Sakky Ken MrPayne JohnWillkins Others: Help?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>D generated a thread a year ago where you all gave advice on Potential Engineering Schools. She used your input, applied, and is now stumped making a decision. Any input on schools on her list would be greatly appreciated. (Background, 32M, 33E ACT, APs, etc., good student, but no whiz kid, marginal minority). Her criteria is ability to graduate with a degree in EE over status of school. School costs vary significantly on her list. How hard is it to graduate in 4 years is also an overall cost factor.<br>
Santa Clara -1/2T(private):Accepted into EE, honors
Iowa State -FullT OOS: Accepted into EE, honors
Calpoly -OOS, Accepted EE
Arizona State -1/2T OOS, Accepted EE, honors
Michigan - Accepted Engineering, not EE (in State)
Michigan State - Pre-engineering, not EE, honors (in State)</p>

<p>VT - ?not heard
Vanderbilt?not heard
What would you choose?</p>

2

<p>I would nix Michigan and ASU. I'm a ChemE, but I have 10 years industry experience, will have my MBA this year, spent the first 30 years of my life in California (lived for 5 years not far from Santa Clara; Cupertino), and can attest to both MidWest and West Coast schools and the type of engineers they turn out.</p>

<p>While Michigan ain't bad, Michigan State, IMO, turns out real engineers, and not just some football fan with an aptitude for math.</p>

<p>Santa Clara is a nice school, and the best part is that silicone valley will offer a world of opportunities. However, she's accepted to better.</p>

<p>Iowa State doesn't have the reputation that I think it should, produces real engineers and the cost of living and life style is great. I think she'd get a solid education and have a great college experience as well there.</p>

<p>ASU is for partiers, and I've never met an engineer from there worth their salt. Though I've known very few, and I do wonder why. IMO, do not send a daughter there.</p>

<p>Cal Poly. Well, I'm biased. SLO was my stomping ground during the summers, grew up in Fresno and would head there, pismo, moro bay and north to escape the heat. I love it, and the school is known for producing some of the best engineers from any public school in CA. It ranks with the UCs for engineering and the MEs and EEs seem to get a lot of love. Sports take a backseat, which is nice to us nerds, and the college life is grade A.</p>

<p>IMO, I would send D to SLO... VT and Iowa State close second.</p>

<p>I'm assuming you are from CA</p>

3

<p>If she wants EE then she should go to a college where she was accepted into the EE program. Why was she accepted 'not EE' at the in-state schools? Is this some technicality where they require people to be accepted to general engineering first and then move into the major? If she was accepted as EE at the other schools you mentioned I don't know why she wouldn't have been there as well.</p>

<p>If cost is any factor at all, an in-state school will usually cost much less than OOS which would seem to give the Michigan schools the leg-up. however, if she specifically wants to move out of Michigan to a new area and the cost differential isn't a factor, then moving west wouldn't be bad. CalPoly SLO is in a beautiful area and is well-respected for engineering programs but it's not that close to the major metro areas of the bay area, LA, San Diego so nearby internship opportunities might be difficult to find if that's important to her. Santa Clara is ideally situated for an EE for internships and job prospects. While there are some partiers at ASU (a lot by reputation), not 'everyone' there is some brainless partier and I'm sure your D could do well there. ASU used to have a reputation of being affordable OOS and from your indication of 1/2T it looks like it still is. Phoenix/Tempe has nice weather in winter but really hot weather in the summer (I used to live there) and there's no ocean nearby.</p>

4

<p>I'd go for Michigan because it's well regarded and it's in-state. If I'm not mistaken UMich only admits students to the engineering school and not the individual majors. She can choose EE after the first year.</p>

5

<p>go with UMich, the experience is leagues above the other schools...i'm not aware of any program where they deny you admission from certain majors unless they just started that</p>

6

<p>"While Michigan ain't bad, Michigan State, IMO, turns out real engineers, and not just some football fan with an aptitude for math."</p>

<p>There's a fundamental difference in the education of these two schools: first principals engineers (UM) vs practical engineers (MSU). That's a big on-going debate in the engineering world, but let's just say that different people prefer different methods.</p>

7

<p>I would nix Arizona, Cal Poly SLO, and Iowa from the get go--reputation/location/"commuter campus"/... </p>

<p>That leaves:
UMich~$8,000 Tuition + Room+meal plan
Mich State~$10,000 Tuition + $7000 Room+meal plan
Santa Clara~$17,000 Tuition + $10,000 Room+meal plan</p>

<p>Why I vote Santa Clara over MSU or UM-
Smaller, prefer the location (in terms of job opportunities + it being california vs michigan), better 4-year graduation rate (which I think is tied to it being smaller and more accommodating), bearable additional cost (at least when you ignore flights to and from home, etc, but when you take into account the lower grad rates for the others then the cost could be less than it seems), it would be a new experience/she gets to go far away from who she knows and where she grew up, etc... Oh, and the reputation is nice.</p>

<p>Hope she figures it out without too much trouble. Has she visited them all? Santa Clara has a religious feel (obviously), and since I am not religious that played a role in my not choosing to go there (along with the lack of scholarships). And the simple difference in size between Michigan state/UM and Santa Clara should help a little. In the end, she won't learn from doing it right, so maybe a mistake with spending too much money or going to too big of a school will help her learn something. :) I guess I'm glad I'm done choosing my undergrad... now when I search out grad schools I will know what to NOT do again...</p>

8

<p>Thank you for all the input. D would really like to go south or west to college. It does hurt to have such a great school like Michigan on her acceptance list and turn it down. It is a fabulous school for certain groups, but maybe a big social and academic risk for her. She has visited all the schools on her list except for Vanderbilt. Most of the Big 10 power house engineering programs (all great) restrict access to engineering fields such as EE, ME, etc. until 2nd or 3rd year down the road (to her more hoops to jump through). This was why MSU and UM were not high on her list to begin with. She has been leaning toward Iowa State as she has a full tuition scholarship there, but needs to be aware that outside perceptions may not match reality, but they do count in the overall package. She also liked Santa Clara.</p>

9

<p>Look closely at the 4 and 6 year graduation rates for these schools. Some students will find that the course load or the course offering will push the graduation time out. Budget cuts at public colleges will tend to force later graduation dates. An extra year or two at an inexpensive college could mean more expense over a more expensive college that graduates their students in 4 years.</p>

<p>Not unusual for colleges to declare the freshman as undeclared in engineering. The school does however expect that most students will continue onto their speciality and have allocated the space at admittance.</p>