Hello all,
My son is planning on majoring in engineering (probably mechanical), and is also in the recruitment process for swimming. He’ll be going to Loyola University Maryland for an official visit this month. Cost is a factor for us even though we will not qualify for any financial aid, so we’re trying to target state schools or privates that will give good merit. He has a 35 ACT, 4.37 Weighted GPA (4.3 UW), a bunch of APs and Honors, and some standard but not a ton of other ECs because swim and school basically take up all his time. There area also obvious “fit” factors when it comes to his swimming. We were not familiar with LUM, even though we lived in Northern VA for 4 years pre-kids, and my in-laws and SIL who have lived in the area for over 20 years also did not know about LUM. From our research, we are seeing that the quality of the education there seems quite good with small teacher/student ratios, high teaching engagement w/big emphasis on undergraduate teaching, and a balanced education since it is a liberal arts school (I like the well rounded-ness of the liberal arts philosophy especially for my son). It also has high graduation, job placement, and retention rates. However, the engineering school in terms of # of students is very small, maybe 40-50 per year/class (2022 had 32 graduates). Engineering is not one of the more popular programs/majors there, even though it is still well ranked (seems to fluctuate in the 50s/60s range in recent years). One of our concerns is that being such a small program in combination with a lack of big name/brand recognition, their graduates may not have the same level of access or be as heavily recruited as the bigger programs that churn out many times more engineers every year? On the other hand, I’ve seen lots of great reviews about how supportive their professors are and how much attention students receive due to small classes and engagement by professors. That to us is a great thing since he will be a student-athlete going into a tough major, and will need to work very hard to balance academics and athletics. Can anyone give any insight on LUM Engineering, their employment outcomes as a small program and school (other than the general stats posted on their website), and any other comments that might help us overcome our concerns? Oh, and athletically, this is a program that seems like a great fit for him. He will be going on more recruiting trips, but LUM is the first one, and the least known school with the smallest engineering program on the list. Thanks!