My son is a senior interested in studying mechanical engineering. We live in Illinois. His stats:
Sat 1520
GPA unweighted 3.8 out of 4
Working toward getting eagle scout this month.
Trying to keep total cost to low 20’s/year if possible.
Based on reading a bunch of posts and posting a few, we have a good start for a college list to apply to next month.
Small/med school: Bradley, Valpariso Missouri S&T, UAH. Excluded MSOE due to urban location.
Large: Iowa State,Michigan State
Might add financial reach schools: Rose Hullman and Case Western
Excluded UIUC since not likely to get merit
Wondering if we should add Ohio Northern to our list? I don’t read much about that school on the forums, but it is listed in The Princenton Review Best 382 colleges book on a list “great schools for mechanical engineering”. There are only 32 schools on the list and Ohio Northern is one of them. In the US news and world report (no doctorate) it is listed as the 29th best. However, I know those rankings and lists aren’t necessarily a good guide.
Does anyone have any other experience or thoughts about Ohio Northern for Mechanical Engineering?
I don’t know anything about Northern but am curious why Cincinnati, Dayton, and Akron aren’t on the list if you are considering schools in OH. All three are very generous with merit $ and with your son’s stats, he’d get into the honors college. They all have great engineering programs.
ONU checks your/your son’s boxes on cost and potential scholarships; so it might be worth a visit. It is a bit remote (I’ve driven by the exit on I-75 many times), so I encourage your son to see it in person. It is ABET-accredited for mechanical engineering, since 1954.
Thanks for the suggestions. My son doesn’t want a urban school, so I think that rules out Cincinnati. I think he is trying to fill up his list with some more small/med schools. We read up on Miami Ohio, and that sounds like a good candidate. I’m just not familiar with the rest: Dayton, Arkon, Toledo, or Ohio university. Any additional thoughts on how those school compare?
If your son doesn’t want an urban school, that may eliminate Dayton, Akron, and Toledo; Ohio University is in a smaller town, so that may appeal to him more.
In terms of comparisons, I’m not sure what the relevant things to compare would be for your son. However, here is a link to the website of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), which provides lots of data about engineering programs at various colleges and universities in the U.S.: http://profiles.asee.org/. When you click on a particular school, look under the heading “Undergraduate” in the left-hand column; then use the links to “Enrollments by Class” and “Degrees Awarded by Program” to obtain information that should allow you to compare the relevant engineering programs at the different schools that your son is considering. If your son might be interested in co-ops, then you can click on the link to “Program Comparison”, and it should reveal which engineering programs at the university offer co-ops, and, if so, whether they are optional or mandatory.
Also, if you take visits to the different schools – either before applying, or at an “admitted students day” in the Spring – then I would plan to ask some questions of the engineering representatives that you meet: What percentage of your graduates are working in engineering within 6 months after graduation? What resources does your school employ to assist its students find jobs during the undergraduate years (co-ops and internships) and also after graduation? What opportunities do your students have for research? How many/what percentage of your students co-op or do internships, and for how many semesters – 3? 4? 5? Do you have an office in the COE that is specifically dedicated to facilitating co-ops/internships for students? How many/what percentage of your co-op students get jobs after graduation with the businesses where they co-op/intern?
Again, you may wish to post your query in the engineering major forum on CC; you are likely to get more (and more specific) responses
I was looking at the website of the engineering department at Ohio Northern. I don’t see anything that would keep me from applying. Some people do much better at small schools, so I wouldn’t automatically rule Ohio Northern out in favor of larger, public schools.
I do know one person who went to Ohio Northern, and he liked it. It might be worth paying them a visit before committing to anything.
My D visited ONU for a summer program. It’s a pretty campus and quite rural. There is not much around Ada. The summer program was well run. A draw might be the proximaty to automobile companies such as Honda. Her biggest complaint was that there was only one dining hall. That’s what you get at a small school.
Another school he might look into is Kettering University. It used to be the General Motors Institute. It’s a small suburban school in Flint MI. They have a mandatory coop program and good outcomes. They are very STEM centric A lot of people might say Flint isn’t real appealing but it has more going on than Ada. They also offer more engineering degrees than ONU if your son would consider a different engineering path. Good luck.
Of the school’s you mentioned in #3, U of Dayton is in a small city. While close to Dayton it doesn’t feel urban in the way Cincinnati does. It’s a good private Catholic school with ties to Wright Patterson AF base. OU is in a college town and a mid sized university. It would probably end up quite affordable as they have good scholarships for their top engineering prospects. I don’t know much about Akron’s campus but do know their strength is Chemical Engineering especially as it relates to polymers. Finally, Toledo is suburban more than urban. They have a strong engineering program and require that a student coop. Their engineering buildings are separate from the main campus though it’s an easy walk. The main campus is rather gothic in style while the engineering campus is more modern.