<p>It's a sad day at our house.</p>
<p>waitlisted after being deferred EA.</p>
<p>stats:</p>
<p>3.72 w
CR: 790 M: 730 W: 620
MII: 730 USH: 780
ACT 33</p>
<p>NM commended</p>
<p>etc...</p>
<p>was hopeful after acceptances to Northeastern, UMass Comm College, UConn, UMass Lowell (full ride) and Union. Waitlisted at RPI.</p>
<p>will def stay on waiting list.</p>
<p>Stats are decent but I guess unweighted GPA is what’s putting you on the WL. Plus maybe strength of schedule while in HS. But you’ve got other good options with UMass and ULowell. UConn makes no sense as an OOS since UMass is a better engineering school.</p>
<p>Congrats on the other acceptances. While WPI is a great school, UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell, and Northeastern are great. Personally, I had a hard time choosing between UMass Amherst Commonwealth College and WPI. Both have a similar reputation nationally in engineering but I liked WPI’s approach to engineering education better despite the cost of $10k/year higher w/scholarship. U-Lowell is also a good eng school though it lacks a national reputation; the full ride is impressive but it may be a poor choice when compared to U-Amherst because being in the company of stronger students does make a big difference.</p>
<p>If your S does well at UMass Amherst, which I am sure he is capable of doing, he can even end up at a much better grad school than WPI or RPI (think MIT, UMich, UCLA, Cornell etc). Generally, similar companies recruit at U-Amherst as WPI. And even if the company doesn’t recruit at your school, you still have a chance. For example, I will doing an internship at Amazon.com in Seattle, WA. But engineering is hard and the work ethic of 3.7 WGPA in HS will not translate to near 3.7 in engineering at any of these schools. Hard work is key and no matter where he decides to enroll, it is best to have no regrets.</p>
<p>UMass-Amherst is a great option and I strongly suggest you visit the accepted student day. While I love WPI and the education I am getting, there are plenty of other great engineering schools; UMass is the best public engineering school in New England.</p>
<p>wow those stats are good…how did u get waitlisted??</p>
<p>@IndianPwnerDude–thanks for your perspective! I think S may be leaning toward NEU, but we will be revisiting 3 schools (NEU UMA and UML) in the next 3 weekends. WPI would have been an awesome fit for my S–I’m so afraid of him getting “lost” at a big U–he’s got some learning “issues” that are not disabilities–I was thinking WPI’s small size would have better supports–it’s harder to hide at a small school! :)</p>
<p>@wearymachine–I think the fact that S had only 1 AP definitely did him in–see learning issues above–his teachers are the ones that recommended he stay in honors. He also is struggling in Physics this year–he wanted to continue in orchestra and it met the same time as all the Physics classes–so he ended up in an on-line class where he is basically teaching himself physics–he missed a lot of deadlines, but killed the final with an A+.</p>
<p>BTW, my husband went to NEU EE and then UMA CSE for grad school—he’s done very, very, very well for himself. :)</p>
<p>Looking forward to campus visits and I appreciate the replies.</p>
<p>^ </p>
<p>Northeastern EE is very good; probably second best for EE in the Northeast after MIT. The Boston area is excellent as is the co-op. The CS is also top notch at Norrtheastern (quite similar to WPI but better CS faculty). It is a great environment and I am sure that there will be support at the larger schools as well - just probably need to find it. </p>
<p>And as for learning issues, a lot of people (including myself) have them. It is important to focus, not procrastinate, and work effectively. Real life is often inflexible and demanding (as the many times when I have been rudely awakened)!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t ignore Union, either, although it is a liberal arts school with an engineering department, rather than a tech-only school, </p>
<p>Generous Electric (GE) used to have its international HQ in Schenectady, so Union built a pretty good engineering program around that (I think, in part, from money that GE gave them). I’ve been recruiting executives for 15 years, and have seen many top people come out of Union, in both engineering and non-technical positions.</p>
<p>One advantage of a school like that is that if he decides not to be an engineer halfway through his freshman year (as many prospective engineers do), he wouldn’t have to transfer.</p>
<p>I once helped a low-income, local kid whose parents hadn’t been to college with his college applications, and Union gave him the most money - all costs minus $5K per year, guaranteed for four years if he maintained a 2.0 average. They called it a Presidential Scholarship. RPI, WPI and Clarkson all wanted him to pay $10K or $15K per year more than Union did. Did Union offer your son that kind of a financial package?</p>
<p>@ Boondocks, I “made” S apply to Union for just the reason you stated (LAC) because his passion is history. He won’t even go look at it. and since they offered $0 in scholarships, it is off the table. We would have paid full at WPI if he had been accepted and no scholarship, but not at at a school we’d have to drag him to. 
NU gave him $12k yr and that is pretty much tops of his list right now</p>