<p>I'm looking for schools strong in environmental science/engineering and political science. If possible, I'm thinking about double majoring but if need be, I would probably minor in political science. I prefer a school with environmental engineering but if a school that would be a good fit for me only offers environmental science, I would consider going down that path. Anything East Coast would be preferable though I am open to other states as well. A small or midsized school would be ideal so nothing over 20 or 25 K students.</p>
<p>2300 SAT, 35 ACT
Only took tests for four AP tests, all 5s
2 varsity sports (would consider doing either in college if possible)
First generation college student
Orchestra all four years
Will need financial aid</p>
<p>While I'm open to any suggestions of schools to look into (reach, match, safety), I'm particularly looking for match and safety options. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>SATIIs? unwtd GPA? state of residence? what is the max per year your parents will commit to you? you need to know. this is a family decision, and you need info only they can provide. have you run the net price calculator at any school?</p>
<p>My SATIIs were not great so I would rather submit only submit my ACT.
3.75 UW, dropped dramatically first semester senior year (from a 3.91) due to personal issues
I know I definitely will be aiming for any and all scholarships (I have looked into schools where my stats should qualify me for merit aid), but I’ll likely be taking out plenty of loans since my parents won’t be able to support me.</p>
<p>work with me here, OP. I need info. state of residence? have you run the net price calculators anywhere? </p>
<p>Currently in TX but graduated in CA, not sure how that will affect my applications
No, I haven’t run net price calculators anywhere since I’ve mostly been trying to research as many schools as possible to see where I think I want to apply</p>
<p>thanks. Usually, establishing residency in TX requires you to actively jump thru some hoops. You aren’t a TX resident just because you moved there. So you’re probably still a CA resident. That’s good, because CA public colleges are excellent and fairly well priced. </p>
<p>Cost is obviously the main issue for any applicant until s/he learns otherwise. You need to know from your parents what they can provide you each year, a firm number that you can count on. Is there some reason you’re resistant to asking them or talking to CC about this? If so, pm me.</p>
<p>thanks. Usually, establishing residency in TX requires you to actively jump thru some hoops. You aren’t a TX resident just because you moved there. So you’re probably still a CA resident. That’s good, because CA public colleges are excellent and fairly well priced. </p>
<p>Cost is obviously the main issue for any applicant until s/he learns otherwise. You need to know from your parents what they can provide you each year, a firm number that you can count on. Is there some reason you’re resistant to asking them or talking to CC about this? If so, pm me.</p>
<p>Most of the non “Technical Institute” engineering schools would fit your purposes. Cornell, Northwestern, Duke all come to mind. Cal Public’s too based on cost. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 I didn’t think I would still count as a CA resident and wasn’t planning on applying to any schools there except for maybe Berkeley. It’s a great school and my friends there are trying to convince me to join them.
Since I’m not living at home and am planning on working all the way up until I go to college, I thought I would be considered independent as far as financial aid and whatnot. </p>
<p>@zephyr15 Thanks for the input. Cornell is already on my list, but I’m not too sure about adding Northwestern and Duke since I already have a few reach schools. Any suggestions in terms of more match or safety schools for me?</p>
<p>You could do a lot worse in Environmental Engineering than CalPoly SLO, UCIrvine, Merced, and Riverside. All four are ABET-accredited schools for EnvE. For a complete list of the 68 ABET-accredited EnvE schools:</p>
<p><a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx”>http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx</a></p>
<p>UCIrvine is particularly strong in polisci, as well. I don’t know the other polisci programs. Double majoring in engineering and anything else except a STEM, and even then it’s risky, is very hard to do in 4 years. </p>
<p>One of the 67 other EnvE programs will have good polisci; Purdue and Ohio State come to mind, OSU would have some good merit for someone with your scores. </p>
<p>This is about all I can do without more info, OP.</p>
<p>
Uh, no. That’s not how FA works. For FA purposes you are not independent until you are 24, a member of the military, supporting a spouse or a child. Based on what you’ve provided here you will still be considered dependent on your parents and will presumably be considered in-state for CA.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Thanks for the suggestions and the link. Others have definitely stressed that double majoring with engineering will be difficult, which is why I’ve also considered doing environmental science as opposed to environmental engineering. I want to study abroad so I highly doubt I would be able to double major with engineering and still manage to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>@Erin’s Dad Thank you for the clarification. My parents haven’t been able to help me with FA so I was operating under the assumption that I would be considered an independent.</p>
<p>I’m looking to work in the food industry (or potentially with food policy) in the future. Can anyone offer any insight as to whether environmental engineering or environmental science would be more beneficial? Would picking one or the other even make a difference?</p>
