@ASKMother We are scheduled to tour/interview at HWS next week (daughter). Any intel would be great. I’ve researched it to death and it seems to be up and coming, however, a student perspective is always helpful.
Also another plug for Elon. Up and Coming and with four credit hours and J Term, it is absolutely a four year school. In fact, the new president is pushing to move that specific stat.
The COA for Colorado is $53,504 and, if you’re a top student from OOS, you can get a Presidential Scholarship of $55,000 for 4 years. So while it’s not a whole lot, basically a free year (if you stay 4 years), it’s better than a kick in the pants. 
Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff? I hear about more and more people applying and attending…especially in my area (Socal) and as of last year Reno, NV. Seems to be much more popular…
I also hear about a lot of California kids (kids of people I know) heading to schools such as Boise State, Idaho, University of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado State, etc. Don’t know if these schools are on the way up, but I’ve heard a lot more about them recently and it seems like more OOS kids are applying and going…
Going back to Whitman, I agree. It’s a wonderful school, but it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. A similar school could be Puget Sound, great school, but not a lot of attention…as least not as much as some schools.
Anyone have any thoughts on Providence? I haven’t taken my son yet, but I hear about more people applying there each year, especially for business. Anyone been and have any thoughts? I think it might be a back up to BC and Villanova??
@TwinMom2023 our friend will start there this fall. She went looking for selective colleges with very specific criteria and HWS matched up perfectly. She is studying architecture/design but is also very much a writer, and she wanted to join a sailing team. With the exception of the weather being a complete 180 from where we live, she is super excited about all the opportunities there - especially the study abroad program.
“The COA for Colorado is $53,504 and, if you’re a top student from OOS, you can get a Presidential Scholarship of $55,000 for 4 years. So while it’s not a whole lot, basically a free year (if you stay 4 years), it’s better than a kick in the pants.”
And if you’ve got the stats for that (top 1-3%) you’d likely get the full tuition scholarship at Utah (where the equivalent COA is $37,000 and you can get in-state tuition after a year that brings it down to $20,000). I really don’t understand why people apparently dislike Mormons/conservatives so much that they want to spend an extra $100K+ on an equivalent college, but that’s the affluent liberal bubble here in NorCal.
Following this thread as a current HS senior! Love the suggestions for engineering (looking into CS/CompE). Keep it up!
In OH, I have definitely see an uprise in Case Western. A lot of people seem to have it on the radar on CC. Haven’t gotten the chance to visit their engineering school yet.
I second someone’s opinion on Otterbein! It is definitely up and coming in STEM. It’s a small LAC. I just toured their brand new engineering building, along with new equipment, and a maker space. It’s amazing! They’re putting money into engineering. Their engineering program also sounds pretty good, they have students working with professionals practically right next door, and the first year engineering program has them working in collaborative teams on real world problems presented by companies. Also it’s a smaller school, so you get more personalized attention.
I’ve toured OSU’s engineering school, but I honestly was way more impressed with Otterbein. I think the few things OSU has over Otterbein is a nicer campus, and a bigger alumni network. The engineering programs at Otterbein are fairly new, but I can definitely tell they have promise.
@collegemomjam - My S applied to Providence and did like it. You are correct that a lot of kids apply to it as a backup to BC and Villanova. It has a very similar feel with a higher acceptance rate. I would say that it has been in a similar position for a long time so not necessarily a school on the way up.
They seem to have reduced their merit aid compared to past years. The one thing my S disliked was that they have a rigid set of requirements with 4 semesters of a Western Civ class that all students take. Happy to chat more if you want to PM me.
@collegemomjam I have good friend whose daughter just completed her 1st year at Providence and had a great experience. I believe it is a good alternative to Villanova - we live in that area and both parents are alumni. Their D is a science major. Mom said she was working hard, but made friends and was happy with her professors, opportunities, etc.
My nephew has a very close friend that is a rising senior at Providence. He has loved there.
Yep, pretty much.
Personally, I didn’t like SLC and while the rest of UT has some beautful National Parks, UT wasn’t my cup of tea. So, I personally wouldn’t want to spend 4 years there. As they say, “great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” I’m not familiar enough with either college (UColorado or UU) to make a determination if they’re equal or not.
People always say it’s about “fit.”
@equationlover Lots of good info on CWRU on the CWRU CC page. They have a new College Confidential senior blogger managing the information. I think CWRU is strong in Computer science, although not ranked as well as schools like Purdue, Michigan and UIUC, all close to Ohio, which have world class PhD programs in CS. If you have interest in entrepreneurship, ThinkBox at Case Western is a combination maker space/incubator. Case has a law school on the same campus, so patent attorneys are making themselves helpful to Case engineers, that want to file patents and start companies.
