Help with Schools for Engineering and Political Science

College Search & Selection
1

Freshman:
APUSH
Honors English
Honors Precalc
Honors Bio
Honors Chem
Principles of Engineering (PLTW)
Spanish 2

Sophomore:
AP US Gov’t
Honors English
AP Calc BC
Honors Physics
Digital Electronics (PLTW)
Honors Spanish 3
Honors Health/PE

Junior:
IB History HL
IB English HL
IB Biology HL
IB Chemistry SL
Honors Spanish 4
IB Math SL/PE
TOK
DE Multivariable Calc (2nd semester)

Senior:
IB History HL
IB English HL
IB Biology HL
IB Spanish 5 SL
Engineering Design and Development (PLTW)
Chorus
TOK
DE Linear Algebra / DE Differential Equations

Extracurriculars:
Debate Team (9, 10, 11, 12) Co-captain (10, 11, 12)
FIRST LEGO League mentor (10)
Math League (10, 11, 12)
Political Literacy (10)
I spent the last two summers at Honors Summer Math Camp in Texas

Taken the SAT twice, 1460 (700 EBRW, 760 M) 7/7/7 E, 1490 (770 EBRW, 720 M) 6/4/6E
Superscore 1530 (770 EBRW, 760 M)
Intended Major: Engineering and/or Political Science/Public Policy
Gender: Female
Race: Black/African American
State of Residence: Maryland
Overall H.S. GPA (currently)- 3.57 (I had a lot of Bs and a D in APUSH in freshman year and have been improving each year since)
LORs:
Principles of Engineering teacher who also sponsors Math League and knows me well, he’s written LORs for summer programs before that I’ve read and they almost made me cry.
TOK teacher from junior year who knows me very well

I developed a lot of anxiety and depression starting from the beginning of 2018 and I’ve been avoiding thinking about college since then so I’m only making my list now.

I’m looking for a school that

  • is co-ed
  • strong engineering and political science programs preferably where a double major is possible, I am interested in entering politics
  • has a medium to large town/city nearby
  • in NE or north of Maryland in the Mid-Atlantic
  • 8k-30k students
  • preferably not very religious

EFC: ~$30k and my family can afford it

So far on my list I have Trinity College, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, and Tufts but I’m still unsure on these schools.

2

Engineering curricula are usually packed heavily with technical courses, so you may find it difficult to fit an entire second major in political science around an engineering major, though you could take political science courses as your breadth requirement courses.

Any particular kinds of engineering?

Will you have Maryland publics on your list?

UMCP:aerospace, bio, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, fire protection, materials, mechanical
UMBC: chemical, computer, mechanical
Morgan: civil, electrical, industrial
Frostburg: general, mechanical through UMCP
UMES: general

3

I am unsure on what kind of engineering I want to pursue, I’m open to any field in engineering.
I will be looking at Maryland publics as well although I would really prefer to leave the state.

4

Lafayette College.

5

Lehigh would fit your criteria but run the NPC to make sure it’s affordable.

Engineering is a tough field to have a double major, especially something totally unrelated. If you think you want to go into politics, you may want to look at some of the schools in DC and focus on that - GW, Georgetown, American, etc…

6

You may want to look at schools with an open curriculum as that might make a double major more manageable – that would include U of Rochester and Brown.

7

Rochester is not open curriculum. That portion of the distribution requirements that are required to be in humanities cannot be used for political science.

Brown is not open curriculum for the ABET-accredited engineering degrees, although its humanities and social studies requirements are only 4 courses, all of which can be used for political science. The ABET-accredited majors typically have 21 technical courses, plus the 4 humanities and social studies courses, which would leave about 7 courses of free electives if the student takes 32 courses over 8 semesters (so up to 11 courses can be used for political science courses). Brown’s political science major requires at least 13 courses. However, Brown is probably an extreme or unrealistic reach for an applicant with a 3.57 HS GPA.

It may be better to major in the desired engineering subject while taking general education requirements and free electives in political science.

8

Why engineering?
It’s very difficult to double major with engineering because there is a specific list of classes that must be taken as a sequence.
Lafayette, Lehigh, Trinity (CT) may be possibilities.

9

@ucbalumnus But at Rochester, engineering majors are only required to take two clusters, not three (the requirement for liberal arts & science majors). And clusters are subsumed into the major requirements. The OP could double major in Engineering (taking care of the natural science/engineering cluster requirement) and Political Science (taking care of the social science cluster requirement). And, for engineering majors, there would be no other humanities cluster to worry about. There would still be the freshman writing seminar, but that’s all.

