S19 (3rd and last kid) has 33 ACT, 4.3 GPA w/lots of AP/IB, and was orig thinking he wanted to go NucE, but now might be considering ChemE or even MechE. Obviously, schools even offering NucE programs are limited, so just wondering if it makes more sense to go to a good (better) school that has ChemE and MechE than to to limit options to NucE only schools (e.g., UF, NCST, MIZ S&T) that - at least to W and I - aren’t seemingly as highly rated as some of the other options? GT, Purdue check both boxes in our minds, offering NucE degrees, but also highly-rated by employers overall in ENG in case S19 decides to pursue ChemE or MechE.
Cost is a factor though, so hoping can qual for some Merit Aid at all OOS or private schools; might need to to be able to attend. Won’t qual for any need-based. Live in VA, so get in-state to UVA, VT. However, VT prob not being considered. Just not a big fan of Blacksburg. D17 had 3 HS classmates all transfer to UVA or W&M this summer after 1st year because didn’t like it at VT. (D17 just finished freshman year at UVA and loved it, but not there for ENG; S15 is MechE major at Loyola MD, having been accepted at mult top-tier schools w/34ACT/4.5 GPA, but chose Loy for soccer. Loves it there too, and will be taking some Grad courses at JHU in Spring because will have enough credits to grad in DEC. But we never looked at these big ENG schools with him due to soccer part of the equation.) Can go to another forum to get feedback on “Chances” of getting in/getting merit aid at GT, etc., but feel free to chime in on that if have any knowledge on that front.
Appreciate any advice regarding NukeE path vs ChemE or MechE, and any recs on ENG programs where S19 might qual for merit aid that still give best flexibility on ENG discipline/major options. Thanks in advance.
First, you are leaving off quite a few nuclear engineering programs (there are a lot more than three of them). For example: Illinois, Michigan, Berkeley, UNLV, New Mexico, and Texas A&M are all programs I can think of just off the top of my head.
Second, even the schools you mentioned are all good schools. You are probably placing too much weight into rankings, when engineering is a relatively egalitarian field.
GT, MIT, Missouri - Rolla, NC State, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, RPI, Texas A&M, West Point, UC Berkeley, Florida, Illinois, U Mass - Lowell, Michigan, New Mexico, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and VCU are the schools that have all three, ME, Chem E and Nuclear.
There are LOTS of solid options.
What’s his unweighted GPA, or does his school use a 5 point scale?
I’ll add a cool factoid, since it’s our home state…Oregon State is one of only two universities with all 4 designations: Land Grand, Sea Grant, Air Grant and Space Grant. No, our son did not choose to go to school there.
Thanks, and yeah, I didn’t mean to imply that was an exhaustive list. Didn’t include some because unless he could get merit aid, he won;t be going there, and I didn’t think he’d get it at Berkeley, MIT, Michigan and a few others. Work with a couple of RPI folks so know that’s a good school, and of course, USNA has potentially one of the best nuclear programs, but don’t think he’s interested in the military academy option (but could see going OCS and going Nuke when he got out; hear that’s a pretty good option if you want to go Naval Nukes. Illinois could be an option definitely. Just don’t want him to choose to go to, no offense to any NC St alums, but let’s say NC St, for their NucE program, then realize he doesn’t want to go that route and so now he’s getting a MechE degree from NC State when he could have gone to (fill in a more highly rated by employers school) and earned a MechE degree there.
But agree that it certainly seems like getting his undergrad ENG degree won’t be THAT much different between a pretty big swath of good schools, and if he really wants to specialize, then it makes more sense to consider which of those schools have the best graduate programs for specific areas. Who knows, he just got his pilot’s license and solo’d last weekend for the first time, so he’s also interested in aerospace. Of course, here in NoVa, there are more than a few employers in that industry, so maybe he’ll end up going MechE anyway and give himself options still for Nuclear and Aerospace.
His unweighted GPA is 3.9, so he’s in good shape there. But has pulled A’s in all his STEM AP and IB classes, so pretty competitive on the grades front. Going to go visit GT, NC St and a couple of schools in that direction later, so that might help w/decision as well.
And sorry, eyemgh, while Corvallis is nice, would never see him on the other side of the country, so I won’t be pushing for OSU… Thanks all.
