Thanks again for all of the replies and suggestions!
@econpop - agree that you can be at a school ranked high on the “party” lists but still find your own group of friends if not into that. Just don’t want a school in which it is the primary activity every weekend.
@bearcatfan -would be interested in private message to learn more. U Cincinnati does not seem that flexible to do “interdisciplinary” studies between DAAP and Engineering, so I’m not sure if this is the best fit for my son. Also, are most students able to find co-ops if they have to find them on their own? We were told they have a co-op office.
@compmom- thank you for suggestion of Olin. I think it would be great, however, might be too small and too narrow of a focus for my son.
Regarding schools with a more liberal arts focus and a degree in “Engineering Sciences”, or a B.A. in Engineering can you actually find a job with this degree, or do most students go on to grad school, consulting, and/or other professions? Or is it better to have a degree from one of the strong engineering schools and be licensed to actually find a decent job?
@Publisher , I posted a partial list because my intent was to show that a lot of different type of schools made such “party school” lists, and I didn’t want to post overlong lists. I felt that some of the schools I omitted would either be unknown to many readers (Indiana U of PA) or their type was already included.
What I was more interested in suggesting was twofold, neither of which I overtly stated. One was that it seems the Party School designation is used as a huge detriment against some schools and as a blip on the radar for other schools.
For instance, #1 is UAlabama, which receives rampant recommendations on CC, so apparently the Party School rank isn’t a detriment for recommending UA. Nor UCSB or Wake Forest or some others. It seems that the Party School rank is not determined to be a factor in whether to recommend those schools.
My second point has been mentioned (here and elsewhere) that with rare exception, every campus has parties, every campus has students who participate in partying wayyyy too much, and every campus will have students who do not over-participate in the party culture. Before I started the college hunt with my son, I was a parent who looked askance at school that ranked highly on several lists of Party Schools. However, when I started researching in more depth, it didn’t make sense that for some schools it seemed to be a scarlet letter, yet for others it was not a negative designation.
My overall point is that quite often, the Party School designation should not be a major determining factor. Or at least, if it is going to be recognized as no more than a small factor for some schools, it seems illogical to increase its influence for other schools without some factual context to do so.
Alabama has come under recent criticism by some CC posters for its party lifestyle.
I am familiar with all of the 20 schools (even IU of Pa.) on PR’s party school list. I have visited all except for Dayton. I can assure readers that the party school designation is a well deserved reputation for these schools–except for WFU.
My daughter applied to a lot of the same schools on your list. She ended up at one not on your list though, Rice. You might want to take a look at it. It’s a reach school but it has a strong engineering program and a lot of engineering kids minor in engineering design. They have a REALLY strong architecture program (generally ranked in top couple programs). The kids have to take courses in different “distributions” (humanities, social sciences, stem) which is nice for those kids who have a variety of interests they want to explore. No greek system, beautiful campus but in a city so lots to do and explore, and very clear about their merit aid. They have something called the “Rice Investment” which guarantees a certain level of aid based on your income.
Thanks again for all of the input! Back to one of my questions:
Regarding schools with a more liberal arts focus and a degree in “Engineering Sciences”, or a B.A. in Engineering (such as at a few Ivies) can you actually find a job with this degree, or do most students go on to grad school, consulting, and/or other professions? Or is it better to have a degree from one of the strong engineering schools and be licensed to actually find a decent job?
Assuming you mean Brown and Dartmouth, both colleges offer a non-ABET-accredited Bachelor of Arts program as well as ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science programs. At these specific colleges, a student who wants to work in engineering should choose the ABET-accredited program; the non-ABET-accredited programs at those specific colleges appear to be for those who want to work in engineering-adjacent types of jobs (e.g. consulting with an engineering background, financial analyst of engineering-heavy companies, etc.).
Note that completing the ABET-accredited degree at Dartmouth likely requires more than four academic years (i.e. more than twelve quarters).
Don’t have much to add re engineering, but find it weird to see Wake Forest on the party school list. Here in NC it would not be one I would think of as a party school. Top honors there go to East Carolina, then maybe UNC-Wilmington. There are other “party school” lists out there that I think are much better, so take this one with a big ol’ grain of salt.
Hello, I have been off of these forums for a bit as it all gets to be a bit overwhelming. I am not sure if this will go through privately to you as I see there is a new format with College Confidential. My son has decided to apply to Cornell after all, and is finalizing his essay. Any suggestions on what they are looking for and/or the type of student that does well there? Thank you!
(He has been accepted with good scholarship money at his safeties, but deferred at N.U.
He was really disappointed of course as he spent so much time researching their programs and truly thought their Engineering program and focus on interdisciplinary would be a good fit for him). Still waiting on UIUC, Purdue, Wash U. Anyhow, I hope all is well in Evanston and best wishes for a safe and healthy New Year!
I would identify which options are the best financial fit for your family, and then narrow it down to those options. From there, not much else you can do then let your kid do his own research and figure out what school’s gonna be the best fit for him. I suggest browsing college-specific subreddits, and Unigo reviews. If your son wants more specific advice, and to talk with actual students at the colleges he’s interested in, I’d suggest CollegeUncovered .com