My daughter was accepted to UD’s Biomedical Engineering program and Honors college. We are from Illinois. Being from the midwest, we honestly don’t know a lot about the reputations of some of the east coast schools other than what we’ve gathered here and there online. UD is by far the cheapest option for our family and they have a wonderful skating team that my daughter is interested in. We are coming out to visit in a few weeks, but I was hoping for some east coasters to give us some info on how UD is viewed as an engineering school. We’ve seen it on national rankings which is promising. Does it have a good reputation among recruiters?
@sunnryz Delaware’s engineering program has a very good reputation, especially Chemical Engineering. BME is a newer offering that I don’t know as much about. One of the stats worth looking at is the % of students that are employed or are continuing their education - https://www.udel.edu/apply/career-outcomes/#college=College%20of%20Engineering&major=Biomedical%20Engineering
My son applied to UD’s ChemE program, but was instead accepted into the Materials Sci & Eng major instead. Is it easy to change majors during Freshman or Sophomore year?
@Bay_blade2000 UD claims that about 20% of Freshmen engineering students enroll as Engineering Undeclared. Your son would be in the same position as them to change majors to one of the other engineering majors which are all restricted. In the end it comes down to available seats and how good their grades are, assuming they have met the minimum requirements. Here’s their official statement regarding change of Major to ChemE: “Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Majors: Restricted for all students due to program capacity limitations. Prospective student applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 and a grade of B or better in both CHEM 111 and MATH 242, or equivalent.”
DoubleDelDad, where did you find UDel ChemE requirements? I have been looking through the various pages and have not found anything of use. Would you please share the link? Thanks!
@Bayblade2000 Here are a couple links for you:
https://catalog.udel.edu/content.php?catoid=11&navoid=438#engineering
https://catalog.udel.edu/previewprogram.php?catoid=11&poid=5164
My son was accepted for Chem E. He is still considering his options for school has several other offers. I know it is a very highly ranked and competitive Chem E program and the rest of the engineering school has a good reputation. The campus is beautiful. It will likely come down to cost and merit aid for us.
My son is there now as a freshman in honors chemical engineering. He is having a great experience, and has met a lot of nice students in the honors dorm. All freshmen honors kids who are living on campus are housed in one big dorm. It is one of the nicest dorms on campus, near two dining halls and the engineering buildings. Newark is a nice town with plenty of restaurants. My son has friends in his dorm from ALL over the country. I think this year’s freshmen class has students from every state. My son also said that in his dorm there is someone from Europe and someone from the Pacific Islands. My husband is also a UD Chemical engineering grad, and we actually spent 6 years living in Indiana with his career before we returned to the east coast. Philly and Baltimore are your closest airports.
@Bay_blade2000 I had an extended discussion on Saturday with Megan Argoe, the ChemE general academic advisor. She indicated that last semester, all Engineering Undeclared students that applied for ChemE were accepted. That said - out of 20 total applications to change major to ChemE only 15 were accepted so some non-EGU applicants weren’t able to change major. She also indicated that the rules regarding having completed Chemistry 111 and Calculus 242 before you can apply is outdated - she indicated the main concern was that the students were doing well academically and there were available seats in the program. My son spoke to a current student that didn’t get in after her first application in the fall but did after her 2nd try in the spring. She was still able to take CHEG 112 - Intro to Chemical Engineering in the Spring of her Freshman year even though she wasn’t in CHEG yet so she wasn’t behind on her classes.
I’d suggest you reach out to Megan with any specific questions - she was extremely helpful. Her e-mail is mhargoe@udel.edu.
Here’s another link that has a lot of useful information that she shared: http://www.che.udel.edu/ugrad/ungradeverything.html
DoebleDelDad, thanks for the info. Very helpful. My son got into ChemE at Minnesota, another highly rated ChemE program. I think he is going to take the “bird in hand”. I did speak with Megan, then the admissions office about changing majors as in-coming freshman. Apparently, the ChemE program is now full so cannot request for a major change to ChemE before enrolling.
My son is admitted to the same program. UD is ranked very well. In the same general area, Rowan is also ranked well. The campus is very friendly. DE is close to city but not in a bad area. The honors dorm has tutors and activities.