<p>Just returned from an Engineering Open House at Penn State. VERY strong support system for female engineering students. Does Delaware have a similar program? How about a student chapter of SWE? DD has been accepted at both honor's programs, but will likely wait til all acceptances/rejections and aid offers are presents before making a decision.</p>
<p>Delaware has a ** very strong college of engineering ** and is recognized world wide for many of their departments. The SWE chapter is very active at the University of Delaware. The University of Delaware Student Chapter of SWE is one of the strongest and most visible associations in the College of Engineering. SWE at UD received ** national recognition ** for its Outstanding Activities and Programs in the 1996-97 school year. It was also a proud nominee of the Arthur E. Trabant Award for Women's Equity in 1997.</p>
<p>There is a very strong focus on undergraduate teaching and learning at Delaware and students have gone on to wonderful things after graduating. You'd be hard-pressed to find a stronger undergraduate experience than the Honors College / Engineering combination in addition to the size of the university (3,400 entering freshmen a year).</p>
<p>School of Engineering: <a href="http://www.engr.udel.edu/home/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.engr.udel.edu/home/index.html</a></p>
<p>SWE Chapter: <a href="http://udel.edu/stu-org/udswe/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://udel.edu/stu-org/udswe/index.html</a></p>
<p>Ranked top 10 in the nation every year.</p>
<p>Thanks, Wealth. I did find the SWE website, but it seemed to be outdated with several links that don't work. That was one of the reasons I asked about how active the chapter was. The WEP program at Penn State is also award winning - White House award for outstanding mentoring last year. However, she wasn't impressed too much with undergrad labs there, thought the UDel perhaps had more/better equipment. She plans on majoring in mechanical engineering</p>
<p>Do you know anything about internships/co-ops? How many students participate?</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest OhMother, the differences in internships and opportunities between PSU Engineering and Delaware Engineering are going to be <em>very</em> marginal. It's going to be what she makes it. You could spend hours perspicaciously combing through minute details but in the end that's not what is going to matter. The only major difference I mention is size of the schools.</p>
<p>It really, at this point, is going to come down where she feels she fits in best and what she is looking for in the total college experience. They are both top programs with talented faculty, students and wonderful college experiences.</p>
<p>I agree, they are both top notch. She really hasn't had a chance to "experience" Delaware yet. We visited in the summer, but only for one day and there wasn't much going on. The scholars weekend should help her get a really good feel. She plans on going down Thursday to stay with a student and attend classes on Friday morning. That should help a bit as well - hopefully they'll pair her with an engineering student. The Engineering Open House at Penn State was enlightening and thus the more detailed questions about Delaware (she also stayed over and attended classes with an engineering student). I like the fact that Delaware is a smaller school and that as an honor's student, she can take music lessons as a non-major. She is still considering double majoring, but is that realistic with the engineering curriculum? "Wait and see" seems to be the operative term this time of year. Thanks for your insight!</p>
<p>Just my opinion here as someone who is interested in pursing engineering as a career:</p>
<p>I wouldn't say overall that the University of Delaware Engineering school is strong. It's always had a great reputation for chemical engineering, I can't deny that, but it's stellar reputation for ChemE does not carry over or translate to its other engineering offerings. </p>
<p>It is hardly "known worldwide for many departments". This statement is just stretching the truth. May or may not be important to you but just wanted to clarify. For MechE PSU is much, much more highly thought of by recruiters and academics. Not to say that Delaware is horrible or anything, but it is not in the same league as PSU when it comes to MechE or its engineering depts in general.</p>
<p>OhMother, I had to laugh when I saw your comment about your daughter being able to take music lessons through the Honors program. DD did take voice lessons freshman year, but when she tried to continue sophomore year she was "put off" for a semester, due to a shortage of available teaching slots. When it became clear that the same thing was going to happen junior year, she signed up with the UD Community Music School and has been studying through them ever since. She's been able to study with the prof who leads the choral group with which she sings, but of course now we pay for her lessons, as opposed to them being free. If your daughter plays an instrument that has more available teachers, she may not run into the same problem. Just be aware that the music department is very busy, and there just aren't always teachers with openings in their schedules or studios.</p>
<p>Marcyr, one of the reasons that UDel is strong on DD list is because they have classical guitar. NOT being able to continue to study this could be a factor in her decision. Do you know whether honors students wanting instrumental lessons have the same difficulty as voice?</p>
<p>No, I'm sorry, I don't know. I think it depends on how many profs there are for a particular instrument vs how many students want to study that instrument. That's something you might want to call the Music Dept. and ask about. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are a huge number of singers at UD, between the music/performance majors and the music education majors, which impacted on DD's ability to get "honors" lessons after freshman year. If the availability of lessons is a big part of your daughter's interest in UD, she needs to find out before she commits whether or not the department is likely to be able to accommodate her. Of course, the Community Music School is wonderful, and DD has been perfectly content studying through it, but that is a pay-as-you-go kind of thing, as opposed to "free" lessons as part of the curriculum. I would be very up-front with the Music Dept. and ask them what the odds are of your daughter getting lessons.</p>