@twoin18 @sushiritto U of Utah and U of Colorado are in different types of cities. Salt Lake City resembles Denver more than Boulder, in that its a major metropolitan area and not a small college town, like Boulder.
Both have skiing close by. Both are strong in physics, and engineering.
I think for Californians, Colorado has the draw, for some reason but I tend to agree, that one should look at Utah
as well, to save money and especially for premedical students U of Utah is more convenient see reasons below. . U of Utah is not overwhelmingly Mormon. Brigham Young U, also in SLC, s where all the middle class Mormons from Colorado head, as its almost free tuition. U of Utah may still be less than U of Colorado for out of state students, though, as you point out.
One big difference between CU and U of Utah, is that Utah houses their undergrad nursing program (and MD and dental programs and teaching hospital ) on the main SLC campus.
CU has THREE campuses, connected by buses-- Anschutz (Aurora) , Denver and Boulder. Anschutz Medical campus and CU Boulder campus are 32 miles apart. CU Denver and Anschutz Medical are 15 miles apart. CU Boulder offers undergrad majors in education, music, humanities, social sciences physical sciences and engineering. Denver offers much of the same as Boulder, but in the middle of the city of Denver, with a much lower admissions standard. Anschutz Medical campus , 32 miles south east of Boulder, in Aurora, offers the undergrad nursing program, medical and dental school.
U of Utah is smaller than the CU system of three campuses, and their Health Sciences campus is located contiguous with the undergraduate campus,
making it more convenient for premedical students to work at a teaching hospital, than for students at CU Boulder,
where they need to get onto a bus and travel all the way to Aurora to get involved with medical research or clinical experiences.
While Boulder has a community hospital, its not associated with U of Colorado.
CU Boulder offers a top aerospace engineering program whereas U of Utah, does not have that speciality.
U of Utah offers undergrad programs in mining engineering , materials science and a minor in nuclear engineering which are NOT offered at CU Boulder.
(Colorado offers a very top petroleum and mining engineering degree at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, but that school has its own admissions process and more selective than CU Engineering for the most part)
So U of Utah IS be better for a premedical student who wants to work in a teaching hospital,
and for a student who wants to study mining engineering . Or a student
who wants to major in materials science and engineering, (CU Boulder only offers PhDs in Materials science so far, not bachelors degrees )
" Brigham Young U, also in SLC, s where all the middle class Mormons from Colorado head, as its almost free tuition."
BYU is not in SLC. It’s in Provo - about 40 miles south of SLC.
@Scipio actually there is a BYU campus in Salt Lake City. It is smaller than the main campus in Provo. We have a good friend starting there in the Fall. He’ll be there for a year and then do his mission and return after mission work to the main campus in Provo.
@collegemomjam here’s a link to my post about Providence on the “Colleges you crossed off the list / moved up the list” thread: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20828250#Comment_20828250
PC is currently # 1 on the USNWR Regional Colleges-Northeast list; it moved up into that slot a few years ago when the previous #1, Villanova, moved from the Regional rankings to the National list. I haven’t heard of anyone who’s had a negative experience there.
OTOH I know that many applicants this year were disappointed with their merit aid packages; on their accepted students thread there were families with alumni connections whose kids had great scores and whose 1st choice was PC and they ended up getting far less than they had hoped for. In our case, our son got much better merit from comparable schools, including Fairfield and Loyola Maryland (#3 and 4 in the same USNWR category) and from Fordham, which is a more selective school.
Giving this a bump because it was (mostly?) helpful.
WPI has climbed very rapidly over the past ten years. Confessing I am an alumnus, I would list the following reasons for continued growth:
1. The current president and management team are outstanding;
2. It is a STEM school with a wide variety of highly developed STEM majors;
3. A unique undergraduate overseas research program at NO additional charge (46 locations, not exchange);
4. Carefully designed interdisciplinary approaches which cannot help but grow as the traditional structure melds;
5. A rapidly growing graduate school continues to raise awareness;
6. Financially, alumni continue to grow in support.
For many of the same reasons, I would add Colorado College and concur with CMU as rising universities. James Madison has done a remarkable job as their faculty and programs gain recognition.
“an extra $100K+ on an equivalent college”
I don’t see them as equivalents, except insofar as you can get a terrific education at either one. They are apples and oranges to me. I’ve sent students to UU and certainly see it as on the way up, but its decades as a commuter school make the feel quite different.
" I really don’t understand why people apparently dislike Mormons/conservatives so much"
Let’s get real: there are lots of conservative Mormons (and other Christians) who dislike liberals and atheists so much that they would not send their kids to college in a liberal enclave. Human beings, in general, do not like being weirdo cultural outliers in the eyes of their communities. That’s not a character flaw.