<p>I was a female engineering student in the early 80s, and even back then I never had any problems with guys. I was just one of the gang. I DID end up marrying one of my grad school classmates! </p>
<p>The only funny thing that happens to me as a woman engineer is at professional meetings. It’s quite typical for a speaker to use a bad word and then look directly at me and apologize! It’s kind of cute, actually. It does surprise me that I’m usually the only female at the meetings, although occasionally there are one or two others.</p>
<p>For schools with lower 4 year graduation rates that are OOS, if your student is going to be relying on merit aid to help defer the cost, make sure you understand the fine print about how many semesters the scholarship is good for (usually eight). Travel abroad will probably be counted towards the total while co-ops are usually not. If your students goes beyond the eight semesters you are left paying steep OOS tuition for them to complete their degree. </p>
<p>We also were told the graduation rate at Ga Tech was due to study abroad and co-ops. From the many current and former students we’ve spoken to the overwhelming factor is its simply a very hard program.</p>
<p>Things I would thoroughly investigate are undergraduate research possibilities and co-op options for a ME student interested in design. Also, an engineering school’s senior project requirement (it they have one) might be a good path to get advanced or special knowledge in the student’s sub-field of interest.</p>
<p>While you’re in Boston, you may want to check out Northeastern…more similar to Drexel, not sure of specific programs, but do know they are highly rated in engineering.</p>
<p>I also agree to check out Lehigh again. We saw it once and it was okay, but that was in the summer and it was a very quiet campus. My friend’s D just went to check it out during the school year and fell in love and that’s now her first choice.</p>
<p>Not sure if WPI has what you’re looking for but it’s not even an hour from Boston…they have amazing Junior year abroad programs where you go with classmates and a professor to a certain country to work on a specific project…my S2 is also a h.s. junior and is leaning toward this school…</p>
<p>Maybe Univ. of Rochester? Good in engineering…not sure about design classes…</p>
<p>What about Vanderbilt in Nashville? Not sure if they have engineering or not! But coming from the west coast the weather would be warmer…</p>
<p>We also visited CMU and it has a great reputation for engineering and design (art), so that could work too!</p>