Ideas for colleges w/ Engineering AND Liberal arts?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am currently a junior in high school, and am interested in majoring in engineering, although I don't know what type. I'd like to go to a school with a strong engineering program, but I don't want to go to a school specifically for engineering in case I change my mind.</p>

<p>As for location, no further west than Illinois, no farther south than Tennessee, South Carolina, and not Ohio.</p>

<p>I am a Florida resident, so any ideas on colleges in Florida I could use for Bright Futures as a fall-back plan would also be appreciated.</p>

<p>I like being around people who share my interests in English, music, drama, etc. and for that reason would ideally go to a LAC. However, because I'm interested in engineering, this doesn't seem to be much of an option. I also prefer small classes because I am able to focus and learn much better.</p>

<p>I'm probably going to be a National merit scholar (PSAT was 212), so schools offering scholarships for this would be nice, although not required.</p>

<p>So far I have looked at Swarthmore, Duke, and Cornell.</p>

<p>I have a 5.03 weighted GPA, 4.0 unweighted.</p>

<p>SAT scores:
CR 740
Math 800
Writing 710</p>

<p>AP courses:
Calc BC (don't know score yet; suspect only passed AB section)
Lang and Comp (pending)
Human Geography (4)</p>

<p>AP courses for next year:
Physics B (only one offered)
European History
Statistics
Literature</p>

<p>All other courses are Honors level, and include up to Spanish 4, Physics, and Chemistry.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for all of your help!</p>

2

<p>University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, UW-Madison, Purdue, UMich.</p>

3

<p>If you are female: Barnard or Columbia College and Columbia Seas (combined plan program). </p>

<p>Another option:
Wellesley + Olin or MIT.</p>

<p>If you are planning on doing a double major – then doing engineering with anything in 4 years is tough. So, keep that in mind.</p>

4

<p>Princeton, Cornell, UVA, Michigan, it’s a bit outside your geography but Rice, Carnegie Mellon, PSU (Honors) etc.</p>

5

<p>It’s unfortunate you won’t look any further west than Illinois. Harvey Mudd would be one to look into for sure.</p>

6

<p>Since you mention Bright Futures and scholarship money, does that mean your parents have a limited budget for you? If so, how much will they spend? </p>

<p>There’s no point to people recommending schools that won’t be affordable.</p>

<p>Some of the schools that have been mentioned are “need only” schools so you won’t get a dime from them unless your family can demonstrate need. Do you know what their EFC would be using both federal and institutional methodologies?</p>

<p>If your parents will have an expected family contribution that they can’t/won’t pay, then you’ll need to eliminate some of those schools and target BIG MERIT schools.</p>

<p>FA Calc
<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
Do both the federal method and institutional. Many privates use the both methods. If there is a non-custodial parent, then their income (and step-parent incomes) might also be included at some schools.</p>

7

<p>I’m not sure what I can and cannot afford right now. We (my parents and I) haven’t had the chance to sit down and discuss paying for college yet. However, my mom has told me that she counting on me getting scholarships (whether through the school or not).</p>

<p>We wouldn’t demonstrate very much financial need, however, any money that could have gone towards paying for college was used up a few years ago when my dad was in-between jobs.</p>

<p>As far as looking no further west than Illinois, it’s a semi-flexible boundary. I grew up in that area of the country (PA, NC, OH) so I’m comfortable in it. Too far west would be difficult to afford traveling back and forth.</p>

<p>And yes, I am female.</p>

8

<p>any large prestigious public university will have great engineering programs and great programs in many other fields (with lots of research going on) at a price that is pretty affordable (and even more so if you can get a scholarship).</p>

<p>I would suggest: Georgia Tech (ok it’s not too much farther south than SC), Illinois, Michigan, Cornell, Purdue, Bucknell and Villanova.</p>

9

<p>You could look into a LAC with a combined degree program in engineering, usually its set up so you go to the LAC for 3 or 4 years and then transfer to the engineering school for 2. Here is the link to Columbia’s program <a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/files/webfm/combined_plan_faq.pdf[/url]”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/files/webfm/combined_plan_faq.pdf&lt;/a&gt;. </p>

<p>And here is a list of the colleges affiliated with Columbia for this program:</p>

