Anonymous wrote:DC is an MCPS senior this year and had OP's profile pretty much spot on. In at UMD and WPI, WL Cornell, rejected GaTech.
Family/friends currently attending or recently attended Illinois/UIUC, Minnesota, and Rose-Hulman.
Illinois is great in engineering, lots of Chicago kids, need to be okay with being in remote/rural location, not a safety bc so many TJ/MBHS apply. If kid decides to leave engineering--many do--it's not so strong in the non-engineering areas for OOS.
Minnesota is strong in engineering, urban location, and pretty sure it lets you know earlier/rolling (I think, correct me if wrong!), so can knock out a good engineering school early to limit apps, since OP mentioned that as a goal. Know a kid who chose Illinois over Minnesota bc in-state and better in engineering and fine with rural location. Student attending Minnesota gets in-state tuition though WI-MN reciprocity, so better option, wanted urban, and ended up transferring out to differ non-engineering major and was glad to have a lot of options--doing some sort of environmental engineering-adjacent degree.
Rose-Hulman might be a bit rural, need to be okay with heavy male lean, but their career office rocks it, one of the best placement ratings. Everyone I know who has gone was a fan, male, and ended up in good jobs (all within last few years). Kid I know who went chose it because of excellent placement and bc it offered great merit aid.
How much merit does RH offer? do they do anything special to recruit girls? seems at these small engineering schools the sex ratio is skewed.