I looked over Michigan AnnArbor Engineering. Seems good with what I found so far. Pricing on my npc was quite bad but Niche and Time say it will be about 18k and 17k which for my efc will be acceptable. Average student SAT Math is 707 which acceptably lower than my S but not so low that it offers no challenge.
I’ll give UMich a try and see what they offer thanks for the tip.
As far as the others, Purdue seemed too big, Pennstate came out to expensive, and althought Mich is also very big, the fact that it’s rated so high on Usnews is a bit of a balance.
I’ll see what my S says about it.
The list is fine, of course. But some thoughts, FWIW:
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Carnegie Mellon is a great engineering school. I’m dubious of claims that it is any more rigorous than Cornell is, and your son is obviously willing to attend Cornell.
I don’t know about the financial situation there( or anywhere else for that matter), but I’d encourage you to leave it on the list, pending more research. -
The schools I most often read about giving people merit money are Case, RPI and U Rochester.
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At some of these schools (thinking Trinity specifically, maybe others too; Rochester if it wound up on the list) your son may have a better chance of admission if he visits prior to applying.
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when considering “student SAT math”, make sure you are looking at engineering students only.
Schools with diverse programs of study will admit students with diverse academic capabilities/ profiles, accordingly.
Also, some engineering schools, particularly state universities, are rumored to admit many somewhat unqualified students but then flunk a lot of them out. It’s conceivable that the SATs of those who actually survive into junior year might be materially higher than those of the incoming freshman class.
That’s how graduates of a number of these schools can be highly regarded by employers, despite their incoming class having lower stats. Because there is less difference in the groups that actually graduate.
Not claiming that Michigan works that way though, I think it doesn’t, actually.
Interesting points and very helpful, thanks.
I’m a Northeastern freshman and I see people wearing Cornell stuff all the time around campus, so it’s definitely a popular place for Cornell rejects (including myself haha)
My daughter loved Northeastern but wasn’t so sure if she wanted to co-op. Hated RPI which was really too bad because she has that book award merit scholarship. Penn State was also really nice if it is affordable to you. Purdue and GA Tech have both gotten much harder to get into for engineering the past 2 years so worth a shot but not a sure thing.
There is a post sometime ago about Cornell of an essay telling she didn’t need them and was accepted.
It really depends on your engineer discipline. Interesting about rankings is how similar disciplines are ranked with a large difference.
I would throw into the list Stevens Institute of Technology it has one of the best earnings potential of all colleges and is located in the heart of the world.
@reformedman
Be aware of each engineering schools flexibility in admitting you to a major or allowing changes of major. Lehigh and Case Western allow engineering admits to choose any normal engineering major they wish, and to change majors easily. Most engineering schools have applications and restrictions that may force a student to major in something that is not their choice, or to have to transfer.
Let us know the results (in/not) and what you decide to do then.
@acdchai I’ve heard the term before but not sure what it means. What does “coop” mean?
Co-op is a program offered by some schools where work experience is a part of the college path. There are some schools where a certain number of co-op “blocks” are required for graduation, and the program becomes a 5 year degree rather than 4. RIT is an example of this. Some schools optionally offer co-op, but it’s not required. Stevens is an example of this. You don’t pay tuition for the terms you co-op, and the earnings for a 6 month co-op assignment are substantial and if you find the right living arrangement, can really help with later year college costs.
Most schools that require or strongly recommend coop have strong on-campus placement offices, and companies come to campus to interview students. Many companies use coop as a “try before you buy” method to look for potential new employees, so some coop students end up working for the company they co-op’d for post-graduation.
Both my wife and I did co-op, and it really helped with both career placement (you graduate with a year of work experience), and with understanding what the future work will be (I know people who have changed their major after their first co-op). Personally, I highly recommend it if it’s an option, it worked great for me.
- wall st journal published an article this year on salary outcomes of elite vs non-elite graduates. Findings for stem students were that they were virtually the same. Stem graduates from u penn and deleware ended up w the same salary outcomes. So a free education at njit honors makes an awful lot of economic sense. I’m sure you can google the article.
- not sure how you concluded the average math score for u mich is 703. The middle 50 is 730-800 for the new sat and 700-800 for the old sat:
https://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/student-profile
pretty well-known that the top 10 per cent at mich is stronger statiscally than Yale. So yes, your son should find some challenge there. Unless your son has superlative stats, it’s unlikely he’ll see much aid there as an oos student.
- We have friends with kids at northeastern, I would look at 4 year vs 5 year graduation rates. Our friends complained about paying for another year of school for their kids because it's very hard to graduate on time due to the co-ops.
Best of luck!
^wrt Northeastern: you don’t pay tuitions during the co-op semesters, so strictly speaking parents pay for 8 semesters, regardless of whether they are over 5 years or 4.
I think co-ops are great for many if not most people but my daughter wants to go straight to grad school and take a more academic/research path to employment so it doesn’t really suit her needs.
Re#27, consider that perhaps the earnings surveys come out that way because virtually all the school’s grads wind up working in the NYC metro area. This is among the highest cost of living areas in the country so nominal salaries are generally higher, to partially compensate. However while the nominal salaries are higher, net take home pay may well be lower.
Some years ago we were living in the Midwest. When we came back to NYC metro we received nominal wages about 2.5 times what we earned in the Midwest. But we have a lower standard of living now than we had then. For one thing, our house is 70 years older (so needs repair),1,000 square feet smaller, and was three times the price.
My guess is some other schools draw a greater proportion of their job recruiters from wider geographic areas. Or different geographic areas. But those of their students who choose jobs in NYC metro probably do not earn less.
IMO.
Think about it, why would grads of every other school who live in the same metro area earn less, as a group? That school’s grads are in aggregate, to be blunt, not the tippy top of the brains hierarchy (not that they are bad, of course, just not the very top, as a whole) and the engineering profession is very much a meritocracy. After a year of employment nobody will even know where you went to school.
Of course it is no great tragedy to go to work in NYC metro, lots of people may want that. But there’s something to be said for having opportunities to choose from that are farther afield too, even if nominal compensation for them appears lower.
Got timed out, wanted to add that the salary surveys I recall seeing did not adjust for major.
A school with a large proportion of engineering students will show relatively higher salaries for this reason alone, when compared to diverse schools that have relatively more liberal arts, education, etc majors.
Particularly since these same surveys excluded anyone getting advanced degrees. Meaning the salaries of any of a school’s liberal arts majors who went on to medical school, law school, MBA, or other graduate training would be excluded. A high proportion of liberal arts grads from the “better” schools go on for advance degrees. My guess is those people make more, on average, than the engineering grads do, on average.