<p>I will be a senior in HS next year and am thinking of studying engineering (mechanical or eletrical) in college. I like schools that can offer me not only a strong engineering program with small class sizes, but also classes in the humanities. I want a quirky, intellectual, non competitive(between students) environment in which I can have friends from all majors. So far my list is Tufts(visited and liked a lot), WUSTL, Brown, Urochester(visited and liked), and Bucknell. Tufts, WUSTL and Brown are all reaches. I am qualified for Bucknell and URochester (SAT-1430,2090 GPA(unw)-3.78) but they aren't safeties by any stretch. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I need to find safeties!</p>
<p>What are your test scores? To get into many of the schools that you have listed, you will need high scores.</p>
<p>You also have not listed anything in regards to what you doing outside the classroom. This is also an important factor for some of the selective schools.</p>
<p>What state do you live in? Some absolutely top notch engineering programs are at state schools such as UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan, so I’m not sure if you are a resident of any of the states where these schools are located. These four schools have higher ranked engineering programs than schools that you have listed, although they are going to be much bigger as well.</p>
<p>My son will be attending WUSTL this fall, and for full disclosure, I attended UIUC (although I was not an engineer). If you are interested in WUSTL, I would try to visit the campus and schedule an interview if possible. They take demonstrated interest seriously. It is an absolutely beautiful campus with very friendly and helpful people. I loved my time at the University of Illinois, although you do need to work harder to make such a large campus more manageable.</p>
<p>psychodad10, sounds like the OP wants small class sizes, more intimate environment than larger schools you mention? </p>
<p>Hansolost, a school on the “safety” side you might want to consider, as it has a strong undergrad engineering focus, is Lafayette. Not as “quirky”/ brainy as, say, Tufts, but a lovely school with strong academics. Don’t know about other LACs, but you might want to consider those that have decent engineering programs. Haverford is tops for math/ sciences, and definitely fits the description of what you’re looking for, though I wouldn’t call it a safety by any means! There’s also Union. </p>
<p>As with WUSTL, Tufts considers demonstrated interest. Essays very important. My D starts there this fall, and it was not a breeze getting in. In fact, within her graduating class, Tufts was far more selective and particular than even Cornell in terms of acceptances. Ultimately, she chose Tufts for the very reasons you seemed to like it. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You haven’t told us what state you live in, but some state universities have excellent honors programs that will give you almost exactly what your looking for - small classes, engaged students, along with all the advantages of a large, multifaceted university. So, I’d suggest taking a look in your own backyard and seeing what you find!</p>
<p>I definitely agree with Lafayette, but it’s only potentially a safety if you can afford it. Can you afford anywhere you want to go?</p>
<p>I’m surprised that you’re missing Lehigh, though not a safety, and perhaps not even a match if you don’t do ED. </p>
<p>In terms of safety, what you want is difficult to find. </p>
<p>In my opinion, there is a lot of benefit to being at a research university for engineering. The ones on your list, with the exception of Bucknell, are all small research universities and those provide excellent research opportunities for undergrads. Rochester is a gem. </p>
<p>If you go too far toward the LAC end of the spectrum, the engineering is may be a bit lackluster (Lafayette, Union, Trinity), and the faculty are there to teach, not do research. Personally, I think you lose something - others seem to disagree, but I’m an electrical engineer who actually hires recent grads. If you want to stay medium sized but keep up the engineering quality, the humanities is often lacking (Case, RPI, WPI, etc). Case might be a safety of the genre you want, and they have EA, so if it isn’t you’d know early enough. RPI students can take classes at Union, though I don’t know how convenient that is. </p>
<p>You might want to go large for your safety - University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Delaware (not too large), Northeastern. If you go to UMASS, you can take some humanities classes at Amherst, Mt Holyoke, Smith or Hampshire. Amherst is literally across the street. UMASS and Northeastern and Case have trivial EA applications if you are applying anywhere else early using the common app. The supplements have no essays. </p>
