Small engineering school for a fairly decent student

<p>Rose Hulman is skewed gender-wise. Harvey Mudd is balanced, but it is one of the most competitive colleges in the country in terms of admission, despite not being well-known by the general public. Its median SAT scores are higher than those of the Ivies. </p>

<p>A few years ago when we were looking for an engineering school for our S, we toured Rose Hulman among others. We were impressed with the curriculum, facilities etc; however, the cost of attendance (net price) in our case precluded it from being considered. </p>

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<p>IMO, Prescott is better suited to engineer/science majors since over half of the students at Prescott are in either engineering, astronomy, or space physics degree programs. Significant upgrades were also made to engineering labs/buildings between 2004 and 2007, as well as the addition of a new library, cafeteria, and several new science buildings between 2007 and 2009. There are only 1,800 students at Prescott, which makes for a very tight-knit campus community, and small class sizes (largest class is around 30 students, avg ~10-20).</p>

<p>What really sets ER-Prescott apart from the other schools on your list though are its unique campus atmosphere and location… you just won’t find another school quite like it. </p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd is probably going to be a reach for you… Rose and Embry Riddle you should have no problem getting into. </p>

<p>What do you guys think of:</p>

<p>Case Western Reserve University
University of Rochester
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering</p>

<p>I think these are much more harder to get into but how do they fit the criteria in the first post? I would really love to go to college in Arizona though, Embry-Riddle sounds very alluring to me.</p>

<p>I am a bit turned off by Rose-Hulman - its students seem to leave with an average substantial amount of debt, something I don’t really want to deal with because I want to have the option to pursue a PhD and I don’t want to have that big of a burden. If I can solidify my decision to go for a PhD though it may be best to go with my cheapest options (as far as I know) here in Missouri. </p>

<p>Have you run the net price calculators on all of the schools mentioned in this thread to get estimated costs and financial aid?</p>

<p>no</p>

<p>Run the net price calculators. If the school is not affordable, and there are no realistic large-enough merit scholarships that you can try for, drop it from further consideration. If it is only affordable with a merit scholarship, then evaluate reach/match/safety based on the merit scholarship, not admission.</p>

<p>I will do that when I get the opportunity, thank you for reminding.</p>

<p>OP, as far as your three reaches in whatever post number that is (yes, post numbers are helpful), you can look up the common data set to see what the mix of students is and how much of a reach the school is. For instance, I think you have little to no chance at Olin. The 25%ile for ACT is a 32 and 100% of admitted students have a 3.75 or better. That just doesn’t seem to be an option for you.</p>

<p>Check out Case Western Reserve–in Ohio, typed as a nerdy school (not too focused on sports)</p>

<p>You’re probably right about Olin</p>

<p>back to you bodangles, I have looked at the surface. Haven’t really looked much into Case though.</p>

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<p>Olin is very, very small, and is exclusively engineering. There’s nothing wrong with it from an academic standpoint, but the campus atmosphere/social scene will certainly not be for everyone. Make sure you get a good feel for the campus/student life there before seriously considering it.</p>

<p>I’m going to beg to differ a bit. The south isn’t as conservative as you think and you should look specifically at the aerospace programs. For my son, we looked at Duke, WashU, Rice - all small with good engineering programs but not specifically aerospace. He chose to go to Georgia Tech because of it’s strong program. It’s not as big as you think, much smaller than the typical state university. A little guy heavy but it’s in downtown Atlanta and near several other universities. The program is rigorous but worth it.</p>

<p>PTH</p>

<p>What about an engineering school that’s part of a smallish university, e.g., Washington University or Tufts University. Neither is a big sports school. Both are strong academically–although I’m not sure about the engineering. </p>

<p>I have been considering Wash U for a while, but it is a fairly difficult school to get into. I also recently discovered Rice, which I am also interested in. </p>

<p>A quesiton - how can I get a feel for these schools without actually visiting them?</p>

<p>There are a couple of things that come to mind - Read the reviews on this website under the Campus Vibe - They often have insight into the ‘feel’ of the campus. You can also look at the school reviews on ■■■■■■■■■■, but be aware that you will find reviews that are good and bad and have to take them with a grain of salt. Some students end up in places they shouldn’t and will review the school negatively when in reality, they were more of the issue than the school. </p>

<p>Youtube is also a good resource. Just search for campus tour videos, or any videos for that matter (as long as they are not made by the school). </p>

<p>Searching for campus images on Google can also give you a good feel for what the campus and surrounding area looks like. Using Google Street view is another way of doing this.</p>

<p>Reading online reviews is somewhat questionable as you never really know who is posting those reviews and what their intentions are. As stanatedj mentioned, Cappex is a relatively good site for reviews.</p>

<p>After looking more closely at UAH’s website, I saw the full-tuition scholarship, I think. Can someone verify to me if this is what I think it is?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/non-residents-merit-awards”>http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/non-residents-merit-awards&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“An incoming first-time freshman student who has a 3.5-3.99 cumulative High School GPA and a 30-36 ACT or 1330-1600 SAT (CR+M only) will receive a four-year Charger Distinction Award for 100% of tuition charges (up to 16 credit hours).”</p>

<p>Is this what I think it is? (Of course, if I am able to get a 30 on the ACT and I have dedicated myself to getting at least that) Also, is the “4.0+” gpa implying that this is taking into consideration weighte d grades or unweighted? I have exactly 4.0 weighted GPA but it’s like 3.7ish unweighted.</p>

<p>Of course not that it would matter much, unless I were to get a 34-36 on the ACT</p>

<p>Additionally, is there a quick list that shows which schools require the SAT? As far as I know only the upper-tier universities require it but I’d still like to know. I know I can access the common data set for every school and see if its required but a list of some sort could be beneficial.</p>

<p>A small number of schools require SAT subject tests in addition to either the ACT or SAT reasoning test.</p>

<p>It may be worth taking both the ACT and SAT reasoning tests (or at least try old released tests under test conditions) to see if you can do significantly better on one than the other.</p>