And the arts/machine shop labs are available for non arts/ocean emphasis students?
They seem very happy to support student interests. The engineering student would need to be checked out on the equipment, but they have funds the students can apply for to fund research and building prototypes.
The other colleges you may want to look at are WPI (but males typically get less merit) and RIT (run the net price calculator and see where they come in). Both have a focus on hands on-learning, lots of equipment for makers, a defined campus, and snow, too.
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Check out Washington State Universityâs Voiland School of Engineering in Pullman.
Snow: definitely
Sports: Huge
Woodworking: Read about their Maker Spaces on the website â I think it sounds like what you want
Class size: 81% of WSU classes overall have less than 50 students and he can also get small classes if he joins the Honors College
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Bucknell- Strong Engineering, Small Class Sizes, âHe needs a community with people that love and want to talk/watch decent sports when not studying.â-Probably would find this at Bucknell. Enclosed campus, not Rochester, N.Y., but you get snow. Not a lot going on in the surrounding area. It meets a very high percentage of need.
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Do you have a sense if people like sports at WPI / RPI? He visited Rose Hulman and loved the academics but said it is not a fit because he needs his sports loving community.
At WPI, it is a small school with a lot of teams so it has very high percentage of students playing a sport and the other students seem supportive. And there are definitely fans of New England professional teams on campus - Red Sox, Patriots, and Bruins. He will have no problem finding someone to talk sports with.
At RIT, there are definitely sports fans to hang out with, but hockey is their only big thing.
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RPI is another big hockey school. Team spirit around that is very, very high. Not sure about the other school sports.
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Rose Hulman is the answer. Amazing school. Does not get much love here. Worth every penny if you look at ROI. Oooh and also ranked number 1 by USN for undergrad engineering for the last two decades.
NC State is also very underrated and hard for OOS but your kid will have a shot. COA might be a factor.
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Thanks, unfortunately we toured RH and he didnât think he would be happy from a social/sports standpoint. He did like the labs: academics: teachers. But he recognized that he needs some sports crazed fans in order to feel happy. We walked by the tiny football stadium and asked if people attended the games and when the answer was no, he realized he wouldnât be happy there.
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Colorado School of Mines was ranked 3rd in the nation, Div 2 football a few weeks ago (then it lost to Colorado Mesa). It also has good soccer team, womenâs volleyball, and a few other sports.
But for a kid who wants snow and big sports, Iâd recommend Iowa State or Nebraska. They win sometimes, but always have a big student sports following. Good engineering, good merit awards.
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Thank you! Didnât realize that about Colorado School of Mines sports. Do you have any sense of people like to watch the games? I worry about the class sizes at Nebraska, Iowa StateâŠhe is willing to not have big sports, and have smaller sports as long as he can find friends that want to talk about sports 24/7 and there are fun games to watch. I think ultimately it is about finding other people that want to talk about sports and not âmoleculesâ for fun.
Iâd take molecules over house remodeling any day of the weekđ
I, too, like Mines and it covers a lot of your prerequisites. Iâm not so sure about the sports vibe. The students that I know there are the car enthusiast types. But my sample size is small. Maybe worth a visit?
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Many schools have bigger first year classes (like chem, math) for engineers, usually with a break out discussion group, but much smaller upper level classes. My daughter went to an engineering school and I donât think any of her classes had more than 50 students in them because thatâs about the size of the largest classrooms. Most of her upper level classes (civil engineering) had 20-40 students just because thatâs how many students were interested in that particular class. I really think that is going to be true at any school - upper level classes are much smaller in English, acting, or engineering.
I also think your son will find others interested in sports wherever he goes, both the college teams and the professional teams in the area. My daughterâs BF played sports in college but didnât follow the collegeâs sports that much. He still loved his NYC sports teams, played fantasy football with his hs friends (still does), had college friends over to watch the games on Sundays. In states like Nebraska, Montana, Iowa without professional sports, usually the professional sports in nearby states take on a following.
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Lol! And I am not putting a judgement on people who find talking about molecules fun. It is just that he doesnât. And he needs friends that understand sports to the same level; I.e, while I might watch a game with him here and there I donât understand 1/2 of what is going on so that is NOT what he is looking for. There is a level of sophistication in strategy, etc that he is looking for with his peers.
Thanks! What engineering school was that?
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Florida Tech (no snow for your son)
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Hey! The University of San Diego got a brand new engineering building a few years back and it definitely a popular and well respected program. Tuition expensive but the scholarships are pretty decent. Classes are never bigger than 35 campus wide. Sports are pretty good too, mens football and womenâs volleyball especially.
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Thanks! Is it super hard to get into like the other CA schools?
No. Itâs a Private, not part of the UC system. It will be expensive though unless he gets a lot of aid.
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San Diego=no snow
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