Please suggest a school for me!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I know it's early for me, but I'm trying to create a list of colleges and am finding myself overwhelmed by the often 300+ results I get on college search engines.</p>

<p>I want to attend a school with a strong engineering program, as I plan on double majoring, mechanical and aero/astro or nano, and a minor in German Language.</p>

<p>Some other wants:
- a good study-abroad program is a must for me
- plentiful internships and co-op opportunities
- an honors college would be fantastic, but isn't a necessity in small/medium-sized schools.
- an "intellectual" culture
- co-ed
- North: Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Northern Midwest
- challenging academics
- preferably urban or suburban</p>

<p>I haven't got a size preference, as I can easily see myself thriving in a school as small as Caltech or as large as a state flagship.</p>

<p>Some deal-breakers
- prominent frat/sorority scene
- excessively hot weather (the all-year summer type)
- a religious affiliation
- the Deep South (I'm not really interested in South/Southwestern schools either)</p>

<p>Background:
I'm a white, low-income female from the Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania). </p>

<p>Stats:
I've taken the SAT once and got a 1970 (750 reading), but I'm confident I'll be able to get it 2100+ on my next attempt. I have a 3.6 unweighted gpa, ~4.6 weighted. I'm taking all honors and pre-AP courses, except where they aren't offered (e.g. PE). </p>

<p>Course Rigor:
I'm currently self-studying AP Psych, taking AP Euro (the only AP offered to sophomores at my school) next year, along with self-studied AP environmental science, and will take seven more over the course of junior and senior years (English Lit, English Lang, a Physics, Bio, Calc BC, World History, APUSH; as many as my schedule will allow), in addition to more honors courses. I'm challenging myself throughout high school and hope to continue to do so during college.</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars:
Not my strongest point, I slacked off in September during most sign-ups.
- stage crew, both building and running, three productions a year
- member of my school's Knowledge Master's Open team (sort of like trivia bowl)
- a photographer for the school newspaper
- student council representative
- Key Club gold member (50+ hours per year)
- I do childcare at a local church so the kids' parents can go to ESL classes
- I volunteer at my township library, including a summer program where I read with kids
- I have had a job for the past year</p>

<p>I'm a member of several other clubs, but I'm not really involved in them, and will probably drop those to join my school's robotics team and the ceramics club someone is founding. I'm also looking for an advisor to start an engineering club at my school. I'm not sure whether these are extracurriculars, but in my freetime I write, sculpt, and compose music.</p>

2

<p>CMU engineering is a slight reach for you, but worth a shot. Don’t know if you consider Rochester, NY to be urban, but University of Rochester would be a good choice. Also look at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, IN and Case Western in Cleveland. Most large state universities have decent engineering. For urban ones consider Univ of Washington and Univ of Minnesota. University of Maryland has a terrific engineering school and is in the suburbs. For reach schools you have MIT, Northwestern, WUSTL, Stanford - always worth applying to one of them, especially as a female in engineering.</p>

3

<p>Maybe consider Smith? I think they’re really putting a lot of energy into their engineering program…great intellectual atmosphere, great town, part of the 5 college exchange, good FA, I believe…and … well, check it out.</p>

4

<p>I tried to run you through the college matchmaker, and some of the results I liked:</p>

<p>Colorado College
F&M
GW
Lehigh
NYU
SUNY Binghamton
UMD
Wesleyan
Union
Washington & Jefferson</p>

<p>Btw, I would suggest running the search yourself; I ended up with just 20 results, which I see as very manageable.</p>

5

<p>nitwitoddment: college matchmakers don’t work all that well in matching majors - for example, Colorado College doesn’t have engineering. Also, Lehigh is in a pretty small town, not that urban or suburban.</p>

6

<p>Noting that you’re low income, you will probably need to focus on schools that meet 100% of need. That will be a bit tricky with engineering schools. </p>

<p>For reaches, Stanford, MIT, Cornell and Harvey Mudd. Smith is also a good suggestion as is Rice. Maybe USC too.</p>

7

<p>Those would all be reaches with the OP’s GPA and scores. The ECs are also all over the board. In-state options might be the most affordable.</p>

8

<p>Erin’s Dad–many of them are reaches, but several of them are definitely matches.</p>

<p>Ricegal–I’m not saying that the OP should just use the matchmaker and apply to all the results, but it’s a good place to start. Considering I only got about 25 results, I don’t think it would be too much effort to go through them all and find the ones that fit well.</p>

<p>Anyway, I think the OP would be much better off finding at least 3 schools she likes, so that posters have some frame of reference.</p>

9

<p>Yes, I realize they’re reaches now, but she’s just a sophomore.</p>

<p>Nitwit, any system that spit out those schools for a prospective engineering major is useless and in fact a distracting waste of time.</p>

10

<p>OP, look at Union College (NY) or RPI (NY)
Not exactly big urban areas Schenectady or Troy, but both schools have engineering & you might have a good shot at getting accepted. </p>

<p>You are a high school sophomore? You may change your mind about engineering before it is time to even apply.</p>

11

<p>Ithaca is not really urban so Cornell doesn’t fit the criteria. Rice is in the southwest. USC and Harvey Mudd are not in the Pacific Northwest.</p>

12

<p>You may want to look at Colorado School of Mines. They have a rolling application and you can apply as early as the summer before your Senior year. I visited the school with my son this past fall. They have offer the opportunity to intern after your first year as well as between 2nd and 3rd. year.</p>

13

<p>How about Tufts?</p>

14

<p>The following schools state they are need-blind and full-need. They are also the most selective colleges:</p>

<p>Beloit College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Claremont McKenna College
College of the Holy Cross
Columbia University
Cooper Union
Cornell University<br>
Davidson College
Denison University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Knox College
Lawrence University
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Miami
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
Vassar College
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College</p>

15

<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Carnegie Mellon. Both are highly competitive though so boosting your SAT scores would help.</p>

16

<p>If you are low income, go the the Financial Aid portion of CC and investigate the Questbridge section at the top.</p>

17

<p>One of my son’s top choices is Alfred University in western New York (he is a senior in the middle of waiting for acceptances). </p>

<p>The tuition starts at half of a typical private school ($20,000 a year). They also gave my son, right off the bat, a $10,000 merit scholarship in his acceptance letter.</p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University - Inamori School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering (ME) Bachelor of Science](<a href=“http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/me/]Alfred”>http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/me/)</p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Modern Languages - German](<a href=“http://las.alfred.edu/modern-languages/german.cfm]Alfred”>http://las.alfred.edu/modern-languages/german.cfm)</p>

<p>Also be sure to check any school with ABET to ensure their engineering program is accredited:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx[/url]”>http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;