@AlmostThere2018. You are correct easier to transfer out of Engineering than transferring into Engineering.
One other thing I would note is that if he goes to the larger state school they will generally accept AP credits. My D18 went into Clemson with 35 credits and will graduate in 3 years.
Although if he goes engineering he will probably not use the AP credits. But if he goes engineering at a public university and then decides its not for him; the AP credits at a public university can make that transition easier and cheaper.
Many thanks, everyone! (Especially those PoliSci grads who gave me anecdotal support for that majorā¦)
@Darcy123 Re: engineeringā¦exactly. Unlike when I did engineering, where my first year was somewhat general, the ABET programs I see now focus on engineering from the beginning. Non-engineering school core courses are minimal - even required English courses must be the engineering writing courses, rather than general school courses.
@nichols51 While he could do a general engineering degree at an LAC, I know as a former engineering manager that it is more difficult to get an engineering position without an ABET-accredited degree or grad work. @3kids2dogs Engineering programs just donāt encourage a wide variety of non-engineering courses I disagree with that, but itās there.
@JESmom William and Mary is a good idea. the former head of our school graduated from W&M, we will talk to her. Others mentioned Lehigh, which we werenāt familiar with. A little farther than S21 was thinking, but might be worth a look. And @mamaedefamilia Yes, honors at a large school is the way to go. S19 is at a very large state school, but in the honors college, and has yet to have a class of more than 27 students, plus preference on registration and dorms.
@SammoJ Where does your S19 attend? It sounds like heās having a good experience. My D21 is also one of those kids who is interested in everything and Iāve been researching honors colleges where merit scholarships are available.
Lehigh is very reputable for engineering. Back in my day it had a reputation as a work hard play hard party school, but Iām not sure if that is still current.
@mamaedefamilia still true. Although Lehigh recently (2 or 3 weeks ago?) suspended all Greek life due to issues surrounding it. Not sure how that will end.
@SammoJ good point about the ABET accreditation. In my case, I found that I didnāt love engineering so didnāt pursue it further as a career so Iām not aware of all the specifics surrounding doing so - your son is fortunate that you have that experience/knowledge! I just checked to see whether there is an ABET accreditation affiliated with the program I was talking about, and there is (depending on what options a student chooses to follow): https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/academics/undergraduate/be/
I wonder if there are other programs out there similar to this - it seems to allow that ABET accredited Bachelor of Engineering to be obtained in 4 years or, if a student chooses to take more courses outside the Engineering realm, in an additional 10 weeks (1 trimester) up to a possible additional 30 weeks (3 trimesters which is 1 additional academic year). Financial aid is still available for that additional time if the student opts to extend into that 5th year. This might allow for exploring political science or whatever else is of interest. Iām not suggesting that one particular program but am wondering if there are others with similar options that might be worth looking at.
In relation to Lehigh, my father did both undergrad and Masterās in Engineering there, but as that was in the 1960s and he was a total nerd/non-party type, I doubt anything he has to say about the school would be particularly relevant today. ? My sister went in the 80s and liked to party but didnāt major in a science field. My nephew who is finishing his Masterās there now after completing his undergrad last year likes to have a good time but is also a hard workerā¦didnāt join a fraternity, so socialized with friends and had a great time while still managing to do very well (I believe he double majored and also minored, got a BS with highest honors, and earned the 5th year tuition free all while being quite socialā¦he didnāt major in engineering, though -Business/Economics - but if you have questions related to the social scene, campus life, etc., I can ask him.
S21 has spent the last year saying he had no interest in running XC and T&F in college and now all of a sudden he would like to run in college and that will be one of the considerations for looking at schools.
@Aguadecoco I am concerned about that happening with D21 and her sports too. What weāve done so far is make sure the schools on her list have club level and or intramurals. She knows she doesnāt want varsity, although she might be good enough in one sport.
She says she doesnāt care whether schools have the sports at all, but Iām thinking itās best to make sure she could participate. Is your son thinking he wants to go the recruitment route, or walk on? Or participate on another level.
At D19ās school, they have a 5K every Monday open to anyone, which D19 has decided she wants to try. DH and I are both runners but have never been able to get her into it. Iām trying not to show my excitement in case it squelches her enthusiasm!
@Aguadecoco , @3SailAway same thing here. My daughter even mentioned while at a school tour that going from dancing almost 30 hours a week to nothing will be very hard. Having at least dance club level is important to her.
S19 runs D3 Xc and track if anyone has any questions. He was being recruited at a few schools but chose a school where he was not recruited but was able to walk on and is keeping up just fine.
@homerdog University Bing had a lot of dance options, so she was happy. Our tour guide was even a competitive dancer so they were able to chat it up. She said she took dance as general electives.
@AlmostThere2018 Weāve heard the same thing, easier to transfer out of Engineering than transfer in. And very possibly an extra semester/year either way, just because engineering is so prescriptive.
@burghdad Clemson is one of S21ās top choices (partly because it is in-state and the rival to S19ās school). May I ask more on the AP credits and engineering? One of S19ās best friends started there this year in engineering, and based on feedback from others, she didnāt use her Calc AB credit (got a 5, but still started in Calc 1) and did use her AP Chem credit (started in Chem 2). She was happy with both choices. I expect S21 to be faced with this if he goes engineering - does you S18 have an opinion?
@mamaedefamilia S19 is in the Honors College at U of SC. Extremely happy with program, far more than he expected to be (he somewhat hesitantly turned down OOS offers). The benefits for the honors kids and the quality of and access to profs for their classes have been excellent.
We toured Duke recently with DS and he liked it much better than we did. Certainly a very beautiful university and I am sure he would be happy but we toured GT a few months ago and it seemed much more lively when we toured the campus. I feel like GT would be better for DS even if the costs were the same (we will be full pay) but given Duke is quite a bit more expensive, it is hard to justify paying more for it.
The presentation at GT gave a better impression of being on the cutting edge of technology than Duke. Duke spoke quite a bit about research but the examples given were not nearly as impressive as I imagined they would beā¦DS is a STEM person and I can see him at GT more so than Duke but it is very interesting that he does not see it that way.
I think DS likes the degree program at Duke as it seems a bit less restrictive than the one at GT. GT mentioned that few people double major and he was turned off by that plus it seems he will probably need to repeat a few math courses at GT and he is hopeful that at Duke there would be more flexibility.
I had never noticed before but DS seems to hang back and not proactively ask questions and I now wonder if a smaller campus might be best for him. I think he might be more inclined to get involved if we were not there at all. Do many kids do college tours without their parents?
@Aguadecoco My S21 does XC/Track and has gone back and forth about running in college too. He finally landed on intramural and/or club and we found some schools that have competitive club teams. Have you checked out NIRCA?
I disagree with that, but itās there.