My junior year son visited U Rochester over spring break and loved it. What other schools do you think are similar to Rochester? (He can’t only have one school on his list!). Thanks.
He is a very high stat kid and stemm, probably engineering.
What did he/you like about it?
I’m interested in it too but not sure if I can fly up there.
I think he liked the compact campus, good facilities, emphasis on research, low key student attitudes, and flexibility. Many of the research universities have a very stressful reputation (e.g. Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins).
My daughter is at Rochester. It was her first choice for all the reasons you mentioned and the only school she applied to. The other schools that were at the top of her list were Tufts, Rice, Northwestern, and Brown.
Case Western Reserve also comes to mind (somewhat similar, at least).
Have a kid who attended Rochester, and I second the recommendation of Case Western-very similar schools in many regards. Other schools on their list for engineering major were University of Pittsburgh, University of Minnesota, Case Western, Temple, University of Maryland and Illinios Institue of Tech. They wanted schools close to or in cities, offered research opportunities, and weren’t pressure-cooker type environments.
If he’s willing to go smaller, I think WPI in MA is considered innovative and collaborative. Also, RIT, in Rochester. Lafayette is a nice LAC with engineering. I know an engineering student at Case who is happy, too.
Tufts, Brandeis and Lehigh are the peers that come to mind.
Brown has a very similar academic program (the “open curriculum” philosophy)
It funny, I thought he would like Brown, but he felt that it was too unstructured, in both curriculum and physical layout.
Case Western, although the curriculum is a little more structured than Rochester. My son just got back from Case’s accepted students program and had Rochester higher on his list until then and now has taken it off completely. We both found the admissions staff and even the professors to be much friendlier at Case during our interactions. Like yours, mine is a high stat STEM kid and will be in the engineering school at Case if he enrolls. Both are good schools, but I think Case clicked for him a little bit more, and the area of Cleveland where Case is located is undergoing a revitalization which also helps.