How much WILL you pay? Merit of actual impact with those stats at great eng schools is just not a thing. That isn’t even good admission odds for OOS GT. If you are happy to be full pay at the better eng schools then his list can include reaches, but applying to reaches looking for merit is pretty pointless. Define your budget, then craft the list.
Didn’t like the rain or the very traditional pre-engineering, declare major as a third year program.
A very valid question would be what type of employment can a nuclear engineer expect to find with a BS only? If a post-secondary degree is required anyway, then ME undergrad would open up LOTS more options. @boneh3ad would probably know that answer.
Plenty of nuclear engineers get work with just a BS. Nuclear power plants and the Navy and nuclear medicine companies don’t really need armies of PhDs.
If you are looking for merit aid OOS then your best bet are private universities. State schools don’t usually give OOS students much of a break. There aren’t many such schools with NucE programs but lots with both ChemE and MechE (see http://theaitu.org). As others have said, any of these schools with ABET accredited programs will provide a solid engineering education.
Virginia Tech has a high retention rate , so not sure I would base the 3 friends leaving there on a decision to not at least consider it, particularly if they were not in engineering. Might be worth at least visiting if your son hasn’t done so already. If you just don’t like Blacksburg, that’s a different story. UVA is also fine for engineering, just gets more attention for the arts and sciences programs. My sons went to UVA and VT for engineering. As you probably already know, you start out in general engineering, so don’t need to pick a particular major right away. Both good options. There might be merit money at George Mason, VCU, or ODU instate. Good luck!
If RPI enters the fray, know that demonstrated interest is very important in their merit aid calculation. At more than a quarter of a million ($280k), you’ll want all the merit aid you can get.
I’d highly encourage him to dig deeper into what Nuclear and Chemical Engineers do on a day in and day out basis. They aren’t for everyone. Mechanical on the other hand is very broad, with lots of areas for concentration. It might be that after he reads more about the other two, he decides that one of the first two are ‘the one.’ If not though, choosing ME opens up far more options of schools that might offer merit aid.
Thanks all. Syballa and xraymancs, understand that merit for OOS public top tier is tough. We prob would spend more on our last and third one since the other two made it easier on us with scholarships (and in-state of course with UVA), so might still do GT if he got in AND that was still his top choice. But point taken. Def not willing to pay full price for private, but can pay more than we’re paying for the other two. Work with an engineer that went undergrad at RPI, but with ROTC, then went NAV NUC out of school. Said there were all kinds of majors there - Navy wants to train you their way anyway. Said there aren’t many Navy ROTC that have NAV NUC as first choice, so if you do, and have the grades, you usually get it. And agree, servmom, VT prob is a diff experience for engineering majors. None of my daughter’s friends were. Work with 3-4 who loved it. But even though it’s not as highly rated as an Engineering school, really like UVA after our first year with a kid there.
Anyway, right now S19 is still trying to decide, so needs to figure out a little more about what he actually wants to do - or what he thinks he wants to do – as a career, but it does seem like MechE would give him more options while still not ruling out NUC as an option. Maybe the college visits over the next few months will help narrow things down. Thanks for the help all.
Since you really like UVA, I would not discount UVA engineering then based on rankings (or any decent undergraduate engineering school for that matter that is ABET accredited). UVA engineering is well established, still well ranked in engineering (not that important but close in ranking to RPI, NC State, etc) and the school itself overall is ranked highly. UVA has a Mechanical and Aerospace department. Recruiting is excellent in general. I’m not trying to push UVA engineering at all, just suggesting it might be worth a serious look if cost is a concern . Although UVA engineering is over $30,000 instate these days, still not cheap. UVA in general and VT engineering are not a given in terms of admission, even for strong instate students, so good you are looking at lots of options, including those that might provide some merit aid Have fun looking at all the other options and hope you and your son enjoy the rest of your college visits.
Wonder if any of your daughter’s friends that transferred out of VT to UVA and W & M preferred them but didn’t get admitted initially?
