Undergrad Engineering Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd look for schools where he will be amongst other engineering majors, rather than schools that are less STEM focused. It's easier to find a study group and be immersed in engineering when you are with peers. Instead of discussing politics or social issues over dinner, kids will race to calculate the rate of flow through a straw or build the tallest tower with the fewest cafeteria cups. Fun weekend activities including a pumpkin chucking contest where floors built contraptions to throw pumpkins the farthest or building stadium seating for the dorm lounge so the whole floor can fit to watch a movie. Engineering becomes part of daily life.

Look for schools with engineering teams, like mini Baja, solar car, concrete canoe or snow mobile challenge teams. There will be a robust engineering culture at these schools.

Clarkson, RPI, and Rose-Hulman all fit this category.

Excellent advice.

[Anonymous]

I will agree with some of the ones mentioned above, including Arizona, ODU, Clarkson, RIT, CU Boulder. I will also say that if the intensity of WPI 8 week terms is doable, it is a collaborative and not weed out environment and worth checking out. My kid is on a team there building an F-1 style Electric car and getting three classes of credit for it. RiT is a coop school so you have to be good with that. Neighbor kid is at AZ in aero and liking it a lot.

[Anonymous]

One note about ODU--there will be kids enrolled in engineering that have not taken Pre Calc or Calc yet. So your kid may be a step above that and those kids will be there too, kids shut out of uva/VaTech and wanting to stay in state VA. Also since they cater to a lot of commuters, the class times there can be odd...you may have class on MWF for 7-9 pm, for example.

[Anonymous]

I can’t relate experience with my DD (who is in nursing school), but here is my suggested strategy.

Keep in mind that not all universities with engineering will necessarily offer a broad selection of engineering majors. For example you might see a university that offers Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil. Nice majors for sure, but kids may change their mind and maybe Chemical, Biomedical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mining, or Materials piques their interest. So I tend to favor universities with schools of engineering with a good number of departments.

I would look to our land grant schools as archetypes. They will tend to have very comprehensive offerings. Some not too far from DMV that might be a bit less pressure cooker -ish would be

Penn State
Clemson
University of Tennessee
University of Kentucky
Rutgers

Etc.

[Anonymous]

Good point, plus if all else fails those schools have other non-engineering majors too.

[Anonymous]

Villanova
Case Western
NC State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stay on topic! OP has asked for names of schools that are less intense for engineering, not a UM/Purdue grudge match! Give him or her less intense engineering schools!


List:
U Denver
Drexel
RIT
Maybe Lehigh but hear it's still tough and a little isolated
U of Florida
LMU or maybe U San Diego
U of Arizona

Here's the thing - not 100% of the time but at least sometimes if you go to a small school there are fewer research opportunities and fewer professors to network, and likely fewer sub-specialties to explore. That is why I though of Florida or maybe some other school with some size, good weather and school spirit to help mitigate some of the white-knuckle feelings you mention. The work will be hard anywhere, but maybe this helps.

PP, you are correct. Not Lehigh. They pride themselves on their rigor. Your kid has to be ok with tests where the class average is 30/100, and has to tolerate having some Ds. They like to make the students work ridiculously hard. I will say first jobs are easy after Lehigh, and employers know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t relate experience with my DD (who is in nursing school), but here is my suggested strategy.

Keep in mind that not all universities with engineering will necessarily offer a broad selection of engineering majors. For example you might see a university that offers Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil. Nice majors for sure, but kids may change their mind and maybe Chemical, Biomedical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mining, or Materials piques their interest. So I tend to favor universities with schools of engineering with a good number of departments.

I would look to our land grant schools as archetypes. They will tend to have very comprehensive offerings. Some not too far from DMV that might be a bit less pressure cooker -ish would be

Penn State
Clemson
University of Tennessee
University of Kentucky
Rutgers

Etc.

This sounds like advices from a well meaning parent who is not an engineer and who has never even met an engineer. I'd disregard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t relate experience with my DD (who is in nursing school), but here is my suggested strategy.

Keep in mind that not all universities with engineering will necessarily offer a broad selection of engineering majors. For example you might see a university that offers Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil. Nice majors for sure, but kids may change their mind and maybe Chemical, Biomedical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mining, or Materials piques their interest. So I tend to favor universities with schools of engineering with a good number of departments.

I would look to our land grant schools as archetypes. They will tend to have very comprehensive offerings. Some not too far from DMV that might be a bit less pressure cooker -ish would be

Penn State
Clemson
University of Tennessee
University of Kentucky
Rutgers

Etc.

This sounds like advices from a well meaning parent who is not an engineer and who has never even met an engineer. I'd disregard.

I’m certainly well meaning, and I studied engineering for 7 years at Virginia Tech, leaving as a PhD candidate when I ran out of steam. Curious to know what it is about my suggestion that is so off putting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son graduated from Virginia Tech engineering. Its was tough and a lot of work. But he was able to manage it. Had a great friend group, went to football games, lots of school spirit. He got onto a great project team. The recruiting was very impressive. He is now a software engineer at Google.

My daughter is currently in Cornell engineering. Her experience has been pretty miserable. Really intense workload. Hard to get access to professors. Very much sink or swim. My son feels they cover material faster, and in fewer courses, than what he saw at Virginia Tech. It seems pretty difficult to get onto a project team or to do undergraduate research (might vary by major?). She finds it hard to find time for a football game. So far, I've not been impressed by the on-campus recruiting, which is also too Wall-street heavy for what my daughter wants.

So, while you can argue that Cornell is more prestigious (and maybe that pays off in the long-run), my son had a better experience at Virginia Tech. I can see where it makes sense for some students to go to a less intense engineering program (and Virginia Tech is plenty tough) but I wonder if most engineering programs aren't intense given the nature of the engineering curriculum and ABET requirements (chemistry, physics, calculus, etc. before you get into the major).

+1, my 2 DDs are currently in Cornell engineering too (junior and sophomore). They constantly have to work past 3:00 am. During prelim times or project due dates like the last 3 weeks, I see them working with their friends pass 5:00 or 6:00 am in the engineering quad many nights. Virginia Tech was hard when I attended engineering school there, but there was more free time for sure. Go along with their groups of friends, I think that is how they help each others survive so far [smile].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son graduated from Virginia Tech engineering. Its was tough and a lot of work. But he was able to manage it. Had a great friend group, went to football games, lots of school spirit. He got onto a great project team. The recruiting was very impressive. He is now a software engineer at Google.

My daughter is currently in Cornell engineering. Her experience has been pretty miserable. Really intense workload. Hard to get access to professors. Very much sink or swim. My son feels they cover material faster, and in fewer courses, than what he saw at Virginia Tech. It seems pretty difficult to get onto a project team or to do undergraduate research (might vary by major?). She finds it hard to find time for a football game. So far, I've not been impressed by the on-campus recruiting, which is also too Wall-street heavy for what my daughter wants.

So, while you can argue that Cornell is more prestigious (and maybe that pays off in the long-run), my son had a better experience at Virginia Tech. I can see where it makes sense for some students to go to a less intense engineering program (and Virginia Tech is plenty tough) but I wonder if most engineering programs aren't intense given the nature of the engineering curriculum and ABET requirements (chemistry, physics, calculus, etc. before you get into the major).