@Maureenbd - Was you student accepted to Honors College? I ask because that would change my answer as to who specifically to meet.
I would strongly recommended calling the Mech E office and asking for an appointment with a staff member. We met with the chem e folks on our tour and they were able to answer a ton of major specific questions. They could also potentially put you in touch with a mech e prof.
Things to consider asking:
- What percentage of students who declare ME as there 1st choice are accepted into the major? The transition to major pages can be somewhat misleading (and in our experience, on the pessimistic side).
- How difficult is it to schedule courses? The ChemE people told us that if the faculty advisor couldn't get DD into a class she needed to stay on track for graduation, to come talk to them directly, and they could override and get her what she needed.
- Average class sizes in the major after FYE?
The ChemE admin also took us on a much more comprehensive tour of the main building and lab spaces, was a wealth of information about academic supports, etc…
If co-oping is important to your student, I would also suggest a stop at the co-op office and also the career center, just to gather information and see in person the supports offered to students.
If your son is very invested in the robotics team, as my daughter is, he may be interested in design clubs in college and should ask about how competitive they are to join.
Purdue clubs tend to be non competitive. Here’s the link to the Robomaster’s club: https://purduerm.com
There are other robotics clubs as well.
Just to pull out from their website:
WE WECOME EVERYONE
Purdue Robomaster Club wecome everyone regardless of major, technical background, experiences, race, religion, color, sex, age, genetic information, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or status as a veteran.
WE PROVIDE LEARNING ENVIROMENT
Purdue Robomaster is not only a team that focus on innovation and competition excellency, but also focus on peer-learning. We make sure everyone who are willing to learn, commited to the club, will succeed.
This was one of the things that really appealed to my daughter about Purdue.
I would agree that trying to sit in on what’s officially named "Transforming Ideas to Innovation " would be ideal. Sitting in a Physics/Chem/Calc class would give a feel for the largest classes he’d see, but they’re fairly standard/boring material.
A 2nd year ME course - 274-Dynamics or 263-Sophomore Design would give a feel for major-specific classes, even if the topics are too advanced to understand.
( fwiw, “Purdue” and “Current Employer=SpaceX” gives > 100 results on LinkedIn, Apple > 400, NASA/JPL >250, Tesla >150 - pretty big numbers if they don’t recruit 
)
(And I understand having your heart set on a school. CMU was my “fallback” from MIT ? . You can tell him a CMU ME grad is quite happy his kid is at Purdue ME. I really think it was a better school for her.)
So, my son was just admitted to Northeastern as a Mechanical Engineering and Physics Major with a really great Dean’s scholarship! I’m so proud and excited! We are still visiting Purdue, but unless he absolutely LOVES it when we visit, we are Boston bound next year!!!
@Maureenbd That’s a tough choice. Northeastern is an up and coming university. My son faced the same situation before. In the end, thinking that both universities are close to par, cost prevailed and chose Purdue. He didn’t regret the decision at all.
@Maureenbd We are almost 100% on Northeastern, so we may see you in passing in Boston come September.
It would cost $21k more a year for my daughter to go to Purdue, over Northeastern. Both are OOS for us.
Speaking of which, does anyone know if there’s any chance of getting in state tuition rate if we call and ask for it? A friend told me their son was able to get in state tuition by asking, but that was several years ago. That would put Purdue and NEU close to equal.
I called and the answer was no, no, no.
Not at all surprised - in fact, as an oos parent I’d be pretty enraged if calling up a school was all it took to be considered in-state.
@RichInPitt - my husband’s a Stanford EE graduate and he was over the moon when my D chose Purdue. It was a great fit for her too and I honestly feel the tuition is a bargain.
High tech (and other) companies from all over recruit at Purdue; the world of recruiting is not as regional as it used to be. My D is a senior with 3 “dream job” offers all of which are from companies very far away from IN (which is good - she’s really had enough of those winters!!!). We couldn’t be happier.
I asked if there was a process to request a financial aid appeal.