

It’s slightly outside of your range, but Cal Poly has an excellent CS program. Every year a significant number of grads go to Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. It would be a reach, but worth a look. All classes are small, all professor taught, even labs.

9

Thanks everyone, all good advice. We will definitely apply to the TN schools since he will get the Hope Scholarship and likely merit, bringing the cost all in to about $7k. That is our safety. He wants to have a different experience so we are looking. We should have his ACT scores in the next week or so, he took it April 19th. So should have a better idea of where he falls in the merit race then. I have told him that we are making a list of potentials, but once we have his scores, we will eliminate anything that he is not 75th percentile - since he’d need that for merit. Actually, I’m making a list, lol, he is studying for AP exams - and mostly refuses to engage in anything college…

I think I left out that he doesn’t want a big city, so he’s not willing to live in NY. He did say he’d adjust to Atlanta for GT and of course his dream MIT, but while I know there are some good schools in say, Chicago, I doubt he would consider them, IIT looked good on paper, but being from a mid-sized southern city, without much in the way of street smarts, I’m not sure it would be a good fit for his personality.

@Cubano123 haha, it’s flexible in my mind…but you know teenagers…

@mikemac Yeah, I get what you’re saying. I was thinking more of a closer knit peer pool, rather than the academics. He is coming from a school of about 600 total, with 6-12th grade, so something with 40k students might be overwhelming.