I have recently obtained the last of my college decisions and now I am on the next stage of the process… my decision. I have been accepted to the following engineering schools:
University of Michigan
UT-Austin
Purdue
Georgia Tech
University of Illinois- Urbana
Speaking stricly academically (because I am visiting all these schools within the next couple months to test their non-academic vibes), are there any distinguishable differences in the quality, method, or resources of their respective engineering programs over the others?
Olin College of Engineering has done a lot of innovation in developing an engineering curriculum that is better targeted to developing the skills engineers really need today. One of the ways this is manifested is getting kids involved in doing meaningful projects right out of the gate, rather than having to survive a two year “math/science death march” of lecture classes and endless problem sets before getting the chance to actually build anything. If that sounds appealing to you, then I’d take an especially hard look at UICU – they worked closely with Olin in revising their engineering curriculum over the last few years. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like in practice, but I would suggest it would be worth learning more about given your current position.
Also, each kid’s mileage will, of course, vary, but I was actually just talking to a parent tonight at a high school function whose son is a very unhappy freshman trying to pursue engineering at Purdue. The classes are enormous (probably true at every school on your list, actually), and there’s a very competitive, uncollaborative culture, in his experience. He says everyone’s concerned about being one of the one’s weeded in the big weeder classes and hence unwilling to help one another. He’s thinking hard about transferring. That’s only one data point, of course, and I’m sure there are other parents on this board who could probably chime in with anecdotes that are diametrically opposed. Also, he’s only a freshman, and plenty of kids struggle their first year in college, and engineering is not an easy road.
That being said, I wonder if there’s any way of figuring out what percentage of kids that enter the schools you’re considering intending to be engineering majors actually stick it out. I think that would be a very interesting number to know.
Thank you for the input! I heard GT is extremely rigorous but I was also wondering if the facilities of the colleges and co-open opportunities were similar? I also wonder if their job placement percentage is roughly similar?
If you go to the Illinois link above, and then to Olin…you can find this:
Olin is an amazing school, but it has some limitations that we ultimately decided not to apply. It’s VERY small. It’s one thing not to have a football team, it’s another when you can throw a frisbee from one side of campus to the other. Beautiful new buildings…but small.
The admission process at Olin is another issue…but not really appropriate for this thread.
Any of the exchange programs require applications and acceptance, so I wouldn’t allow the possibility to influence your decision.
Well, I’m an unabashed Olin homer, because my D is a senior there. Clearly they’re doing something right, given that they have a 95% 5-year grad rate in a discipline that sees somewhere close to 60% attrition nationwide. Agreed, however, that it’s only one factor among many to consider – just putting it out there. I didn’t even realize there WAS an exchange program until today. I was mainly touting Olin’s influence on the UIUC curriculum.
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SAT
730 Critical Reading 770 Math
760 Math 2 670 Chem (Weak I know)
Have had a single B+ in whole career in a semester of BC Calculus
AP’s include:
APUSH, Gov, Comp, Lit, Stats, BC, Chem, and Bio. Rest of schedule filled with honors. Also have taken an engineering course through OSU for 3 years
Top 10% in a Catholic prep school in Toledo OH
EC:
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Are all of your schools affordable? What are your parents saying??
You’re OOS for all of those. Did you apply to OSU???
Fantastic list of options. Assuming you are a highly able student, the weeding out problem may or may not pertain to you, especially if you have lots of AP experience behind you and excel at math and maybe physics.
You did not specify your interests, but now is the time to spend a few hours on each schools website to figure out exactly what classes you will need to take in various majors, what kind of electives or tracks they offer. Plan out some campus visits or attend open house events with some focus on the departments of interest.
The advice to investigate admission to various majors stems from many smart students going to schools that require high GPAs for entrance to popular majors like CS or EE or all engineering … and then not quite making it or stressing out … it is hard for some students to make the transition to college and get a 3.5 or 3.8 or compete for a slot in CS or EE based only on freshman year grades (and that means forgoing AP credit to stack your GPA deck which may not be your thing, it may be more “fun” to take advanced math than take Calc 1 again in hopes of an easy A … which isn’t easy in many top schools).
If cost is a factor, you should run the net price calculator for each AND check tuition rates are totally current. There is wide variation in what is included on various websites, including some glaring errors on USNWR tuition prices … I would track that in a spreadsheet for each school … if say GaTech is much more favored than Purdue … maybe spend the extra money.
Climate and city vibe also very important. Safety … etc.
@rayrick - We loved Olin, but ultimately ED’d someplace else that prevented us from running the admissions gauntlet. Giving 4 year half priced tuition sure doesn’t hurt their admission or graduation stats. Their ability to influence other institutions is good…but ultimately runs up against the size of the other schools (IMO).
@EyeVeee are you talking about about Franklin W. Olin College in Massachusetts? I think the other posters are discussing the Olin college of engineering that is part of University of Illinois- Urbana
@wheatonmom - I am indeed referring to the school in Mass, but on the Illinois website there is a program with that school that I linked to @ post #7 above.
Olin’s curriculum sharing was highlighted on one of Olin’s open house days, but I was (maybe mistakenly) referring to the exchange opportunities.
I think we’re both discussing Franklin W. Olin. I didn’t know UICU HAD and Olin college of engineering. Can’t say it comes as a great shock, however. With his big sis at Olin, it became something of a game when doing college visits with my son to spot the Olin building on each campus. They’re everywhere.
One piece on GT that I will add to the discussion. They are REALLY emphasizing their coop program, with over 70% of the students participating when we visited a year ago. Coop programs give you a terrific entre into employment, and they have a large number of great employers linked in to their network, and looking for GT grad’s.
I have been blessed with amazingly generous parents who have offered to pay for my education as long as I complete it. That being said, I have applied and have gotten the Maximus scholarship (half off in-state) to OSU. It is definitely weighing on me to take it but I am still going to visit all my options and see how I feel about them all. I am not scared of having to “grind” in college and I am very driven when it comes to my education so I am prepared to take a hit in the “fun department” if it means I can pass. I just want to thank everyone who has posted so far and I have learned a great deal about my choices!