We have visited colleges all across the US with my son and we were impressed with our visit to OU. My son is a NMS with 4.4/4.0 GPA, 34 ACT and 1530 SAT (will take both again as a senior), so he expects to earn some merit aid. He really is math oriented and wants to combine engineering and business. This interest has led him towards Industrial Engineering.
I really like the OU National Merit Scholars program (and scholarships), while he is worried about OU’s engineering rankings.
We really likes the highly ranked programs at Georgia Tech, Va Tech, and Auburn even though our local state school (Purdue) is also highly ranked. Georgia Tech might be a stretch to get in and seems quite expensive. Purdue gives very little aid so it would also be expensive. Is the NMS program worth it at OU? The money and support are great but is the program high enough quality?
hi, I just graduated as a NMF in May, so I can speak to some of this.
The NMF program here is great and provides tons of opportunities for students to succeed. Of my close group of friends (who are all NMF), I have students going to Stanford for law school, Oxford for a sciences PhD, UVA for med school, and Michigan for a PhD in engineering. This isn’t counting those of us who are moving on to jobs, most of which are really good. OU’s NMF program is so nice and the value is so good, that everyone can be extremely successful here.
That’s the general overview. Bringing it down to only industrial is a bit different. It is not as good of a program as Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech. I wouldn’t say it’s super far behind those two programs, but the perception is definitely there. But that’s why I started by naming off where my friends went. If you excel at OU, you will be fine and can do whatever you want. The gap in quality of the programs likely affects students in the low-middle range the most. And even then, one of my friends who was a slightly below-average student in industrial engineering still had absolutely no problem finding a good job (she’ll be working at AT&T).
So my summary is this, if you can afford GT, VT or Purdue and that’s where your son prefers, then go for it. They are better industrial engineering programs. However, if money is a factor, then you should have no worries about your son’s ability to succeed.
Let me know if you want any more specifics or have any other questions.