<p>My son is a junior in HS and would like to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering in college. He has a 3.8 GPA at a private college prep school and his first SAT score was a 1320 (780 math, 540 reading). We live near Houston, TX.</p>
<p>We have already visited a few schools (Georgia Tech, St Louis University, Texas Tech, Texas A&M) and have plans to visit University of Tulsa, Missouri S&T and Rose-Hulman in March.</p>
<p>Our son has shown a preference for schools that are smaller in size and have more of an intimate feel. He has enjoyed close interaction and relationships with his teachers in school and he is concerned about large class sizes and the perceived impersonal atmosphere of larger schools.</p>
<p>Our concern is trying to balance his preference of smaller student body/class size with the opportunities for internships and jobs upon graduation. Much of what I have read here seems to stress the importance of a school's ability to draw recruiters.</p>
<p>Any recommendation for schools with less than 10,000 undergrads, strong engineering programs, good intership/job prospects and preferably a warmer climate?</p>
<p>You can use [CollegeData:</a> College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5DCollegeData:”>http://www.collegedata.com) to search for schools with mechanical engineering and fewer than 10,000 undergraduates.</p>
<p>You might come up with schools as varied as Stanford and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Or [Prairie</a> View A&M for probably almost free (need 3.50 HS GPA and 1760 SAT CR+M+W or 26 ACT)](<a href=“http://pvamu.edu/pages/2154.asp]Prairie”>http://pvamu.edu/pages/2154.asp) if cost is a big concern.</p>
<p>There are lots of good options and there will still be hand wringing as to whether you are “right” or not. Trust me, I’m right there with you. I have a junior.</p>
<p>First, I’d google DIY College Rankings and pay the $50 or so it costs to download Michelle’s spreadsheet of IPEDS data. It’s an amazingly powerful tool for very little money.</p>
<p>Next, you know your S wants smaller than 10k students. Can you find another limiter? Geographic location? Religious affiliation? All tech vs. broad school with ability to broaden engineering or switch if ME isn’t what he thought it would be? Cost? </p>
<p>He’s already visited several “flavors”. Biggish state school, TT. Smallish private, SLU. That in and of itself will get the ball rolling.</p>
<p>If he gets his reading up, the potential options will be even broader.</p>
<p>Answering those questions will help narrow the search. Without that, it’s a stab in the dark.</p>
<p>WPI comes to mind but it doesn’t meet the weather criteria! Here’s a quote from the website:
“In the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), ranked No. 1 out of 33 doctoral-intensive universities for “student-faculty interactions,” a measure of the quality and quantity of time faculty spend with undergraduate students.”
[Facts</a> & Figures - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/About/facts.html]Facts”>Facts & Figures | Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Disclaimer: I have a son at WPI.</p>
<p>Would he consider something like Bucknell or Lafayette that are very undergrad focused, where most students are not studying engineering? Of course, they aren’t too warm either.</p>
<p>You have some of the [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools in your list. You might want to take a look at some of the other smaller ones.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus: I have been working with the Collegedata search function and it does provide a comprehensive list of institutions but I have noticed that in some cases, several of the schools (in TX for example) are satellite campuses of the flagship universities such as A&M and UT. It seems as though many students that attend these schools use them as pathways to transfer to the main, flagship campuses when they could not gain entry as freshmen. The schools that came up in my search with generally good stats we have already been considering. Those that I have not been previously aware of had dismal freshman satisfaction and graduation numbers.</p>
<p>Eyemgh: I just purchased the spreadsheet and will spend part of the day trying to process the data. There sure is a lot of information to sort through!
As far as additional limiters
S attends an all male Jesuit HS and loves it. Faith life is important to him and while attending a Catholic institution would be a plus, it is not a necessity. What would be a necessity is the opportunity to plug into an active community of Catholic students.