<p>If you are interested in food policy/industry and you can get instate tuition for CA…look at UCDavis for these majors…in Texas, look at a&am and Tech</p>
<p>Managerial Economics…ag or natural resource economics area
Community and Regional Development
Landscape Architecture
Sustainable Ag
Food Science
Horticulture
Agronomy/plant science</p>
<p>All will prepare you in different ways for work in food policy and industry. </p>
<p>When faced with these kinds of questions, I generally think it’s easier to go from engineering to policy or science than from science and policy to engineering. In other words, jobs might be more likely to go to the engineers who also do policy than the policy hounds who also know some what? science. I’m not a big fan of enviro policy majors, but that’s just me. At least get the science degree if not the engineering. I’d welcome some feedback on this line of thinking, too, OP.</p>
<p>If however you did majors in policy and science, the engineering could wait til someone else pays for grad school should it become desirable. </p>
<p>@Haystack I appreciate the input on food policy/industry majors. My worry (and my family’s main worry) is that I’ll change my mind about working in the food industry sometime down the line. If I were to pick one of those majors, I might feel stuck pursuing something I’m no longer passionate about. With environmental science or engineering, I feel like there’s more versatility in case I change my mind sometime within the next few years (and even beyond that).</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Everyone else I’ve spoken to seems to agree that going from engineering to science+policy would be easier than going the other way around. While that would most likely be the better path for me to take, I’m concerned that my skill set would hinder me in the long run. I tend to do much better in the humanities as opposed to math and science so I don’t know whether or not I would be successful as an engineer. My interest in science far outweighs my interest in math so I would think that would carry me further in environmental science than in engineering.</p>
<p>yeah, you don’t need much more math for bio and chemistry than you do for polisci, but engg requires a couple harder math courses than bio. So you might be right to want to stay away from engg. Although you have really good math scores on the standardized tests, they test only to pre-calc math. I don’t want to appear to be chasing you away from upper-level math, but you seem to want to avoid it. </p>
<p>I think if you do some research you will find that the employment prospects for,people with just a BS in environmental science are not all that great. None of the majors I listed above, with the exception of food science, limit you to the food industry/policy. I listed them because they all provide a wide variety of employment opportunities. </p>
<p>With a degree in Community Planning you could design urban food systems, work in real estate development, do science based GIS analysis(perhaps with a minor in computer science), design a new transportation system, develop strategies to get more companies to relocate to your city, or any number of other things.</p>
<p>If you really think you need a science degree, then I would do agronomy or geology over environmental science. The job prospects are just as good (likely better) and they are very flexible degrees. Many people consider env science to be a sub field of geology.</p>
<p>Agronomy is a great and very flexible STEM major with abundant job opportunities in ground water management/environment, soil erosion management, science based precision agriculture, ag/farm consulting, business, policy, etc. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.agron.iastate.edu/academic/undergraduate/AgronOptions.pdf”>http://www.agron.iastate.edu/academic/undergraduate/AgronOptions.pdf</a></p>
<p>@Haystack My goal right now is to continue school after undergrad, whether that be in the form of law school or grad school for whatever major I end up pursuing. That being said, a lot can change between now and then, plus finances (and other factors) will need to be taken into account.</p>
<p>I’m in the process of taking a closer look at the majors you listed out and seeing what schools offer those majors in addition to other criteria I’m looking for. Right now, I’m interested in food waste and the possibilities of minimizing it or somehow linking the issues of food waste and world hunger together. I know that my view of such issues is pretty naive so I’m hoping to find a way to start learning more about the problems so that I can really narrow down what it is I want to devote myself to. Out of the list of majors you brought up, would you say any one could be something I’m definitely interested in?</p>
<p>You seem to focus more on picking a different major as opposed to picking environmental science. What’s your take on picking a more flexible STEM major over environmental engineering or another type of engineering? Engineering friends have jokingly referred to environmental engineers as “a bunch of tree huggers” so I wonder how employers will view environmental engineers as opposed to other engineers, especially in the food-related industry.</p>
<p>Would you say that any of those majors be limiting in terms of job prospects? I’ve heard that some schools are more well-known in certain areas; while the majors I’m looking into are pretty universal, could they could impact where I end up in the future? I’d like to keep my options open in terms of where in the U.S. (or even overseas) I end up.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any suggestions for schools I could take a look at?
Possible matches or safeties would be great.</p>