@ pleasegod “I liked how their curriculum and activities focused on building projects/experiential learning.”
CMU, Stanford, Cooper Union and the combination of Brown and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) would be excellent choices, but are also very difficult to gain admission (don’t confuse this with your abilities!). It is not possible to achieve the artisan skills discussed in the American College of The Building Arts presentation AND to cover the rigors of CS and /or engineering within a four year time frame.
You have a breadth of options before you that cannot be met anywhere in four years. It appears you might even need to refine your definition of hands on. Leonardo da Vinci and his less well known competitor Albrecht Duerer mastered the art and the science and are widely viewed as the last people to accomplish this. Our knowledge base has grown geometrically. This is why so much design today is accomplished by teams.
“Hands on” also has different meanings. Repetition of known procedures is largely a classroom/lecture activity. A different thought process is required to design a solution to a new problem. To develop confidence in design, students need to actually do design and research of their own. This is a form of “hands on” and may or may not involved a piece of machinery. It involves the application of ideas to a new situation.
California Polytechnic prides itself on hands on learning. Olin college of Engineering offers the ultimate mentoring environment. WPI is an established pioneer in project education. All are highly respected schools which offer CS and engineering. Olin and WPI probably offer the more flexible programs. None are a cakewalk for admission, but you should look into them because you enjoy “building projects/experiential learning” and you need flexibility. They are less competitive than CMU, Stanford, MIT, etc.
:bz