<p>Frankly there isn’t a ton of differentiation with undergraduate engineering degrees and starting salaries with the exception of places like Cal and MIT. In the addition to looking in his region like I suggested earlier he could also look at places like Michigan Tech, Hope College and other smaller midwest engineering colleges where he would likely get merit for his scores and his geographic diversity. There’s a couple in the east that could go on the list. I don’t see the list being much larger than maybe 8 colleges, carefully selected for merit potential and worry “less” about where they rank. GVSU has an up and coming engineering program as done Western Michigan and I’m sure there are similar places in Illinois and Wisconsin. This student has bigger issues (financial) and should be seeking colleges that will yield transparent $$ if he wants an undergraduate engineering degree. Look for ABET accreditation and look for where graduates are working before he worries about the “name.” I agree with looking at Marquette and possibly University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, the cost of travel from Washington State should be carefully considered if he’s going to go outside the region. Early research will be this kid’s best friend and his application should be highly targeted rather than random.</p>