Midwest Engineering Schools

samdude3 · 09-01-2012, 01:05 PM

I am currently at a CC in Illinois and have a 3.1 GPA.What schools in the Midwest should I be looking at? Illinois is out of the question with my GPA, and other Illinois schools seem average at best for engineering.

Thank you for your help!

Montegut · 09-01-2012, 10:39 PM

Interested in this, too. Son wants to do grad engineering in midwest, and since we're from the Deep South, not familiar with the schools in the area.

To the OP, what about Marquette? If you can afford it, or if you are a minority, first generation, female, which would bring you more scholarship opportunities, it might be a good fit for you.

aqsewfqq · 09-02-2012, 11:42 AM

You should look more into it, but I've heard good things about UW-Platteville for engineering as well, but don't have any evidence beyond word of mouth.

I would recommend UW Madison or the U of M first, but they are probably as hard to get into as Illinois.

livn487 · 09-02-2012, 06:52 PM

What engineering discipline are you looking for? Does CC mean community college? So, then you are looking for someplace to transfer to?

*xraymancs* · 09-02-2012, 08:14 PM

There are a number of other Illinois schools with ABET accredited engineering degrees where you have a chance to get in as a transfer student

University of Illinois, Chicago
Illinois Institute of Technology
Northern Illinois University
Bradley University
Southern Illinois University
Western Illinois University

In addition, you can look to Wisconsin where there are

Marquette University
Milwaukee School of Engineering
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin, Platteville

or Indiana with

Purdue University, Calumet

I am sure that I have forgotten a lot of other options.

Call up the admission office for some of these schools and ask them if you can meet their admisison standards. They usually are more than happy to tell you.

samdude3 · 09-03-2012, 01:02 AM

I am not a minority, girl, or first generation student so the scholarship opportunities may be limited for me. I will look into private schools like Marquette but it all comes down to the financial aid situation. I do not have enough money to pay for a gap in financial aid for a private school.

I havent decided which major to commit to but I am leaning towards chemical, mechanical, or civil. I just don't think Northern Illinois would look good to prospective employers so I am looking outside of Illinois as well.

boneh3ad · 09-03-2012, 07:57 AM

NIU may not be the best engineering school in the world, but you have to recognize that at the same time your options are limited since you have a 3.1 GPA at your CC. If you are looking outside the state, I know places like Mizzou have fairly lax admissions requirements. Mizzou only needs a C- or better in calculus and a 2.5 GPA in college-level classes. Otherwise, that is about the only major school you are probably looking at in a state that borders Illinois. The rest are going to be "directional schools" or branch campuses.

adamom · 09-03-2012, 09:09 AM

Another Midwest engineering school you might want to look at is Missouri university of Science and Technology. It is a smaller science and engineering school that offers a really wide array of engineering majors and is very well recognized in the engineering world. I don't know much about their transfer requirements but it's definitely worth a look.

boneh3ad · 09-03-2012, 10:31 AM

Missouri S&T is a great school. I don't think their transfer requirements are officially any different from those of Mizzou (same university system) but I believe that in practice they are harder to get into for engineering. That is mostly anecdotal, admittedly, but they are the more well-regarded engineering program out of the two.

Davisra · 09-20-2012, 06:26 PM

Here's a case where the overall school's rank is misleading. Looking strictly at admissions criteria, UW-Platteville has close to the lowest standards among the UW-System schools. They are one of only 3 public schools in Wis.that offer engineering (UW-Madison & UW-Milwaukee are the others). Their engineering department gets lots of rave reviews from local area employers - even more so than UW-Madison's. I've spoken to many engineers who have told me that given their choice when hiring, they'd pick the Platteville kid over the Madison kid every time - that their overall training is more thorough and their work ethic and attitude are better. Unfortunately, because the rest of UW-Platteville's academic disciplines are not as demanding, the reputation of being a less-desireable engineering school persists.

samdude3 · 09-20-2012, 06:52 PM

Thank you to everyone who responded! I am hoping I can bring my GPA up to a 3.3 before I apply to give me a chance at a school like IIT or UIC. I would love to go to Michigan Tech since my dad is from Houghton but doesn't seem possible in my financial position. I would be willing to go to any state for a reasonable price but that's probably a pipe dream. We will see how next semester goes. I will be taking Calc 2, Physics 1, and Chem 1 while working 30 hours a week to pay for school and support myself.

Thanks again for all of your help!

boneh3ad · 09-20-2012, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davisra

Their engineering department gets lots of rave reviews from local area employers - even more so than UW-Madison's. I've spoken to many engineers who have told me that given their choice when hiring, they'd pick the Platteville kid over the Madison kid every time - that their overall training is more thorough and their work ethic and attitude are better. Unfortunately, because the rest of UW-Platteville's academic disciplines are not as demanding, the reputation of being a less-desireable engineering school persists.

Also because you are talking about local employers. If you want to work anywhere outside the small region where employers are familiar with them, you will have a hard time. No one outside of that area will likely know anything about the program ant UW-Platteville.

I'd also be interested to know what kind of employers these are. I only say that because, UW-Madison being a state school, they have a huge number of students and those students span a pretty large range in quality (compared to private institutions that don't have quotas set by the state). If these are small, local employers, they aren't exactly likely to be getting the pick of the litter coming out of UW-Madison, so it is not necessarily a completely accurate representation of the program's quality.

That said, what it does prove is that there are plenty of engineers that come from smaller, less known schools who can outperform at least some of those coming from the well-known schools, as the alluded-to employers seem to have discovered firsthand. However, those UW-Platteville engineers will likely have to use those local companies as a stepping stone if they are hoping to get into the more national companies. After all, after you have a few years experience, that experience almost always trumps the name on your degree.

OperaDad · 09-20-2012, 10:03 PM

> I do not have enough money to pay for a gap in financial aid for a private school.

In general, an out of state public school will cost about as much as a private school. So if money is a problem, then you should be looking at public schools in your state, and other schools that have good financial aid. Maybe University of Alabama.

noimagination · 09-20-2012, 10:05 PM

The state universities in the Dakotas are very affordable and worth a look.

I'm not sure how selective Iowa State is for transfers but it is definitely a great program.

harvestmoon · 09-20-2012, 10:08 PM

Michigan Tech and the University of Michigan ate excellent engineering schools. They are fairly competitive, though. Especially with transfer students. But it doesn't hurt to research and see what you need.