A few quick thoughts:
Many public flagships and a few privates admit by division or major, which may force specialization early.
Changing majors are generally easier at privates.
Public flagships and privates with STEM focus usually offer the best selection of STEM specialties.
Just to clarify. I wasn’t suggesting his choices are between physics and engineering. I only stated that physics and engineering are at the two ends of the STEM spectrum that categorizes STEM subjects by their abstractness/applicability. All other STEM subjects fit somewhere on that spectrum.
INJ- agree 100%.
We were told this when I was learning 5 years ago that even ROI was better at state colleges and mostly Big Ten for engineering (yes other state colleges also… Lol).
Augmented Reality 3D design. Have him pm my son. As an aside his conference 3 years ago had the lead designer at Ford Motors demoing this technology… No more 2d to 3d design. Just design in 3d now. They do some of this at the school of information at Michigan also with data… Cool stuff.
Withdrawn.
@1NJParent Thanks… there are a few stem focused privates on his list that appear to have open admission into the college and major declared sophomore year (ie URochester, Case).
I’ll need to research flagships more. It seems he would need to apply directly to engineering for most (ie Purdue). Back to the original question, if he starts in engineering, are there other available options…
@Knowsstuff Why is ROI better at state schools? Lower cost of in-state tuition? Higher paying jobs?
@Knowsstuff Yes I bet this would be right up his alley, and it sounds like a brand new field waiting to explode. How engaging for your son! Plus tons of business potential
UofM’s “school of information” is a good example of the kind of upper level program that might not be found at smaller schools. Would a student start in arts&sciences or engineering?
@taverngirl Agree WPI is at the top of his tech school list. My only concern is what if he isn’t cut out for engineering… are there enough other available options?
Side comment while talking with her but yes lower tuition if instate. More availability to jobs since more companies come to their engineering fairs. Larger international presence at said fairs.
But keep in mind. 4 kids starting the same rotations after college from certain schools all tend to make the same amounts more or less at the same company. Also lots of this is regional. Going to make less in Idaho then New York. Have to take cost of living in consideration. But… Right now that is the least of your worries… Lol
They have a wide range of STEM-related majors, plus quite a few business-related majors and a handful of non-stem. There’s likely a few non engineering majors he’d be interested in.
So I think he will be fine after talking with you but if your so uncertain he might change vocations then I would think schools that allow you to move around more without penalty.
Michigan and Northwestern allow this to a certain degree. Changing majors. Moving within the engineering departments etc. So one school 50,000 and the other like 8,000.students. Case western also at around 5,100 students. Great program Iowa State is around 35,000 with great school spirit and one of the largest engineering fairs out there. Kids get jobs there.
Michigan State honors. Large school again but great engineering program and kids tend to live in a LLC together. Many great advantages in honors like mentorship, research, money for study abroad and about 1/2 scholarship for oos students… This is a great example to make a large university small quickly.
University of Rochester program is a different approach and kinda cool. You have to read about it to see if it’s his liking.
So you might want to focus on schools that he is not stuck in one major and can’t move to another more easily. So UIUC and Purdue as examples. Great programs but not easy to move around within engineering per se. Can always drop engineering and go to LSA.
So since you have so many questions and more then your son probably has… Lol.
Why not schedule an appointment with your local university or any of the above ones engineering college counselors? It can be really informal and just ask away. You can do this without giving any personal information and ask questions. Your son can do this also. You can do it together on a zoom call or just by calling. Not sure if anyone is doing live appointments or by email.
This way you can see what the realities are. They are there to help. That’s their job.
As an example I called Michigan engineering undergraduate admission with my list of questions and a few other schools. They couldn’t of been nicer. They are used to talking to parents. They have heard it all before, trust me on this. They won’t ask for your name or your sons etc. But great source of information for each school specifically
@Knowsstuff Yes! I can see that the next step is to identify some potential programs and make phone calls. I’ve maxed out the info available on websites and webinars.
It has taken a few hundred comments on CC (THANK YOU!) to help me develop what the questions are.