A tech school is not a must. In some ways I think a broad school has appeal in that he could have a more balanced college experience enjoy athletic events/school spirit, meet and interact with people of varied interests, more girls, etc In HS, he is a varsity swimmer/water polo player and is active in student govt and religious organizations. Tech schools obviously have the benefits of a lot of fellow students that are working through the same or similar challenges with the demanding curriculum as well as internship/job recruiting strengths. S has indicated that he would like the school he attends to have an engineering department that is seen as a prominent if not dominant part of that schools academic reputation/presence.
Cost is a concern, but we are willing to pay more if there is a clear benefit to be gained. The large class size in some of the public universities is a concern which is why we are looking so closely at some of the privates. Cost of travel is a factor. Schools like Gonzaga and University of Portland seem to hit the right marks for my son, but they are so far and inconvenient to visit. And theres that cold weather factor AGAIN!
Eyemgh, Syoung2, and BeanTownGirl: We really need to take a hard look at the climate factor. Visiting University of Tulsa, Missouri S&T and Rose Hulman in March will give him a taste of the colder weather and well see how it goes. Both he and my wife do not like the cold.</p>
<p>xraymancs: Thanks for the link. I was not aware of this association before now. I will look into t further.</p>
<p>BeanTownGirl: Thanks for the info on WPI. Undergrad focus (Why we are traveling all the way to Rose Hulman) is something that is appealing as S is not yet focusing on grad school as a goal. A friend of ours from the NE has a son who has been offered a large scholarship to attend WPI (National Hispanic Scholar) and is very excited about it. S is quite a mix (1/4 Colombian, Portuguese, Japanese and Italian) not sure if anything will come of that, but it makes for a lot of good food choices at holiday meals and family gatherings!</p>
<p>Once again, thanks everyone and any and all additional comments or advice are welcomed and appreciated!!!</p>
<p>Cost-wise, try the net price calculator at each school’s web site to get an estimate of need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>Regarding graduation rate, this is often more related to the student than the school. There is this page that may give a student-based estimate: [Higher</a> Education Research Institute (HERI)](<a href=“http://www.heri.ucla.edu/GradRateCalculator.php]Higher”>Higher Education Research Institute) . However, it may not include characteristics that you may know from knowing the student as an individual (e.g. motivation level).</p>
<p>check out the college I am going to next year.
Cleveland State university (its tuition is 13 k for out of state) >>it really rocks and they have really strong engineering programs.
<a href=“https://www.csuohio.edu.%5B/url%5D”>https://www.csuohio.edu.</a>
or you can check out the Case Western Reserve in Cleveland >> it’s the best college for engineering in the Ohio state and its ranking is 45 I guess.</p>
<p>Trying to understand the 10k restriction. This number fits in perfectly if you consider in state state schools only for tuition. Once you leave the state, there are very few schools that are anywhere close to 10k for tuition (I really can’t think of any).</p>
<p>DPM- You might want to consider Harvey Mudd - small, southern CA and excellent job prospects. Also nation’s highest median salaries. They don’t have MechE per se but offer a general engineering program that has a great reputation. (Full disclosure- my son is going there in Sept!)</p>
<p>I like Clemson University but it is listed at 19k (they have a lot of graduate students).</p>
<p>Schools size may not be important if the school has separate honors programs. If you can get into the honors grouping, then the classes become smaller and more friendly.</p>
<p>Why is there so much disparity between reading and math scores?</p>
<p>DPMdad, that information is all very helpful. In the spreadsheet, scroll way right until you find majors. Select Engineering and put a minimum limit on the number of engineering classes they offer. Selecting greater than or equal to 35 will start at Harvard and eliminate all schools without engineering or with fewer classes. Then, just to see the options, scroll to religious preference. I think you can select Catholic and Jesuit, but not certain. That’ll eliminate the rest. Then select size, start a little higher than 10k, say less than or equal to 15k. Then in that same column sort them from smallest to largest. It should create an interesting smallish list of schools.</p>
<p>Remember as folks throw out recommendations to keep in mind how selective they are. It’s important to have a reach school or two, but more important to have a small bulk of fairly solid schools and at least two safeties he’d be happy with.</p>
