<p>Hi all. My son is a senior with unweighted GPA of 3.9; SAT 1490/2260. Looking for engineering program with lots of faculty interaction; opportunities for research and projects. He likes to build and tinker so a program with early hands on would be great. Location not too big an issue. What are some good options given his stats? I'd also be interested in any schools with strong engineering and liberal arts.</p>
<p>Those stats make him competitive for almost every school. What is your budget?</p>
<p>We have two boys applying for colleges this year. Finances are a concern, so merit aid would be great. He has good grades and SAT scores, but is taking precalculus this year and honors physics. I’m worried that top schools will not look at him without calculus and AP Physics.</p>
<p>He should give it a shot anyway. Sometimes, AP classes aren’t everything (they do help though). But I don’t think that just because he doesn’t have AP classes that he should shy away from applying. Essays and other factors are taken into account. Most private Uni’s are very generous with financial aid, so take a look into that as well. There are plenty of great engineering programs on the west coast, as well as the east coast. He should research some of the schools he’s interested in to see if they have good programs.</p>
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<p>Cal Poly SLO if you’re in California is a bargain. Out of state is around $35K, very little chance of merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Other small to medium-sized west coast privates with good opportunities for hands-on work include many Jesuit schools such as Santa Clara, University of Portland, Seattle University. Also University of the Pacific. Your son would get lots of merit but the cost would still be around $35K.</p>
<p>Do you have a good state school you’re considering?</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. Sorry I was not clear about about the AP classes; he doesn’t have AP Physics, but he has taken AP World History AP-5/SAT II-800; AP US History AP-5/SAT II-800; AP Bio AP-4/SAT II-740. He’s taking AP English and AP Econ now. As far as schools, suggestions would be very welcome. So far he’s applied to Penn State, Pitt, and Purdue. I would very much appreciate some ideas about additional schools to check out.</p>
<p>Hi. I can’t believe you suggested the Jesuit schools; he’s at a Jesuit high school now and I did not know that there were Jesuit colleges with engineering programs. Will check them out. We are not CA residents, but have heard good things about Cal Poly SLO…very hands on training I believe. Any idea about stats for admission out of state? Also, his cousin is at UCSD, but I’ve heard that really competitive; is that worth investigating? Overall, I believe he wants to stay on the East Coast; his twin does not want to go too far West. They don’t have to be in the same school or state, but kind of want to be near enough for a road trip weekend :). I’m encouraging both to look a little further afield…Thanks</p>
<p>What about your budget? Purdue OOS gives little merit aid and no financial aid. UMich, for which he would be competitive is the same. Alabama has a very good engineering program and gives great merit aid. What is your home state?</p>
<p>Since you want merit, and many of the above mentioned schools do not have assured merit amounts, you should have your son apply to Alabama for ASSURED merit for his stats.</p>
<p>He’d get free tuition plus 2500 per year (over $100k in scholarship money). The remaining costs would be about $12k per year. A bargain and financial safety for you.</p>
<p>The above scholarship money is ASSURED for his stats if he applies by Dec 15 and submits the scholarship app. The apps are VERY EZ…no essays, no LORs. After you get your app in (and test scores/transcripts), you’ll have the acceptance and scholarship offer in hand within a couple of weeks. Seriously. That quick. </p>
<p>Bama has a brand new gorgeous Science and Engineering Complex - 900,000 square feet of new research and academic space. Faculty are very involved with their students, especially within Eng’g. The Dean is very student-focused and that attitude prevails.</p>
<p>The Freshman Engineering Program lets kids be “hands on” right away. It also lets them experience the various Eng’g disciplines so that they can be sure of which area they like best.</p>
<p>all of Bama’s eng’g programs are ABET accredited.</p>
<p>Here’s a video and pics about the school… (the video is about the College of Arts and Sciences, but gives you an overall of the school.)
[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p><a href=“Titanium Chef | Home”>http://acresummit.ua.edu/store/store_files/Jason_Walker-207.pdf</a></p>
<p>^^^ Pics of the new Science & Engineering Complex begin on page 6, Student housing pics begin on page 12. * </p>
<p>All Four Phases of the Eng’g Complex are complete.</p>
<p>Alabama forum on College Confidential is VERY active.*
[University</a> of Alabama - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/]University”>University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Penn State is bad with merit. UPitt is iffy with merit, very unpredictable. </p>
<p>Purdue would likely give about $9k per year.</p>
<p>Santa Clara may give about $25k per year (that’s what my nephew got for similar stats)…remaining costs would be about $30k per year.</p>
<p>How much do you want to spend each year per child?</p>
<p>UCSD wouldn’t likely be any merit.</p>
<p>Look into Olin. It’s a small (300 students), very hands-on, project-based, engineering school in Massachusetts. Every single admitted students automatically receives a half-tuition scholarship, which would bring the total cost down to $40,000. Only 19% admitted though, but academically, your son is within range.</p>
<p>Once the OP tells us how much she can spend “per child” (she has two starting college next year), we’ll be able to give more advice. </p>
<p>Paying $80k per year for two children going to college at the same time may not be doable…wouldn’t be for most families. lol</p>
<p>We can afford approximately 40,000 per child. Alabama scholarships sound great. How is big the program? Class sizes for intro courses? I’ll look it up, but wanted to get a sense from someone who has attended or has kids there also. My son attends a small school and has never been in a school with more than 12-20 kids in a class. I was wondering also about small to medium size schools with engineering programs. Thanks.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>how big is Bama’s College of Eng’g? it’s about 3100 students (more or less). </p>
<p>but wanted to get a sense from someone who has attended or has kids there also**</p>
<p>My son graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree last May from Bama, so I am familiar with the program.</p>
<p>My son went to a small Catholic high school. Student body size of about 250 students (at the time, it’s now a bit larger). Of course, small classes were the norm, especially for the AP classes. </p>
<p>visit the Bama forum here on CC to meet more parents/students in Bama Eng’g.</p>
<p>here’s the CoE link <a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/[/url]”>http://eng.ua.edu/</a></p>
<p>I don’t know if you’re Catholic or not, but Bama does have a Catholic church right on campus grounds. The Catholic student numbers outgrew the old church so a brand new bigger one was finished in August. The old church will become the larger Catholic student center.</p>
<p>Be sure to take a look at Case Western…great Engineering program and good merit $$$ with your S’s stats. Lots of hands on, research, internships…
Oh, and the University of Rochester!</p>
<p>I’m from a heavy engineering area. When one of my sons was looking, we talked to lots of engineers in the area. They were managers in all types of firms.</p>
<p>What they told us was that in the SE, GA Tech produces the best students, but the degree is 5 to 6 years, so much better to save your money and go to a 4 year degree and then get your masters at GA Tech.</p>
<p>The schools whose grads they like:
Auburn-will offer your son a big scholarship. Good school across the board, very friendly
Mississippi State–a candidate for a full-ride here. Extremely friendly, outside of engineering and a few other departments it’s not as good as Auburn.