My son is waist high in e-school and not ready to dig into the search college yet, but we’re visiting schools at spring break and he will be initiated 
The current college list includes the like of WPI, Case, URochester, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, Rose Hulman, Grinnell, UVM, and so on. The schools you mentioned were WAY off the radar due to size. Now it seems we need to go back to the drawing board! Good thing it’s March
Keep something in mind if I am reading your comments correctly. Size is just square footage to a point. With my son at Michigan with 54
55,000…he weekly gets together with 10-25 kids due to his activities. He probably knows 3-4 of them really well (maybe more). This is likely to be the same regardless of school your son goes to. The advantage is he can walk to the arb and do homework by the river or go hiking kinda thing. These kids aren’t getting lost per se. Knowing how to navigate is part of being /living in the real world. As great as Rose is… Your locked pretty much into engineering 24/7 without many side things to study. At larger schools you have more resources for research and just more resources. If your worried about him changing and want different options then a very well planned school is important. Again you can make a large school feel small very quickly… The rest is real estate if that makes sense.
@Knowsstuff Yes, that makes sense. His high school building has 3,000 kids, 1,000 in his class. His friend group consists of about 4 kids. I’m not sure this would be any different if he went to a high school of 200. He’s not a social butterfly. The hope for college is that he makes a friend or two, of course.
My concern about size is more that the campus will feel overwhelming, like a city. Also, I worry that access to resources (advising, tutoring, etc) would be harder to navigate. I’ve been uncertain about large lecture halls and his ability to function in anonymity. I thought it could be better for him if he’s on radar with a few teachers, so he wouldn’t get lost. Many of these worries were addressed in the previous thread… but I’m not completely convinced he won’t get lost.
If I were certain that a big campus would not bring the above issues, it sounds like they are better in terms of academic options. LLCs sound perfect.
In terms of Naviance, Northwestern and Michigan are out of his league. GPAs in the 5.0s. He does have a 3.9 UW recalculated for UofM. Do you think it’s worth a reach?
I will look into Michigan State and Iowa State. I don’t see any LLCs at UIUC (our flagship), but I could be wrong. I still like the sound of Purdue because there seem to be a ton of engineering and stem options, even if it may be harder to switch around. I also like Santa Clara because of engineering, CS, liberal arts combo. Agree with you about Rose Hulman.
Ha, the list is all over the place! Will be fun to see it come together in some way!
We have discussed this on pm. His school is a feeder for Michigan engineering so yes. If he can negotiate that school he is at he will be fine at just about any size school. Also large school classes except for a few are NOT that large. They have more sections. Michigan professor to student ratio is something like 15:1. Most of my sons classes are less then 50 people with lots like 25…
Communication with professors is the same there then my daughters Lac of less then 2,000 students…
My sons walk to classes was 8-10 minutes. My daughters 5-8 minutes not a huge difference… Lol…
Again, more real estate… To others knowing his current school is why I am stating some of this… FYI…
Also any large school will have same or similar options as Purdue… Don’t get me wrong it’s a great school and value It’s about the same size at Michigan State and Michigan… BTW… Go Big Ten… Lol .
Sorry… So if you want a solid engineering /options list start at the Big Ten.
Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minessota, Rutgers (how did they get in), Iowa (same application as Iowa State and both with Automatic merit and lots of kids from the suburbs of Illinois go there). Illinois, Ohio State, Penn State…
. All have very good schools of engineering. Again in my opinion Michigan State and Iowa State (not big ten but should be… Lol) are extremely undervalued but have great outcomes…
Add those to your list… Lol.
@Knowsstuff Haha don’t blow my cover! Kidding, it’s fine to know this kid is coming from a Michigan feeder if that’s helpful. I’m glad to hear you think he would be ok going from current big high school into bigger college.
For me, it seems like a small college offers a cozy little nest, but sounds like I’m wrong. As discussed in prior thread, he does not want to be the star of the show… keeps camera OFF unless necessary… dislikes being called on in class. Likes his alone time. Fine. He could still be that person at a Big 10. I guess there’s a reason his high school feeds into big 10s! Something for everyone there?
Ok I have some marching orders… now examining programs (hopefully somewhat flexible with options) at Big 10s + MichState & Iowa State. LLCs are preferable.
Thanks for all your time. I appreciate your perspective and advice!