<p>Hello CC,</p>
<p>I am a prospective undergraduate hoping to enter college next fall. The problem I am encountering is that I am passionate for all of my subjects (Math, Science, Language, History and English). However, because I need to pursue a major at college, I've done some thinking about what major I would be interested studying, and I think that it's probably safe to say there is about a 75% chance that I want to pursue either an engineering or computer science major. However, in undergrad school at least i still want to be able to take classes other than just engineering classes, because I do like those subjects quite a lot.</p>
<p>I like both snowy areas and sunny areas, and both cities and rural areas. I am hoping to apply to top schools (e.g, Dartmouth and Swarthmore are on the list currently). Does anyone have any suggestions for schools with excellent engineering programs but also does not limit their students to just that course, considering that a) I'm not 100% sure I want to do engineering, and b) I want to take a variety of classes, even if my major takes up a lot of class time.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>All ABET-accredited engineering degree programs require math and science as prerequisites for engineering courses (about 25% of the curriculum), and require humanities and social studies for breadth (about 20% of the curriculum, though this varies more by school).</p>
<p>Computer science degree programs not in engineering divisions may have somewhat more space for completely free electives (i.e. which do not have to be within your major, and do not have to fulfill specific breadth categories). However, computer science degree programs need to be evaluated carefully to see whether they have sufficient course offerings. ABET does have accreditation for computer science degree programs, but there also exist very good (as well as very bad) computer science degree programs which are not ABET accredited (however, an ABET accredited degree program should be at least decent).</p>
<p>Do you have cost constraints to work within? If so, have you tried the net price calculators at various prospective schools?</p>
<p>Thanks for the response!
Fortunately I’m pretty secure when it comes to cost restrictions. I think the biggest thing for me is that I would have a degree in which I would then be able to go on and pursue a high level graduate program at a place like MIT or Stanford. I’m very keen on learning about engineering, but I also want to have a diverse education. I liked Yale’s program because you don’t have to apply to a separate school for engineering, the faculty/ student ratio at the engineering school is great, and I just like the campus/ size etc… However, a 6% acceptance rate isn’t particularly encouraging, so I’m looking at a lot of different schools.</p>
<p>Hard to make concrete suggestions without knowing your unweighted GPA and test scores.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is an excellent university but we were underwhelmed by the extent of their engineering program and especially the engineering facilities. Their CS program does seem stronger than their engineering though and of course everything else is pretty awesome.
Sounds like your best bets are broad-based universities that have engineering such as Tufts, U.Rochester, perhaps Union, Bucknell, Lafayette.
Note that even at more more engineering-centric schools (such as RPI) there are always excellent science majors and facilities, and a certain amount of other humanities, arts and social sciences as well, though the amount varies somewhat. They want their engineers/scientists to be well-rounded and to understand the context of their future working lives. Also, most engineers I know have strong academic interests in other areas and often pick up a minor in something else such as economics or music or history etc.
But it does sound like you are leaning away from the engineering-centric schools.</p>
<p>SATs- 2120 - 2200 ish (Math: 790)
SATIIs- Chem: 790, U.S History: 800, Math II: TBA
GPA (100 Point Scale): Freshman Year: 89, upward trend to Junior Year: 97
APs: AP Comp Sci: 4 (Taken as Sophomore), Chem: 5, U.S History: 5, Phys/English/Calc being taken this year.</p>
<p>Fortunately, many state universities have good engineering and/or computer science, though they are more likely to require applying to a separate engineering division. For example, even those which do not have a particularly great overall reputation, state universities like Stony Brook, Rutgers, and University of Massachusetts - Amherst, are good for engineering and/or computer science. Big state universities tend to have a wide range of diverse course offerings.</p>
<p>Not sure why you are interested in Dartmouth; its engineering is rather limited, and the ABET-accredited degree program takes more than four years unless you take overload schedules or have substantial useful AP or college credit going in.</p>