Small Computer Engineering School

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm looking for a small, rural college with a great engineering program.</p>

<p>My SAT: 1850
My ACT: 27</p>

<p>Any ideas?
I was thinking about Lafayette but I'm not sure if they are well known for their engineering...</p>

<p>On the other hand, Do you think it would be a good idea to go to a larger school?</p>

<p>I like the small town community feel but I heard bigger is better for engineers.
The plan is to get my Bachelors in a school I feel comfortable in, and then get my masters in a school with a good name.</p>

2

<p>Bucknell in PA might be a good fit for you. Although they are primarily liberal arts, they have a separate College of Engineering on campus that I’ve heard is pretty good. Lewisburg is as rural as it gets. It seems borderline farm-country to me, but then I again I’m more in favor of larger cities. It’s also very small, I think around 3,000 undergrads if I remember correctly. It definitely has that traditional college campus feel, lots of old buildings and large grassy hills. I remember when I went on my campus tour that the dorms were nice, there were many places to eat and just relax, etc. If you live close enough (which it seems like you do since you mentioned Lafayette), then check it out for sure.</p>

3

<p>You get a degree in engineering from an ABET acredited school, it is pretty much good enough. There aren’t the same distinctions in engineering that you see more generally; you have your elite colleges (Caltech, MIT, Stanford), a solid middle, and then the tier where admissions pretty much is the fog-a-mirror test. Because of the low admission standards in the latter tier, the teaching level needs to be as low as it can be and still meet ABET, and employers know that. </p>

<p>To be honest, rather than worrying whether lafayette is good enough for you it would be more relevant to worry about whether you are right for engineering. Nationwide about 1/2 to 2/3rds of all starting engineers drop out of that major. Depending on where you go to college your options (stay or xfer) may be constrained.</p>

4

<p>Look at Rose-Hulman</p>

5

<p>Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan which is a small city in the Upper Peninsula. It is a very good engineering school, and with your stats you could probably get in. The UP is definitely rural and rustic, but if you are looking to go somewhere off the beaten path then that is where you should do it.</p>

6

<p>Lafayette College is very well respected for engineering, especially in the NE region. They have a student body of about 2400 undergrads, with about 25% in the various ABET accredited engineering majors (chemical, civil & environmental, electrical & computer, and mechanical).
[Division</a> of Engineering Lafayette College](<a href=“http://engineering.lafayette.edu/]Division”>http://engineering.lafayette.edu/)
[Entering</a> Class Profile About Lafayette College](<a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/]Entering”>http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/)</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>

<p>Rose-Hulman looks like a reach school for me…
Michigan Tech is a nice little gem although the Pennsylvania schools are growing on me.</p>

<p>“You get a degree in engineering from an ABET acredited school, it is pretty much good enough.”

  • do you mean good enough to get a job at a small company or a large one?</p>

<p>Also, are there any good engineering schools in the west?</p>

8

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<p>How about University of Wyoming? They’ve just announced plans for a $100 million expansion of their engineering facilities . . . and it’s definitely rural!</p>

9

<p>We really liked the engineering program at Lafayette. I think you should visit and talk to some people in the department. On our tour, the engineering department assistant overheard one of my questions while our tour group was standing in the hallway outside the engineering office and she came right out and answered my question. I think Lafayette may be what you are looking for. It is not rural but it is up on a hill removed form the small city of Easton. Just across the Delaware River is a very rural area of New Jersey with farms, etc.</p>

10

<p>Clarkson University in Potsdam N.Y… Very rural, small engineering/science/business oriented school. Good merit aid to help attract students into the boonies :slight_smile:
Too rural for my son…</p>

<p>Bucknell and Lafayette might be reaches given your test scores. </p>

<p>Have you visited any schools to get a feel for different sized campuses? Keep in mind that your idea of “big” will change once you actually go to college. The small school might feel too small after awhile. And even in a bigger school, you will find your own community within the school, especially once you start taking classes in your major.</p>

<p>Have you used any of the online college search engines? They are good place to start gathering a list, using criteria including your GPA, test scores, location, college size, potential majors etc. try the government’s college navigator ([College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)) or even the CC one.</p>

11

<p>Colorado School of Mines?</p>

12

<p>

I mean good enough for any company, large or small, that you have contacted to be interested in talking further with you if they are looking for new college grads.</p>

13

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<p>Plenty. An example is New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, which has under 2,000 students and a relatively low cost of attendance, even for out of state. It has an ABET accredited degree program in computer science (though not computer engineering).</p>

<p>Among bigger schools, there are many more…</p>