@Knowsstuff I think he will use the resources on campus, but needs to know how to use them going in. I’m concerned with how many supports there are and how easy are they to use. URochester has a tutoring center on the lower level of one of the freshman dorms. Hit the elevator button and viola 
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Your learning a lot. Same goes for Chicago. Michigan and so on… But of course the school and fit is the driver here. All of this is great information but you can always apply to a job and live practically anywhere.
My sona went through the getting hired this year. Same salary regardless of what school you went to. His position is international and same salary regardless Michigan, Georgia Tech, etc.
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Michigan state has something similar also. Everything right in the llc if I remember.
But for everywhere else you would email or use your phone. The resources are just not that hard to come by. Call and ask for help and then go get it.
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The stairs are often faster, depending on the characteristics of the elevator and use and number of floors. (An industrial engineering optimization problem?)
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First I know it wasn’t directed at me but facilities were super important to my D. She wanted access to modern labs, fabulous maker spaces, and state of the art facilities. She didn’t care what the dorms looked like, but facilities had to be awesome. Hands down Michigan did the best job of highlighting their engineering facilities when we did our tour. They are crazy impressive. Some schools flat out don’t show any of their facilities. We met with a prof at one highly rated T20 who wouldn’t even show us his own lab. D wanted a school that was investing in engineering. Schools that were showing us new rec centers, not so much ; ). What kinds of research was happening was also important to D. For example, some schools highly rated for her major were more focused on certain sectors of the job market/concentrations that she wasn’t interested in. That helped narrow down the field too.
As for the questions directed at me:
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Yes, work experience is important for engineering or a CS major during undergrad. The more the better. That can be research too depending on post graduation goals. Definitely up to the student to engage, even at schools with massive career fairs, it’s not a no brainer to get a job. IMO, some schools are more career readiness focused than others. Look for schools with strong career centers, supports and structures for internships and co-op, etc… The one thing D really loves about Purdue is that engineers take their courses only with other engineers. Her organic chemistry was only for chem es (warning for pre-meds not to take it in the course description). Why? The o chem for chem es exams were all real world questions that they could experience in the work force or in research. Projects were chem e specific. Pre-med o chem is geared to how the MCAT structures their questions. For D, that structure was a big positive because she loves being able to tie in the practical applications of what she’s learning.
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My H is a firm believer in study where you want to live. That said, the strong schools in engineering will have companies coming from all over. By the end of this year, my D will have worked in IN, OH, GA, and PA. She could be almost anywhere for her last co-op rotation as the company is in 23 states and countries all over the world.
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Companies locating near big universities is not unique to Purdue. Something to keep on the radar when crafting your list.
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First off I would stay away from pass fail. MIT, Cal Tech are anomalies. Companies want to see the grading. Here’s something else that going to make your hair stand up… Lol… Many companies won’t look at you if your not above a 3.0 cut-off. Other companies that cutoff is 3.5 (in engineering). Etc.
Engineering is hard. But for some learning a language is hard. Funny how engineers don’t like to take a foreign language but can learn C++/python… Isn’t that a language?
So rank of major can come into play and for some knowing they have the latest /greatest labs and support is important.
Some have importance of where their faculty is from and their research. Yes usually higher ranked school will have more noted faculty being experts in their fields or being “the” expert in their field.
Take everything you learned so far and try to have a balance of all of this and add in fit… Then you have a bit of everything that will make your son successful.
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Frosh year required P/NP is different from voluntary P/NP in upper level courses (although this is usually not allowed in one’s major under normal circumstances).
3.0 is the most common cutoff GPA by employers screening college applicants for interviews, based on NACE surveys.
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Sorry I know I am posting a lot and will back off but @ucbalumnus… This is beyond funny… Nice job 
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Speaking as a recruiter- I don’t agree with staying away from Pass/Fail.
Taking a class in your major Pass/Fail is a red light. Not a knock out factor, but something that gets discussed (yes, we ask for transcripts for new grads, not for more experienced folks). For an econ major to take Topology Pass/Fail- not only is that fine, it shows a very mature ability to step outside the comfort zone (the econ major might be a really solid math student, but the other students in the class are likely to be at a different level altogether.) A math major taking an advanced Russian History seminar Pass/Fail- won’t even cause a ripple.
I’ve worked for companies that are MUCH more interested in new grads who have swum outside of their lane-- even with a much more competitive cohort- than kids who play it safe gunning for the 4.0. And I had a boss who said “Bring me a kid with a lower GPA but a higher risk appetite any day”. Not saying this is everyone- but it’s not accurate to advise staying away from Pass/Fail. Like with anything else- it depends. And not every employer is obsessed with grades as long as the transcript shows rigor- lots and lots of rigor. Cornell Engineering- that’s a program that hits it out of the park with both rigor and employment stats (even though Ithaca NY is NOT a hotbed of economic activity). Known for grade deflation- and most employers don’t care. Bring me a kid who has challenged herself and knows how to push, slog, deal with frustration, who doesn’t have to be at the top of the heap every time- that is a more accurate real life scenario than a kid who glides their way to A’s.
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I’m sure your kid will do fine if he enters engineering. My son is in his first year at UMD and had thrived so far while starting at ChemE. It’s been a lot of math so far but he loves math so he’s enjoying it.
I work with a large number of engineers. We have a lot of engineers out of Penn State and UMD mainly because of locality, connections to those schools and their alumni. That being said, last year we hired 4 mechanical engineers right out of school. One each from UPenn, Pitt, UMBC and Purdue. They were certainly all different individuals and I wouldn’t say either school made any of them more capable.
Engineering is certainly achievable by a wide variety of students. Don’t worry too much about your child. I’m sure if they are dedicated to school and they’ll have no real issues. The resources are there if they do. You’ll be there for them.
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Issues (registration restrictions, waitlisting, overcrowding, etc.) with popular CS classes are common at many colleges, both large and small.
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That could actually be one of the things that differentiates a smaller college from a larger one. At a large school, not all students use all the available resources and some students can get lost in a large crowd.
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I would actually say the same thing for a smaller college. Larger college usually has more resources and more people to give them. I had a kid at Big Ten and small 1300 lac… Its up to the kid to get help. I don’t know of any college that won’t help a child that asks for help.
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@1NJParent Yes, this is the worry. I’m not sure if he will feel lost or overwhelmed among 20-50,000 other kids or if a campus of 5,000 would feel any different. If supports are the same in either place, it could just come down to his personal preference/vibe on campus.
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@MarylandJOE Congratulations to your son on a successful first year! I love to hear success stories… gives me hope
Do you work with any engineers who are NOT from large universities? Wondering if going to a smaller college (Case Western, WPI, Lehigh) would end up being a disadvantage when it comes time to get a job…
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My point is that the kid has to know how to ask for help. At a large school, it may depend more on who you know or who you interact with, and whether these people have used the services. Smaller, well resouced, privates definitely beat the large publics in that regard.
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@Search2022 Does his high school offer the equivalent of office hours? If so, you can encourage him to schedule office hours time now, with his current teachers, so that it becomes second nature when he is in college.
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@ucbalumnus So GPA >3.0 is really the goal? All the information about minimum GPAs to secure a certain major is relevant of course, but would he have trouble getting a job without that B average?
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@1NJParent I wouldn’t let my kid out of the car without a tutorial in how to navigate support services! Word of mouth is not going to work for him… he needs a guided tour. Bring the horse to water
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Honestly, it’s a phone call. Both my kids professors knew their first names and got help at anytime they requested it. Even professors emailing on Sundays at Big Ten U. Just haven’t seen a disadvantage. Maybe other larger schools are different?
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