<pre><code>* Adelphi University, Garden City, NY

  • Albion College, Albion, MI
  • Alfred University, Alfred, NY
  • Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
  • Arcadia University, Glenside, PA
  • Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD
  • Austin College, Sherman, TX
  • Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, OH
  • Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
  • Barnard College, New York, NY
  • Bates College, Lewiston, ME
  • Beloit College, Beloit, WI
  • Bethany College, Bethany, WV
  • Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL
  • Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
  • Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
  • Carleton College, Northfield, MN
  • Carroll College, Helena, MT
  • Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA
  • Centre College, Danville, KY
  • Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA
  • Clark University, Worcester, MA
  • Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
  • College of Idaho, Caldwell, ID
  • College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD
  • College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
  • College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
  • Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
  • Columbia College, New York, NY
  • Davidson College, Davidson, NC
  • Denison University, Granville, OH
  • DePauw University, Greencastle, IN
  • Dillard University, New Orleans, LO
  • Doane College, Crete, NE
  • Drew University, Madison, NJ
  • Earlham College, Richmond, IN
  • Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
  • Elon College, NC
  • Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT
  • Fordham University, Bronx, NY
  • Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
  • Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  • Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
  • Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
  • Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
  • Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
  • Hastings College, Hastings, NE
  • Hendrix College, Conway, AR
  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY
  • Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
  • Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
  • Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, FL
  • Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA
  • Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, KS
  • Knox College, Galeburg, IL
  • Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
  • Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
  • Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
    Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD
  • Manchester College North Manchester, IN
    Marietta College, Marietta, OH
  • Miami University, Oxford, OH
  • Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
  • Millsaps College, Jackson, MI
  • Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
  • Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
  • Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
  • Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
  • Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
  • Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
  • Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
  • Providence College, Providence, RI
  • Queens College, Flushing, NY
  • Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA
  • Reed College, Portland, OR
  • Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
  • St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY
  • St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
  • Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
  • School of General Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Scripps College, Claremont, CA
  • Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA
  • Simon’s Rock College of Bard, Great Barrington, MA
  • Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
  • State University of New York, Fredonia, NY
  • State University of New York, Geneseo, NY
  • Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA
  • University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
  • University of Richmond, Richmond, VA
  • University of the South, Sewanee, TN
  • University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI
  • Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
  • Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN
  • Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA
  • Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA
  • Wells College, Aurora, NY
  • Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
  • Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
  • Whitworth College, Spokane, WA
  • Willamette University, Salem, OR
  • William Jewell College, Liberty, MO
  • Williams College, Williamstown, MA
  • Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH
  • Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC
  • Yeshiva University, New York, NY
    </code></pre>
10

<p>Does anyone know how successful the 3-2 engineering program really is in graduating engineers?</p>

11

<p>I don’t know how successful it is, but according to the Columbia site there are approximately 150 combined plan students currently at Columbia, so its definitely doable. I plan on participating in the program, and will be doing so through Bard college. Basically my decision was based my interest in a variety of subjects/the LAC environment and not wanting to give that up in college, but I also wanted to study engineering, so I will get the best of both worlds with the combined program :).</p>

12

<p>It’s really too bad that you won’t consider Texas. Both Rice and Trinity have engineering. I don’t know about Rice, but Trinity also likes the engineers to do other things. They are also small and you would get small classes. They are the two schools, public or private, in Texas with the highest SATs.</p>

13

<p>Bucknell’s a good option.</p>

14

<p>Swarthmore College is a very highly regarded LAC that does have an engineering program. Trinity College (Hartford, CT) is a somewhat less selective LAC that has engineering.</p>

<p>Among small-to-mid sized universities in your geographic target area, for a combination of liberal arts and engineering, consider (roughly in order of selectivity):</p>

<p>Princeton
Columbia, UPenn, Dartmouth, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Cornell
Lehigh
Bucknell, University of Rochester</p>

15

<p>UF and Miami. You’d likely get at least 3/4 tuition merit at Miami and with bright futures, low tuition if any at UF.</p>

<p>You would get in at Michigan, but likely no money.</p>

<p>Take a look at the USNWR engineering ranking. They do not always go along with the regular ranking.</p>

<p>Private schools give more merit $ than publics. </p>

<p>Big Ten schools usually have good engineering programs and are great socially. Going into engineering as a top student will do you well!!</p>

<p>I agree with you not wanting a strictly engineering school. Same for my son , who will be a sophomore. Fortunately, he’s doing well and continues to love his program.</p>

16

<p>You should check out Lehigh’s integrated liberal arts and engineering program.</p>

<p>[Lehigh</a> University - Academics: IDEAS Program - Home](<a href=“http://www.lehigh.edu/~inideas/index.html]Lehigh”>Integrated Engineering, Arts, Sciences Program at Lehigh University)</p>

17

<p>if you want to go to a smaller college with engineering you need to think about what kinds of engineering are available. U Rochester has a strong Elect eng program, but no civil engineering, IIUC.</p>

18

<p>Lehigh University’s Integrated Business & Engineering Honors Program is business oriented, rather than liberal arts oriented like IDEAS - just another thing to look at.</p>

<p>[IBE</a> home](<a href=“http://www.lehigh.edu/~inibep/]IBE”>http://www.lehigh.edu/~inibep/)</p>

19

<p>Ok. You have a big problem. People are suggesting schools that you won’t be able to afford. You won’t qualify for aid and your family went thru savings. These schools cost over
50k per year. </p>

<p>You have to consider big merit schools including some with assured huge merit. Otherwise a year from now you’ll have acceptances and no means to pay for them. Outside scholarships are small. They don’t pay for college. They’re often for one year only. You need to have a realistic expectation based on what your parents will pay plus a school’s scholarship.</p>

20

<p>U of Michigan has extremely well respected liberal arts and engineering programs. plus you get the bonus in alumni network of going to a big school</p>