Which college for the kid who wants this job

[Anonymous]

Major in civil engineering and then join the Peace Corps.

[Anonymous]

Minnesota

[Anonymous]

UMiami

[Anonymous]

Public Health (a very popular undergrad degree now in the US). He will first get a broad understanding of how to study/influence the factors that impact POPULATION health (different than medicine, which focuses on individuals).

One of Public Health's five core discipines is Environmental Health. He can get his Masters in that specialty. They learn about things like air and water quality and LITERALLY (for example) factors that go into building safe wells for communities.

People trained in public health also share the sensibilities of the type of people who choose to work for MSF (though of course there are other employers for this degree/training).

I would be proud to have a son with those aspirations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan! Best engineering labs I have seen on campus tours. They also offer study abroad

Michigan also has an excellent public health school (better than Hopkins, and I have degrees from both places).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public Health (a very popular undergrad degree now in the US). He will first get a broad understanding of how to study/influence the factors that impact POPULATION health (different than medicine, which focuses on individuals).

One of Public Health's five core discipines is Environmental Health. He can get his Masters in that specialty. They learn about things like air and water quality and LITERALLY (for example) factors that go into building safe wells for communities.

People trained in public health also share the sensibilities of the type of people who choose to work for MSF (though of course there are other employers for this degree/training).

I would be proud to have a son with those aspirations!

I am very proud of him.

He knows that he would be working with public health professionals, but he's pretty clear he wants to be the engineer on the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son showed me this job announcement and told me it’s his dream job:

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/careers/work-field/find-role/water-sanitation-specialists

He wants a civil engineering degree, but he also wants to learn another language and maybe study abroad.

He is a strong student, particularly in STEM, who prefers hands on to abstract learning.

So, what schools might be a fit?

Lots of colleges would get him there but ones like CMU, MIT, Rice, Hopkins would have more similar minded/abled peers.

I am curious about this list. Obviously all are highly regarded for engineering, but what makes you say like minded? Do they have a reputation for more international focus or more hands on learning?

[Anonymous]

Dartmouth. Very encouraging of study abroad. Large enough for opportunities but small enough to foster unique collaborations.

[Anonymous]

Harvey Miss or Claremont McKenna for engineering, and a second major, or minor, in language at Pomona via the consortium?

[Anonymous]

^^^

Harvey Mudd (oops)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^

Harvey Mudd (oops)

OP here,

Mudd seems amazing, and like he would love it, but I have heard that civil engineering is the field where ABET matters the most because safety is a huge issue and because so many employers are government or government contractors.

Does anyone know how aspiring civil engineers do with a general engineering degree?

[Anonymous]

Just want to say that your son sounds awesome. We need more people like him in the world! You must be a proud parent. Congratulations.

[Anonymous]

Late seeing this but my daughter is a water specialist. Degree in mechanical engineering. Wasn’t able to do traditional study abroad, but did two summer projects abroad. One in Venice and one in Nairobi.

Get into the best engineering program you can that makes sense for your kid/wallet. Lots of opportunities from there ..

[Anonymous]

I agree -- civil or environmental engineering. If he can take some classes in public health, that would be great. And as for study abroad, I would do some homework to make sure that the engineering kids really CAN do it without messing up their graduation requirements. (A lot of schools sell the study abroad programs hard, but then they turn out not to work well for kids with very tight schedules and academic requirements.)

A lot of large schools have short-term study abroad, like winter break or summer ... you could check out some of those programs.

[Anonymous]

WPI - we just toured on Monday. Excellent engineering programs with an emphasis on project-based study abroad.