My S22 is attempting to finalize his college list. His issue is that he is undecided on what he wants to study, except that he knows he wants to be in engineering. He is interested in mechanical, industrial, and computer science. He is completely uninterested in aerospace (who doesn’t want to build rockets?..my son), materials, chemical, or bio. Anything else he has no knowledge of. Admittedly, I am a lawyer and his mom is a pediatrician, so it is not like he gets much exposure to engineering.
We have read that several universities have first-year engineering programs where you are admitted to your major after your freshman year. He is interested in this type of program so that he will have more exposure to engineering to make a choice. His top choice right now is Texas A&M (he is aware of the issues related to ETAM at A&M and GPA in the first year). What other schools should we look at that have similar programs? We have identified: Purdue, Pitt, Ohio State, and Alabama. Other schools he is considering are: Iowa State, Arizona State, and Auburn.
He is in a full IB student with a 4.3 weighted and 3.95 unweighted GPA (HLs in Physics, Math, English, and Business and SLs in Design Technology and Spanish). He is co-president of the high school robotics team and has the standard ECs you would see. ACT = 35. PSAT selection index is 215 (so definitely commended, and possibly NMF).
For budgetary purposes, we are trying to cap our total cost of attendance at $45K/year (or less, preferably less). Since someone will ask, we are in-state at Tennessee…no we are not interested in UT-K.
You want to make sure that the first year program gives him exposure to various types of engineering and isn’t just a secondary admit to major based on math, physics, etc. classes and GPA.
NU admits to major (no secondary hoops to jump through) but it’s simple to switch and has a great first year hands on design program spanning the disciplines.
The real intent of that list is not to identify undecided first year programs per se, but those that have barriers to the next step, declaring a major. As mentioned by @RichInPitt, it’s far from exhaustive. It might reveal several that your student might want to avoid if the barrier is too high.
If you are a Tennessee resident, then look into Tennessee Tech. Here is what the website says about undecided engineering majors: “General and Basic Engineering (GBE) Department provides a high-quality, uniform first-year program of study for undecided first-year engineering students (the Basic Engineering, or BE, major) in the College of Engineering at Tennessee Tech. The GBE Department also offers a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Degree (the Engineering, or ENGR, major). BE students may change their major to any degree-granting department in the College of Engineering at any time during the first year.”
You would probably pay less than $25K per year at Tech, not counting likely scholarships.
Personally if he created the list, I like it. Iowa State is an easy admit like apply the second the application comes out and he will get a merit scholarship which should put you much less then your target. It should take about a week or 2 to get accepted. Here’s the rub… It’s a really good program and not easy with a ton of school spirit. Huge engineering fair and the kids get jobs.
My Stanford PhD educated, engineering professor uncle recommended Iowa State over Stanford to my son. He said they do a better job a preparing engineers how to step into a real job. It’s a VERY underrated school. National Lab too.
Rice has a 1-credit Introduction to Engineering course which is designed to expose freshmen to the different types of problems that engineers solve and which includes professors from different engineering programs within the university. Declaring a major is encouraged in the 2nd semester of freshman year, simply to get the course sequence lined up for sophomore year, but it is not required. The advisor program at Rice is very strong at Rice, and this would seem to be a key component for your son.
For a completely different approach to engineering education, have you looked at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA outside Boston?
My kids both went to schools with first year programs-UVA and Virginia Tech. I was glad they got exposure to different types of engineering before making a decision.
Yes, Olin is VERY small … about 350 students total. It is definitely a “niche fit” school.
It is wonderful for the right students (our son was one of them), but I think it would be too small for most students. Harvey Mudd is a little larger and has the advantage of being part of a Claremont Consortium, situated with 4 other colleges. Both are very technical and intense.
If your considering small check out Rose Hulman. Small like small LAC but engineering all the time. Your kid would probably get at least a 1/2 scholarship and possible free ride. Very well known among the engineering communities. They get jobs. Ratio of men to women is like 70/30…the students there tend to really like this tight knit committee.
@Peruna1998 take a look at some of the programs at the smaller engineering focused schools and see what type of school he would prefer. Regardless of the school you will find the majority of the core curriculum for engineering is the same for the first two years. Some options to think about
WPI - Project based curriculum
Drexel - Co-op program
Manhattan College - If he’s interested in Civil Engineering
RIT
RPI
My daughter went to Florida Tech and took an intro to engineering class as a freshman. The project was to build a miniature golf course hole using 3 types of engineering (lifts, pulleys, computer, water, tunnels, etc). She ended up picking civil as a major.
If the student knows what kind of engineering he/she wants, they’d take Intro to Chemical, or Intro to Mechanical. If the student takes the general course, the specific one is not taken.
It’s pretty easy to switch if the chosen major doesn’t pan out too. Almost everyone takes the same freshman math, chemistry, physics, writing classes freshman year.