TN Tech–lesser known but grads are spoken of highly
Vanderbilt–good engineers, but not any better than the others. But much more costly. However, should your son drop engineering, a very good school in most everything. </p>
<p>The grads they don’t like as much:
Alabama–very, very heavy drinking/drug and partying school.<br>
Ole’ Miss–have not visited yet.<br>
University of Alabama-Birmingham–neat location. City school. Stellar in all things medical and premed. Great Biomedical engineering program and attached to a MASSIVE hospital system. </p>
<p>Alabama will throw a lot of money at your son, I would expect a full-ride. They would have come very close to that for my son. They are trying desperately to catch up to the other programs in the area which is why they are throwing money at so many kids. </p>
<p>However, most engineers who had no dog in the Bama-Auburn debate said that free at Bama would still not equal a partial scholarship at the other three I mentioned. That is not to say that fine engineers don’t come from there. There are some. It’s just easy to get out without as rigorous a training. </p>
<p>Other schools we visited that would most likely offer your son a scholarship and have very well respected programs in our area and seemed to be well loved by their students. NC State, and Clemson.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^
bs</p>
<p>I live in a heavily engineering area. The above about Bama isn’t true…not all all. The kids…especially eng’g students… don’t drink more there than they do at VT, Clemson, Auburn, etc. The above is just BS.</p>
<p>The Engineering curriculum is basically the same if a program is ABET accredited. [Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx) The difference will be in any research opportunities. I have no idea why GT’s program would be 5-6 years when it’s 4 at other schools when it covers the same breadth. Maybe you can’t get the classes you need?</p>
<p>I asked my H to respond to the post #16 because it is so outrageously wrong. H is a 33 year engineer, upper mgmt, at a very large high tech corporation. His own education (undergrad/grad) is from Big 10 schools. His response:</p>
<p>We have been hiring regional engineers for decades. We see no difference in the performance of engineers from UAH, UAlabama, Auburn, UTenn, Tenn Tech, UFlorida, Texas A&M, UTexas, GTech, Clemson, Miss St, LSU, Purdue and Vanderbilt. They all offer high quality engineering programs. There is one regional university that we avoid hiring from because their STEM courses have proved to be too weak. I currently have two UAlabama managers reporting to me and they are outstanding. The new-hires that we’ve recruited from UAlabama are well-prepared. As I know my wife has mentioned in the past, we pay new-hire engineers the same regardless of where they went to school. That is a policy that many companies follow.</p>
<p>The UAlabama STEM facilities are first-rate. One cannot get through their programs without hard work, innovative-thinking, hands-on experience, and intelligence. I find the “partying and drinking” comment irrelevant because that goes on at every college, but less so amongst STEM students. Perhaps the engineers that this person spoke with have had little or no first hand experience with UAlabama engineering graduates and are assuming that the school’s reputation of being a football powerhouse implies that academics are a second-thought.</p>
<p>Although UAlabama’s very high admittance rate to med schools is not a direct reflection on the quality of its College of Engineering - although many acceptees are holding eng’g degrees - the fact that the school does have a high admit rate also reflects positively on the school’s STEM academic strength.</p>
<p>WPI! Engineers get exposure right away to engineering projects through the Great Problems Seminar, and the school is very focused on the proper balance between theory and practice (it’s their motto).
[First</a> Year Experience - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/firstyear.html]First”>http://www.wpi.edu/academics/firstyear.html)
[WPI</a> Admissions - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/WPIAdmissions]WPI”>WPI Admissions - YouTube)</p>
<p>and for tinkering, he can spend his spare time in the CollabLab [CollabLab</a> Gives Students Space for Robotic, Electronic Projects | WPI Connection](<a href=“http://wp.wpi.edu/connection/2012/02/02/collablab-gives-students-space-for-robotic-electronic-projects/]CollabLab”>http://wp.wpi.edu/connection/2012/02/02/collablab-gives-students-space-for-robotic-electronic-projects/)</p>