What schools to consider?

My child is doing reasonably well. He is a rising senior. GPA is about 3.65 and ACT is 27. He will take ACT again. What are some schools where he has realistic chances of admission? Thinking about Purdue, University of Illinois, Ohio State, etc. He doesn’t have any APs so far but will be taking a couple next year. Thanks.

@HFAparent, There are so many options out there that more information is needed. For instance, let’s say Cal Poly is mentioned, but then it turns out your son wants to do Chem E. Cal Poly doesn’t offer it. You’d be surprised at how many students come out here and say “I want to do Engineering X, but my school doesn’t have it.”

So, what major? What’s your home state? Financial constraints? Large, medium or small? Weather or location desires or restrictions? Hobbies and non-academic interests?

Also, most well known public engineering schools, Purdue and Illinois as two examples, have far more difficult admissions criteria than their overall statistics would suggest.

Get back with more information and then I’m sure several posters will jump in.

@eyemgh, all pertinent questions. No major decided at this point. I went to Engineering School 30 years ago and have some ideas for him to consider. I am recommending Materials Engineering as one option but ultimately he will make the decision. Perhaps there are schools that will allow him to come in without declaring major? Home state is NJ. No financial constraints unless the school costs over 48k - 50K/yr. College costs will be paid and no student debt. Medium & small schools are desired. I am already thinking Ohio State is too large. No restrictions regarding weather. May be not Alaska. I get your point about overall statistics vs. engineering admissions. Thanks much for the feedback.

“No financial constraints unless the school costs over 48k - 50K/yr.” - Good news / bad news. Many schools are less than that, especially your in-state options. You will have many more options than most families. But believe it or note, some schools,are 60K+ per year… so keep an eye on the financial sections of the college websites.

To me materials engineering seems narrow for the first pass. It’s good you are open to many options.

@HFAparent, First and foremost, he needs a safety, one he ABSOLUTELY knows he’ll get into and that you’ll be able to afford. Ideally it would be on the hunt for first choice. In the Garden State, that’s Rowan and Rutgers. If he hasn’t visited already, I’d do that first thing. It’ll give him a reference.

Next, as @colorado_mom said, nearly every private school will have a total cost over $50k. You might as well figure $250k for any private. The net cost for many is lower than that with merit aid and needs based aid. You’ll need to look at some Common Data Sets of schools to find out what percentile he’ll fit into with his stats. Merit Aid is usually reserved (not always) for those in the top 25th percentile in GPA and test scores. Basically they are buying improvements in their USNWR rankings. Unless you are eligible for need based aid, this could be an issue. As admirable as a 3.65 is, it won’t trigger the same number of merit offers that a 3.9+ will. Ditto the ACT. Additionally, those stats will eliminate completely a swath of schools.

Now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be options, even some very good ones. They’ll be even better if he improves his ACT (note: these tests aren’t tests of knowledge per se, but rather tests of ones skill at taking the test. As a result, they have to be studied for in a very specific manner. ACT specifically is a speed test. It requires a very programmed course of study to significantly improve scores. It’s really a speed reading and comprehension test, even in the math and science sections. Make absolutely sure that he’s not better off with the SAT).

To get started, I’d look at three schools, Lehigh, which might be a bit of a reach stats wise and financially, but not out of the running. Some might call it a reach school. He’d have to improve his ACT, but you’re just kicking tires. Next, WPI. It’s a great little school that my son almost chose over Cal Poly even though he had very high stats and WPI isn’t super selective. He really liked the student vibe and the innovative curriculum. Lastly, Wyoming. It seems like a suggestion out of left field, but you will absolutely be able to afford it and he will undoubtedly get in. Their engineering is underrated. They have the nations first, as of now still only (others are in the process of applying) ABET accredited Energy Systems Engineering program. The student body has lots of spirit and there are lots of outdoors things to do around there.

So, there are MANY options. These are simply there to get the process started. You’re slightly behind the curve. All applications will be due in just over 6 months. There’s A LOT to do between now and then.

Good luck!

Materials engineering is part of the Metallurgical Engineering B.S. at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. While the Materials curriculum at Mines is not as extensive as other departments (think Penn State, for example), there is a lot of materials research going on at SDSM&T, funded by the feds. The Metallurgy major curriculum seems flexible enough that there’s ample room for electives such as Inorganic Chemistry and Polymer Science, courses which should interest students whom are curious about Materials Science Engineering.

Schools with stand-alone materials engineering departments include RPI, U of Pennsylvania, U of Kentucky, U of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Rutgers-New Brunswick. U of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and Arizona State University.

Cal Poly has a stand alone MATE department and interestingly, it might me a reasonable fit for the OPs son. For some majors, ME, BME and CS, Cal Poly is extremely hard to get into (<15% admission rate). MATE however is good at Cal Poly and not as extremely selective. Somewhere around 40% of applicants are accepted into MATE.

