<p>I am familiar with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and I recommend that you take a good look at it. Somewhat less difficult admissions standards but it has a very good engineering reputation. Quite rigorous course work. There are several scholars among its engineering faculty whom are prominent in their fields. And the school is inexpensive to boot, although I don’t know that for you it would be cheaper than Missouri S&T or your great deal at SLU. SDSM&T alumni (Mechanical and Chemical) have been hired by the likes of NASA, Boeing, the Jet Propulsion Lab etc. The placement rate is quite successful for co-ops and permanent employment.</p>
<p>As far as social life is concerned, it’s like most STEM schools; SDSM&T is about 75% male. But the place is chock full of student clubs and organizations and the are women are very integrated into campus life. There’s a full compliment of womens’ athletic teams, for example. Reportedly, the frat scene is comfortable and not suffocating. There are so many alternatives to being in a frat, especially if you enjoy the outdoor life. </p>
<p>That sounds great, especially the location. Would love to live in South Dakota, but not entirely too sure on Rapid City itself. Looking at some of the research the ME faculty has been doing is also interesting.</p>
<p>My only concern about attending a male dominated school is that it would be obscenely “masculine”. I’m not a very “masculine” guy, at least in what defines it (not interested in sports, cars, etc.) so I am afraid that would be the case at technology/engineering schools. Is this assumption true? I am beginning to think its not so much the case, more a wide variety. Engineers are stereotypical depicted as “nerds” right?</p>
<p>Hi! I went to undergrad at Purdue, obviously a larger school, but I studied aero, which is a pretty male dominated major. And the truth is: you get all kinds. Yes, there’s the traditional masculine, frat guy type, but I’d say general geekiness prevails. </p>
<p>I don’t know all your reasons for wanting to go to a small school, but it might be worth it to think about what you have against a big school. At my school, people were often insulated by major (and aeros were probably the worst for this), so even though there were lots of people and a large campus, I didn’t get that “lost in the crowds” feeling. Also, there’s a lot more activities to chose from. And a larger school typically means wider variety of majors, so the gender ratio thing tends to be a little less obvious.</p>
<p>When my sister was in senior year of HS, she swore up and down she wanted a small LAC in the city. She’d make fun of me for my “in the middle of a cornfield” school (not an unfair description I suppose). Not a month after she started attending a small school in Chicago, she started complaining. She’d come to visit me every weekend pretty much and she loved being at my school.</p>
<p>The point of my anecdote really is just to say that it’s important to to a.) get a feel for each of the schools you’re interested in and b.) not make assumptions about what you won’t like.</p>
<p>That being said, if you’ve looked at large schools and didn’t like the atmosphere, I think the suggestions on this thread (Harvey Mudd, Rice, etc.) are excellent.</p>
<p>You asked about Case Western. My son is looking at the school and a friend’s daughter loves it there. We also lived nearby for a few years while I worked in Cleveland. While my son is interested in Computer Science and not Aerospace Engineering, we were impressed with the seriousness of the students. The gender mix is a little more even than most engineering schools. Plus Case is ABET-accredited in Aerospace Engineering (we’re only looking at ABET-accredited schools, except for U of Maryland). My son’s stats are close to yours, so admission wouldn’t be as difficult as the other schools you’ve mentioned. You can check out the admission thread on the Case Western page on CC and get a better idea of your chances for admission and scholarships, and ask about the school. </p>
<p>I can’t tall you anything about FIT, but since I am a faculty member at Illinois Institute of Technology, I can tell you that the AE program is good. The school is about 67% male but that number has been dropping over the last decade. The school is in the city of Chicago and connected well with two elevated train lines going through campus. If you like being in a city, Chicago is a good one to be in.</p>
<p>We have sports but it is not a big deal on campus. Pretty much like any of the [url=“<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] school, many of which have been mentioned in this thread.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of good choices you are looking at. Some of the more selective ones may be just too much of a reach for you. But you can afford a few because you have affordable safeties. I’m curious about your schedule and why you saved all the hard science AP for Sr year when the colleges won’t be able to evaluate you for the full year. Like why not chem or physics instead of enviro now? And no math this year or yes? What level, since I see you are doing AP stats next year. Do you have AP Calc? These things will matter very much to the reach schools. As well as your test scores (and your EC’s.)</p>
<p>As far as the UAH automatic merit awards, yes they are real and you will get them as long as you apply by the priority deadline. Well worth an application. That award and a few others are listed in the financial aid forum pinned in a thread to the top.</p>
<p>Case Western would be a good school for you to look into. If you get the ACT scores your hoping for you would be a good applicant. Around 8000 students attend Case, however, half of them are graduate students. I know several kids who attend Case and they all love it (the weather not withstanding). All of them are either science or engineering majors. It is much like Carnegie Mellon but they usually offer better financial aid. Our D was accepted there and with her merit aid and need based financial aid it was close in cost to the instate school she was accepted to even with their scholarship. She chose to go elsewhere but it ended up being a much larger school. The male/female ratio I believe is in the 55/45 range. </p>
<p>“A question - how can I get a feel for these schools without actually visiting them?”</p>
<p>Actually, that is pretty hard to do. Eventually you should visit. But before visiting… since you are interested in Aerospace Engineering and do not want to be around all guys, first you should find schools with the AE major and then look at the male/female mix. This information is easily available.</p>
<p>A couple of people have mentioned the University of Alabama in Huntsville. It meets both of the criteria above, plus is modest in size and, yes, has close connections to NASA. The academics could be exactly what you want. The only down side might be the social life. For years, UAH was a commuter school with almost all students living at home with parents. This has been changing lately, but still appears to be the norm. Make sure that you understand the current situation and that you can live with it (literally).</p>
<p>UAH freshman are required to live on campus unless their family home is less than 30 miles from campus. Thus, the figure @ucbalumnus would suggest that about 45% of students live at home with their family. Anyway, apparently plenty of non-Huntsvillians attend UAH.</p>