Help creating college list

Gonzaga is pretty generous with merit and went 9-9-1 this year. I’m not sure if they are D1 or 2. Good engineering program and they are one of the few schools where you can study abroad (Italy) as an engineering student.

You might want to look at the University of Portland. D1 women’s soccer, but they didn’t have a very strong team this year. Because they don’t have a lot of big time sports, I understand that the women’s soccer team gets great student support. They also have a full engineering program.

Gonzaga is D1

“Math at Wellesley is strong and unless she’s completely committed to becoming an engineer, the cross registration with MIT would provide plenty of geeky/tech classes (there is a van which travels between W and MIT for cross-registrants). Serious academic environment but not hyper competitive vibe.”

I just want to say, as the parent of a D at Wellesley, the cross-registration and access to MIT is NOT as easy as Wellesley lets on. It’s a big time commitment on an already too-serious-for-its-own-good campus.

Engineering is complicated, in that you can get a Bachelor’s in Engineering in a four-year program (that usually requires a very technical, rather than a liberal arts-type, focus and sometimes school), a Bachelor of Arts in four years with a BE in a fifth year (most liberal arts colleges with a distribution requirement will need a fifth year for the BE), a Bachelor of Arts in a related field (such as math or physics) and a master’s in engineering (or even a PhD in Engineering). At Dartmouth, to take one liberal arts school with an engineering school for example, you can earn a BA with an engineering sciences major (which is not an engineering degree, per se), a BA+BE, a BA+ME, a BA+BE+Master’s in Engineering Management…

If your daughter doesn’t know that she wants to be an engineer, or if she thinks that if she does want to go into engineering she will want to earn an additional degree or two, she should look for a school that will offer her choices. Engineering isn’t for everyone, even if you’re good at math (my own daughter, the physics major, decided she didn’t like engineering because it wasn’t exact enough for her). Dartmouth might be a good choice for her, actually–they have a strong sports focus (obv), but the student body, while very smart, is not elbowy or eggheady. The engineering program may be a little more competitive than the school in general, but in fact, engineering students tend to be pretty intense, anyway. In my experience.

This is all very good feedback! Thank you everybody!

Hey soccer moms, I know this is off topic but I have a 10th grade niece in Europe who wants to come to the US to college and play soccer–probably division 3 with strong academics. How can she get seen this summer–are there good (not too expensive) camps or the “showcases” that people talked about in the beginning of the thread in the Northeast–especially NYC area? I can find things like the Columbia U. camp but I have no way of knowing if it will help her. Any idea? Thanks so much.

@auntyel I’m on the west coast so I’m not sure of specific camps, but typically you can find summer ID camps to sign up for. Some may even host the camp and invite coaches from nearby schools to attend. There is a thread here on CC under specialty topics that very nicely spells out tips on the soccer recruitment process. I think if you type soccer in to the search bar all the threads with soccer will come up. Good luck to your niece!

socal, I know NW schools and Gonzaga gives good aid. Soccer is reasonably strong there. I like this school and have visited. I’m not a big fan of Spokane. Still, you could have a great college experience as a Zag. They have good engineering and loyal alums.

pacnwmomof2 didn’t seem to understand that although University of Portland doesn’t have quite the stellar win record that it has in the past, it has won national championship 2x and been a strong contender (finalists or late rounds) several times. Some of the most famous names in women’s soccer went to UP: Christine Sinclair, Megan Rapinoe, Tiffeny Millbrett, Shannon McMillan. If you are from California, your soccer is typically higher caliber than many places–so it’s possible she could get a look from the UP coach. And if she makes the team, she would love it there. The Pilots have a huge following. They also have good engineering.

You might consider Loyola Chicago, Div I, a little less competitive and gives really good merit. We toured it and really liked it.

It might be wise to have at least one good option for her in California. University of the Pacific has engineering and women’s soccer but I don’t know a lot about that school. Would she make any UC soccer teams.or would she be okay with club soccer? I was thinking UC Davis. A friend’s son is there now for engineering and loves it.

Santa Clara is a highly desirable school right now. Many people are willing to pay full-sticker price. The school’s starting price is high and merit is low.

An update for people like me who read old threads looking for info. D applied early decision to Harvey Mudd and was accepted. She’ll be playing for their D3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. We really felt like this was the best choice; she gets to stay in So Cal, play competitive soccer, and attend a rigorous academic program!

Congrats @socalmom3 ! I’m sure she’ll love it there.

My DD is the same way…doesn’t want to be the smartest at school…doesn’t want it to be overwhelming either, and wants kids to be academically motivated. We looked for schools where she would be at the 75% for SATs.
She ended up at TCNJ (we live in NJ)

Congratulations, great school!

That is awesome. Congratulations on Mudd!