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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.