<p>FYI - Wentworth is not in the same category as WPI or Northeastern. It was a 2 year commuter college for most of its history and they didn’t start awarding bachelor’s degrees until 1970. Most people I know still think of it as a trade school, even though the school has clearly expanded its scope.
It might be the right choice for some students however. My son has a HS classmate who is going there since he didn’t get into WPI 
One advantage to the Boston schools is that there are lots of Jewish cultural activities, not just with the abundance of local colleges but also in the city itself. Is Brandeis under consideration?</p>
<p>Just spoke to my son. He says he knows lots of Jewish kids at WPI. He pointed out that kids don’t use websites to communicate information at all, so the fact that the Hillel website seems out of date is irrelevant. Clubs often have Facebook pages or use text messages to communicate activities.
We also checked out many of the schools mentioned in this thread. Does he have any specific majors in mind?
Aside from the usual differences in location, and size etc. there is a distinct difference between schools that are STEM dominant versus liberal arts dominant. Examples would be Union versus RPI or WPI. My son he decided preferred the geekier vibe at WPI and similar schools. Your son might feel the opposite way, preferring to be surrounded by people who are not all studying engineering/math/Computer Science. So the culture can be very different! Something to keep in mind…</p>
<p>Agree with sentiments re: Wentworth. Here in MA it has a much lower reputation than WPI, Northeastern, etc. as an engineering school. More of a tech school that has a little bit of true engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your comments & feedback!</p>
<p>We do not have Brandeis on our list. They don’t offer Engineering, do they? Even tho S2 is only going to be a h.s. Junior, and we don’t know for sure his exact path yet…he has indicated that he would rather do some type of Engineering vs. Computer Science. Well, that’s this week, anyway! Could change tomorrow. Plus, S1 was my “A” child and S2 is more of the B/B+ range with fewer honors classes. And I believe Brandeis would be an A/A- type of admission.</p>
<p>Beantowngirl: S2 and I have already had that discussion between going to a Liberal Arts college with an Engineering component vs. straight Tech. It appears that before this WPI summer program it would have been choice A: A regular University with an Engineering component. Since his WPI experience, he seems to leaning more to the Tech schools.</p>
<p>We will be visiting Drexel next month since we’ll just so happen to be in that area. RPI will be another visit, although that may be more of a reach. If he’s happy at WPI, then we may just let him apply EA when the time comes and be done with it rather quickly! :)</p>
<p>I doubt he would get into Northeastern either these days. Seems as if they had more applications last year that most any other college and no longer seem to be a B/B+ school, but a bit harder…same with BU…but I would rather he go to WPI anyway for that one on one attention and just getting to know the professors more intimately…not to mention the project based study abroad and the fewer classes each quarter!</p>
<p>We were also considering UHartford for the Jewish aspect, but I guess their reputation is that of a lower eschelon school too, maybe like Wentworth.</p>
<p>So maybe this kid will be easy peasy and apply to WPI and be done!</p>