D is double majoring in microbiology and public health—so she had to take three humanities classes. But her friend, who is majoring in chemical engineering and economics, does not have the requirement of a third humanities cluster.

10

Duke or Uva would be good in both, but agree with others, would be hard to double since very little overlap.

11

From my understanding what you wish to attempt is not a double major, it’s a dual degree. You would have 2 separate degrees from 2 separate schools within the university. A BS in Engineering and most likely a BA of some sort. A double major would usually be a degree from the same school with two majors. Usually it’s much easier to schedule as you are ensured the general education requirements will be the same and often the majors share some common curriculum.

Bright HS students can often underestimate the time commitment an engineering major can take and assume it’s kind of like HS where you can be successful in a lot of different classes. ABET accredited engineering programs usually require a significant number of hours making it difficult to add other majors. The curriculum is pretty sequential and while credit for AP and IB credits might help you will still find yourself VERY busy. I would contact some universities you are interested in and discuss your plans with advisers.

If you wish to pick one major and are interested in Engineering I would choose engineering first. As I mentioned the courses are very sequential and usually are built on a core of math and science courses. Engineering is often an impacted major meaning they have more students applying than slots available. It can be difficult to transfer into engineering and you would be behind even if you were able to. My guess would be that Political Science would be easier to transfer into. Good luck.

12

@lvvcsf That may be true at many schools, but not all. Some schools make it much, much easier to double major. At University of Rochester, for example, about half of all students double major. While getting a BA/BS is technically a “dual degree” program as opposed to a double major, the only difference is a meeting with an advisor and a little paperwork. (My daughter’s double major is technically a “dual degree,” but that’s basically because for a “dual degree” you turn in two forms instead of one form with two pages.)

Again, using University of Rochester as an example, their undergraduate “college” is called “arts, sciences, and engineering”. Another reason why it’s fairly easy for engineering students to select to double major with another discipline outside of the engineering curriculum. Students do not declare a major (or majors) until sophomore year. Foundational courses are similar for engineers and other science majors—gen chem, orgo, calc, physics, bio, etc. will be general STEM classes that include engineering students but also students majoring in bio, chem, physics, etc. As a result, you see a lot of double majors like biomedical engineering/public health or optics/digital media or chemical engineering/economics (some examples I’ve heard from my daughter’s friends).

13

I can’t comment on UVA, but at Duke it’s very common for Pratt students to have a second major in Trinity. Aside from CS, the most popular second majors for Pratt students are econ and public policy.

14

There are many public flagships good in both, UVa was already mentioned, you may want to consider UM, Berkeley, but the OOS costs on those could make them unaffordable, unless you can find merit there. Private colleges, along with Duke, Northwestern, JHU (I know you want to leave the state) would be ones to consider. Good luck!

15

I think it is a lot more than a technicality at most schools. Since Rochester has A&S & Engineering in one college, that’s one dean making that decision. At my school a poli sci degree is a BA from the A&S college; engineering would have come (BS) from engineering. Not just a matter of filling out some forms. It would have required 150 credits to get a dual degree. And the BA has a foreign language requirement. A friend had completed all requirements for a BS in recreation and a BA in history, and was turned down because she didn’t have the 150 credits, so just took the BS.

A ABET engineering program doesn’t have a lot of flexibility for the ‘electives’.

16

Op needs to look at how difficult (or whether it’s even realistic to) major in political science and engineering.
Are your parents ok with your possibly graduating in 5 years (or course, many engineers take 5 years).

17

You might like the IDEAS program at Lehigh https://www.lehigh.edu/engineering/academics/undergraduate/majors/ideas.html Your SAT is solidly top quartile there which balances out your GPA being below their average. They’re working to increase their diversity so I think you’d be an attractive candidate. It’s a little smaller and a bit more suburban/rural than you say you prefer, but it’s not middle-of-nowhere - Philadelphia is an hour away and NYC 90 minute. Lehigh meets full need for 75% of aid recipients, meeting 96% of documented need on average.

Basically, if you want to combine engineering and poli sci in four years, you’re looking at a non-ABET engineering program. So it would be good for you to look specifically at the merits of an ABET degree and decide whether that’s something you’re comfortable with letting go. It could matter a lot or not at all, depending on what you want to do with your STEM degree.

18

After some consideration, I’ve come to realize that I don’t really want to pursue engineering, I absolutely love politics and I want to pursue law and political science with the hopes of running for political office in the future. I’m also okay with going to school in Maryland since it’s closer to DC.