Thanks, sevmom. Def will consider UVA. And def know that there are no guarantees to even getting in at UVA here in NoVa with good stats. And no, none of my daughter’s friends got in to UVA out of HS, so was kind of surprised that they all got in to UVA and W&M applying as transfers after their freshman year. Seems like that’s the way to go if you REALLY want to go there and don;t get in out of HS. Apparently the bar is lower for transfers. My son is not overly caught up with going to one or the other - realizes that there are a lot of good options more than likely for him. Bigger question will be which discipline with ENG he wants to pursue. His bro got in pretty much everywhere, including Ivies, all the top D3 privates like Wash U, U of Chic, Tufts, Hopkins, etc., but has loved and excelled at Loyola. Professors are great. Has had great internships and is already lined up with multiple options when he graduates. So know it"s more about what you do where you’re at. (Of course, older son is prob going to go try to play pro soccer when he graduates anyway, but at least we know he can get a job whenever he comes back! )
I actually would not worry too much about what discipline yet within engineering your youngest wants to pursue. There is plenty of time for figuring that out and many kids change their minds. Sometimes, kids are sure very early on but that might not be the case with your son? But, I am not an engineer. My husband is , as was his dad, both CMU grads,. Good school , but not the right school for either son, either socially or financially. We have very good instate options, attractive to even OOS students . Georgia Tech, MIT, etc. will always be there for graduate school! Many here will disagree though and suggest you need to be at the highest ranked school you can get in to. You seem to have more to pay for school so that always creates more options. I am biased though and happy with our instate options, and also frugal! I would continue to look at options and hope for merit though or be prepared to pay if your son wants to go outside of Virginia for school. Georgia Tech is a great school but will likely cost more. But, if that is his top choice, the best fit, and financially possible, that is a good option, if he is accepted Sounds like your daughter and some of her friends ended up at instate schools in Virginia. That is not uncommon.
The key with any ABET undergraduate engineering seems to be the school but also the student, as you found with your older son. And fit, support systems within the engineering school are important. The best engineering undergraduate schools in the world are not worth it if it is a poor fit or too stressful. Undergraduate rankings seem less important than fit, cost, recruiting, support, etc.
@sevmom said: “Many here will disagree though and suggest you need to be at the highest ranked school you can get in to.”
Since rankings do not speak at all to what the college experience will actually be like, nor do they speak at all to job placement after, nor do they rank PhD granting institutions even with non-PhD granting institutions, our son relied very little on them, even though he had higher stats than the OP and would have been competitive at most of them.
That’s not to say that all ABET programs are the same. They aren’t. It’s really up to the individual to decide what’s important to them and to vet their options based on those criteria.
In the end, he was conflicted between three schools, one with a 76% acceptance rate, one with a 50% acceptance rate, and one with a 14% acceptance rate. He chose the most competitive admit, but that factor had nothing to do with it. He didn’t even apply to the big name tech only schools like Cal Tech and MIT and eschewed every large public that wasn’t a WUE school, except Cal Poly. At the time it was affordable from OOS.
Your son’s experience at Loyola, in no way known as an engineering powerhouse, should be reassurance enough that the rankings game is pretty specious.
Same here, older son had all the usual very high math scores, 5’s, etc on AP’s, in the math, physics type stuff. No interest at all in schools like MIT, CMU, RPI, Georgia Tech, etc. Heaven for many, but not for him. Know your kid! He will do fine, as your older son did, if he finds the right school and takes advantage of the resources available to him.
Some popular state-flagship-level universities have engineering majors that are filled to capacity. They may manage such capacity limitation in one of these ways:
Frosh applicants must apply to the major. At some schools, the result is either admitted to major or rejected; at other schools a third possibility of being admitted to the school but not the major is possible. If the student wants to change to a different engineering major, or enrolls at the school but not in the major, there will be another competitive admission process (mostly based on college GPA) to enter the desired major. Examples: UIUC, many public universities in California.
Frosh applicants must apply to the major, but must earn high college GPA to stay in the major after enrolling. Example: Wisconsin.
Frosh applicants must apply to a general pre-engineering status. After enrolling as such, students must meet a high college GPA threshold or face another competitive admission process to enter their desired majors. Examples: Virginia Tech, Purdue, Texas A&M.
Note that in case 1 and 2, the student needs to decide a specific major as a high school senior. In case 3, the student can defer his/her choice, but may not be able to get into his/her top choice in the college GPA competition. Cases 2 and 3 could create a more competitive “weed out” atmosphere.
Obviously, if the student chooses a school where engineering majors are not filled to capacity, then s/he can defer his/her choice of specific major until college, without really worrying about having to compete by college GPA for the major (but s/he must still choose frosh year courses to stay on track for all of his/her desired majors).
Yea, at my son’s school, Cal Poly, they admit competitively BY MAJOR. You compete only against those who want that major. After admission, switching upstream to more difficult admits can be impossible.
