I am interested in Materials Science and Engineering, and have two safety schools: University of Oklahoma and Penn State.
I have been offered a full ride and more from University of Oklahoma, and I have not heard back from Penn State regarding financial aid yet. Which school has the strongest Materials Science and Engineering program?
(Also, any thoughts on Lehigh, UPenn, MIT, and Cornell?)
I am biased because I went to PSU for ChE, but historically PSU MSE has been one of the best program in the nation (top 10). Also, PSU was ranked #1 by Wall Street Journal as school recruiters like the most.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704358904575477643369663352
You will have no problem getting a job with PSU engineering degree as long as you graduate with >3.0 GPA. I am saying this from someone currently working in the Fortune 50 company.
Are you a PA resident? Because Penn State financial aid is extremely limited, even for in-state students.
Investigate the Materials Science (and ChE) website at OU to see what research projects are prominent there.
LucieTheLakie, yes, I am a PA resident.
@BrettAD, wait until you get your bottom-line financial aid offers before making a decision. Penn State is a fantastic school for all the STEM fields, including materials science, but Oklahoma is a good school too, and at that price, it’s worth factoring in overall value. What other perks will you get at OU? Will you be part of an honors college that will help you get priority registration? Graduating in four years in engineering is tough everywhere, and Penn State is especially tough from what I gather.
I had a friend when I was a student at Penn in the early 80s who was a materials science major and he’s incredibly successful today, but he was brilliant and I’m not sure even he could get into Penn today. Lehigh has an excellent reputation in engineering, especially if you plan to stay in the Northeast. Cornell and MIT are Cornell and MIT; I can’t say anything specific about their materials sciences programs, but if they’re affordable options, I would consider them strongly if you’re comfortable being a student in an elite program.
Have you seen these? I don’t put a ton of weight on rankings, but I think you can safely assume any school listed in the top 10 is topnotch: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-materials
If it comes down to OU and PSU, I would highly recommend visiting both engineering colleges and comparing them. (I know PSU has official visit days in the spring because I attended one last year with my son.) It’s likely going to be a tough choice, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either as long as you don’t assume too much debt.
There’s a longtime poster on CC named @whenhen who IIRC transferred from Oxford at Emory to OU for geology (?). Anyway, I see you don’t have enough posts to PM her, but maybe she’ll weigh in here. She’s very knowledgeable and honest.
@LucieTheLakie I would be in an honors college and would receive priority registration. Additionally, I would be offered “one-on-one academic advising,” which I had previously assumed was standard.
Additionally, I will have taken 10 AP tests by the end of my senior year. I’m not completely sure how college graduation requirements work, but I’d like to believe this would make it easier to graduate in 4 years. What would you happen to know on the subject?
@BrettAD, you’ll need to see what your scores are on those tests, but I would think at least some of them will help you get some college credits out of the way. You’ll need to investigate how generous each school is with AP credits, and for engineering you may want to retake some courses (some engineering programs recommend that), but being able to get out of general ed requirements would be a great way to help ensure you graduate in four years.
My son also has a free ride (If named NMF). Their scholarship is incredible. My neighbor went to OU and raves about it. Son also has tons of AP’s and it looks like they will all transfer (he has 5’s), which will give him lots of "breathing " room. We still need to go see the school, but have been impressed with what we have heard so far.
I don’t know about OU, but PSU spells out exactly how AP exams are treated:
http://admissions.psu.edu/academics/credit/ap/
Some of the tests provide immediate and useful credit, others provide general credit that may or may not be applicable depending on your major, some are essentially useless.
I can’t speak for OU, but all my academic advising at PSU was one on one. I am not sure that there are other ways to do it! This sounds to me like an attempt to sell a standard practice as something special.
http://www.ou.edu/admissions/credit_by_advanced/advanced_placement.html is Oklahoma’s AP credit chart.
For courses that you are allowed to skip but which are prerequisites to other courses that you may take later (e.g. math), you may want to try the college’s old final exams of the course that may be skipped. That way, you can check your knowledge of the material compared to the college’s expectations.
My son was named NMF and has the great scholarship opportunity as well. We plan to visit at the end of this month. Have you heard anything about the engineering programs at OU?
In the not too distant future, you’ll be very happy about the lack of student loan repayment because you attended OU.
It’s my understanding that PSU’s engineering program is thought highly of (I know nothing about OU). There are differences between the programs that may influence your decision, though. Obviously, what’s right for one child isn’t necessarily best fit for someone else. A few reasons why my son decided against PSU: foreign language requirement (languages were a challenge for him), the relatively weaker co-op program (I think it wS only 10% of students?), the dorm arrangement (no really focused engineering space), and the two ys of general reqs before getting into his major. But maybe these are positives to you! Just some things to think about.
@Pbrain, there were some things in your post I wanted to clear up.
There is no foreign language requirement for BS degrees at Penn State, only for BA degrees. MATSE, like all engineering degrees, is a BS program and therefore has no language requirement. You can see the full course requirements here to verify:
http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/campuses/details/24/MATSE
There are actually several dorm spaces dedicated to undergraduate engineering students, unless there is something about these that makes them “not really focused”:
http://www.engr.psu.edu/FutureStudents/Undergraduate/WhyPSUEngr/SpecialLiving.aspx
No again. First, MATSE is not part of the college of engineering, and therefore has some different policies - MATSE allows you to enter after just one semester, if you choose:
http://www.matse.psu.edu/undergraduate/how-apply
Second, those first two years are more foundational than “general req” - only 21 of the required 131 credits are really open for general courses, the rest are prescribed series in chemistry, physics, and math, without which you cannot handle the engineering classes to come. This is actually pretty consistent with every university I have seen - there may be some introductory courses sprinkled in those first couple of years, but engineering generally spends that time focusing on fundamental sciences.
Oh wow, sorry, @cosmicfish and OP. Going on assumptions (engineering) and memory (apparently, the language requirement was only for my son’s interest-CS). Thank you for clearing that up because I wouldn’t want to mislead. I guess, though, it emphasizes my point of looking at the specific details (eh hem for yourself). 
Re dorm-my son preferred a dedicated engineering dorm. And universities DO differ on how long it takes (and how many “foundational” courses you have to take) before you get into your major. If the OP can get into his desired major after only one semester, that may be even better. But in our research, we found that some engineering programs made you wait two ys (like PSU) whereas others (like where my son goes) allow you to apply for your major after only one yr. that made a difference for my son. PSU is a great school with a really pretty campus. It’s a great fit for many kids, no question.
As in a dedicated building as opposed to a dedicated floor? I am curious what difference it makes - I can’t recall ever interacting with people on other floors so I am unable to see a real distinction.
I think this is more because you are speaking from experience with CS, which is not usually ABET accredited and sees a lot more variation than typical engineering disciplines. That having been said, why is this an issue? If you could enter the major at admission I could see the advantage, otherwise I am not sure it matters. The delay actually helps a lot of students (myself included!) because it gives you time to explore the various fields before locking into one. The longer you can wait before committing, the less likely you are to find yourself in the wrong major!