He’ll need some schools that he’ll consider safeties. One for Materials Engineering is Wright State University in a suburb of Dayton OH. They do a lot of work with Wright Patterson Air Force base. He would definitely qualify there and perhaps even get a scholarship. It’s not the fanciest campus, however, it is strong and getting stronger in engineering.

http://cecs.wright.edu/programs/bachelors/mat

As others have mentioned some of the schools you mentioned would likely be reaches for engineering. U of Illinois for sure. Purdue would be a lower reach, the same for Ohio State. There is no problem applying at those schools just understand that the criteria they use to select students will be areas that he likely will be deficient in compared to others. GPA, rigor of curriculum and standardized test scores. Good luck on his next ACT and on your college selection.

Since he is interested in smaller schools, he should take a look at the other [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools besides WPI. Although you can probably afford most of them, a number of them do give significant merit aid which will make the schools even more affordable.

I just want to clarify that Materials Eng is my idea and I am not going to insist on that. He gets to make the choice when he is ready to. Perhaps he will prefer Mechanical. As for schools, I am hoping he will get his ACT up to 30+ next time which might help. From recent history at his school, kids with 25+ in ACT had gotten admissions at Purdue. Of course that doesn’t mean he will too. Rutgers will surely be looked at. Drexel is an option but that would mean loans to cover what I can’t pay. How about a school like University of Arizona? If all fails, I would even consider transfer option after 2 years at community college.

The community college path can work, especially if there is a rigorous program with a defined transfer route to a state school program. But your son is a decent student and may prefer a 4 year program. I don’t know much about Rutgers, but it seems like I’ve read good things here on CC threads.

Don’t overlook Rowan. The had a recent, massive upgrade to their STEM facilities, have a very well regarded honors college and don’t offer doctorates. That means nearly all of their resources are devoted to undergraduate education. I think graduates from the military academies, Olin, Harvey Mudd and Cal Poly, to name but a few, are proof that one doesn’t have to go to a “research institution” to get a great undergraduate engineering education.

I have started looking at Rowan. Harvey Mudd was of interest but his stats may not give him a chance? Will look into Cal Poly. The one community college transfer I am looking at is to Georgia Tech.

http://depts.gpc.edu/~mcse/RETP/RETP_homepage.htm

CC Transfer into Georgia Tech seems like an interesting path. While the step up from CC to GaTech may be tough, at least this path with help you avoid of those extremely large introductory classes at the GaTech.

Mudd seems too much a reach to me I was just looking at it. ACT midrange is 32 - 35 and gpa 3.9+.

I agree - Mudd is a reach (and honestly I think it is too intense for most students). In 2010, DS had near-perfect stats and a variety of interesting EC. We still considered Mudd a reach. He was accepted, but w/o the hoped-for merit scholarship.

If your son likes Mudd, try looking at this list - http://www.theaitu.org/all_news.php

What do you folks think about University of Arizona, Drexel? I like Mudd a lot but I kind of knew it a reach. I had looked into guaranteed transfer to Georgia Tech when we visited the school. We both loved the school. Some class sizes at Georgia Tech are insane and my son won’t do well. For example, their Calculus class is at least 200 students. He can get that class out of the way in much smaller class at CC. I had spoken to students at Tech who said a lot of students do the transfer and thrive when they get there. They seem to have a tight coordination between the two schools regarding classes to take for transfer, etc. It is an intriguing option to consider.

I just mentioned Mudd as a example of a non-research institution. I don’t however think Mudd is a good option for your son. First, his admission is unlikely. He’ll need at least a 32 on the ACT as Mudd has an unwritten 700 per section SAT cutoff. It’s not set in stone, but my son’s counselor was told as much by their admissions department. Even then his GPA and course rigor will likely keep him out. Then, if he did get in, he wouldn’t get any merit aid, do it would be too expensive.

Cal Poly is a possibility, as a reach at that, but only for certain majors, industrial, software engineering and possibly materials. ME, CS and BME have become ridiculously competitive. CC is littered with stories of students who have been accepted into Berkeley and rejected by Poly. If Poly is of interest, PM me and I can run you through how to figure out the difficulty of admit of each major from yearly predictions on their institutional research page.

As for the CC route, it’s an option, but not one I’m a big fan of except in rare cases where the CC is in the same town and they have a transfer relationship with the university. In those cases professors of intro classes often teach at both. Otherwise, the rigor and competition often leave the student underprepared and thus overwhelmed upon transfer.

Lastly, class size. For a major research university 200 is small for calculus. The way around that is only through brute force homework. You’ll tend to find smaller class size at schools that don’t offer PhDs, small privates and within honors colleges.

Good luck!

University of Arizona is smaller than ASU, with a smaller engineering department. It admits engineering students as engineering undeclared and students choose a major after freshman year. When we visited we were impressed, and my D would have chosen Arizona over ASU had she stayed instate.

" For example, their Calculus class is at least 200 students. He can get that class out of the way in much smaller class at CC" - Do your research on that. Calculus is key to many other courses, so you want it to be sure your CC version is rigorous.

Many engineering students who take AP Calc in hs opt to retake Calc in colleg. That 's what I did 30+ years ago.