<p>Another idea is NYU-Poly. With the new “marriage”, there may be an opportunity to live at NYU Greenwich Village and take your intro classes there before going to the Brooklyn campus for your later classes. They are about 20 minutes apart by subway.</p>
<p>I live in Maine. Do you think this will give me a better chance at WUSTL? And how much?</p>
<p>Scores- SAT-1430,2090 SATII MathII- 760, GPA(unw)- 3.78
I have decent ECs and will write good essays. I’ll try to interview everywhere I apply.</p>
<p>I will worry about cost. Please don’t let it limit any suggestions.</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad, thank you for the suggestions. Lehigh is great academically, but I’ve heard that the greek scene dominates and parties are somewhat exclusive. The type of environment I want is on the other end of the spectrum. How true are these rumors?</p>
<p>gondalineNJ, Lafayette is on my list. I’ve heard that students are very competitive with each other though. Is this true?</p>
<p>“If you go too far toward the LAC end of the spectrum, the engineering is may be a bit lackluster (Lafayette, Union, Trinity), and the faculty are there to teach, not do research”</p>
<p>I think there is something to be said for faculty who are focused on teaching not research. Is this really a disadvantage? Would the engineering programs be lacking in any other ways at an LAC?</p>
<p>What type of engineering? My other half is a Civil Engineer… in our area, as a new hire, your chances are significantly better coming from Penn St or Va Tech. It’s kind of a regional thing from what I’ve seen. When we lived in Florida, FL and GA schools were the biggest source. IRL, I don’t know any Civil Engineers who came from an LAC, but again, that’s just our circle. (The only engineer I know at all (again, talking IRL) who came from an LAC ended up teaching in the high school for his job.) It doesn’t mean it can’t happen or doesn’t happen elsewhere - an individual circle is only so big. To check on any individual school, see where recent grads have gotten jobs. If you’re happy with where they landed, there’s potential for you to do so as well. That will give you more meaningful data.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I’ll admit to agreeing with ClassicRockerDad that I don’t generally suggest LACs for engineers. I did so here because you were asking… and as I mentioned before, my circle is only so big. There’s a big world out there and LAC engineers probably work somewhere.</p>
<p>Creekland, I think I’ll study either mechanical or electrical engineering. I will definitely look at what grads do after in the way of careers. Thank you for the suggestion.</p>
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<p>Yes it is. You lose the opportunity to work on the cutting edge of knowledge and perhaps see if grad school is appealing to you.</p>
<p>Many researchers are also great teachers, especially those at the smaller research schools where the undergrads do a significant amount of research like the ones on your list.</p>
<p>My son considered all the schools on your list and we visited them all except WUSTL. But he also considered more STEM-focused schools as well, since he could see the advantages of each type of school.
Have you visited any engineering schools that don’t have that LAC “feel” to them? They do have humanities and arts courses and their offerings might be more than enough to keep you happy since a ME or EE doesn’t have a ton of space in the schedule for non-engineering courses anyway.
I was thinking specifically of WPI, which is probably close enough for a visit. It is small and pretty laid-back, and quirky but in a more overtly nerdy way than your list schools. My son actually chose WPI over Tufts, Bucknell and Lafayette. So far he has enjoyed his humanities courses and will probably minor in German. The drama and music programs are very big and popular. Take a look at the course listings in the humanities.
[Humanities</a> & Arts - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/hua.html]Humanities”>Humanities & Arts | Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
If you like being out in the country, you could add Clarkson as a safety.
The bottom line is that there aren’t a lot of schools that have EXACTLY what you are looking for (or what you think you are looking for). To expand your list you will need to stray into either more STEM-centric schools (WPI, RPI) or ones that are more competitive (Case Western, CMU) or are bigger universities (Northeastern, BU etc.).
I would urge you to open your mind a little to those possibilities and at least research them…</p>
<p>Wow, WPI over Tufts. Why did he choose WPI? Thanks for the suggestions. I have some friends at WPI and I’ll have to talk to them about it. Why did your son apply to WPI over other technical schools?</p>