<p>DS plans to major in Chemical Engineering and he wants to eventually work in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic area. He is interested in Co-ops or internships and studying abroad. He is still trying to pick a school. He is in state at the University of Maryland and received a small scholarship (the Dean's at 4500 per year for two years). He was admitted to Chemical Engineering in the Clark School of Engineering. The Clark School is a Limited Enrollment Program. The net cost of tuition and fees at UMD would be around 5000 for each of the first 2 years and 9500 for each of the last two years. He did not get into Honors or College Park Scholars but has applied for the Virtus Living and Learning Engineering Community. He likes Maryland and could see himself there. He was accepted to the University of Alabama with the Presidential (full tuition) and Engineering Scholarship (2500 per year). He was admitted to the Honors College. We have paid the Enrollment and Housing Deposits at UA so he would be able to get housing there if he enrolls. We would pay nothing for tuition and fees at UA and have a small amount left over for other expenses. Travel costs would be high. He did the SITE engineering summer camp at Alabama a couple of years ago and we visited again last summer. He liked UA and the Chemical Engineering Department has a Certificate in Petroleum which he would be interested in pursuing. He was accepted to Ohio University with several merit scholarships totalling 18,000 and the net cost of tuition and fees there would be 1500 per year. We visited OU twice and he liked it there. There is no Honors College for Engineering at OU. The Honors Tutorial College does not include Engineering. He was accepted to the University of Pittsburgh and he really liked Pittsburgh. He was accepted to the Honors College. He received a 10,000 per year scholarship to Pitt leaving 20,000 in tuition and fees to pay. His sister received a full tuition scholarship to Pitt and I know he would like to go there too. He was accepted to the University of South Carolina and received the out of state tuition waiver, the McKissick Scholarship, and a small Chemical Engineering scholarship. He was accepted to Capstone, not Honors. The net tuition and fees he would have to pay is around 8000 per year. He liked South Carolina. He was accepted to Miami of Ohio with a 20,000 per year scholarship. The net cost of tuition and fees would be 10,000 plus fees. He was accepted to the Honors College. We visited last summer. Also, he really really liked Northeastern but the 14,000 per year scholarship he received was just too low. The net cost ot tuition and fees would be almost 30,000 per year. We went into his college search with our eye on merit scholarships. He applied to other schools, but in the end they were either too expensive or he was not happy with the fit. We realize room and board, books, travel and personal expenses will need to be added to the figures above. We can afford to send him to MD, UA, OU, South Carolina, or Miami of Ohio. At this point the University of Maryland is the front runner. We would love to get some other opinions. </p>
<p>If he is truly interested in atttending U Maryland, then there’s really not much advantage to enrolling out of state for engineering at the schools in your post. Ch-E at U Maryland is perfectly fine. I would closely examine the offerings of each Ch-E department if I were undecided. What’s the strength of each school? Polymers, Biomedical, composites, Process Engineering etc.?</p>
<p>@LakeWashington thank you for your reply. He is leaning toward University of Maryland, but he is still undecided. Does anyone know where we can find out the ranking of each of these schools for undergraduate Chemical Engineering? Also we would love to have additional opinions. He has visited all of these schools. </p>
<p>Ignore rankings.</p>
<p>Your son will soon discover that in a world of ABET certification for engineering departments, rankings are of little impact. Someone might say that MIT is the greatest engineering school in the world, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that more pure engineering firms recruit at the likes of RPI, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Washington and Cornell than MIT for new hires.</p>
<p>For example, Lake Jr. attends a smallish engineering university. He’s a Ch-E major who has been to the campus recruiting fair this year and met employers such as Boeing, NASA, 3M, U.S. Army, Dow Chemical, United Technologies etc. Lake Jr.'s school wins significant research grant money and has a great reputation, but certainly it doesn’t have as many resource$ as the big boys. When it comes to engineering, employers keep “rankings” in perspective.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington, not to worry we are very familiar with the world of ABET accredited engineering. I have a BS in Chemical Engineering from an ABET accredited Chemical Engineering program and I am a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. I worked as a Chemical Engineer for one of the top companies in the world. The purpose of my posting was to try to get some opinions and additional information on the schools listed. Of course, rankings are not the be all and end all. Any opinions on the schools listed would be helpful. </p>
<p>On-campus recruiting is largely local. So, if he wanted to work in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic states, Maryland would be a great choice.</p>
<p>My son did chemE at UMD-CP and it was killer rigorous and challenging. I believe it to be the best of these undergrad programs, but then that’s just my impression based on his experience of it and my research. The certificate in petroleum would be nice and I don’t know if UMD offers such a focus, but your son might shift his focus away from petro at some point. The Alabama program is also quite impressive but I know less about it. I think it would be a good choice as a school and honors program. My D looked at both these schools and some of the others in the bio-med arena so I know UA honors and the campus in a general sense and all the other schools in pretty much the same way. I don’t think rankings matter much; your son has done a good job putting together his list and any of these schools will serve him well. I would think OU engineering is at the bottom academically, USC above that, Miami of Ohio above that, then Alabama, Pitt, and UMD.</p>
<p>Well alrighty then!</p>
<p>I’d drop Carolina because their menu of Ch-E areas seems to be somewhat slight (from a view of the department website). Also, Ohio U’s strength seems to be limited to Mechanical Engineering. Tried to get Lake Jr. to apply OU a couple of years back because of scholarship $$ opportunities. No dice. Moot anyway because he became a Ch-E major elsewhere. My layman’s opinion tells me that Maryland and Pitt are your best options.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advice. He is still deciding. He was accepted to the Virtus LLC for Engineers at MD. His problem with Maryland is that he thinks he will see too many kids from high school. 100 kids from his high school applied to MD and about 50 were accepted. I have told him that I went to my state school and I never saw kids from my high school. He is now leaning toward South Carolina. Thank you @LakeWashington for your comment about South Carolina. We are keeping it in mind. We called one of the South Carolina Chem E profs on Friday. That prof is involved with the Living and Learning community for engineers. The SC retention rate does not seem very high in Chem E. Maryland says they have a very high retention rate in engineering. I think academic supports would be important in such a rigorous program. He is also thinking about Alabama again and their Stem MBA Program. They no longer have a Petroleum Certificate but I don’t think he cares. I think he could be happy at any of these schools. Any additional thoughts?</p>
<p>You’re right to point out that UM’s size means that it’s unlikely he’d bump into high school classmates everywhere on campus, unless he’s looking for them. As someone said on another thread, in the STEM departments, the class sizes often get smaller as you progress, even at a big school like Maryland.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your help. He has chosen the University of Maryland!</p>
<p>congratulations, OP! chemE at UMD is going to rock his world. After his first day in school, my son called me up and said that his professor had just covered everything he’d learned in double-period AP Chemistry in a one hour-and-fifteen minute class. Calc III is going to wear him out, too, but that’s one reason they pay them so well. Good luck.</p>