<p>On my coast, two schools come immediately to mind, Santa Clara and University of San Diego.</p>
<p>Rice would also be a great option if he was willing to eschew the religious requirement, stay in Houston and get his test scores up.</p>
<p>Remember also, that the ranking of the importance of factors can only be determined by your son. Prioritizing one may exclude or marginalized others. For instance, wanting warm, small and having religious preference will eliminate many of the engineering powerhouses. It’s not easy to determine the quality of the engineering once you get out of the rarified air of Stanford, MIT, ETC. Some will say it doesn’t matter as long as they are ABET accredited. Others will disagree. Only he can make the final decision.</p>
<p>A: find any college in the South like LSU, BAMA, Tulane, Rice, etc…and if money is not the concerns then go for small private schools, I would recommend Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, etc. All of these schools are ABET accredited.</p>
<p>eyemgh: That short instruction was VERY HELPFUL! NOW, I get it! Seems like Santa Clara has a reasonably sized program in a more moderate climate. Got to love the weather in San Diego and that campus is so beautiful but it is SO expensive. Since you are from CA, are you aware of any impacts that the financial status of your state is having on higher education? (Tuition cost, scholarship availability, faculty retention, etc…)
Attending Rice would be great. Its a 40 minute drive from us and there is plenty of opportunity for him to remain engaged in his faith life in the community outside of school. It just seems like it would be a real reach to get in and since I am pretty sure we would not qualify for any need based aid, it would probably mean mega $$$.<br>
Ucbalumnus: I have been using net price calculators for some time and they give me hope that some of the private institutions might be generous enough to make the cost more bearable.
Texaspg: Yes, the 10K refers to size not $. SMU is one of the few warm weather schools that fits the criteria, but Im not sure the engineering program is worth the extra $$$ since tuition is so expensive and it seems merit scholarship amounts offered are a lot less. We are interested in Clemson and may be visiting it in early April.
As to the disparity between math and reading scores? That is just how it is. Reading has always been more challenging for him. Could he get it up to about 600 (similar to his performance on the PSAT) if he takes it again? I dont know. Well see how the ACT goes when he takes it for the first time in a couple of weeks.
YYaaSSeeRR: Thanks for the recommendations. I am familiar with Case Western but not the school you will be attending. My plan for now is to see how S feels about the Midwestern weather when we experience it in March.
David1126: Im afraid Harvey Mudd is likely to be too much of a reach.
Jan2013: Unfortunately, Tulane does not offer ME and LSU seems a little too big for him. UA in Tuscaloosa may be worth a visit in April when we are planning on visiting Clemson as he may be eligible for some significant merit based OOS scholarship if he gets the SAT up another 10 points. My concern with BAMA (as it is with all public institutions) is the class sizes.
Does anyone have any input/insight on freshman class (room) sizes?</p>
<p>If you’re looking for great weather, I second Santa Clara. It’s smallish (5,000), Jesuit, and ABET accredited. Also, it’s in Silicon Valley, so there’s easy access to internships and job opportunities.
University of Portland is nearly the same size (4,000) also ABET, and has a really welcoming atmosphere. It’s Holy Cross, like Notre Dame. The weather is not as warm as Santa Clara, although it rarely snows (contrary to the beautiful but frosty picture currently on their website).</p>
<p>DPMdad: Tulane used to have EE, ME, CS, etc., but Katrina wiped them off. But, They are in process of getting those bread and butter Engineering Majors in the near future. HOWEVER, Tulane and Johns Hopkins/Vanderbilt have Dual Degree programs (3 Plus 2) where your son can study Physics at Tulane and go into either school and get EE, ME, etc. That’s what I am doing now…I will be at Vanderbilit next year. But, you have to maintain high GPA…like anything in Engineering, GPA plays important role for transfers, internship or going to grad. school and getting financial aid (merit aid, grants, scholarship, etc). Those three schools are not cheap. They are private schools but they give a lot of financial aid if you have high GPA. Good luck.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation is generally expected for mechanical engineering (as well as chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, materials, and nuclear, although it is most important for civil due to the greater usefulness of Professional Engineer licensing in that field).</p>