<p>Thank you to everyone who took time to post. I haven’t seen too many posts on midwestern schools which are not the Big 10 so it was especially helpful to hear everyone’s opinions about these WI and MN schools. My S doesn’t really know what he wants and at 16 that isn’t surprising. However, since he will be a senior next year taking him on tours so he can figure it out is important. From your posts I think he will definitely have to take a look at Madison, UMN, LaCrosse and Eau Claire. After these, I might take him to the MN LACs mentioned but these may be too far. I still think a smaller school with a good reputation would be best, although S might be surprise me and choose something different. With S1 we did look at some privates; Marquette was a possibility (he had gotten enough scholarships to get to Madison cost) but UMN offered him full-tuition so S1 didn’t have to take out any loans as we promised to pay room/board. We will have S2 look at this school plus a few others because you never know what scholarships might be available. I’d still love to hear opinions if anyone has them. Thanks!</p>
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<p>If you are in Wisconsin and 6.5 hours from UMN, you perhaps are about 5.5 or 6 hours from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. RHIT offers math, engineering, and science majors to about 1900 undergraduates. It is consistently ranked as the #1 engineering institution whose highest degree offered is bachelor’s or master’s. Check them out at:</p>
<p>[Rose-Hulman</a> Institute of Technology](<a href=“http://www.rose-hulman.edu%5DRose-Hulman”>http://www.rose-hulman.edu) or</p>
<p>[Rose-Hulman</a> Pride](<a href=“404 | Rose-Hulman”>404 | Rose-Hulman)</p>
<p>Michigan Tech is a school with lots of kids from WI. Great computer science and engineering departments.</p>
<p>With his stats would probably at least be able to get in state tuition if not more. Not really sure of scholarship choices for out of state students but I know that there are lots of kids from WI and MN.</p>
<p>After the current governor gets through with destroying the state’s public institutions I suspect you would be better off going out of state.</p>
<p>Does your son want to be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond. (One of the smartest in his class or the kid who was the smartest in his high school who suddenly realizes that he is now one of many and nowhere near the top.) They both have benefits, but kids seem to prefer one over the other.</p>
<p>My S2 thinks he wants to go to an HYPSM, but realistically he is the type of kid (has similar stats as your son), who enjoys being the top dog and really enjoys the lack of stress associated with having things come easy. He would like to see himself at at a top institution, but over time I think the stress would get to him and his self esteem might suffer.</p>
<p>St. Norbert’s, Marquette, Milwaukee School of Engineering</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my two cents. We live in LaCrosse and although it has a good reputation academically, there’s a ton of drinking. Maybe some of you have heard of the deaths of young men drowing in the river while intoxicated? </p>
<p>D has friends at Madison and it is huge. Your child needs the right personality to make it in that environment; some kids find their niche and thrive and others don’t. The D of a family friend left after her first semester and not due to academics- not the right environment ( too large and impersonal for her and party, party, party atmosphere.) </p>
<p>Some schools have great departments but the school itself isn’t known to be a big deal- something to check out if your child knows an area they are interested in. For instance, Madison is known as a great school but “little” Platteville is actually accredited in an area of engineering by ABET that Madison is not- and this accreditation matters. So… the answer is…is all depends. Obviously, no one-size-fits-all answer. </p>
<p>Good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>As far as other schools go:</p>
<p>[Cooper</a> Union](<a href=“http://cooper.edu/frequently-asked-questions#q16]Cooper”>http://cooper.edu/frequently-asked-questions#q16) gives every student a full tuition scholarship (though that does not include [up</a> to $20,000 of living and miscellaneous expenses](<a href=“http://cooper.edu/student-services/office-of-financial-aid/budget-guide/]up”>http://cooper.edu/student-services/office-of-financial-aid/budget-guide/)).</p>
<p>[Stanford[/url</a>] has fairly generous need-based aid, including full tuition coverage for students from families making under $100,000 (they have a [url=<a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University]financial</a> aid estimator](<a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University) also).</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html]Harvard[/url”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html]Harvard[/url</a>] is also generous with need-based aid.</p>
<p>PATC, Thanks for letting me know that LaCrosse has some drinking issues…I knew Madison could be a party school but I didn’t know LaCrosse was. I will still probably take S2 to see the school, but I am getting leary about his going there now after hearing about the drinking culture and because I’ve heard there is no “honors” option there. I know Madison is well known as a party school but because of its size I believe you can avoid that scene if you want…being smaller I don’t know if this would be true at LaCrosse. Since you live in WI, what do you think of Eau Claire? S2 might be interested in engineering, but I heard Platteville is a suitcase school which concerns me being 3+ hours away. To ucbalumnus, thanks for the information about Cooper, Stanford and Harvard. I have a nephew who goes to Harvard so I am aware of their generosity. I believe my son might have a chance to get in (maybe if he was lucky) but these schools are definitely too far away. I think he would do better being a days drive away in case we are needed. (S1 is recovering from a diabetes episode which luckily happened when he was home for spring break as we had no indication that he had Type 1 diabetes. This has put a little scare in me when helping S2 choose schools, although its his personality that dictates the closer schools rather than this scare.)</p>
<p>Actually, all schools will have drinking. When I was in school UW-Eau Claire was the big “party school” where everyone went to drink and have a good time.</p>
<p>Most of the kids I know who attend UW-L now and those that will attend in the fall are not big time drinkers, however, I do know that drinking does exist. The bar owners and the police do try very hard to stop underage drinking. In the end students have to take responsibility for their own actions.</p>
<p>All the state schools will provide a good education and I’m sure your son could find a party at any of them if he wanted or on the flip side find studious non party kids to hang out with. I think your best bet is to visit and see how you feel.</p>
<p>I know 2 kids who will be attending Platteville in the fall. One only lives about an hour away from home but the other is from Illinois. Neither is likely to go home on weekends very often. Have you looked on the campus calander to see what activities are planned on campus? I’ve found them to be helpful to see what’s planned and if my son would have enough options to stay busy.</p>
<p>As a UW Stout grad (started at UW Madison) I would not attend Stout unless you were heading to the hospitality industry. If hospitality is the way you want to go it is pretty hard to beat a Stout education particularly at in-state tuition prices. The industry loves hiring Stout grads.</p>
<p>I like to rank schools based on graduation rates. The numbers are from
[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics) including the colleges that were mentioned plus other UW campuses with similar outcomes.</p>
<p>81% UW-Madison
69% UW-LaCrosse
69% UW-Milwaukee
65% UW-Eau Claire (full tuition for NMS)
61% UW-Stevens Point
56% UW-Platteville
56% UW-Whitewater
55% UW-River Falls
55% UW-Stout
52% UW-Greenbay
51% UW-Oshgosh</p>
<p>Spurster thanks for the graduation rates. Is there any site to find out if the average student graduates in 4 years or more. I know when S1 visited Madison for an engineering information session, all the students there were Super Seniors (5 years). It would be nice to find out so you can figure out the actual cost of an undergraduate degree. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Most UW engineering students go off campus to a well paid co-op or internship which is why it takes 4.5- 5 calendar years to graduate. You only pay for 1 or 2 credits while they are in such a program.</p>