<p>“One thing to be aware of with smaller schools and engineering is that they don’t necessarily offer all the main subfields” - Not necessarily. It’s more of a risk at a smaller school that offers engineering and many other majors. At small engineering-centric schools (which have pros/con), there are often many fields and subfields available. </p>
<p>Another point to consider - is there a grad school? My son preferred smaller engineering schools with most or all focus on undergrads. Other students prefer to have grad courses available and to be exposured to grad-level researchers. There is no right answer, and many students don’t have a preference. But if they do, it helps narrow the field.</p>
<p>So where do you go to school PurpleDuckMan?</p>
<p>In terms of jobs, if that is your goal, going to Drexel or Northeastern both have mandatory coop programs. If you go to Drexel which BTW has and undergrad under 15K you will have worked 3 different jobs by the time you graduate. </p>
<p>It isn’t as prestigious as other schools but Drexel graduates 1% of all the engineers in the country.</p>
<p>Again, what is right for PurpleDuck may not be right for RedDuck or BlueDuck. PurpleDuck may be totally happy with his/her choice. Now when PurpleDuck makes comments about handholding or generalizations based on what he/she is happy about I tune out because that is simply an opinion of one person. One decision may not be the correct decision for another person. There is not right or wrong answer.</p>
<p>Something to consider. At many large universities the individual engineering departments are quite small. There were only about 50 seniors in my civil engineering class at Ohio State and the upper level engineering elective courses were quite small. Even the soph level courses typically had 30 or less students. The atmosphere in the department was quite intimate too. We had football tailgate parties on the Hitchcock Hall patio, faculty-student basketball games, faculty-student lunches in the department library and field trips with faculty. Most profs knew most students in the department.</p>
<p>If your student doesnt mind the large frosh lecture classes in math, chem, physics and non-tech electives he might want to check out larger universities to see if the atmosphere is agreeable to him. Many universities have web sites which have class schedules listing section enrollments.</p>
<p>Wholeheartedly agree that different people are looking for different things. Doesn’t make one person’s criteria “right” while another’s is “wrong”.</p>
<p>One thing I remember hearing or reading regarding the big school vs. small school question was this: There are always things you can do/join/or whatever to make a big school feel smaller. But there is very little you can do to make a smaller school feel big.</p>
<p>Posted by Purpleduck on another thread…goes to U of Michigan. And he’s looking for an internship too…(go to those job fairs, Purpleduck…with 300 companies or more represented, perhaps some would be interested in you as an intern).</p>
<p>The reality is that there are small schools and large schools and they appeal to different students for different reasons. For engineering, I personally think ABET accreditation is more important than the size or “prestige” of the school.</p>
<p>I have a lovely list of salaries based on schools. Well I have the print out in my hand so let’s do it this way [Best</a> Engineering Colleges By Salary Potential](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/best-engineering-colleges.asp]Best”>Best Engineering Schools | Payscale)
Did you say you were in Colorado? Colorado School of Mines in 4th on this list. It is #1 on the other list I printed and kept: Top State Universities by Salary Potential.</p>
<p>Be careful of whole-school pay surveys. The mix of majors* and the tendency of students to go to graduate school may have a significant impact on a schools’ graduates’ pay levels.</p>
<ul>
<li>Not all “engineering schools” are exclusively populated by engineering students.</li>
</ul>
<p>Useful thread for my DS - although he would prefer (if possible) warmer weather! Knows there is a trade-off though. He likes Lehigh, RPI, Hopkins, Miami (FL) but we looked at Maryland last week (BIG! but with a smaller pricetag) and he appreciated all the opportunities that the larger school offers. Tulane and CMU also on our list to consider. He’s only a junior so no way can I predict what he will prefer a year from now when applying.</p>
<p>I will go through this thread more carefully - you have a lot of smaller schools listed here!</p>
<p>Well…linymom…if warm weather is a criteria…I can vouch for the lovely climate at Santa Clara University (and their engineering program is good too…and nicely located smack in the middle of the Silicon Valley).</p>
<p>Just don’t pick a worse school over a better one BECAUSE of weather.</p>
<p>And thumper1, I’m all over the intern/co op thing. Career center appointments, reviewed resume, information on companies, bookmarked applications, etc.</p>
Ehhh… some do, some don’t. Some large state schools are seeing their budgets slashed. Some small private colleges have endowments large enough that even in the current economy they can afford to keep their labs and equipment updated - not to mention generous benefactors and endowments. Be careful of painting with a broad brush.</p>
<p>There are valid reasons to go to a large school, and valid reasons to go to a small one. Those reasons aren’t really specific to engineering. </p>
<p>The OP has asked for small engineering schools - so that’s what this thread is providing.</p>
<p>"Size and quality are correlatable. " - I don’t agree on that. My son is probably at the smallest engineering school ever. There can be pros/cons to that…but for him it is a terrific fit. </p>
<p>Still I recognize there can be advantages to large department (whether in small school engineering-centric college like I attended or part of a larger university). Larger size allows more diversity of course choices. In some cases there could be quality compromises, but that would vary a lot from school to school.</p>
<p>Rice is a fantastic smallish school (about 3400 undergrads) in Houston- lots of warm weather!. Excellent education, excellent residential life system, huge endowment, great financial aid, beautiful campus and lots of opportunities for research…</p>
<p>Alfred University (NY) established in 1836, offers the following: </p>
<p>School of Engineering
College of Liberal Arts
School of Business
School of Art & Design </p>
<p>2,300 undergrads, small classes-know your professors, Division III Athletics, No Greek Life, merit aid, need-based aid, shuttles to Rochester airport at peak break times, buses to NYC at peak break times, nice charming village of Alfred, NY…many clubs & organizations… Plenty of snow! </p>
<p>Princeton Review’s Best 376
USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide 2012
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Engineering
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Art & Design
Princeton Review’s Best 300 Business Schools
Fiske Best Buy </p>
<p>I visited Alfred with my #2. I really liked this college. The art and the engineering schools left very positive impressions. The staff and professors were very engaging, enthusiastic and helpful. Beautiful campus is the icing on the cake. We live in a real honest to goodness tiny town…this town is smaller than our town which was abit of a turnoff for my son. With a state school across the street the town is the colleges which I thought was a positive. My son did not like it as much as I hoped and I think this is a must visit type of college but I’ve absolutely talked it up as a hidden gem school since that visit.</p>
<p>When we lived near Binghamton, we heard a lot of good things about Alfred. At the time the ceramic engineering program seemed to get a lot of praise.</p>