<p>What are the top undergraduate Engineering programs that don't 'expect' science fair/Olympiad wins?</p>
<p>I'm wondering how high a kid with unweighted GPA - 4.0, hardest classes available, 2250 SATs can aim if their summer and ECs are non-STEM, such as team sports, Drama, coming from a good, but not 'top ten' private school. </p>
<p>I guess I'm worried about the 'if you have to ask then you'll never know' sorts of things that the top Engineering schools/programs are looking for. </p>
<p>Many of the strong public schools that have engineering admit and give merit aid based on SAT/ACT and gpa. Not knowing where you’re located, but examples for me are Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, U of Mich, etc. Other strong engineering schools that are not public are Rensseler (RPI), Clarkson, Boston U, and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). There are different rankings available on engineering schools, but most of them are considering graduate research when they crank out these numbers, so you’ll have to do more reading. Going to a university for engineering has its advantages as some engineering courses require expensive labs or equipment and larger schools tend to have more updated equipment.</p>
<p>Also, since your son is a sophomore, you may want to have him do an early college tour of any decent engineering school near you to ask this hypothetical question. If you have neighbors or friends that are doing well as engineers, ask them their opinion of engineering schools as well. Depending on his major interest, some schools would move higher up on the list (computer chip design and robotics versus aeronautical or biomedical).</p>
<p>Thanks SnowflakeVT. We are in Connecticut. I do find the ranking lists confusing. What do you hear about UConn’s Engineering program? So far DS isn’t sure which area of Engineering he is interested in.</p>
<p>UConn is another strong public university. I would classify engineering into a few categories … if your son doesn’t know now, don’t fret. The first year of engineering is very similar for all majors with a strong focus on calculus, physics and chemistry. Some smaller schools (like U. of Southern Maine) only offer electrical and mechanical for undergrad, which is fine because as an undergrad, you really can’t specialize to deeply beyond the base of electrical or mechanical.</p>
<p>Here are the general types of majors you may come across. If your son really likes one, he should learn about them over the next year, and if possible, try to go to a program in the summer that allows him to explore more deeply. Here’s the short description:</p>
<p>1) Electrical Engineering (what I am). Could cover anything from power (the companies that provide electricity to your house) to computer chip design to nano technologies.
2) Mechanical. Could cover anything from design of engines/automobiles to design of the physical components that keep your computer from heating to death.
3) Chemical. Useful for any company that does manufacture of food, production of plastic, refining old and a bunch of other things.
4) Civil. Design of structures for public transportation and buildings (bridges, damns, roads, baseball parks, etc.)</p>
<p>There are also industrial engineers (ergonomic layout of a manufacturing facility, for example), biomedical engineers (design of new heart valves, for example), aeronautical engineers and many others. As a sophomore in high school you don’t have to pick yet … do well in calculus and physics and see what pics your interest (or your Son’s.).</p>
<p>OP, don’t worry. My D didn’t have any hooks or any awards, as in none, zip, nada. She got accepted to engineering programs at Northwestern, Duke, Rice etc. Those are, probably, not top notch engineering schools but nevertheless it shows that you don’t need everything under the sun.</p>